Paul Raven

Excerpt from a 1978 interview with Susan Sarandon talking about AWA. “After that,” Susan recalled, "I got a job in a soap, A World Apart.' I found it to be a wonderful training ground for beginning actors because it fills the gap left by the old B’ pictures. You learn your craft on the job and that’s better than years of classes without having the opportunity of utilizing what you’ve learned. “I worked on the soap with good stage-trained actors like Bill Prince, Augusta Dabney and Stephen Elliott, went through illegitimacies, breakdowns, suicide attempts, something new every day for a year and a half. Because it’s a controlled, comparatively small, situation, you have to get the maximum out of yourself in a little space in a little time. It’s great discipline, wonderful for your confidence, and the money is terrific too.

JOEL STEDMAN THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS Sleazy Photographer working with Chris Brooks, spied on her with ywo way mirror mid 70's.

THE JOURNAL-REGISTER Medina. New York, Wednesday July 27,1983 ABC Unveils The Hamptons By JULIANNE HASTINGS NEW YORK (UPI) - ABC's sizzling hot summer series "The Hamptons" premieres Wednesday night with enough sex, old money and power to make those nouveau riche cowpokes in Texas look like a bumbling bunch of greenhorns. The five-part dramatic series, which will air Wednesday nights from 9-10 p.m. EDT, focuses on a ruthless power struggle between two old-line Eastern famines for control of their jointly owned department store empire. There's also Nicholas Atwater, a Jay Gatsby-type character — mysterious, handsome, and wealthy beyond imagination — who jumps into the fray for his own, dark reasons, which are melodramatically revealed at the end of the first episode. The action was filmed on location in Manhattan, on Long Island and in Westchester County, N.Y. — the latter needed because a Hamptons country club nixed a request to allow filming on its grounds. Episode No. 1 opens in the midst of that ancient summertime Friday ritual — the mass escape from Manhattan. First we see Jay Mortimer (John Reilly), president of the Duncan-Chadway department store chain, arrive at his apartment in a limousine to pick up his older wife, Adrienne (Bibi Besch), sole heir to the Duncan half of Duncan-Chadway, and her college-bound daughter Tracy (Holly Roberts). Mom's not in the limo yet, so Mortimer puts a lusty hand on fair Tracy's knee. "Hi beautiful," he leers. Talk about starting a weekend! Next a high-powered lady lawyer (Kate Dezina) and her doctor boyfriend (Phil Casnoff) are spotted running toward each other along a crowded sidewalk, embracing, kissing and dashing off to then weekend love nest. Finally , Atwater (Daniel Pilon) clambers into his Jet Star helicopter and heads for his new summer place, the sprawling Beach Manor complex, which actually is the Dupont Mansion in Old Westbury, N.Y. Pan of East Hampton and the Coastline: Old man Chadway seen watching girls in bikinis playing volley ball on beach. The department store mogul turns, starts to climb steps to house, collapses — with a stroke. There goes the store! A station wagon pulls up in front of the house and out jumps Chadway's son Peter (Michael Goodwin), managing director of the chain his father co-founded, his faithful wife Lee (Leigh Taylor-Young) and his Yalie blond son Brian (Craig Sheffer). After everyone gets settled in - old Chadway at the East Hampton Hospital — there's a lavish dinner dance where everyone gets together and the viewer gets a good idea of what's to come. And there is still more storyline in this first episode to be told. The costumes and sets are storybook gems. The cast is attractive and the show's timeslot makes it the lead-in to ABC's popular "Dynasty," giving soap addicts a consummate, two-hour fix. But if all goes as planned, how do you make a winter series about life in a summer resort?

THE JOURNAL-NEWS, SUNDAY, JULY, 24, 198 Bibi Besch—On a sudsy run through summer By LYNDA HIRSCH Bibi Besch, the aristocratic blonde actress who was born in Vienna, Austria, and has spent most of her years appearing in such soap operas as “Secret Storm,” “ Somerset,” “ Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing” and “Edge of Night,” as well as dozens of prime-time movies, feature films and plays, is dipping into prime-time soap opera for the second time as she stars as Adrienne Duncan-Mortimer on ABC’s short-term summer soaper “The Hamptons.” Miss Besch’s first prime-time soap was the spectacular flop, “Secrets of Midland Heights.” “I really didn’t understand why that show didn’t work until recently. Then some people explained that the characters on ‘Midland Heights’ were ordinary, and no one wants to look at ordinary characters on a prime-time soap. When they come home from work, they want to see people who are fabulously wealthy and who do fabulous things. I really believe ‘The Hamptons’ has the potential for a long run. “My character is an alcoholic woman so rich that she can say and do anything. I think the saying and doing anything with no one talking back to her would be wonderful, at least for a while.” Besch, daughter of actress Gusti Huber, who created the role of Anne Frank’s mother in the Broadway play “Diary of Anne Frank,” began acting in her early years, but isn’t thrilled that her 13-year-old daughter Samantha has the same 'thought in mind. “I’ve been discouraging her from an acting career, although she’s beginning to wear me down. The reason I’ve been discouraging her? I think acting is full of great disappointments. I’ve had them throughout my career. I wanted desperately to be a renowned Broadway actress, and while I did do some Broadway roles, it never really worked out for me. That’s why I moved to Los Angeles. No sooner did I get to L.A. than I was offered a part in a Broadway comedy to star Dick Van Dyke I was thrilled. I told all my friends and relatives the news. I dashed off to New York. And while waiting for the play to begin, I received a call that it was going to be postponed for one week Then two weeks. Then forever. I have to say that was my biggest disappointment in the business.” A single parent, Besch admits sometimes it s hard raising a daughter and being in show business “There are trade-offs. For example, when Samantha graduated from grammar school, I was on location in Rome and couldn’t make it back for the ceremony. But a week later, she flew to Rome and spent the summer with me. I don’t think many girls Samantha’s age would get a chance like that. “I think Samantha understands my absences, especially as she grows older, and I try to have her with me as often as I can. I’ve turned down roles when I thought I would be away for too long, but sometimes the financial situation makes it necessary for me to be away for long stretches of time.” ABC and Besch hope “The Hamptons” has a longer run than its proposed five weeks. It’s slated to run right after the highly-rated “Fall Guy” on Wednesday evenings and right before “Dynasty." Although “Dynasty” is hotter than hot in its initial run, in reruns it’s near the bottom of the Nielsens. “I understand they’re going to look at this closely, and if it’s a hit during the summer, then during the second season ‘The Hamptons’ could be slated for a long run. I think the character of Adrienne is fascinating and I could live with doing her for years and years "

Jan 18 1981 - Jon Michael Reed It's very hush-hush right now, but very soon it's probable that another famous one will bite the dust in soapland. And it’s another case of moving out the "old’’ to make way for the "new.” Helen Wagner has portrayed Nancy Hughes on “As the World Turns” since the original pilot was made andThe series debuted April 2,1956. Wagner met recently with the producers and writers of the show to renegotiate her contract. After being one of the character spokes on “ATWT” for nearly 25 years, financial considerations weren’t a major negotiation factor. The actress pulls a hefty salary, as befits her long-running status on the show. However, she was concerned that the character has been progressively shoved in the story background and has, on occasion, been required to “act silly and out of character," according to an observer. WAGNER REPORTEDLY asked for assurance that her character would become more prominent in the story, and the writers dismissed her request. In retaliation, Wagner announced she won’t be re-signing her contract, which expires in several weeks' Wagner was bom in Lubbock, Tex., and trained to be a singer. Early in her career, she appeared with the St. Louis Municipal Opera, as well as in Oscar Kammerstein's musicals, “Sunny River”, and “Oklahoma.” She also toured in Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, playing the mezzo leads. Despite occasional tours in plays such as “Streetcar Named Desire” with Lwith Lee Marvin and “A Lion In Winer,” Wagner has devoted her career life to “ATWT." It is, therefore, a sad comment on the current state of the soap opera business that “ATWT" would callously allow one of its guiding forces to take a hike. THE OLD FOLKS on soaps are dispensable when the focus shines on younger characters. In turn, it’s economically necessary to build a new and younger audience. But in the process, all too often, viewers who have invested decades in a soap must sit by and watch their “loved ones” get the short end of the stick in story preference. Wagner still has a few weeks under her present contract, and there’s a faint possibility that she may swallow her pride. But at this point, it appears that Wagner and Nancy Hughes won’t be around on the daytime tube, which also leaves in question the fate of Nancy's husband. Chris, played by the only other remaining original cast member of “ATWT." Don MacLaughlin.

BUFFALO EVENING NEWS—TV TOPICS May 6, 1961 MONA BRUNS , who plays the affable Aunt Emily on The Brighter Day, has had a wealth of theatrical experience that includes Broadway, Hollywood, radio and television. Miss Bruns made her theatrical debut in her home town, Bellville, Ill., at the age of 7, playing the daughter in the classic "Seven Nights in a Barroom." She arrived on Broadway at the age of 14. She made her debut in "Chin Chin' at the Globe Theater in a one-line role. And at the age of 16, she became the leading lady in the national touring company of "Captain Kidd Jr." In 1918, she met her husband, actor Frank Thomas, while they were both playing in "Hobohemia" in Greenwich Village — the first play of a young writer named Sinclair Lewis. In 1921, Frank Jr., was born. He learned about the theater as he traveled with his parents from one touring company to the next. At the age of 8, he made his own theatrical debut as a newsboy in "Carrie Nation"—and the Thomases became a theatrical threesome. She created the role of Aunt Emily on The Brighter Day in 1954, playing the part on both radio and television. The Thomases, who live in New York City, own a 35-foot sloop called 'The Mona." on which they spend many week-ends during the summer.

So it looks like the Y&R characters on BTG are in a separate universe. Victor isn't facing any issues re his company and Nick's addiction, Jack & Diane are together etc

It was my understanding that it was Selleck who would not commit to a contract. He had his eye on primetime and didn't want to be out of the loop by being tied to daytime. Throughout the 70's he was in a heap of pilots before landing Magnum.

May 15 1965 A Typical Teenager Is Jackie New York—Jacqueline Courtney may play one of the featured roles on a top-rated daytime television show with considerable assurance and aplomb, but off-camera she has all the same typical reactions to the problems, frustrations, and hopes as any average American teenager. Jackie, 18, who regularly appears in the role of Alice Matthews on Another World (weekdays, 3-3:30 p.m. NBC-TV and Channel 40) has a nightly curfew, hates vegetables, wants her own telephone, wishes she'd be permitted free use of her new sportscar, and just "loves" rock-n-roll music. The blonde, , bine-eyed actress who entered showbusiness at the age of four, is under strict instructions from her mother to be home by 12:30 a. m. — and that includes Saturday nights. And just to be sure that Jackie keeps to this schedule, her mother has not given Jackie a key to the house. But Jackie is not at all bitter about the restrictions placed upon her at home. As she puts it: "I know my parents only want what is best for me, but what they can't understand — as most parents cannot — is that their little 'baby' has grown up." LIKE SOME teenagers, Jackie has a problem. Although she has her own room, she has been unsuccessful in her arguments for a private phone. She confides that she has even enlisted the services of Doris Quinlan, producer of Another World, to help convince her mother that a phone is needed, but to no avail. Jackie's the proud owner of a brand new, white sportscar, but is prohibited from driving further than her own neighborhood in East Orange, N. J. "For me, that's a tough situation," she says, "because I love to really move in a car, and that's hard to do when you can only drive in a radius of a few blocks." When it comes to music, Jackie is "just nuts" about the Beatles, and has all their records at home. One of her greatest amibitions is to meet Paul McCartney of the group. She also likes the Dave Clark Five and Herman's Hermits. Jackie has a boyfriend who lives in nearby South Orange, but she's quick to add that "he's not at all impressed" by her featured role on Another World. Although she doesn't contemplate marriage within the next five years, Jackie says that when she does take the plunge, she'll quit showbusiness. "As the saying goes," she points out,"a woman's place is at home —not in a TV studio." ALTHOUGH she's in many ways similar to the average teenager, Jackie's life has one big difference. As a featured actress on Another World, she must work a 10-hour day — beginning with rehearsal at 10:00 in the morning, and ending with rehearsal for the next day's show at 6:30 p. m. On top of that, Jackie spends two nights a week working for a degree in psychology at Upsala College. In the few extra moments of spare time she can find, Jackie loves to ride horseback and go out dancing. She's also an avid football and basketball fan. Jackie's professional career dates back to 1951, when she appeared on The Story Hour over WAAT in Newark. She recalls that in her stage debut she appeared as the Good Ship Lollypop, singing and dancing in a candy-cane costume. She also recalls that at the time she was literally covered with curls — "I hated them, but my mom felt I should look like Shirley Temple, and look like Shirley Temple I did until I got to the fifth grade."

Off topic but who would have made a better Eric Forrester?

So his sister in law is turning 80 and he misses the celebration for a 1 day soap role. OK...

Never saw him but it seems John Fitzpatrick Willis #1 had more charisma.

McCook as Lance gave me showroom mannequin vibes.

I'm anti Claire on a number of levels First the ridiculous retcon to get a new younger Newman on the show. And then tying it to another psycho. Why not make her Matt Miller's long lost daughter? Or bring back Reed as a younger Newman? Then having Hayley Erin back as a different character. She's not the most charismatic actress. And the shifts in the writing would challenge Meryl Streep.

Had we seen a slowly developing romance, met Madison's mother, made the lawsuit more believable etc then we might be more invested.

THI JOURNAL-NEWS, TUESDAY, JANUARY 6, 1981 Dastardly doings due on 'Dallas' By RICK MALASPINA Gannett News Service HOLLYWOOD Until now I figured the shooting of J R Ewing might be a tough act for the Dallas folks to follow. I figured wrong. Just goes to show that the critters behind the scenes are no less slithery than the ones who play the scenes What they're doing now that J R is patched up is coming up with a new character -a female one as sharp and conniving as JR who will team up with him to end this season with another cliff hanger. Leslie Stewart is her name She’s played by former daytime soap star Susan Flannery, and she'll make her Dallas' debut Jan 30 “Most of the women in the show are Southern, Flannery says. They're totally male oriented in terms of marriage and the home. My character is different. The Stewart woman is a New York public relations pro who sets up shop in Dallas and lands Ewing Oil as a client. More in a minute... First take a deep breath and get a load of these other Dallas' developments for the coming year. Brother Bobby tries to steer Ewing Oil into the alternative energy game but gets stomped by J R. Lucy marries Mitch and winds up with more than she bargained for - his widowed mother and ambitious sister. An old flame flickers back into Sue Ellen's life. Other Ewing wives Miss Ellie included feel neglected. Kristin may return. Ewing nemesis Cliff Barnes gets a political boost among other things from Donna Culver. The Stewart character though, seems to be the centerpiece of the action, judging from what Flannery and “Dallas" producer Leonard Katzman are willing to say "We don t think of her as a female J It but there are any things about her that J R admires and she's the first lady J R has had respect for, Katzman says. 'There'll be an ongoing relationship between them- as to the depth of that relationship and whereit will lead, we'd like the audience to tune in and find out. That cliffhanger comes up around the first week in May, when “Dallas has its final episode of the season, and Stewart will fit in prominentlv even though no one is banking on this to become another who Shot J R ?” dazzler. “Obviously there's no way we can top what happened last year. Katzman says But we do know how the series will end this season, and we do hope it will be a very exciting ending.

1985 Jane Elliot, seen as the devious Cynthia on "All Mv Children," has been written out of the show. We understand that Elliot learned that she was no longer going to appear on "All My Children" by reading a line in a script. Elliot went upstairs to ask producers what it meant and was bluntly told it meant "you're fired." Elliot, a pro of not only daytime but prime-time TV since she was a teenager, has not decided whether to stay in New York or move back to LA. Prior to signing on with "All My Children," she was seen on "The Guiding Light" in the role of Carrie, and before that she was Tracy Quartermaine on "General Hospital." The touching tribute to Kay Campbell, who played Kate Martin for 15vears was done beautifully, especially the flashbacks, and it's doubtful that anyone who has watched that show for years wasn't moved to tears — particularly in the last scene, when Kate was seen at the door, soft music playing under, blowing a kiss. It was a kiss caught by her many fans and a wonderful tribute to an actress. We understand that many of the tears shed during those scene* were ilf^tapW^aaWovedkymany cut members. It was nice to see the likes of Hugh Franklin brouht back as Dr Charles Tyler and Nancy Frangione reprising the role of Tara. One member of the Martin clan who came to the funeral will be seen in a recurring role — Philip (Charlie) Brent will be returning to Pine Valley to be part of the city's young crowd.

Aug 79 Jon Michael Reed "ANOTHER WORLD'S” new headwriter, Tom King, is busy revising the show’s story emphasis. So far, King has “written off" the characters of Marianne Randolph, Roy Barry, and Vince and Mimi Frame (played by Adrienne Wallace, Robert Gibson, Jay Morran. and Trish Hawkins respectively)- Returning to the show after a few years’ absence is Dan Hamilton as Jeff Stone. And to a stroke of casting genius, Geraldine Court popped up recently as June Laverty, Kirk’s wife, in a beautifully acted confrontation sequence with Rachel Cory (played by Victoria Wyndham). “AW” would be wise to make Geraldine (fondly remembered for her role as Ann Larimer on “The Doctors”) a permanent fixture around Bay City

August 79 Jon Michael Reed NEW YORK - "Search for Tomorrow" entered near riots recently when the show taped episodes on location to Sarasota, Fla. The episodes began airing last week and will continue through Aug. 14. Joining producer Mary Ellis Bunim and a local production crew were performers Rod Arrants (Travis), Sherry Mathis (Liza), Jerry Lanning (Nick), Lewis Arlt (David) and Megan Bagot (Laine). The segments featuring Lewis and Negan were shot ay the Colony Beach and Tennis Resort. MEANWHILE, the characters of Nick. Liza and Travis are involved in action that takes place on the fictional island of Casino to the Caribbean. The beaches of Longboat Key were used for those episodes. The Sarasota community was aware that "Search” was to the area and most fans respectively watched the filming from the sidelines. But nighttime was a different matter. The dark, apparently, brought out “hankering” females who were intent on making “contact” with heartthrob Rod, who’s undoubtedly the cat’s meow in the hearts of the show’s fans. ROD'S HOTEl switchboard lit up like a Christmas tree and most of the callers claimed to be relatives until the operators devised a code with Rod to screen fan calls. The handsome 6-foot-4-incb star was cautioned that be was taking his life in his hands whenever he ventured for a little sightseeing. Fortunately, Rod didn't get lonely since be brought along his fiancee Patricia Estrin (who, incidently, played his sister on the defunct “For Richer, For Poorer” two years ago). The couple plan to wed later this month and they’ll walk down the aisle with a ready-made family since they each have a child from previous marriages. SHERRY BEAT Rod to the wedding altar by marrying Jerry to her home town of Memphis on June 30. Producer Bunim presented them with unusual marital gifts, a pair of matching styrofoam clubs, which represented the "terror” story that Sherry and Jerry portray on “Search” when Nick kidnaps Liza. WTH with the cups? A cheap ass gift from Bunim. Laine and David got a remote but then she was dropped. Wonder what happened there? Laine had potential to be along running character but never came back to see her sister, And Patricia just happened to get a gig on her husbands show. Never understood how Jamie was supposed to be Kathy's sister in law. Can anyone clear that up? SFT was firing in 78/79 under the Corringtons , hitting the Top 5 but it all seemed to dissolve and Search began the downward spiral. Maybe an expansion to an hour would have helped but there was no room in the schedule.

Opening scene of Esther and Nikki chatting about Katherine came out of nowhere and landed with a thud. The intent was good but the execution was off. I would have preferred Esther to be showing Nikki some photos of Miles and Bella and a chat of how they're growing up leading Nikki to make a veiled reference to Nick's issues. Save the Katherine references for another more appropriate time eg Esther talking to Devon. Was pleased to see the NY cafe setting -it looked good and it was basically just a couple of walls. They need to do more of this. And there were 3 extras! The first order of business is the set issue. Finding a way of having more sets and characters per episode so that one conversation isn't stretched out for the entire episode. And daily doses of GCAC,CL and Society are boring. The Park Cafe has helped slightly but there are just too many cafe catchups.

John Conboy comes off super sleazy in this article. And the fact is that Y&R didn't add a bunch of youngsters when it expanded. Julia, Michael, Steve, Victor etc didn't fit that demographic. Patty Williams was the only character I can think of offhand. Maybe Conboy put out the casting call so he could drool over sexy young bods. MEDINA JOURNAL-REGISTER Dec 24 1979 HOLLYWOOD (UPI) - The word went out that 16 new cast members are being sought for the soap opera "The Young and The Restless," currently rated No. 1 among daytime dramas. Producer John Conboy is expanding the 30-minute series to a full hour and needs the services of a bunch of young actors, mostly in their teens and early 20s to make the expansion possible, The opportunities the show represents for young performers is irresistible - a generous weekly paycheck, national exposure and hard-to-get experience. Now in its sixth year, "The Young and The Restless" provides its performers with a built-in, loyal audience. Conboy has interviewed 150 youthful actors and hasn't come close to filling any of the roles. He expects to see 500 others before he completes casting. He is hampered by the fact that some teen-age roles must be played by actors 18 or older who must look 15 or 16 to get around California child labor laws. For every young actor and actress he interviews another one or two are screened out by his casting associates. Conboy, a former actor himself, knows about rejection. But he can allow compassion or sentiment to enter his thinking. "There must be thousands of young actors in the 18-t0-25 age bracket," Conboy said during a break in a full day of ° interviewing prospective stars. "'Because they haven't any track record I depend on a trick to cast young, inexperienced people. "I study their off-screen personalities. If they really turn on, light a fire, express themselves well and excitingly in my office, then I know they'll do the same thing on camera. "When I was producing another soap opera back in New York - 'Love Is A Many Splendored Thing', I hired Paul Michael Glaser (later the star of 'Starsky and Hutch') on the basis of his off-screen personality. "The people who come in to talk to me had better be glossy, the kind of performers who attract immediate attention. "If viewers are going to be looking at them. five days a week, they'd better be good looking as well as talented. And I expect them to be good listeners, too. If I were looking for experienced performers, the casting job would be a great deal easier. Established actors have done enough things to give you a pretty good idea of what they can do." Conboy mentally eliminates most young performers the moment they enter his office. Their appearance or attitudes or both are wrong. Those who do pass a cursory inspection often fail during the reading or screen test because "their acting technique" shows, according to Conboy who adds that too many youngsters are badly trained. "Young people absorb bad habits from their theatrical coaches," he said. "They accumulate theatricality from teachers. Their techniques are unnatural. "The success of 'The Young and The Restless' is due to the fact that the kids in the series don't know how to be dishonest in front of the cameras. Also, they've discovered how much hard work goes into a soap opera. "Casting a soap is different from other series in somé respects but not in others. There are certain types that follow a pattern, especially with women. "If I'm casting a girl from the wrong side of the tracks, she must have a big bosom because women with big chests are made to appear to be more salacious than other women. "You rarely see a flat chested actress playing bawdy roles. It just seems to be one of the unwritten rules of theater, movies and television. On the other hand, uptight, puritanical women are almost always flat chested. "Facial beauty is an enormously important part of casting a soap opera because we shoot tight, close-in one shots of performers which show every pore of their skins. The point is to see what is going on in their eyes. "The young men I'm looking for must be handsome or sexy looking. Like the actresses, they must have good bodies because we play as many scenes as we can in soaps with people undressed. "We play on the fantasies of our viewers by putting our characters in settings where there are legitimate reasons for undressing -- in bed, showers, hot tubs, karate classes swimming pools or gyms. So we have to find actors and actresses find are hot to look at, exciting, sexy. "In the final analysis, people who tune in soaps like to watch attractive young people. You find the same thing is pretty much true of prime time performers. I think you see better looking people on TV than in movies. "Viewers also would rather see good locking older people than they would unattractive performers. You've got to provide fantasy if you expect viewers to tune in."

Another Lance possibility- Lewis Arlt, who had just left SFT where he played David Sutton.

More drama at GH. Gloria Monty is not mentioned specifically but once the show hit #1 and became a pop culture phenomenon, she seemed to be more at odds with headwriters. Remember she tried that no headwriter policy at one point. This time the Corringtons bailed after a brief stint. THE JOURNAL NEWS, SATURDAY, APRIL 24, 1982 General Hospital needs transfusion by Gary Deeb John William Corrington is a respected novelist and scholar. He’s also one of television’s best writers of daytime soap opera. Partnered with his wife Joyce, Corrington was the creator and head writer of “Texas” and the head writer of “Search for Tomorrow.” And until this week, the Corringtons were the newly installed head writers of "General Hospital,” the trouble-plagued ABC soap that’s been losing viewers for the last few months. The husband-and wife team had been hired to pump some spirit into a serial that had lost most of its energy. But after only three months at the writing helm of “General Hospital,” the Corringtons have called it quits. Corrington said he’s frustrated by the constant meddling of ABC bureaucrats and fed up with “having to be an administrator instead of a writer." So as the Corringtons wrap it up and head home to New Orleans, they join the long parade of writers who have shuffled in and out of “General Hospital” since last summer. Once among the most spectacular moneymakers in TV history, “General Hospital" now is in very deep trouble. The show is creatively bankrupt and has lost 3.5 million viewers since Christmas-time. That represents nearly 25 percent of the program’s former viewership. Many observers believe it’s only a matter of months before the show gets bumped off its four-year spot at the head of daytime audience ratings. As a result, ABC executives are panicking. Corrington describes them as “frothing with madness" at the prospect that the $150 million a year in net profits generated by “General Hospital” may be in jeopardy “You can’t imagine how desperate things are - the show is totally out of control,” Corrington said. The confusion started last fall, when actress Genie Francis (who played the part of Laura Spencer) announced that she was leaving the soap to work for CBS. Suddenly, producer Gloria Monty had to dream up a way to get rid of the pivotal character of Laura, whose storybook romance with Luke Spencer (played by Tony Geary) had been the key to catapulting “General Hospital” to dizzying heights of popularity and media hype The trouble was, nobody could agree on how Laura should be done away with. So the program “vamped” for months, forcing the writers and actors to dance around the unexplained disappearance of the lead female character. First, Luke and Laura were hexed by a vague “curse” (delivered by Elizabeth Taylor in a foolish cameo role); later a mysterious stranger with hypnotic powers arrived on the scene and Laura disappeared, and then a lookalike for Laura (also named Laura) popped up to confuse things even further. The show’s writers were ordered to churn out daily scripts and to keep everything up in the air until Monty and ABC could get their act together and agree on a coherent storyline. When Corrington proposed a plausible scenario to explain Laura's demise, he said it was rejected without explanation. As things now stand, Corrington said, Laura's death will be explained away simply as “an unfortunate accident,” totally ignoring all those red herrings “General Hospital” has been dishing out for months. Even Jackie Smith, ABC's vice president for daytime programs, is enraged at the idea of such a cop-out and finds it creatively unacceptable. Indeed, like the Corringtons, an increasing number of viewers are catching on to the miserable “GH” storyline. Angered at being treated like brain less sponges, many have switched over to The Guiding Light ” on CBS, while millions more simply have turned off their TV sets entirely

Agree or Disagree? Changes Gives Hope To 'Ryan' Ratings by Connie Passalacqua The name of the game in soap operas. as in the rest of TV, is ratings. As evidenced by the high rate of turnover, the networks and producers are convinced the quickest way to achieve higher soap numbers is to change a shows headwriter. No show in recent years has shown such a quick improvement in both ratings and quality as "Ryan’s Hope" since Pat Falken Smith took over the headwriting chores last December. Taking over ailing shows is Miss Smith's specialty and she is known unofficially in the field as the "soap doc." She originally wrote "Days of Our Lives" in its most successful days of the late ’60s and early ’70s and briefly returned to that show in 1981 to create what remains today to be the show's most successful characters. She also took "Guiding Light" over briefly after the regime of its successful headwriter. Doug Marland. Her most impressive credit, however, remains her threeyear term of headwritmg at "General Hospital" during the era in which the Luke and Laura story took the show and all of daytime TV to new ratings, heights and popularity. Miss Smith has story savvy, as evidenced by the quick turnaround o f " R H . " once daytime's most popular show, which had sunken to a terrible ratings low She has taken the show's best actors and given their character's story lines new importance. When Miss Smith came to the show. Maggie Shelby was just another teen temptress. Cali Timmins, the young actress with Lolitalike sex appeal who plays her, was being wasted. Miss Smith quickly made several older male characters, such as Roger Coleridge (Ron Hale) and Seneca Beaulac (John Gabriel), become attracted to her. But the most successful change occurred when Miss Smith sensed the chemistry between Miss Timmins and Geoffrey Pierson, who plays Frank Ryan. Maggie’s compassionate yet lustful brotherin-law. Their romance, played out while Frank's wife Jillian (Nancy Addison Altman) was abroad, has been the sexiest of this soap year. Here is a magnetic couple worth tuning in every day to watch. Miss Smith has also added appealing new characters around the show's Ryan family mainstays. Most of the show's action occurs in Dave Greenberg’s deli, which is next door to the site of Ryan’s Bar. Greenberg is most appealingly played by Scott Holmes The headwriter has also added teenage girls, who have attracted larger audiences in her past shows. Traci Lin plays Pru. a runaway, and Lauren O'Brien plays Kathleen. a Ryan granddaughter, who has ambitions to be a dancer.

Mattson To Play Della As Rotten, But Funny by Connie Passalacqaa Most actors fear typecasting, but not Robbin Mattson, who joins the cast of “Ryan’s Hope” as Delia Coleridge on May 23. For four years Miss Mattson played Heather Webber on “ General Hospital,” a villainess so vile and wretched she would give Alexis Colby of “Dynasty” a good name. As D elia (who has been played by two other actresses since “RH” premiered in 1975), Miss Mattson again gets to be mean and rot­ten — but with a twist “ I don’t want to be Heather,” the actress says. “I want to eliminate her bitchi­ness. What I want to bring out is Delia’s humor.” Since the previous two actresses to play the role interpreted the often hapless Delia as dizzy, Miss Mattson has a good base to build on. “I’d like to take a class in comedy,” says Miss Mattson whose acting experience includes dramatic appearanc­es on such night-time shows as “ Fantasy Island ” and “Charlie’s Angels,” in addition to several TV movies. When Miss Mattson left “GH” several months ago she said that she would like to go back to other forms of enter­tainment. So why did she decide to return to the day­time world so soon? “I loved the character of Delia. If the character is interesting and I can contribute something to it as an artist I don’t care what realm it’s in,” she says. Another reason for Miss Mattson to relocate from Cali­fornia to New York, where “RH” is taped, is because of the show’s new head writer, Pat Falken Smith. “Pat was the head writer of ‘General Hospital’ the first two years I was on and she provided me with wonderful material,” Miss Mattson says. She adds that it was Miss Smith who recommended her to “RH” producer Joe Hardy for the role. New York residency will not be new for Miss Mattson, who lived here when she played Hope Bauer on “Guid­ ing Light” several years ago. “I’m really excited to be working here again. I’d love to do theater, which is not too easy to do while you’re on a California soap.” But she sighs, “I left my heart in Los Angeles.” Her boyfriend of the last 10 months, a televi­sion art director was unable to relocate because of his career commitments