Tisy-Lish

Thank you for responding, your comments are helpful. I wish I remembered more detail, but I don't think I would have imagined this unknown actress. I suppose I could be wrong about the holiday (perhaps it could have been the Christmas Eve episode), but I really think it was Thanksgiving Eve. I could also be wrong about the year, but I seem to remember Janice in the episode, so that should narrow it down. This question has been bugging me for over 30-years. LOL.

Does anyone remember Patricia Bruder being replaced by another actress temporarily around Thanksgiving the same year Janice was on the show? I remember tuning in the episode before Thanksgiving day and the Hughes were preparing the Thanksgiving meal in their kitchen. There was a strange middle-aged blonde woman sitting at the table chatting, but her name was not mentioned in the dialogue. Everyone in the scene was treating her like a well-known friend, so I had to assume she was playing Ellen Stuart. Does anyone else remember this? Or is this episode possibly in someone's collection?

A few months ago, Suzanne was interviewed for about an hour on the Soapy podcast. Although she didn't mention Deidre, she did tell a story about some resentment with other actors. She shared that when she was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis in the mid-1980s, her appearance changed and two or three of the other actors made derogatory remarks about it. Suzanne said she was very hurt by this. She also admitted she still harbors a grudge about it, and she doubts forgiveness is in the future. Could this be the cause of the current issue between Suzanne and Deidre? I'm sure Suzanne's interview is still available, if anyone is interested in listening.

I agree. The facial structure doesn't resemble Mia's, although the hair (from Peyton Place) is similar. I personally do not think this is a photo of Mia Farrow. But that's just my opinion.

Well, that's a close shot. But this set is much bigger (to the left and to the right) than what we see here. I'm not interested in arguing about it, so believe what you want to believe.

I think the park cafe set is a winter thing because it is a small set, and easy to spread snow around. The larger Chancellor Park set is very big, and to make that set look like winter in Wisconsin would require a hell of a lot of fake snow -- which would have to be vacuumed up every time the set was taken down. So I think it's a matter of convenience and perhaps budget. The smaller park set is easier and cheaper to "winterize".

The Hayley/Bill poisoning storyline seems to be dead in the water. At first, it was a refreshing twist. But now it has been going on for several months, and Bill seldom shows signs of even minor poisoning. What the Hell?? This plot should have been handled similar to the extremly successful Janice Frame/Mac Cory poisoning on Another World. Once the audience is clued into the truth, the action (poisoning) should move along rather swiftly. On Another World -- with Mac growing increasingly sicker, he started missing work. Then when Mac's colleagues and friends started to question Mac's health, Janice whisked him away to a Caribbean island where she planned to finish the job. At first it seemed the Haley/Bill plot was heading in a similar direction, with the couple buying a house in the Caribbean. Now the entire plot seems stuck in second-gear. The issue with any "poisoning your spouse" plot is -- in the end, the perpetrator must either die, go to prison, or escape never to be seen again. There is really no way to redeem a character who has poisoned her/his spouse. That's just the way it is. But I'm getting the feeling TPTB at BTG are afraid to write off Ashley and lose a good actress, so they are slow walking the plot until they can find a way to redeem Ashley. Dear God in Heaven, the entire exercise has become as boring as Hell. Get on with it, or get off the pot.

I agree. Kover was my favorite of all the adult versions of Chris. Most of the later Chris's seemed like casting experiments.

I know it has happened on other soaps. But whataboutism doesn't convince me of anything. Two wrongs (even many wrongs) do not make a right. I have high expectations for soap operas. I also understand some people have low expectations for soap operas. And I didn't suggest it was a rule. I was just giving my opinion. People disagree with me fairly often.

Yeah, that was weird. A dream sequence should never last more than one scene. Dreams are not interrupted by reality, and then back to the dream. And please don't tell me it's just a soap.

Green Coffee is featured on her record album from the mid 1970s. Very good album, by the way...

Of course, you are correct. Why stop such a great Christmas tradition? As a teenager in the mid to late 1970s, I remember loving the Christmas Eve and Christmas Day episodes of the various soap operas. My favorites at Christmas were probably: Search for Tomorrow, As the World Turns, Days of Our Lives, All My Children, and (strangely) Edge of Night. Those five soaps always seemed determined to do Christmas right -- even if it was sometimes at the last minute -- as it often was on EON.

For many years, Mary sang on every Christmas episode of SFT. She had written several Christmas songs, and often sang one or two of her own compositions when the cast gathered at the hospital or at the Hartford House Inn on Christmas afternoon. Her Christmas melodies were really quite good, and I always hoped Mary would release a holiday album -- but apparently she did not. I'm not sure when Mary stopped singing on the Christmas episodes, but it was almost certainly sometime after SFT moved to NBC.

Thank you for all this additional information. Although it does not solve the riddle, it is very helpful. At times I have wondered if somehow this all is just a false memory. But I was never a particular fan of Mark Lenard. I mostly remember him from Star Trek. So why would I have a false memory connecting Lenard to AW, when at the time I didn't even know he had previously been on the show as Ernest Gregory?? About 15-years ago, I started reading the 1971 synopsis on AWHP hoping to read far enough to find Lenard's visit. But that quickly became too time consuming, and I gave up. And it is possible (maybe even likely) that the appearance I'm remembering would not even be mentioned in the synopses, because Lenard's return (as I remember it) was little more than a two or three day cameo appearance. As I mentioned earlier, he had no impact on any plots, and interacted with only three or four characters. If my memory is correct (and that is questionable LOL), he was just an old friend passing through Bay City for a day or two, and he wanted to say hello to some old friends. That type of thing could have easily been left out of any synopsis, since it was of little consequence. If a researcher reading through the old scripts ever discovers "an old friend visiting John and Pat for a couple of days" in the scripts, it will probably be entirely accidental. But perhaps that researcher will post something online about it. This is difficult to research intentionally because I do not remember the character's name (although I speculate Lenard may have returned as Ernest Gregory) and I don't even know what year it was (although it was between 1971 and April 1975). That makes it a needle in a haystack... Thanks again for your interest and input.

I saw that same information, but I'm assuming his appearance as Judge Billings was in 1977 (based on the dates listed above). And I'm nearly 100 percent certain that my memory of a possible return was much earlier than that -- probably between 1971 and early 1975.

The only way to find out would be to find the scripts of those episodes. But since I don't know the dates or even the year, it would be nearly impossible. Perhaps someone will come upon those scripts by accident sometime, and share the information.

I am both Harding Lemay's biggest fan, and his harshest critic. Harding Lemay did not understand the importance of the traditional middle-class core family to many soap operas. He didn't understand that the core-family was intended to be permanent to those soaps, neither did he understand the role of the soap opera matriarch and patriarch and how important they were to both the audience and the structure of the show. With not much knowledge of nor appreciation for the genre, Lemay wanted the freedom to write whatever he wanted to write, even if it meant altering the structure of Another World. He wanted the freedom to experiment with new characters, many of whom did not work and were written off within six months of their first appearance (believe me, there were dozens and dozens of these characters during his eight years at AW). If he found a long-term character boring, he expected the authority to write-off that character, or if he didn't like a particular actor, he expected the authority to simply stop writing for him/her -- eventually writing-off or killing-off the character. All the other soaps survived with the understanding that there are certain characters we want to remain central to the show, so they will get screen-time and they will not leave the show. Lemay either was unaware of this, or his ego just would not all him to care. And Paul Rauch was not a strong enough executive producer to tell Lemay "NO." On the other hand, Lemay was a master of character driven drama. He wrote very few identifiable plots (storylines with a beginning, a middle, and an end) while he was at AW. Instead me wrote situations and conflicts that allowed the audience to get inside the heads of his characters, to grow to love them, and to feel that they were real believable people. Another World was very imperfect during the Lemay era, but it was certainly compelling drama. And I tried never to miss an episode. While Lemay was at AW, I complained that there weren't enough formal storylines, and I complained that the Matthews family was being sidelined -- but I was totally hooked on Lemay's characters. I could not stop watching as long as Lemay was writing the show.

Here's a way back question for very long-term fans of AW -- I have a vague memory of Mark Lenard returning to Another World for a few episodes early in the Lemay era (sometime between 1971 and 1975). I do not remember the name of the character, but he was treated like a returning character. His character was friendly with John and Pat Randolph, and had scenes in their home. And I believe he also had scenes with Jim and Mary Matthews. He was not involved in any plots, and was treated like an old friend who returned to town for a few days. The only reason I remember is because I recognized Mark Lenard from Star Trek. At that time (early-1970s), I was not aware that Lenard had previously played Ernest Gregory on the show. So, does anyone else remember this? And is it possible Lenard returned as Ernest Gregory for a couple of days? Maybe Mark Lenard was in New York performing in a play or something, and Paul Rauch got him back to AW for a few days, hoping to boost the ratings?? Did he return as Ernest Gregory? I have no idea. But he was treated by the other characters as if he had returned to town. I've discussed this with Eddie Drueding a few times, and he has been unable to find any evidence in scripts or synopses to support my memory of Lenard's brief return. Just thought I would ask the question here, and see if anyone has any memory of this??

According to the AWHP So you're saying Lipton created Peggy? Well, at least he did something good. Peggy was wonderful.

I believe you are correct. There was no plane crash, and only one Gregory died (in a car accident, as you said). All the others just moved away from Bay City. And didn't one Gregory remain on the show for a significant time, after the others had left? I'm assuming that may have been Ernest, because of his involvement with Janet Matthews. I'd love to know how the "plane crash" myth got started. But I've heard it repeated -- even on talk shows with soap opera guests -- and very often Another World is not mentioned, just the "fact" that one soap opera killed-off an entire family in a plane crash. And when that comes up, I always know they are talking about Another World and the Gregorys.

Nixon showed some real genius on AW (several times, actually). While Jim and Mary Matthews, the Baxters, and the Gregorys were all middle-class families -- Nixon's introductions, Lenore and Helen Moore were quite wealthy (even wealthier than Liz), and Ada, Sam, and Rachel were firmly working-class. So aside from Liz's wealth (from day-one), Agnes Nixon first introduced social class-conflict to AW. And that theme carried through both the Cenadella and Lemay eras. I believe social class conflict, and long tortured romances were the hallmarks of AW during its golden age.

Actually, the Gregorys supplanting the Matthews family is an urban myth, even though it has been mistakenly presented as fact in several soap opera history books. The Gregorys were brought on to replace the Baxter family whose storylines had finished. They were never intended to replace the Matthews clan. During the entire period the Gregory family was on AW, the Matthews were still very firmly AW's core family -- just read the episode synopses or the scripts. When Agnes Nixon arrived as head-writer, she quickly (but not as quickly as most people assume) replaced the Gregory family with Lenore and Helen Moore, and Rachel, Ada and Sam -- two small families, the Moores and the Lucas's.

Good point. Another World always had several young women in lead roles who overshadowed and left little room for Susan -- Pat, Alice, Missy. And later Lenore and Rachel joined the show. And when Iris came along, that's another woman of approximately the same age, and later Felicia, Sharlene, and Donna. All those women were such compelling characters with few recasts, while Susan was played by four different actors, and also had long periods of time off the show. So each time she returned, Susan had to be almost totally reintroduced to much of the audience.

If I recall correctly, the first actor to play Liz was fired after the first episode! The first actor to play Jim was fired after the first week! Granny Matthews was written-off after one month. The first two actors to play Susan Matthews were each fired within two months of being cast. So Jacquie Courtney's fear was understandable.

I believe three actresses played Susan Matthews between 1964 and 1971. Then Lemay was hired as head-writer, and quickly married Susan to Dr Dan Shearer, and promptly dispatched them to Boston. And if I am correct about that, Lynn Milligram would have been the fourth actor to play Susan. when Lemay reintroduced Susan and Dan in 1978.