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Limenade

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Posts posted by Limenade

  1. On 8/13/2018 at 8:19 PM, DramatistDreamer said:

    From the episodes in 1982, I decided to look up the names of writing staff that were unfamiliar to me and came across a name-- Jean Rouverol.  Doing a quick search I see that she died just last year at the age of 100.

    As an actress, she had just started her career as a screenwriter when she was blacklisted.  She had quite an interesting biography.

     

    Has she been mentioned in any threads before?  She wrote a book called Writing for the Soaps.  I did a quick search on this site but her name didn't come up.  Since she wrote a book on soaps, perhaps someone here has read it?

     

    As an alternative to her book, Rouverol was interviewed by Writers Guild in 2000, resulting in a long clip on Youtube - an hour and 40 minutes.  The focus was on her long career before, during and after the black-listing - discussions on soaps were sparse, though still quite fascinating.  What a colorful life she lived, and she described it with such colorful details and anecdotes - all told with vivid expressions.  A genuine person, and definitely a writer and performer.  About 15 minutes into the clip, she mentioned her 13-year stint as a cast member on the radio soap "One Man's Family."  Television soaps experience begins around an hour and 20 minutes into the clip, for about 10 minutes.  Essentially, she wrote for the Hurselys' "Bright Promise," which eventually led to working under their daughter and son-in-law the Dobsons.  She was basically describing the writing format for a lay audience.  I was a bit surprised to learn how she was let go from writing soaps, and disappointed that she wasn't asked how the genre evolved in the 90s, which would've been interesting.  I did read her book back in the late 80s - I believe she wrote it after she had stopped writing for soaps.  It definitely wasn't an industry gossip, but somewhat straightforward intro to the genre (thus my surprise by her verbal delivery in the clip).  This was a copy from the local library at the time so I no longer have access to it, but I do recall vividly a sample excerpt scene from Guiding Light with Katie and Floyd Parker, which she used to describe the importance of subtext - a concept she mentioned also in the clip.     

     

     

  2. ^ Thank you for the April 1986 episode - vintage Marland and one month before the May sweep showcasing the Doug Cummings murder trial.  But revisiting it, I was struck by the seemingly mundane exchange between Frannie and Sierra (about 29 minutes into the clip), where Frannie hoped that they could become good friends.  A simple, understated scene of friendship-building swirled by much meatier story lines.  It is a credit to Marland that their friendship did develop in 86 and by the time they ran into each other in London at the end of the year, their scenes seemed so organic.

  3. By that time, really, I was not expecting CG and JP of being capable in exploring the subtleties of Nancy's remembrance of Chris and (vs.) Dan.

     

    By contrast - 

    I remember at the beginning of their courtship, Nancy told Dan that she'd rather not call him by the nickname used at the police station, "Mac".  When they agreed on "Dan," Nancy made a remark that her best friend's son was also named Dan - a nod to history and a reference to Dan Stewart.

     

    Then, when they danced for the first time - not sure the occasion - the music was, of course, "Always," that she had sung with Chris at their golden wedding anniversary (and used with great effect as flashback when MacLaughlin passed away).  The camera did not forget to capture a jolt of memory on Nancy's face even as she was in Dan's arms.

  4. 6 hours ago, Faulkner said:

    ^Margaret Colin is great. So glad she's had such a lovely, lucrative career as a character actress and the long marriage to Justin Deas. (What is he up to anyway?) She was excellent in Arcadia with Billy Crudup on Broadway.

     

    Sad that Tom Wiggin wasn't able to chime in on his time on ATWT as Kirk, but I understand that MC is the bigger draw and therefore the focus.

     

    ^Agree - I think Wiggin knew that as well, but Colin had no attitudes at all and let him remininsce about Alexandria.  I think that the interviewer was obviously a soap viewer herself made the interview very enjoyable overall.  As for Wiggin's view on ATWT, the only one I could think of is that radio transcript that he did back in the 90s when he was still on the show:  http://www.peteranthonyholder.com/Archives/2016/cjad20.htm

  5. 23 hours ago, amybrickwallace said:

    Thank you. I never knew he was on that show.

     

    Tom Wiggin and Jami Fields were both in a Columbia University drama production of A Midsummer Night's Dream around 1975. I'lI see if I can find the photo.

    Here is the story and photo from the Columbia University student newspaper, The Spectator:

     

    http://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/cgi-bin/columbia?a=d&d=cs19751030-01.2.17&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN------

     

    http://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/cgi-bin/columbia?a=d&d=cs19751030-01.1.6&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN------

     

     

     

    ^ Thank you for these links - great descripition of Wiggin: "an incredibly elastic face" - so true.

  6. ATWT alums Margaret Colin and Tom Wiggin were interviewed in this local TV morning show video (6-minute long) when both appeared in an early 2016 production of "City of Conversation" in Washington, DC.  Towards the end she spoke very graciously about playing Margo, the show's demise, and Hilary B. Smith.  Sorry, I don't think the station uploaded this on YouTube, so here's the link:

     

    http://www.fox5dc.com/good-day/74965437-video

  7. On 11/18/2017 at 9:52 AM, amybrickwallace said:

     

    Here's something interesting I read once...Tom Wiggin was in the Columbia University drama department in the mid-70s. Another student in the drama department was Jami Fields, who had played the role of Penny Davis on The Doctors as a young teen. Her mother on TD was played by an actress who would later share much screen time with Tom Wiggin on ATWT - Liz Hubbard!! 😎😊

     

    Well, to make the circle complete (and stretching it), Liz Hubbard herself graduated from another Ivy League institution -- Harvard (Radcliffe).  In fact, per Wiki, Liz's mother graduated from Columbia University Medical School: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Hubbard.  The short-lived TV series Breaking Away (80-81), where Tom Wiggin played a supporting role to Sean Cassidy's lead, is on YouTube.  Here's the pilot.

     

     

     

     

     

  8. 12 hours ago, DramatistDreamer said:

    Nancy and Chris moved to a converted apartment over the garage.

     

    ^ They moved into the in-law/garage apartment around early January 1986, based on this clip below (the uploader did not specify the month of 1986, but from what I could tell, the previous episode was most likely the one on January 8, 1986 [which was a Wednesday of the week], uploaded by munecojim).  Essentially, this was around the time that Kim first began seeing a therapist, and John Dixon confronted Lisa at the Memorial for possibly being the "secret admirer" who had been tormenting Kim.  Anyway, Nancy said that she and Chris had begun the moving process, and Steve showed up to finish the kitchen of the garage apartment and Ellen and Betsy came along and ended up staying for dinner at the Hughes.

     

     

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcxnmm-I-d4

  9. Interesting, also, to see David and Ellen Stewart discuss their relationship issues as a mature couple.  When Susan and Emily returned to Oakdale during Marland's tenure, David and Ellen did play critical roles as parental figures, but I could recall only a handful of scenes where they had soul-searching discussions about themselves.  (An especially memorable one occurred in the middle of the Tad Channing murder mystery, when they stayed at the cabin while Betsy and Craig went looking for Steve, who skipped town.)  But it really wasn't entirely Marland's fault - I believe Henderson Forsythe was actively seeking acting opportunities in theater, so the show kept saying how David was out doing research on AIDS in Africa.

  10. I watched the show live at the time and Gregg Marx and HB Smith were so good (peaked, for me, during the miscarriage of Margo in November sweeps of 1986), Scott Holmes' entry into ATWT was very jarring - even though Marland sort of prepared the viewers with Tom's absence from Oakland.  Watching the show now retrospectively on YouTube, Scott Holmes gradually grew on me, and even his earlier scenes with HB Smith made sense.

  11. ^You're welcome. Hers was a hopeful prayer, but for many, the feelings are still too raw for it.  Incidentally, other ATWT alums, e.g. Margaret (Maggie) Reed (Shannon), did not take it so well, looking at her FB.  Incidentally, she has a major birthday coming up - she's turning 60 on 11/15!

     

    On another note, if anyone's interested in Melanie's take on her time at ATWT (and in case no one had already mentioned it), I really enjoyed a podcast interview she did earlier this year: site: http://seincast.libsyn.com/seincast-interview-melanie-smith  The whole interview is a little over an hour on her career to date, but she spoke very positively about her time at ATWT during the beginning quarter of the hour - mentioning Doug Marland and referred to her cast-mates as "thespians," e.g. Larry Bryggman, Julianne Moore, Parker Posey, etc. 

     

    See here for Bill Shanks bio, mentioning a spouse after Crow.

  12. 3 hours ago, DramatistDreamer said:

    Some time ago, I read that Melanie Smith (Emily #2) is a wellness coach. After the past 18 hours, I wonder whether she can do a group counselling session as a favor to some ATWT fans who need it. 

     

    Actually, Melanie did write something about it on her FB: 

     

    (BTW, D-Dreamer:  sorry to miss your reply to me sometime ago on Billy Shank and Ashley Crow.  To the best of my knowledge, they are no longer together.)

  13. Did anybody know that Rick Giolito (Nick Castello, the Rookie Cop who turned out to be James Stenbeck's mole) is married to Lindsey Frost (Betsy Stewart)? That's another ATWT marriage to add to the others.:lol:

     

    Is there any daytime soap that had as many actors who dated/married each other as this show?

     

    I remember reading about that a few years ago and was surprised by it. I guess it worked out for them.

     

     

    I'd say, they've been married since 1980! I think that even beats Margaret Colin and Justin Deas' time united in matrimony!

    Sorry if someone already posted this, but Ashley Crow (Beatrice) was married to Bill Shanks (Casey Peretti) from 1988 to 1993.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashley_Crow

    http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0788208/

     

  14. Finn Carter really didn't have a chance surrounded by such a stellar cast at the very top of their game during those first years of Marland's reign.   But I've always loved her portrayal of Sierra.  So memorable even after all these years.  

     

     

    I loved Finn Carter and Sierra during the Marland years!  Sierra was such a subtle character but the development of her character from 85, when she first appeared to the end of 86' was so dramatic when you actually think about it, but it was a gradual change that was rooted in story, which made it so believable.  

    From those scenes of Sierra being manhandled by Tonio and wanting to hide the bruises to her response to Lucinda's plea for her to reconsider divorcing Tonio where Sierra saucily says "If you think he's such a great husband, why don't you marry him?!" :lol:   And Sierra admitting that (in marrying Tonio) she made the biggest mistake of her life and she was trying to fix it.  So you went from a character who was once easily manipulated by her mother, lied to and cheated on by her husband, to someone who creates and determines her own agency and under her own power, charts her own life course.  

    That was some deft writing on Marland's part, which made it all the more sad how Sierra's character was torn up in '94 to facilitate Craig's budding relationship with Samantha.  I know Finn wasn't returning to the show so something had to be done to resolve the issue of her marriage to Craig but considering the fact that Scott didn't even stay that much longer anyway and Kirk and Sam soon got together, I consider it kind of a waste what they did to both Craig and Sierra at this point-from then on, both characters became somewhat expendable.  During the Marland years however, the character grew in esteem, albeit quietly.

    I didn't really start watching ATWT live until summer 1985, so it was a bit jarring to find on Youtube Sierra's early scenes where Craig found her in Montega as a tomboy/rebel-fighter speaking English with a Latino accent.  But it just goes to show what a great writer Marland was by how well Sierra was integrated into the storylines.  Oakdalian uploaded some terrific and feisty performances by Finn Carter (playing opposite Scott Bryce) from a November '85 episode under the title "Lily Meets Holden," before her disastrous marriage with Tonio.

  15.  

    ATWT alums Margaret Colin (Margo Hughes #1) and Tom Wiggin are starring in The City of Conversation at the Arena Stage in Washington D.C.

    http://www.arenastage.org/shows-tickets/the-season/productions/the-city-of-conversation/   

     

    The Arena Stage has finished its run of The City of Conversation.  Now Tom Wiggin (ATWT) will have a role in Arena Stage's production of the 2014 Tony Award winning play, All The Way - playing the role of Stanley Levinson - opening April 1:  http://www.arenastage.org/shows-tickets/the-season/productions/all-the-way/

    He was interviewed in the March '16 issue of the Northern Virginia Magazine: http://www.northernvirginiamag.com/buzz-bin/2016/03/02/tomwiggin/

     

  16. In case anyone is interested in that interview quote with Helen Wagner, the interview (from June 8, 1994, conducted by Peter Anthony Holder) transcript in its entirety could be found here:  http://peteranthonyholder.com/atwt-n.htm

    In fact, the same site has interview transcripts of several other ATWT actors, all conducted in the first few years after Marland's death:  

    Eileen Fulton (6/21/1995):  http://peteranthonyholder.com/cjad12.htm

    Don Hastings: (5/9/1994): http://peteranthonyholder.com/atwt-bob.htm

    Tom Wiggin: (5/29/1996): http://peteranthonyholder.com/cjad20.htm

    There is also a much shorter interview (6/11/1996) with Julie Poll, who wrote under Marland then authored the ATWT Complete Family Scrapbook: http://peteranthonyholder.com/cjad25.htm

     

     

     

  17. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50gIKf5W3cA

    The little moments, like Barbara's derisive laugh when Lisa says she likes Emily, always stand out.

    Marland really knew how to mine the tension and the ache with the Barbara/Frannie rift. That scene with Bob and Barbara gets to me. That hug.

    Regardless of how you feel about the Darryl Crawford story, watching these individual episodes still left me in awe with the way how story-threads are stitched together.

    After teasing us with that inopportune meeting between Barbara and Frannie at the hospital towards the end on 9/22/1992, it's interesting how Marland let it drop the next day (9/23/1992), and only picked it up on 9/24/1992, when the two ran into each other at Tom and Margo's house.

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