vetsoapfan

No. Her name is skirting around the very edges of my memory, however. She was a charactrer actress who appeared in various sitcoms back in the day.

Thanks!

Thank you, Carl.

Yes. I'm not negating the dumping-in-the-river story because, as you say, it allegedly happened 50 years or so ago, but I'd like to have more than one person's (Adams') word for it, just like I'd want to have confirmation about the wiping of P&G tapes from more than just Zenk. Of the two stories, I would give more credence to Adams', however. I'm not old enough to have watched Dumont's programming, but it saddens me how little of it is reported to survive, no matter how the rest of the archives got destroyed.

True. The story about about Dumont's video archives being dumped in the river has always sounded somewhat peculiar to me, which is why I used "allegedly." Stories with only a germ of truth in them get told and retold and distorted often, but end up being accepted as fact. Doing some quick searching right now, it's said that the story about Dumont's material being thrown in the river originated from Ernie Kovac's wife Edie Adams, during a hearing on television preservation in 1997. While I may have some doubts about the accuracy of her claims, Adams' account of the fate on vintage TV material, as transcribed below, is very interesting. (Well, to me, LOL!) https://web.archive.org/web/20070927072638/http://www.loc.gov/film/hrng96la.html

It's suspicious to me that the facebook page in question has no information about the founder, and various messages responding to his posts hawking his DVDs are not visible. And where are the chatty messages from among members/followers? Red flags, galore.

ITA. It would be an arduous waste of time and effort to wipe all the material that still existed. I could see them just throwing everything into the garbage before going through all the trouble of wiping it. The legendary Dumont Television Network produced more than 20,000 hours of programming durings its 1946-1956 heyday. After the network folded, their archives were allegedly destroyed; dumped into New York's East River because no one wanted to store the material any more. I don't believe P&G could legally do that to the environment these days, but dumping soap tapes into the trash would still be more logical than trying to wipe them all out of existence. Ideally, P&G would donate their archives to UCLA, Paley, the Museum of Broadcast, the Library of Congress, wherever.

I'd start off by asking for a DVD, or maybe two, as a test. Do not send an unknown (unfamiliar to you or to trusted sources) sellers a significant amount of money at first. If you ask around, many traders have been lied to and ripped off by dishonest vendors over the years. I once had someone tell me he had a collection of The Guiding Light episodes from the 1970s. He wanted $2000.00 upfront. Um...that was a big NO.

In a Daily TV Serials magazine interview from 1974, Jacquie Courtney said that she had had copies made of many of her episodes of AW. I've often wondered what happened to that collection after she passed away. Viewers would be orgasmic to see vintage episodes that Courtney valued enough to preserve.

Thanks @victoria foxton! I just dropped by to post the same link!

The majority of fans would probably agree that the period starting with Barnabas' introduction is the show's zenith, but I personally loved the inital months before he showed up. If you skip them, there are story points that you'll miss. Just be prepared: the show is very slow and talky at first, the scenes are long, and only a handful of characters appear in each episode (all of which I found nostalgic and relaxing). ITA.

My favorite after Flannery was Susan Oliver, whom I accepted in the role instantly. Forsyth was okay, but JLB was a total and painful miscast.

He's been selling for many years, as long as I've been aware of his presence on the internet. Eager soap fans must always remember to use caution when sending money to sellers unless those sellers have been vetted by reputable sources (i.e. friends or other SON members). The high number of "traders" and "sellers" who ripped me off over the years made me stop dealing with strangers completely.

I thought Catherine Burns was very good as Cathy Craig. When she was replaced by Amy Levitt, I accepted it begrudgingly because AL was okay, but then, when Levitt was replaced by Jane Alice Brandon, I was displeased because (IMHO), JAB was a weak and rather annoying actress. Dorrie Kavanaugh was excellent and lasted the longest in the role. Jennifer Harmon was fine, but after all the recasts, I felt the character had been burned out and needed a rest. I would have been really disappointed if Strasser had been the upteenth recast. She was born to play Dorian. Over the years, various actors have made known their bitterness over the meager pay they were given on OLTL in the show's early years. The anger seemed to grow in the mid-1970s, when ABC hired Jacquie Courtney and George Reinholt at salaries substantially higher than what even the most popular veteran actors of the series were receiving. According to some actors who spoke out, ABC told them, "Take what we offer or leave." When you're a vet earning $20,000 a year and see brand-new actors coming aboard and starting at $35,000...that's demeaning. Nancy Pinkerton, Doris Belack and others quit over the insulting money disparity.

I thought Tommy Lee Jones as Mark Toland was really hot. The story with Mark and Dorian accidentally killing a patient named Rachel Wilson and then letting poor Larry be accused of the crime was gripping. (Well, to be fair, Dorian ended up in a coma, so she couldn't confess.) The original conception of Victor Lord was interesting. He was an authoriation and no-nonsense, but the idea that he would later be revealed as a degenerate was appalling. I thought Vinne Wolek and Wanda Webb were cute together. Eileen Seigel was a bit of a pain in the butt, but her son Tim was a sex god. Cathy Burns was an excellent Cathy Craig. When Cathy's daughter Meghan (by Joe Riley) died while Viki was driving...that was another engrossing plot. After Carla had been romantically linked to Jim Craig, TPTB changed the actors from Robert Milli to Nat Polen. That was just so wrong. EEK! I adored Nat Polen, but the idea of him and Ellen Hollty as a pair just did not seem feasible. The show dropped all references to their past, I believe, and Carla and Jim were then only platonic friends. What I remember most about Ed's and Carla's wedding is that there a bunch of African-American guests whom we had never seen before, but who supposed to be friends of the happy couple. Did you know that Dixie Carter played Dorian for a while, and that Ester Rolle played Sadie? Claire Malis was excellent as Dorian. It's a miracle with all the recasting of the role, there was never a weak actress playing Dorian. My pleasure! I could chat about vintage soaps all day!

I thought Malis' Dorian was more vulnerable than eith NP's version or RS's version. I liked Malis a lot. She could still be a shrew, LOL, but she had her soft moments. IIRC, Malis' portrait as Dorian had her in the same pose and outfit as Pinkerton, with just the head being different.

A lot of collectors will not share their stash for free. They guard it vigorously and only agree to send out copies to other collectors who have something rare which they, themselves, want. Or they are interested in making money, and turn selling episodes to fans into a business. To each his own, of course, and if folks want to pay for copies of vintage eps, that's their perogative. It's been my experience, however, that if you are patient enough to wait, the material that sellers are asking money for will eventually end up being distributed for free by other fans whose main priority is to share the love.🤗

Me too! I'd eagerly watch the years 1968 to 1983 again!

The video itself is not available on the facebook page as far as I know; only the screen caps to entice fans. The collector who advertised the "new" 1973 ATWT ep only sells copies of his material or trades for other rare stuff that be wants, I believe.

The original version, concept and execution of OLTL were 100% different than what it later became. IMHO, it was gutted and destroyed under Rauch in the 1980s.) In the beginning, it was naturalistic, nuanced and adult in nature. Characters were diverse, spoke in believable dialogue, and behaved like people you would meet and know in your own community. It dealt with real-life issues, and didn't pull punches or turn everything into pablum for the lowest-common denominators in the audiences to understand. It was as if...TPTB took it for granted that their viewers wered erudite and educated. Imagine that! With long, character-driven scenes, it was like a mini piece of theater every day. It had to compete with the flashier soaps in the 1970s, of course, so more beautiful people were added and the plots started to move faster, but Llanview still felt like Llanview. Scriptwrite Don Wallace was an unheralded gem, and the hewadwriting team of Dordon Russell and Sam Hall were stellar. Then everything fell apart in the 1980s with sweeping changes in front of and nehind thecenes (and not for the better). The writing collapsed. A huge number of popular characters were axed and replaced by a revolving door of irrelevant newbies, and cretinously-stupid camp and science fiction drivel took over. Imagine This Is Us being turned into Beavis and Butt-Head overnight. Again, JMO, but I found it revolting, and a total bastardization of what the show was created to be. My favorite Viki was ES. I liked all the Dorians, but my favorite was Robin Strasser. I have a ton of favorite stories, all from the first 11-12 years of the series: the Viki/Joe romance, Carla's passing for white, the Jenny and Tim romance, the introduction of Pat and Tony, Dorian's descending into Llanfair, the Karen/Larry/murder trial/breakdown on the witness stand saga...the list goes on!

It's all subjective, of course, but I found TVD a little more refined and reserved than LB. LB came across as warmer, and she became my preferred Meredith. This is NOT to say that I disliked TVD. I did think she was good. Like on The Guiding Light, I found Mart Hulswit warmer and more appealing as Ed Bauer (and he was my favorite), but I would not claim that Robert Gentry was untalented...just different. GS was excellent as Viki, and she had chemistry with everyone, but ES really made the character her own, and her chemistry with Lee Patterson was off the charts. The second Viki, JD, was not as awful as legend would suggest, but she was just...colorless. Think Linda Borgenson as Alice on Another World, or Ann Hamilton as Mindy on TGL. Temporarily adequate, but not star material. Yes, when Nancy Pinkerton left the show, the portrait of Dorian was recreated to feature Claire Mailis' head. OLTL was very lucky that every single actress cast as Dorian was a fine performer, and they all had chemistry with Courtney, although because the Courtney/Strasser pairing was my sentimental favorite, I liked their interaction best. No, Jacqueline Courtney joined trhe show while Nancy Pinkerton was still there, and the actresses shared a dressing room for a while. There's an episode on youtube in which Pat is crying in the hospital courtyard over Tony Lord, and Pinkerton's Dorian approaches her and wonders if she's all right. And yes, Pinkerton played Dorian during the period of Victor's death.

I watched the show from 1968 to 1983, and then sadly gave up on it as Paul Rauch crippled it. So I was there for the unveiling on the original portrait of Dorian at Llanfair, and to see the different Merediths. Yes, I am old AF, LOL.

Thank you for the heads up, @victoria foxton! I loved, loved, loved the show back then.

Just to clarify briefly (I know this is not the AW thread, so I won't go into elaborate detail), both Bay City (AW) and its spin-off Somerset were acknowledged ON AIR during the 1970s to be in Michigan. The state for Bay City later changed to Illinois without explanation. (Careless indifference to history by TPTB always vexes me.)

Thanks for tagging me, @slick jones!