Mona Kane Croft

14 minutes ago, AbcNbc247 said:

It sounds like the Earl, the loan shark/the syndicate storylines were DAYS' first venture into "Copy GH mode" Clearly it was not a good fit for the show. AW had similar problems with its mob storylines at that time.

Ugh!  Those mob/crime stories on Another World ate about a third of the show from late 1979 until around 1982.  And AW had never been that type of soap opera.  Individual crime stories would have worked occasionally, but continuing it all for two or three years with so much of the cast involved was a huge mistake.  AW was on the air for 20 more years, but never recovered from the damage done in '79 to '82.  NBC and P&G wanted to get away from Harding Lemay's type of writing, and make AW more like a "normal" soap opera (ATWT, AMC, GL, I assume), but they never hired a head-writer capable of doing that.   Mob/crime plots were definitely the wrong direction.

12 hours ago, DRW50 said:

 

I don't know what's happening. I find it hard to believe P&G suddenly cares about their soaps. Is this another type of crackdown from Youtube?

If I'm not mistaken, I believe ANYONE can report copyrighted videos on Youtube, not just the owner of the copyright.  And I think most of these reports are just normal people who get angry or are just vindictive in general.  There are also copyright-nazis out there, who are just normal people who take it upon themselves to police music and other types of copyrights.  So it's not necessarily P&G or other copyright owners causing these shut-downs and removal of episodes.    

7 minutes ago, Titus Andronicus said:

NBC exec Fred Silverman is the one who suggested Marie be a nun. He looked at the Horton family tree in early 1979 and said You know what this family needs? A nun!

Marie was a nun during one of Maree Cheatham's brief returns in the early 1970s.  There is a Horton family photo that includes Tom, Alice, and all five kids -- including Addie and Marie, and Marie is dressed as a nun.   

I thought Finn was finally going to admit that he's Chase's father, not his brother.  They've been teasing that since Chase's first episode.    

7 minutes ago, antmunoz said:

Maree was on for a hot minute and told her story about being cold in NYC and wearing fuzzy slippers in the studio. Mary Stuart took one look at her and said, “This is our new sex symbol?”  Mary told the same story in her book BOTH OF ME. 

 

Marcia was an extra on the show one week then auditioned for Laine the next. Obviously she didn’t get that, but Mary-Ellis Bunim asked her if she’d auditioned for Sunny. 
 

Michael looks good but needs to go gray. The darker-than-natural hair color is distracting.  

Was Maree really on very briefly?  Why didn't she stay around?  She's the only one I am really interested in seeing.   

9 minutes ago, teplin said:

Wonder why Russom declined?  I never saw him again after Willis left AW.

He's been a very successful character actor since he left AW.  He's done TV and lots of big movies.   He was in a very successful movie a few years ago, but I forget the title.  He's not really recognizable these days, unless you really know the actor and his voice.   

And by the way, Lyman was not a replacement for Russom at the reunion.  She may have been given his lines (I believe she was), but Lyman was invited along with all the other returnees.  She was not recruited at the last minute.  She was on the list from the beginning.  

32 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

 

Laurie Caso joined the show around mid or late-1989. I think he was one of the reasons Hillary Bailey Smith left, as he didn't work with her to keep her around the way his predecessor did, IIRC. 

 

I feel like Marland's writing changed after the strike. The presentation became much more somber and camp slowly but surely disappeared, as did some of the more natural weaving in of comedy. Incredibly depressing and character inappropriate stories like Shannon's pregnancy and miscarriage would not have happened before then.

 

With that said, other than Rosanna, I mostly enjoyed his last year as headwriter - if that is the right word. 

 

(the Carolyn story went off the rails because he changed his mind about Darryl being the killer - I also think they rushed the early beats [her death and Darryl/Frannie] way too much compared to the later stalling out)

Are you suggesting camp is a good thing?  I don't remember Marland ever writing much camp.  But maybe you and I don't define camp the same way.  I don't like (intentional) camp on soaps, and I am not a fan of comedy either.  Humor is okay, as long as it is based in character, and not situation.  Shannon and Harriet were quite humorous, but they came right up to the line of over-doing it, in my opinion.   I always thought Marland's soaps were the stories of relatively happy people confronting problems, while Harding Lemay's AW was a story of people who were generally unhappy.   

4 hours ago, Mitch said:

Now I know why I stopped watching ATWT and just kept to GL. The show is so morose and wooden here.  Marland really lost his "spark" from the start of his run which balanced some camp, family storylines, business, young love. The era is personified by Iva..morose and bland.

It's always been said that Marland died suddenly without warning.  But I've wondered if perhaps he was ill for the last year or so of his ATWT run.  The writing in general didn't seem up to his normal level, and the Carolyn Crawford murder story certainly didn't have  the trademarks of Marland's typically well-planned murder mysteries.  Plus, didn't the show get a new executive producer a year to two before Marland's death?  Perhaps the new ex-prod had a negative influence.   

1 hour ago, amybrickwallace said:

 

There is a photo of Jacquie Courtney, George Reinholt and Beverly Penberthy posing together at that party. It's in Gerry Waggett's AW Trivia Book.

 

Per AWHP, the invited past cast members who declined to participate were Kinkead, Russom, Chris Rich and Susan Sullivan. The latter was still on FC at the time and may not have been able to get away. 

That's not the photo I'm talking about, but I'm glad there is another photo.  The photo I saw was a large group, mostly actors, Sort of an un-posed group shot.  Some of the actors seemed to be aware they were being photographed, while others seemed oblivious.   I do remember George Reinholt and Tom Eplin in mid-conversation, near the front of the group.  

Susan Sullivan attended the real anniversary party. So she was in town.  Maybe her contract with FC prohibited her from playing another fictional character on TV.  Who knows?

Thanks for the memory jog -- yes, Chris Rich was the fourth actor I was thinking of.   If I'm not mistaken, Sandy Cory was the only invited former character who was not from the Lemay era.   That's pretty amazing, really.  And speaks to Lemay's huge impact on the show, even all those years later.   

7 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

 

I'm sure this has been discussed before but wasn't it supposed to be Leon Russum as Willis who originally had the lines given to Dorothy Lyman?

Either Russom couldn't commit or they decided there was more value in having Lyman return and there was a last minute switch.

It's been speculated for years that Gwen's lines in the 25th episodes were originally written for Willis.  Russom was definitely invited to appear, but turned-down the offer.  Had Russom agreed, both Willis and Gwen would have attended the "party," since we know Lyman was invited to appear at the same time.  Willis would likely have been the trouble-maker, and Gwen would likely have been more true-to-character -- trying to control Willis and calm him down.    

Other actors who turned-down offers to appear were Susan Sullivan, Maeve Kincaid, and at least one other who's name I've forgotten.   So no doubt, there would have been scenes featuring Robert and Lenore, and Willis and Angie.  There should have also been at least a short scene featuring Gwen and Russ Matthews, since they had been romantically involved and engaged in the '70s. 

In addition to the on-screen celebration, there was also a "real" anniversary party in Manhattan.  Dozens of former actors attended that event -- not just those who had appeared in the episodes.    As far as I know, there is only one existing photo from that party showing some of the actors in attendance.  It was posted online about a decade ago, but I do not have a copy of it.   

21 hours ago, rick55 said:

Another thing that bothered me.  How, when they had the 25th anniversary in 1989, do we not get a Steve/Alice scene?   We got them with Rachel and Jaime.  I would understand if Courtney wasn't there, but they brought her back for it.  IMO, criminal considering the couple's history and the fact that they had the original actors in the role.

It was probably because Courtney was no longer a regular on the show, and was just appearing as a guest -- just as Reinholt was.  They likely didn't want to give that much attention to a returning former actress who wasn't staying permanently.  

3 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

I hope Maree talks about why she has never come back to Days esp for the 50th.

Didn't Maree return for Tom Horton's funeral?  And maybe for Alice's too?  Probably wasn't invited to return for the 50th.  

It's interesting that so many of the actors we assume were on-contact, spent so much time away from the show. Sometimes weeks and weeks. Were contacts different back then?  Do you think the contract actors were paid, whether or not they were appearing on the show?  Or maybe they were not on contract at all.  Does anyone know?

1 hour ago, Forever8 said:

Alan Locher will welcome SEARCH FOR TOMORROW alums Maree Cheatham (ex-Stephanie; ex-Marie, DAYS et al), Michael Corbett (ex-Warren et al) and Marcia McCabe (ex-Sunny) to his YouTube talk show, The Locher Report. The trio will appear on Tuesday, November 10 at 3 p.m., which can be viewed herefor the full story.

 

@DRW50@dc11786 @Paul Raven @amybrickwallace @OzFrog@victoria foxton@NothinButAttitude

https://www.soapoperadigest.com/content/search-for-tomorrow-alums-virtual-interview-scheduled/

I hope Alan allows them to talk about Mary Stuart.  But he will probably cut them off, every time Mary's name is mentioned.   

1 hour ago, Elsa said:

How about Sharon Gabet joining AW as Blaine? Do you think it would have worked out?

I think Sharon Gabet should have been cast as Rachel's sister, Pamela Davis.  She was the right age, had the right look, and the character would have leaned toward Gabet's acting strengths.   

4 minutes ago, AbcNbc247 said:

I'd love to see that scene where she died. All nice and peaceful, singing "Bye Bye Blackbird" and then she was gone. Lemay said he wrote it like that on purpose in order to show someone just simply accepting that it was just their time. 

I may have been wrong that Theresa was diagnosed in Bay City.  It's possible she already knew she was dying, when she arrived.  I don't remember.   

My only problem with the focus on Theresa's death was, she was such an unimportant character.  Why didn't Lemay give this death scene to someone the audience cared more about?   I suppose it was a matter of timing.  But he certainly killed-off plenty of important characters, and often their deaths got relatively little attention.   We barely knew Theresa, and her death is still remembered as one of the show's classic scenes.  In terms of structuring a show, that was probably a mistake.    

4 hours ago, rlj said:

He actually was, wasn't arguing, as someone who watched when Steve aka Mr Black returned from the dead  in 81 , I know he was more then just the owner of Frame Construction at that time, we will agree to disagree!

Who is Theresa?

I watched in '81 too.  And yes, they really screwed-up a lot of history with Steve's return.  When neither the writers nor the actors know the history of a storyline, it's difficult to get it right.  Paul Rauch and Vicky Wyndham would have known the details, but both had probably thrown-up their hands in exhaustion by that time.   

Theresa was Carol Lamont's mother and a socialite friend of Iris from back east.  Theresa was diagnosed with a terminal illness while visiting Iris in Bay City, and died on the patio of Iris's mansion.   

12 hours ago, rlj said:

 

At that time Return From The Dead Steven Frame was  the Richest Man in BC!

Of course he wasn't.  My post explained that Mac was far wealthier, and we don't even know if Mac was the richest man in Bay City. Mac was just the richest man on the show.  Steve owned a construction company.  Mac owned a world-wide publishing conglamorate.   That had been established years earlier on the show.  No need to argue about it.   

12 hours ago, amybrickwallace said:

I think Laura Malone was a terrific performer no matter what she was given to play, but do you all think Blaine was better as a villainess or a heroine? (Most of the material I've seen on YouTube is after Blaine had become a good girl.)

Blaine was far better as a villainess. And Malone was better at playing her that way.  After Blaine became a heroine, Malone seemed to struggle finding motivation for the character, and Blaine became too saccharine sweet.  Artificial.    

5 hours ago, Mitch said:

And after seeing that poor little Marty had to put his pants on and hang his head in shame!

 

 

Daniel Cosgrove as Bill Lewis also showed his butt on camera.  Also, a couple of guys on Y&R.  Was it Jack and Brad?  It must have been a CBS experiment, because I don't remember the other networks doing it.   

3 hours ago, victoria foxton said:

 

Who was writing this crap?  Steve Frame was never as wealthy as Mac Cory -- not even close.  Now they're saying Steve is the richest man in town.   Good grief!   

1 hour ago, Elsa said:

Was Victoria Wyndham involved with someone from NBC? The show was handed to her,  the heroine/star was fired so that she could take her, place, they gave her star billing, she claims to have made "suggestions" to TPTB and secretly written for the show. Isn't this too much? And for what? Lousy ratings since 1980?

Victoria Wyndham wasn't "given" star billing.  She had been number-three in the cast list (behind Jacquie Courtney and George Reinholt) from her first episode.  The same number-three that had been previously held by Robin Strasser.   So when Courtney and Reinholt were fired, it was natural that VW would move to number-one.   The stranger billing was that of Douglass Watson (a relative new-comer to the show) who was moved from near the bottom of the list,  to number-two (upon the firing of Reinholt and Courtney), skipping over stars like Beverly Penberthy, Connie Ford, David Bailey, Hugh Marlowe, and Beverlee McKenzie.     

1 hour ago, robbwolff said:

 

I've thought that it may have had to do with Joy Bell's Caroline Stafford, who arrived about a month before Iris' return. My guess is that Lemay planned to reveal that Iris had been living in Australia and that Caroline was her daughter. Evan (Bates) Frame was lovers with both Iris and Caroline, so there was potential there for a juicy triangle.

Interesting.  Caroline did have a troubling phone conversation with her mother back in Australia.  But I don't recall if that was before, or after, Iris arrived.   

Would anyone care to speculate on why TPTB did not ask Carmen Duncan to use an American accent, while playing Iris?  It's not as if it cannot be done.  Barbara Bejer (an American) played Bridget with a Scottish accent for more years than Duncan was on the show. And Brian Murray (a South African, who normally spoke with a very noticeable South African accent) used an American accent while playing Dan Shearer in 1978-79.   So why not Duncan?   

19 hours ago, vetsoapfan said:

Um, no. Sally was adopted by his father's widow. That in no way, shape, or form makes them cousins. Also on AW, didn't an Ordway or two pop up in Bay City using the last name "Frame," even though they were Ordways? Inconsistencies about locales, names, family relationships, etc., have always given soap fans headaches.

If I'm not mistaken, Alice began the adoption process while Steve was still alive, but working in Australia.  And since Sally took the name Frame, I would say Sally was Jamie's sister (step? half?).  But certainly not his cousin.  The idea that he did not recognize Sally was his sister, and actually went on a date with her was really creepy!    

And yes, Frankie Frame was really an Ordway.  They made-up some silly reason she used the name Frame, but it was ludicrous.   Soap fans are smart enough to learn who's related to whom.  Good Lord, Days of Our Lives is well populated with members of the Horton family, but almost NONE of them carry the name Horton.  Still, we realize they are related

And back to EON, I always thought Monticello was in Ohio!

2 hours ago, teplin said:

 

Trust me, it reads better than it played out on screen. 

I completely agree.  Compared to what Lemay was writing 18 months earlier, 1980 was awful.   The entire show was falling apart.  Tom King was reasonably good at writing for the characters Lemay left behind, but the characters created by King were insipid and did not fit on AW. King would have been wise to keep as many of Lemay's characters as possible (since he knew how to write for them -- sorta).  But instead, he jettisoned about a third of the old characters in favor of his own creations, which the audience didn't care about and never warmed-up to.