Paul Raven

Some of the comments in this article wouldn't fly today. Watertown Daily Times, Tues., Nov. 2, 1976 TUNE IN TOMORROW By Jon-Michael Reed NEW YORK — There's a young lady out in Hollywood who's living every compulsive eater's ultimate fantasy. She's being paid for being fat and stuffing her mouth with caloric goodies .From "The-Young The Restless" pen of William Bell, who brought viewers such juicy characters as a prostitute turned nun, a rich-bitch alcoholic matron, a mastectomy patient and a concert pianist who lost her marbles, comes the delicious tale of JoAnn Curtisynski. JoAnn is an overweight waitress who turns to Jellies when her errant husband turns his attention to another, untubby woman. JoAnn vents her spleen on the dessert tray in frustration and futile retaliation whenever she feels threatened or insecure, which occurs often on the CBS soaper. It's a plum role for a suitably endowed actress and Kay Heberle filled the bill to an 0. It was Kay's excess poundage that was instrumental In her winning the part. The producers needed an overweight and talented actress and one who was willing to gain more weight for the beginning of the storyline and then to lose drastically during the plot progression as JoAnn becomes independent of her husband and discovers the joys of slimness. "I will not tell you what I weighed when I was cast In the role," reveals Kay in an exclusive interview in Dally TV Serials magazine. "And I prefer not to tell you' what I weigh today. But I'm dropping an average of two pounds a week. My goal is to reach 112." Viewers will not see Kay's new svelte figure tor many weeks yet, because JoAnn is still being tempted by and succumbing to tasty temptations. In the meantime, Kay is appropriately padded under her apron strings, albeit In lesser degree as the days wear on and the fat wears off. Naturally the bulk of Kay's fan mail is from other overweight folk who plead for her diet recipe. As a doctor's daughter from Burleson, Tex., Kay is aware of the dangers of prescribing for other people. Therefore, she declines to reveal her secrets. She does, however, admit "I've been on thousands of diets in the last few years. I've simply changed my eating habits. I'm learning to cook and enjoy fresh vegetables. I drink lots of fruit juice, I don't eat too much beef, but I do like fish which is less fattening. I'm not measuring my calories, but I am taking lots of vitamins, because I want to be healthy, feel good and get slim," she emphasizes. Until Kay reached high school, she didn't know what a weight problem was. But then there were changes in her metabolism, which didn't take shape until after she became a cheerleader and editor of the school annual. Kay traces her decline into bad eating habits around the time she became active in the Future Homemakers of America course. From North Texas State University, Kay studied acting with Lee Strasberg, topped off with a summer at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. She returned to the U.S. to enrol at UCLA where she later won both the Natalie Wood and Beulah Bondi acting awards. The lady is loaded with talent, but it wasn't until her professional debut on "Y&R" that she considered the errors of her munching ways. "Now I'm acting, working, getting paid for it, and getting thin at the same time," says the actress who has forsaken midnight wanderings to the refrigerator. It's paying off in other ways, too. Kay recently appeared in a UCLA student production of "The Boom-Boom Room," in which she starred as a scantily clad go-go dancer. On the serial it will take a while for Kay, or rather JoAnn, to reach that state of grace. Tune in tomorrow and behold as she skims off the lard right before your very eyes ...

Just watched Friday's ep and it was like a fever dream. As each scene unfolded characters were shown in their homes... OMG! .Was this the landmark episode that would not show a convo in a restaurant?? But it was not to be- Sharon, Nick, Matt and Phyllis all assembled at an empty Crimson Lights. Oh well, it would not be Y&R without a daily dose of one of those meeting places.

Ellen should have had a younger brother s 'mistake' baby for Claire and Jim during one of their earlier attempts to keep the marriage together. Ellen would be like a second mother to him as Claire could never bond as he was not conceived out of love and she saw him as another unwanted tie to Jim. A very Irna like scenario, Then later, instead of the drastic Dan SORAS he could have played a lot of the Dan stories of the mid to late 60's with Susan and Liz while Dan was being more gradually aged ready for stories in the 70's.

Penny was recast in Irna's absence but Pheobe Dorin didn't work out. It would have been nice had Rosemary agreed to come back for Xmas, weddings, funerals. Especially after Irna passed. She did come back in the Marland years. So something changed.b/w her and the show.

Victor will come up with a PLAN to destroy Kyle Abbott!!

Kyle/Victoria may have chemistry but the idea she is having sex with her daughters ex boyfriend? I don't find it a soapy twist, just a desperate move by Josh to keep the Newman/Abbott feud going. It just shows how characters are never allowed to grow or evolve. Victoria should have sensed Kyle making moves or whatever and put a stop to it, based on not wanting to hurt her daughter and the fact that Kyle has several marriages under his belt at a fairly young age.

This is the new writers first move? Short term supporting is fine-they need to add more of these characters to add depth to the story. None of this would be needed if Courtney Hope had simply been a new character. Her being Sally really had no consequence.

Friday, April 9, 1965 Soap Opera Is Still Reddening Eyes by Mary Frymer Sitting in the dark in her living room last week, Penny Wade, her eyes cried out, asked her brother: "Where do I go from here? Do you know? I don’t know.” Brother Bob, hying to cheer her, was stumped. And well he might be. It has been a trying nine sears for Penny. As a morbid teenager. Penny (nee Hughes) was guilt-ridden over the death of her sister. She married a struggling song writer. He was killed in an auto accident and Penny, involved in the crash, suffered amnesia. She has since remarried, but now her second husband wants a divorce because he feels Penny is interfering with his career. It’s a hand-wringing story and it will assuredly stay that way. Maybe you don’t care, but apparently 5,000,000 persons do as they tune in daily to Penny’s trauma on “As the World Turns,” 1:30 PM on Channel 2. The soap opera, which began its 10th year this week, has the largest daytime audience in television. It has been first for four years. There’s even a twice-a-week night-time version ready to begin next month. There’s no mysterv or secret to the success. Radio long ago discovered the remarkable pulling power of the soap opera. It was radio that also discovered Irna Phillips. Miss Phillips, who is unmarried but has two adopted children, has been writing detergent drama for 30 years and is the author of "As the World Turns.” Last week she made one of her rare appearances on the set of the show in Manhattan. She was impressed to find pianist Van Cliburn in the audience. Cliburn told her be was a faithful viewer who, when he missed a segment, telephoned his mother long distance in Shreveport, La., to find out what happened. Author In Earnest His story impressed Miss Phillips. While you can get most everyone on the set of the drama to kid the serial’s appeal, .Miss Phillips is in earnest. “We stress the core of the family, which is still of fundamental appeal,” she said. “You know we’re all in a familv whether we like it or not. I can’t imagine what life would be without a family. We as women would like to believe that the family is the core.” Miss Phillips could fit neatly into one of her episodes. She admits much of the adventure has personal aspects. She has used characters similar to her adopted son and daughter, who are 24 and 22. respectively, and her fictional midwestern town is based on a small town near Cincinnati where Miss Phillips once taught school. As for what propels her endless plot, she says, "We do because we are what we are," meaning that she lets the failings and strengths within her characters influence happens to them. Penny is in constant sorrow because she’s a bit of a dream. "People really write their own lives,” Miss Phillips says. Rosemary Prinz plays the part of Penny in the serial and she tells you right off that she’s not at all like the girl she’s been depicting for the entire nine years . . . How to achieve it is a moot point. My over-all ambition is to be a great actress . . . I’ve been trying 18 years . . . How to achieve it is a moot point.” Miss Prinz is a Forest Hills girl and is herself divorced. Does she like soap opera? "Well, all of life has to be the inclusion of a lot of experience ... "You name it. I’ve been through it." New Kind of Love There is perhaps the joy of being loved by her fans as few actresses are loved. “They ’re not like other show biz fans,” she said. “They’re very personal. They can’t' believe I don’t know them. They don’t shake hands. They hug you and kiss you,” The producer of the drama now is East Northport’s Lyle B Hill, and he tells you that ‘B’ is his whole middle name and should not have a period after it. He made it up, citing Harry Truman’s middle ’S' because it added dignity. Hill, a boyish, pipe smoking Madison Avenue type, is from Madison Avenue because the show is a Young and Rubicam Advertising Agency product and he works for them. He sees the show as “realism” and says, “We have covered in a delightfully subtle way many problems which night-time could not touch.” He means adultery, illegitimacy, abortion and such. He does not mean social problems like race or religion or politics, which the network forbids. Hill has problems few other producers have. When one of his actors gets a Broadway job, he must be written out of the script on Wednesdays, matinee day. The show is done live daily and what happens in the personal lives of the actors will affect the drama. And sometimes, vice vena. One actor, looking forward to a long run, was suddenly killed off in the drama, leaving him out of a |ob. Miss Phillips is listed as co-author of the nighttime version of the drama with Robert Shaw, a veteran TV writer. However, she said that she is not writing the new version at all. She’ll stick with the davtime problems, her noble doctors, her highly introspective wives and a world that seems completely shut off from the outside, as perhaps are the lives of most women who watch. “We dream a lot,” one woman character said .You could almost see 5,000,000 heads nod in assent, buoyed by the fact that someone somewhere understood.

People with Dani/Andre's money would staying in a suite with separate bedroom especially if they're there for several days. But no, there's the bed plonked in the middle of the room.

Well the flipside of that is when supposedly rich characters hardly ever travel, which is a common thing. I don't mind characters going on a vacation when the actors need time off or haven't much story and it happening offscreen. But yes, if you are going to depict a luxury trip onscreen,we need to see more than a hotel room. At least some specific references to experiences. Even a restaurant or hotel lobby/dining room that suggests the locale.. Trouble is it all costs money.

Has that been established? She missed Jill's last stint but was that due to scheduling conflicts or health issues etc?

I hope it's not a puff piece regarding BTS at Y&R. It's about time a few hard truths are delivered. I'd like to read what she felt about MAB, JFP etc and how the budget cuts affected morale.

So an Uptown redo? Interesting if it happens. The bright green has got to go. Obviously someone is realizing some sets are not up to scratch. They've rejigged that Caffeine airport lounge type place and Joey's crappy back room and now possibly Uptown.

Gloria didn't recast . She was lucky to have a core of players who stayed on and provided the stability. Otherwise she relied on actors returning eg Kin and Jackie Z and creating new couples who stepped in and went front burner eg Celia/Grant/Jimmy Lee. Frisco/Felicia/Duke/Anna etc It was a strategy that worked because she didn't really have to bother about what to do once the couples finally overcome the obstacles and were wed. The actors either left, or were dropped and she had a new couple waiting in the wings to play the romance/adventure all over again.

Sorry I'm talking about Hayley telling Bill that Randy is Sammy but now he knows he is actually Randy. During their convo they were using both names so what was the explanation for Hayley knowing him as Sammy?