Paul Raven

That changed over time as Kay softened. Her relationship with Nikki was part of that, as she never manipulated Nikki or made demands on her. In terms of longevity it was probably wise to make Katherine a more sympathetic character. Beau Kayzer's pilot 'Hardcase' began filming March 31st 1980 so he must have been offscreen around that time, unless some arrangement was made to juggle both roles. Can anyone recall if Brock disappeared around that time?

Leslie Charleson was the lead in a ABC 1974 pilot 'Guess Who's Coming to Dinner' based on the 1967 movie. Not on YouTube though.

Not soap related but interesting for ratings junkies. Mon March 17 1975 NBC had been running a game show promotion'Shamrock Sweepstakes' with the winners of various gameshows getting the chance to score $100,000. It culminated that Monday on 'Celebrity Sweepstakes' with the lucky winner announced. Celebrity Sweepstakes scored a 10.0 rating/45 share which was the highest rating ever recorded in that timeslot.

Modern Romances Oct 31 1955 ? by Harry W. Junkin A girl door to door saleswoman meets a jockey. He learns she holds a sweepstakes ticket. Cast Robert Ellenstein, Tony Neva Patterson, Katy Audra Lindley, Flora (murdered) Edward Andrews Jack (Katy's policeman husband) Belle Flower, Mrs Warden Edmon Ryan O'Neil

Peter Capell Perry Mason Sid Cammarino 1949 Eva Condon Front Page Farrell Mrs Tate 1949 Sharon Douglas Second Wife Terry Robinson 1940 Walter Greaza Second Husband Stella Dallas 1943 David Harum 1942 Young Widder Brown 1947 Rose of My Dreams 1947

Any details of ROL or other radio shows would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks for that extra detail. Storylines for the remaining radio soaps in the mid and late 50's are scarce. I've never read of the Malloys before.

Requests Richard Roundtree Ted Knight Robin Groves DeWitt Mcbride

Thanks for finding and posting new stuff. Valiant Lady had a respectful run but for whatever reason was nowhere near as successful as the shows that followed it on the schedule - Love of Life, Search for Tomorrow and The Guiding Light. Kind of odd that the lead in show rated lower than the follow ups. Here's a 1955 article where the producer talks of plans for the show. interesting that the writer of the article isn't convinced. Feels soaps should stick to what they do best. yet decades later producers/networks were still trtying to undermine what worked. Tuesday, November 1, 1955 St. Pefersburg Times RADIO AND TELEVISION Livened Up Soap Operas May Backfire By KlT CRAIG TV soap operas had better liven up, according to producer Leonard Blair. If they want to maintain the womens' interest he says, they'll have to be livened up, with more plot and bigger names. Blair, who produces "Valiant Lady," seen locally on WTVT, is proceeding to do just that to his show, according to an article in Variety, he's planning to tell his stories from just one viewpoint (this means no more life as seen by father, mother, the couple in love, the doctor, with each view taking at least one episode, and the story stretching out over months), and he's going to introduce big name stars for one-shot appearances. He also plans to film lots of footage on location and have fair-sized stars in for guest apperances. Time was when you could tune in to a day of "Soaps" and count on at least one murder, one missing person, at least one trial and several cases of amnesia and incurable illness. Blair says he's going to do away with that sort of "sensationalism" as well at least, with the crime and gangsterism. INTERESTED IV LOVE Women, he says, are more interested in the love and family element in the shows than they are in the sensationalism, and if the stories are presented right and not dragged out, there's no need to drag in a crime to keep them glued to their sets. Blair plans to grab stars as they come into New York and says it's good business for them to be seen on the show and write them into his script. Signe Hasso has already been seen, according to the story, and Dane Clark and Shelley Winters are among those signed for upcoming episodes. Is this revolution a good idea? NBC-TV has started Matinee Theatre, with evening-caliber shows telecast in color every day. That may be what has Blair, whose show is seen on CBS-TV, intent on revamping it. However, soap operas have always had their own peculiar function, and if Blair deviates too much from standard format, his plan may backfire JUST PLAIN FOLKS Heroines of soap operas have always been billed as "just plain ole folks." Even if they're nurses or Hollywood designers, the script writers have worked hard to make Nora Drake and Ma Perkins relatable. While Blair seems to think it's a good idea to inject big names into his scripts, it seems to me the sudden appearance of Clark Gable or Peter Lorre might bring the slightest little note of unreality into the proceedings. And about ditching sensationalism - when I was little and listened to soap operas on the radio, I just loved sensationalism. And someone I know's father used to rush home from work every night to listen to "Just Plain Bill" That was when they had the story about the boy who was in love with his sister, only he didn't know it was his sister, and then it finally turned out she really wasn't his sister at all. And what would soap operas do without courtroom scenes and innocent heroines charged with murder? LOST 50 PER CENT If Blair intends to speed up his story lines, he's going to lose about 50 per cent of the narcotic effect soap operas have. If you know a new story is going to begin in a week, you don't let yourself get involved with the one on this week. Why, if you had to be out shopping for a couple of days, you'd miss the whole gist of the plot! The joy of soap operas, to me, has always been that, once you'd established a certain rapport with the character, you needed only to take one day off twice a year to find out how everybody on the soap operas was doing. Blair, with his fast-moving story lines, would ruin that. However, soap operas on television have several drawbacks never encountered by their sob sisters on radio. While listening to the radio "soaps," you could always be listening while you were doing something else. Besides, while listening to a radio saga, you could build beautiful pictures in your mind. To me (on a cursory viewing), settings for television soap operas always seem just a little squalid. The idea of top-flight drama during the day, for women, is excellent. However, if Blair and his ilk are' trying to hold viewers to their soap operas, I suggest they abandon this mad idea of big stars and rapid-fire story lines. For my money, they should either jump on the bandwagon and present top-flight one-shot dramas, or leave the "soaps" to bubble in the same old way. They're trying to corrupt a grand old American form.

Road of Life played at 1.15 pm which had not been programmed by the network up until then. In January Brighter Day debuted at 1pm, previously for local programming and then in April Portia Faces Life was scheduled at 1.15 giving CBS a soap block from 12-1.30 - Valiant Lady/Love of Life/Search for Tomorrow/Guiding Light/Brighter Day/Portia Then in July 54 Portia moved to 1pm and The Seeking Heart debuted at 1.15, Brighter moved to 4pm replacing the cancelled Woman with a Past. In December Seeking Heart was out and Road of Life took over. In July 55 Portia and Seeking Heart were cancelled and replaced with Jack Paar 30 min talk/variety. So CBS could never establish a soap block at 1pm.

A lot of old soap episodes that turn up on YouTube have the disclaimer-'This program was recorded' at the end. For a variety of reasons, once in a while a show was pretaped rather than go out live. So those episodes are more likely to turn up. Mid 70s ATWT aired in Australia so there may be tapes floating around.

Am I to understand that Jabot took over Marchetti, an international fashion brand because Summer wanted to keep working there but missed her home? In a matter of weeks the deal was done and now Marchetti is based out of Genioa City? All for no apparent reason(except to annoy those watching) What is the point of these ridiculous business stories where every 2nd week someone is appointed COO of a company? At this point any new writer would be preferable to the drivel Griffith is serving up.

Scrolling through the EON thread I came across this regarding Donald May and the episode where he delivered a monologue. I have an interview with him from 1969 and he said the crew had given him a kinescope of that episode (which of course was done live then). Would love to see that one. Further evidence that cast and crew have episodes in their possession. Wouldn't it be great if just one person connected to a cancelled soap would post episodes, scripts and BTS anecdotes. Some people worked on soaps for decades.

Who played Dr Jim Brent on radio once Don MacLaughlin took on the Chris Hughes role on As The World Turns?

There is stuff out there. Recently a Mary Stuart channel appeared on YouTube with clips from the 60's and 70's all in excellent quality. Where it came from,who knows? Our only hope is that this sort of stuff continues to turn up on YouTube.

Having a lip sync finale as the (supposedly) decider for the crown is problematic when some lower ranked queens excelled in the lip syncs. Some heavy editing was required to serve the narrative. Shea Coulee ended up losing out, despite the obvious rigging to get her into the finale, Had she not received the extra badges she might have walked away with the money as the winner of the second group. However I was pleased Raja took the bucks, Overexposure is a problem, especially when the next editions are not up to par. After watching 3 eps of France,I'm inclined to drop it. The episodes are too long , constantly going to the 'confessionals' where the queens have nothing of interest to say, or just pull an odd face, and the whole thing seems lost in translation to me. The first episode of Down Under was rough. The queens come across as coarse and amateurish and the weird production values are puzzling. Why are there no long shots of Ru with the queens? Haven't bothered with Canada as yet as it comes off as a pale imitation of the original.

It reminds me of when MGM had a prop and costume sale and iconic pieces could have been lost forever. Debbie Reynolds purchased many items in an attempt to salvage Hollywood history. After years of struggling to get a museum of the ground, she too sold off the pieces. At least those items were offered up. But P&G refuse to sell off the tapes or licensing rights. I agree that many people connected with those shows (ad agency reps, actors, directors etc)still have tapes. I hope their children or grandchildren might one day upload them.

Well the fact is that General Hospital's ratings showed dramatic increases in the time Doug Marland was there. Obviously Gloria Monty's production changes helped but as we know it is the writing that attracts viewers. Pat Falken Smith inherited the storylines and set up that Marland created. I wonder what lead Smith to leave a successful and long running stint at Days for a short term gig at Where The Heart Is. I Have never read any details. Did CBS lure her with $$$ because of her success at Days? And it quickly went sour and she was happy to go back to Days?

Bill should have so much more recognition as the oldest working person in the business. He is amazing and Susan must feel blessed to have him with her everyday.

Alan Feinstein Edge of Night 1969 1 day role as 'jetsetter' 2 months prior to playing Jim Fields

re Pat Falken Smith. She was writing Days of Our Lives with Bill Bell at this point so how was she free to headwrite Where The Heart Is?

Yes JT has aged a lot the past few years.It probably stands out more because MS has had work done and is wrinkle free. Also because he is older and looks it compared to Christel. Re the story-this over the top reaction to Diane returning. Phyllis and Nikki have done as much or far worse and this Mean Girls shtick makes them look foolish. What is Diane going to do-connect with her son? Is that so awful? Take Jack away from Phyllis? She's already had that happen by her own doing several times. Remind GC that Nikki bashed her with a rock? They're playing this return all wrong.

Wonder how that movie would translate into a daily serial? Some years before, The 7 Year Itch was proposed for daytime Again having seen the movie it seems a weird concept for a soap.

Variety May 1948 Procter & Gamble has finally decided not to combine its "Joyce Jordan" and "Road of Life" serials into a single 30-mitiute daytime strip, which it had been mulling for some time, Reason for continuing the two separate shows is that it was found that the commercial copy for the two products, Dreft and Duz, could not be suitably handled on a single stanza, it is explained by William M. Ramsey, the soap company radio head. Several sample scripts of the proposed combined program indicated that aspect of the operation could be done, but neither the sponsor or the two agencies involved, Dancer-Fitzgerald-Sample and Compton, were satisfied with the commercial setup

Great overview of how the networks can gain dominance and lose their grip on a particular night by strategic programming and plain good luck. ABC were dominant on Thursdays with sitcoms 8-10 and 20/20 at 10. But they couldn't come up with successful follow ups to Mork and Mindy at 8 or Barney Miller at 9. That gave CBS the chance to refresh their aging schedule of Waltons,Hawaii Five O and Barnaby Jones. Hawaii got moved, Barnaby went to 9 and KL at 10. Magnum stepped in at 9 to replace Barnaby and lead the timeslot. Then they moved it to 8 to replace The Waltons. After a misstep with KL at 9 it moved back to 10 and Simon and Simon took over at 9. That lineup was a clear winner for CBS until NBC moved in with Cosby as outlined above. ABC could not get a look in.