Mona Kane Croft

Aside from the show's creators, I would list the following as Another World's most influential head-writers: #1 Harding Lemay (both eras). In his first stint, Lemay tightened the show's focus on social-class differences and created Iris, Mac, Clarice, the Frame siblings (aside from Steve), and many other long running characters. He also paired Rachel with Mac (AW's longest running love story). During Lemay's second period as head-writer, he brought back Iris and Vivien, is given credit for the return of Sharlene, Josie, and Russ, and made Felicia a believable living, breathing human (rather than a cartoon character). So Lemay changed AW forever two different times. #2 Agnes Nixon. Nixon gave Another World it's first real success in the ratings, while creating Ada, Rachel, Sam and Lahoma, the adult Russ Matthews, Steve Frame, and Lenore Curtain among others. She did all this while still keeping the Matthews family firmly at the center of the show. She continued the tortured romance of Bill and Missy (AW's first super-couple), and created AW's blockbuster romantic triangle -- Alice/Steve/Rachel. Nixon changed Another World forever. #3 (Writer's name unknown to me) Whichever head-writer created Cass Winthrop, Felicia Gallant, and Donna Love. The period from 1979 (post-Lemay) to 1983 saw dozens of new characters come and go, yet none of them had any staying power (with the possible exception of Sandy Cory). That bad karma ended with three new characters who lasted until the end -- Cass, Felicia, and Donna. So this head-writer changed AW forever. And if Cass, Felicia, and Donna were not all created by the same head-writer, then I will give this credit to whichever writer created two out of the three characters. My opinions only.

This is wonderful, but I fear nobody is going to remember who Janis Young is. Does anyone here even remember the character she played, Bernice Robinson? I do. Bernice was a wonderful selfish bitchy character who was murdered on John and Pat Randolph's patio. Her body was found by Mary Matthews. I'd love to see that episode again! Will the audience give any attention to these older actors from 50-plus years ago? I hope it is a good experience for them. I can imagine the audience clapping and cheering for folks like Linda Dano and Alicia Coppola, and then dead silence for the older performers they don't recognize.

Does anyone here remember watching Judith Barcroft when she was playing Lenore Moore Curtain? How did her portrayal of Lenore differ from Susan Sullivan's take on the role? I watched for most of Sullivan's time on AW, but saw Barcroft playing Lenore in only a few scenes. Can anyone compare or contrast the ways the two women portrayed the character? Thank you.

This scene more-or-less revises Mac's original orign story. This dialogue implies Mac was a self-made businessman, when in his original history, Mac had inherited Cory Publishing and the Cory fortune was, even then, two or three generations old. Donna Swajeski didn't seem to have much respect for what previous writers had brought to the show.

I always understood that Peggy Harris Nolan (played by Micki Grant) was the first on-contract African American character on a soap opera (first appearance July 1965). But I'm sure by 1965 there had been many non-contract short term roles filled by African American actors.

Believe it or not, I actually believe Borgeson was the second best Alice. She was the most similar to Courtney in acting style and appearance. And Borgeson could play strong emotion, which at least three of the replacements could not. If Alice Matthews can't play strong emotion, she's not even Alice in my opinion. So I liked Borgeson. But the writing and direction was so bad, even David Canary could not succeed at AW.

What was Mary Matthews' maiden name? What was Aunt Liz's maiden name? Ada's maiden name was Lucas, but I guess most fans know that. We don't know Mac's mother's maiden name, but we know she came from wealth. Mac told Rachel his parents had an arranged marriage and didn't truly love one another.

I've always heard the character was based on Lin Bolen, but is there any evidence in the movie (or the dialogue) that it is true? I haven't seen the film.

Oddly, it does make sense, Donna. Although GH's location had not been specifically identified in 1964-66, The Young Marrieds was set in a suburb of GH's "unnamed" city, and the suburb definitely had a name. Although it sounds crazy, the suburb had a name, even though the city did not (at that time). I know it is weird, but true.

Thank you. That is a great clarification. Do you recall the name of the suburb from TYMS? I do believe it was mentioned on GH within the past decade. Probably just for a lark, but still if it was mentioned, then it matters.

Oh boy -- this is another discussion all together. LOL. There was a definite connection between GH and The Young Marrieds. I don't believe TYMS was a direct spin-off of GH, but there was certainly dialogue that connected both shows, and possibly a cross-over of characters. I researched the connection long ago, but have forgotten the details. Not literally a spin-off, but certainly in the same "universe", as they say in 2024. And I believe TYMS' location (city, which I don't recall) was still being mentioned on GH as late as 7-10 years ago. Way off-topic for the Another World page, but still worthy of discussion . . .

I appreciate your research, Donna. In the past six-months, you have helped dispel several historical myths and inaccurate "firsts." And I have noticed, when you have posted something inaccurate (as we all do on occasion) you are quick to admit it and correct it. I'm confident TEdgeofNight will be escorted out very soon. Let's hope so, anyway.

Donna, have you seen the ATWT Christmas episode from the early 1960s? The entire half-hour is just the Hughes family sitting around talking. Grandpa Hughes is featured, of course. I don't believe the plot is furthered at all in the entire 30-minutes. Both the music and the conversation are tender. Perhaps one of the best soap opera Christmas episodes we have available to watch, even though nothing important happens.

The class and poignancy of As The World Turns during this era always amazes me. The way the organ slowly joins the piano. The acting, of course. Every single thing is perfect. In those days, TPTB didn't worry about "chemistry" (whatever that means). They just wrote a love story for two actors, and expected them to play it. If two actors have chemistry, it is icing on the cake. But if the acting is good enough, chemistry is not necessary to play out a successful love story.

Approximately what year was this? And who was playing Alex at this time?

The weekly "ABC Movie of the Week" had an opening that was vaguely similar, although faster-moving and more colorful. Didn't that premier around 1969? Something tells me that opening did use computer animation. But I'm only speculating.

I guess we don't know that for sure. But I read somewhere, a few years ago, that it was done without computer assistance. It don't remember where I read it, but the author briefly explained how it was done. I didn't understand his explanation, so I can't recount it here. But I believe it was some kind of stop-camera animation. I doubt there is any way now to find the article (or interview, or whatever it was) that I read. Sorry about that. Just to be clear -- I'm talking about the color version of the "circle of rings" that expanded in front of a black background, with the title Another World within the circle. I believe this was the show's second opening graphic and lasted until around 1980-81, I believe.

Wasn't the term used in Time magazine in the article about soap operas that featured Bill and Susan Hayes on the cover? That was around 1975-76. And if so, that wasn't likely even its first use. I always thought the term was first used by fans of NBC daytime when Steve/Alice and Doug/Julie were at their height of popularity. If I'm correct about that, that would have been pre-1975. We all need to be careful about claiming "firsts". As I always say, just because I don't remember something before 19-whatever, doesn't mean what I remember was really the first.

I guess it's true that Scot McKenzie doesn't do many interviews (print or podcast). So whether or not Scott made these statements shouldn't be difficult to verify.

I know this is off topic, but the conversation is here. So here's my unsolicited input: If my memory is correct, Scott McKenzie did say in a fairly recent interview that Goutman did contact Beverlee about returning to AW for the show's finale, and that Beverlee wanted to do it. And that Beverlee and Scott talked with Beverlee's doctor(s), who told her she was strong enough for the performance, but they were concerned about the long flight to NYC -- that the flight might be too much for her in her condition. So Scott and Beverlee decided together to decline Goutman's request. I feel almost certain I either read or heard this in an interview with Scott. But it is also possible my memory is faulty on this subject. By the way, I am not defending Goutman. I am not one of his fans. And on a similar topic, regarding Sam Groom: I've always thought it was very strange that TPTB hired Groom to return for AW's finale and flew him all the way from California, just to play a minister in a wedding,. Could it be possible that Groom's return was somehow tied to McKenzie's return? Perhaps the plan was for Iris to return to Bay City with Russ Matthews (since the two had been close friends for years and at one point were engaged). But when McKenzie declined to return, TPTB also scuttled Russ's return and just put Groom in the role of the minister since they had to pay him anyway. I do realize the two actors had not previously worked together on AW. Again, I'm sorry this is off topic for the Guiding Light page, but I don't think that is good enough reason to kill the conversation. And if we move it to the AW page, it will be out of context without the earlier comments. So here we are.

The most amazing thing to me is, the original expanding "circle of rings" opening (the one used throughout most of the 1960s and 70s) was created without the assistance of computer technology. To me, it it almost impossible to imagine how that opening was put together. Would that be called "analog" animation?

And Joan Copeland as Alexandra during much of this storyline, while Another World fans were wondering if Beverlee McKenzie was returning as Iris was also a bit much. LOL. And all this was around the time Iris did return to Another World, but played by Carmen Duncan.

Thank you for more detail, Donna. Well, it would not be NBC that had the rights to the music. It would have been P&G Productions (or Televest) -- at least for Another World. If it was also used on Oprah's show, then she may have been using the same music production company (who knows?). In terms of title, composer, and source -- the person inquiring should refer to my earlier post.

Not sure what you mean by "figure out the background music." Are they hoping to find the title of the tune, or the composer? Actually, to me it sounds like a normal background cue, probably composed and produced by the music company that was providing all the background cues at the time (1998). In most cases, those tunes do not have titles, nor are the composers names available. But you could probably find the name of the music production company in the closing credits for episodes in 1998. And wow, that was a very long scene -- even by 1998 standards. In 2024, that scene would be dissected into about ten 30-second micro-scenes, and spread throughout a 60-minute episode.

If I'm not mistaken, Roger and one of his early wives lived in this set. Possibly Roger and Peggy? I could be wrong.