vetsoapfan

All these vintage photos make me so nostalgic for the golden era of soaps. ((Sigh))

Courtney has said in interviews that she liked Wyndham a lot, and that Victoria was very much into her character. Wyndham has also been quoted as saying she liked Courtney and Reinholt, although back in 1975 she wondered if it was a good idea for Reinholt to join OLTL after leaving AW, because he seemed unhappy working within the soap opera medium. Considering how much Reinholt later badmouthed OLTL, claiming its writers were even worse than AW's (!!!), and how Reinholt ranted his way out the door of the ABC soap, Wyndham was probably right. Using a huge knife to stab into a cake at the OLTL anniversary party one year, producer Joseph Stuart joked about the cake being George Reinholt's heart, LOL. I have a letter to the editor of Afternoon TV Stars from Reinholt, published soon after he was fired by AW's Paul Pauch, in which he says that both he and Courtney had originally felt Wyndham was miscast as the third part of the Alice/Steven/Rachel triangle. Courtney made a comment once about the cast being miffed about all the new, aggressive actresses coming aboard AW and getting attention for their work that perhaps others, like Robin Strasser, deserved more. This was before Wyndham arrived, however, and it sounded like she was referring to Susan Sullivan. I tend to believe Courtney and Wyndham got along fairly well. It was just Reinholt who could be prickly, based on so many other actors' comments. At this point, however, 40+ years later, we'll never really know. Heck, even Paul Rauch, who was so critical of Reinholt and Courtney back in the 1970s, praised Courtney when she passed away a few years ago, calling her a "great gal" who always gave first-rate performances.

Yes, that is Hulswit, looking as cute and cuddly as ever.

They had a few good actors cast as David, my favorite being Richard Guthrie, and the character was well-written and well-used under Pat Falken Smith and even, to an extent, under Ann Marcus. In 1976, we had Wesley Eure as Mike and Richard Guthrie as David, and it looked like the next generation of Hortons was on solid footing. That did not last long, but it was good while it did last.

Heather North was interesting as Sandy Horton, and had a screen presence which was lacking in the later actresses who played the role. When the show brought back the character many years later, I don't think TPTB really knew what to do with her, and were not really committed to keeping her around longterm. The same with Scotty. They aged him way too quickly, and without a lot of point, for he did not last long, and the show never mined the potential the character could have had. It was like the writers just wanted to throw a Horton on-screen, but didn't actually know how to weave them successfully into the mix, and gave up after brief, half-hearted tries. Sarah Horton also fits into this category. If they had had Deidre Hall debut as Sandy Horton in 1976, and given Sandy the stories and attention Marlena Evan received, it would have been a longterm shot in the arm for the Horton clan. After Wesley Eure was fired, Mike stopped being Mike, and subsequent actors in the role (Michael Weiss being the best of the lot) were basically playing an entirely different character just going by the same name. Like Dusty Donovan and Meg Snyder on ATWT, whose later incarnations bore no resemble whatsoever to the characters as originally created and played.

Yes, Slesar did not have his characters sit around pontificating about feminism and the need for equality. He showcased female characters who already WERE strong, capable, layered, interesting in their own right, and not just appendages on the arms of more dominant men.

It makes me wonder even more why SFT barely bothered with Tina as Patti. Mary Stuart said that once they saw her on-screen, TPTB thought Sloan looked "too mature" (meaning old, I guess) for the role. I did think Sloan was a strange choice for Patti, but they certainly did go through a ba-zillion actresses to play Jo's daughter. The only one I really liked, of course, was Loring. All those who followed her were "fake Pattis" to me, LOL.

I cannot praise Slesar enough. He was great at creating intricate, long-term storylines which kept the audience guessing right up until the last minute, and which wove most of the show's characters into the action. He was also wonderful at character development and relationships, and his handling of the Adam and Nicole love story, as just one example, proved he could write romance effectively. In short, he could do it all, and the viewers benefited from his genius for many years. His best story, IMHO, was the original Whitney-family saga, in which a deranged Keith Whitney/Jonah Lockwood terrorized Monticello. BTW, the critique of TEON was spot-on. We need some soap journalists today like Deborah Channel. I'd trade 10 Caroline Hinseys for one Channel.

They made so many grave mistakes in the recasting of Alice, but then again, even when Jacqueline Courtney returned, the show clearly did not know what to do with the character, and did not appear particularly interested in showcasing her. What a waste. Anyone who accepted Harding Lemay's assessment that Courtney was a weak actress only had to compare her to all those dreadful replacements, to understand how effective she had really been in the role.

I agree that soaps were so much better back in the day. I wish there would be a new interest and revival of soaps with a fresh crop of writers that really care about good storytelling. I do think a revival of the soaps is possible, but the creative team involved would have to have talent, creative integrity,and understand the medium. Hacks like Jean P., Charles Pratt, Dena Higley, and their ilk should not be allowed anywhere near the writers' room, unless it's to deliver coffee. If I had to take a chance on a writer/producer to launch a new daytime drama, I'd give someone like Shonda Rhimes a chance. Her primetime series confirm that she can spin long-term continuing storylines pinned on character development and interpersonal relationships. Is she the best writer on the planet? Maybe not, but she is certainly better than anyone who has been writing daytime TV for the last twenty years, and a wide audience responds to the material she produces. (It would be so important for a new serial to be successful.) Writer Jonathan Kellerman, who pens murder mysteries, would be another one of my choices, if we were to launch a modern-day crime serial a la THE EDGE OF NIGHT. Kellerman is very prolific, writes fascinating, hair-raising tales of suspense, and has a solid grasp on human nature. Plots are key to his novels, but he never stints on character development or relationship drama, either. I've been hooked on Kellerman's continuing series of novels involving Dr. Alex Deleware and his associates at the LAPD for a whopping 30 years. Is that the episode is which she tells Stuart that she has been talking to her friend about going away to Colorado Women's College? I have that episode as well. I thought that was before Jennifer's death, but with my ancient, fading memory, I could very well be wrong.

I saw the Bell interview. Conboy is a strange kind of guy. A lot of people like him and a lot of people don't. I think Eric Braeden fought with Conboy in his early days on the show. He was replaced by Wes Kenney when he left to do Capitol. I have seen pics of Conboy in magazines on dates with people like Donna Mills etc.....but I also read/heard that he really was into blonde guys and that's why he would often cast them. If you look at the late 70's/ early 80's cast of Y&R most of the men were blonde Kevin, Jack, Lucas, Paul, Greg, Andy, Cash etc......On Capitol he casted blonde Shea Farrell who later went on to Hotel. I saw some 1965 episodes of Days and they were OK, but a bit slow. Bell said that when he told Corday he would take over, he said he watched the show and saw a lot he did not like and then set about making changes. The show was only give another few weeks to improve and several people thought Bell was crazy to agree to sign on. I think for Conboy, Donna Mills and his other female dates were merely "beards," to help him conform with societal pressure of the day. Now, it would be less likely to raise eyebrows from him or anyone else to bring a date of the same gender. I watched DAYS from its inception, and have many 1965 eps in my collection, and I cannot say it was bad during the first year, only...uninvolving. Fortunately, Bell was able to work magic on DAYS in 1966 and helped raise the ratings considerably. As I wrote in an earlier message, soap fans way back then did not even know had good we had it. So many of the shows were magnificent in the 1960s and '70s.

I would love to see all those classic Days episodes (1966-1976) too along with classic Y&R (1973-1983). That's a crazy thing for Pamela Peters to do. I know they were live on tape then and I bet everyone was pissed they stopped production. It sounds like she hated working with Herrera and whined to Bill Bell to fire him. I do remember him saying his time was miserable on Y&R in an interview. Quinn Redeker said something like that too in a magazine after he went to days in 1979. He said he enjoyed the cast of Y&R at that time when he played Nick Reed (in the late 80's he returned as Rex Sterling), but the backstage goings on was stressful. I think John Conboy was the source of most of it. He and Bill Bell had a power struggle over the show. I remember reading about fights in the control booth and Bell calling from Chicago to rake him out over stuff he saw on the air. DAYS was okay during its first season, but it was not really exciting, and did not really catch fire, until William J. bell took over as headwriter. That's why I say I'd like to see all the 1966-76 episodes again, although I certainly would enjoy watching the series from its 1965 debut, even if it did get off to a slow start. Pam Peters was a young actress at the time, and perhaps, like so many of the original cast of Y&R, she was ((ahem)) restless to leave the show after a few years. I'm not sure when she was on or off contract during her run. When the character's mother, Jennifer Brooks died, Peggy was curiously absent during important scenes. On a Friday episode, Jennifer gathered her daughters together to toell them that she did not have much longer to live. As expected, all four daughters were present and expressed the appropriate grief. When the action picked up again on Monday, Peggy had disappeared. Lorie asked, "Where's Peg?" And Chris replied, "She couldn't take this." We were supposed to believe that Peggy, upon hearing of her mom's impending death, would simply leave the house and her grieving family members behind. It was really awkward, but at the time I figured Peters was either unavailable to work on that day, or had been written out of the script at the last minute due to unknown backstage issues. It's long been said that John Conboy tried to have Bill Bell fired from Y&R, and if that is true, it's shockingly arrogant and aggressive. Any competent producer could have produced the show, but Bill Bell was...Bill Bell. We have since seen what his leaving the series has done to its quality of writing. In other words, Conboy was easily replaceable. Bill Bell, not so much. There's an interview with Bell available on youtube, and when he is asked about his opinion of John Conboy, you can tell that Conboy was not Bell's favorite person.

I wonder why Pam was gone that long ? Maybe viewers were turned off by another rape so soon and with another Brooks sister. I have read and heard about Ron Becker. How was Dick DeCoit in the role ? Did they try to make Ron sympathetic ? DeCoit has went on to do a lot in his career. He acts and produces shows and has a facebook page. I saw him in a comedy sketch making fun of Archie Manning and recognized him. I say you are right about why Days swept that storyline under the rug. Since they are doing sick storylines now, they might as well revisit and reveal the truth about what happened all those years ago. In a 1970s' interview in Rona Barret's Daytimers about his tenure on Y&R, Anthony Herrera said that at one point, Pamela Peters stopped working, looked directly into the camera and announced, "I don't understand this scene!" And then walked off the set. He did not elaborate the point, but that anecdote made me wonder if Peters was something of a diva backstage. William J. Bell later called Herrera into his office, said the storyline between Herrera's and Peters' characters was not working, and then fired the actor. I guess we will never know what went on way back then. Dick DeCoit was pretty good in the role. I wouldn't say the show tried to make his character likable; not only had he raped Peggy, he was abusing his wife Nancy and feeding her pills to keep her unbalanced. The character was quite vile. With Uncle Mickey dead, and Bill, Laura, and Mike all long-gone off the canvas, DAYS will probably never revisit the ancient history shared by the characters, but I would love to be able to raid the vaults and rewatch all the classic Bill Bell and Pat Falken Smith episodes from 1966-76!

Yes, although some of the recasts of major roles were jaw-droppingly awful, I think the declining writing is what ultimately lead the show to fail. At least in its final months, when Claire Labine returned as headwriter, the show enjoyed a resurgence in quality, and the once-beloved series went out with a bang and not a whimper. So many other soaps had atrocious final episodes, but in the end, RYAN'S HOPE felt like...RYAN'S HOPE, and came to a comforting, poignant conclusion. Just the other day, I rewatched the scenes from the finale, in which Maeve Ryan thanked Jack Fenelli "for loving my Mary," and I choked up as if they were my own family members, to whom I had to say goodbye. I am glad that all the eps of this series have been preserved, even if they will probably never be broadcast anywhere ever again.

Yes, while Hawkins was affable and attractive, and came across as very endearing, it was clear from watching his scenes on various soaps that he was struggling with the dialogue. I don't really fault an actor for this. Jonathan Frid (Barnabas Collins) often stumbled over his lines on DARK SHADOWS, but that did not prevent the audience from adoring him and making him a soap superstar. Eileen Fulton as Lisa would also get tongue-tied on AS THE WORLD TURNS, as did Hugh Marlowe as Jim Matthews on ANOTHER WORLD. While Andrew Robinson was technically a much better actor than Hawkins, he was not particularly attractive, and came across as somewhat...creepy. (Maybe I was still being influenced by his role as a psychopath in DIRTY HARRY, but still....) I would have kept Hawkins as Frank Ryan, but just reduced his dialogue and kept his appearances to a few days a week. Anyway, the show decided to replace him, and later really hit pay dirt when they chose Daniel Hugh Kelly for the role. Hawkins had the looks and the charisma for the part, Robinson had the technical acting skill, and Kelly had everything. He was perfectly cast as the third and best Frank Ryan.

I can imagine what Days viewers thought of Bill doing that to Laura. I saw the scene on Days in the 80's where Mike was talking about his real father Bill and explaining he was the product of an "Affair" between Bill and his mother. I don't know if the current writers wanted to wipe away that ugly detail, or if Mike was supposed to be in the dark of what really happened. He said he will always be Mickey's son regardless. That Chris Brooks rape sounds horrible. I guess Anthony Geary was just meant to play creeps.....LOL. I had heard that Chris was criticized for allowing George Curtis to walk her home. The scene of Lorie crying for that long period before cutting away sounds unusual. I bet the switch boards at CBS lit up when Lorie told Mark it didn't matter if he was her brother. I think I read Bill Bell and Jamie Lyn Bauer got hate mail. No one ever went into specifics with Mike about the night he was conceived, just that he was Bill's son. I can understand why the rape was eventually brushed under the carpet; it would have been very difficult to deal with, for the writers or for any of the characters. On June 16, 1976 (and God only knows why I remember this date), Peggy Brooks, Chris' sister, was raped by Ron Becker. In an interview about this storyline, in which a second Brooks sister was raped within a three-year period, actress Trish Stewart theorized that Bill Bell wanted to revisit the subject because so many viewers had judged Chris harshly for inviting George Curtis home. The way the later story was set up, no one could have accused poor Peggy of "asking for" anything, as she was alone in Chris' apartment when Ron Becker forced himself in and raped her. Unfortunately, during and after the Ron Becker rape trial, something must have happened behind the scenes with Pamela Peters, because Peggy just sort of disappeared for an extended period of time. It was particularly awkward, I thought, because other characters also stopped referring to her. I scanned the daytime press at the time to understand what was going on, but there were never any reports about the actress' absence.

How did they handle the rape onscreen in the late 60's ? Did they just fade out as it began ? I read that one of the most violent shown on daytime back then was in 1973 with the rape of Chris Brooks on Y&R(another Bell written story). Bill Bell talked about how he kept the secret of Mike's paternity going for years, so I assume Pat Falken Smith finished the storyline. Pat wrote with Bill so I wonder if she consulted with him during that time ? The Tommy/Marie story resembles Bell's story of Lorie Brooks falling for her half brother Mark on Y&R 1975-1976. They did not actually show much of the assault on-screen, when Bill raped Laura. The characters were in a hospital supply closet, if I recall correctly. (It's been 50 years--literally--so I may be hazy on some of the exact details.) Bill advanced towards Laura and she started backing away, protesting...fade to black. We understood what had happened in the next scenes, however, and both characters were horrified about what had just taken place. The first rape story on Y&R, when George Curtis attacked Chris Brooks, was much more explicit and quite upsetting to watch. After unsuccessfully trying to fight him off, we saw a close-up of Chris' face as she was pinned down underneath her rapist, and she weakly cried out, "Daddy!" It made my blood run cold. Idiotic viewers later criticized Chris for "asking for it," because she had been friendly to Curtis and let him come home with her. Thank God society's attitude towards this sort of thing has changed. NO should always means NO, even if you do offer a man something to drink at your apartment. Poor Chris. UGH. The scenes of her in the shower, trying to scrub away the memory of what had happened (Curtis had already sauntered out of her apartment and lit a cigarette), were just as heartbreaking as the scenes of the actual rape. Yes, Pat Falken Smith finished the storyline about Mike's paternity reveal, although Bill Bell was still credited as story consultant at that time. I have an interview with Smith from 1977, in which she refers to working with Bell earlier, and being skeptical that Bell would ever be able to turn the story of a man raping his sister-in-law into a viable love story. I was relieved she agreed with me about that disturbing plot twist, although as we all know, DAYS and Bell managed to pull it off, as did Falken Smith later on with Luke and Laura on GH. Lorie's relationship with Mark on Y&R was handled differently in the end, than Marie's relationship with Tommy. Even after knowing that Mark was her brother, Lorie went to his clinic and begged him to be with her anyway. (Marie Horton did not do that; she flipped out and ran away to become a nun.) Mark refused Lorie's pleas outright, and left her alone to weep hysterically on a bench in the hallway, for what seemed like FOREVER. I'll never forget that scene. Usually, soaps will cut away and fade to a commercial after a few seconds of a character crying, but the camera remained on Lorie as she sat on that bench and sobbed and sobbed...and SOBBED. I think this was the turning point for the audience, who had considered Lorie more of a "bitch" up until then. It was hard not to feel sorry for her and start to see the character in a more sympathetic light. She certainly got her punishment for all the bad deeds she committed against her sister

Meredith was such a sweet character, and an important part of two core families (the Lords by "birth" and the Woleks, by marriage), I could never understand why they killed her off instead of mining more story potential for her. Victor Lord was apparently not Meri's biological father, and the show could have used that point to spin various, interesting scenarios for the Lord family. Maybe the writers wanted to free up Larry Wolek for other romances, and he did end up having an amazing storyline with Karen a few years later. Nancy Pinkerton was a great Dorian. Have you have the opportunity to see much of her work? Some episodes with her are on youtube. Of all the characters on soaps who have been recast many times, I'd say OLTL had the most success with Dorian. All five actresses who played the role were very good.

The plant references are both pointlessly sarcastic and hard to figure out. Carol was infertile, so the "infertile geranium" comment might have been about her. Nothing of interest really went on with Wally and Jennifer; the character of Jen was only really important (and interesting) when she was with Bob. To me, Don and Lisa never really had much chemistry, and the thought of her ending up with her former brother-in-law (on such a conservative soap and in such a conservative family) icked me out. Yes, I think that it was during her relationship with Don that Lisa believed herself to be pregnant again. She walked around saying, "But...but...how could I be expecting?" It was almost amusing. In the end, she had an ovarian cyst and was not actually pregnant for the third time.

I was fortunate enough to be watching DAYS (and many other soaps) back in the 1960s, and did not even realize how good we as viewers had it, with masters like William J. Bell, Agnes Nixon, Irna Phillips, etc., in top form, spinning enthralling stories to keep us glued to our seats. The Tommy/Marie saga and the Bill/Laura/Mickey triangle could not have been better handled in those days. Tommy and Marie never actually had sex, thank heavens, and their romantic relationship was based more on long gazes and poetic dialogue than physical contact. I was shocked when I saw Bill raping Laura in the hospital, and never dreamed it could turn into a beautiful love story later on, but...it did. (I loathed the idea of a rape victim falling in love with her rapist, just as I did when GH wrote Luke and Laura as a romantic couple.) The Bill/Laura/Mickey drama lasted for YEARS, up until 1976 when Mickey discovered that Mike was Bill's son and not his own. No soap nowadays would dream about extending a story for almost a decade, but because DAYS did just that, the final reveal about Mike's true parentage, and the fall-out with Mickey's nervous breakdown, was enormously powerful. To this day, I consider 1976 to be DAYS' very best year, ever. (Kudos to the great Pat Falken Smith, who was its headwriter at the time.)

While I always appreciated Channel's incisive and perceptive reviews, to me, TGL was still great and still riding high in the early 1970s, regardless of the similarity among the plots (i.e. marital conflict). Doesn't EVERY couple through through ups and downs in their relationships? The character development and interpersonal relationships were at the core of the drama, and the Bauers were center-stage, where they belonged. The writing really did weaken when Robert Soderberg and Edith Sommer left, to be replaced by the likes of James Gentile, Robert Cenedella, and James Lipton (the stories became more plot-driven and the characters less nuanced), but TGL rebounded again and then enjoyed several years of good writing under the Dobsons, Douglas Marland, and even Pat Falken Smith during her blink-and-you-missed-it tenure on the show. Comparing the 1970s' TGL to its final years, when it was handled by the likes of Ellen Weston, David Kreizman, Lloyd Gold and their ilk, well...there IS no comparison.

I agree that Irna Phillips' last tenure as ATWT's headwriter was marred by inexplicable and disturbing plot twists. I was not completely thrilled with the "new" Liz Stewart, having appreciated Jane House so much in the role, but to kill off the character was a pointless and almost mean-spirited mistake. She still had so much storyline potential, and the character was immensely popular. I never adapted to Susan Harney replacing Jacqueline Courtney as Alice Frame on ANOTHER WORLD either, but I would have been aghast if TPTB had had Alice die. The letter by Helen Pfeiffer reminded me about how much I preferred John Reilly to John Colenback in the role of Dan Stewart. While Reilly was charismatic and affable, Colenback always struck me as morose and humorless. It was a shock watching the character go from one interpretation to another. Similarly, after Mart Hulswit's sunnier portrayal of Ed Bauer on THE GUIDING LIGHT, I was never able to adjust to Peter Simon's grim, more listless version of the character. Anyway, even with ATWT's going through a rough patch during Phillips' final reign, the show was still significantly better written (and truer to its roots) than it ever was under the likes of Jean P, Stern and Black, Hogan Sheffer, etc. I'd take a bad Irna Phillips story over the ((ahem)) best of Jean P any day.

Losing Meredith was a major blow to OLTL. Over the years, it became absurd how many of Viki's family members dropped dead around her. Killing off Meredith Lord, Tony Lord, Victor Lord (and reconning the story to turn him into a degenerate psychopath) decimated one of the series' core, founding families and it was sad to see.

She does not specifically say in her autobiography, although she DOES admit to disliking Ann Marcus' material.

So the troll known as Michael Brownstein was into flame-bating long before the internet came into existence. He would be fried to the wall if he posted such a smug, pompous, oily attack on a beloved series today. Still, my heart bleeds for anyone with such crippling ADD that he could not sit still through slow-moving, nuanced adult drama and wanted, instead, to be fed a daily dose of women being stalked, thieves blackmailing, and heroines dealing with death, but not everybody in the audience was saddled with his issues. Erudite, adult viewers could actually watch television series that did not flaunt "good lookers" in speedos and negligees. There were many films and TV shows being produced at that time which were designed to excite and titillate the low-brows in the audience, so Brownstein and his ilk were well-served, but some of us wanted something more. Some of us actually preferred Jane Austen to CANNIBAL HOOKERS IN HEAT. Wherever he is today, I hope our hapless critic is not still ranting and raving over the fact that character-driven drama continues to be produced, and continues to delight the viewing audience. Pffft!