Paul Raven

Courier Express, 8 February 1981 Soap Report Jon Michael Reed NEW YORK - The casting wheels of change are afoot at all of the ABC soaps. The first soap to be struck by the Russian roulette casting game is "All Mary Lynn Blanks (Tara) was the first "AMC actor to receive her walking papers. For Mary Lynn, it was an especially crushing blow, since she had been led to believe the show was gearing up a terrific triangle involving Tata, Chuck and Jim. Add to that her father's holiday advice that she's wasting her time with that acting business- imagine how down in the dumps she is these days. Paul Falzone, who joined "AMC" as Jim Jefferson three months ago, is now hustling to find work elsewhere to support a new addition to his family. Paul's wife is expecting a child in July: Several weeks ago, Paul's agent complained that he wished Paul had more time to be sent out on lucrative commercial auditions. Now, he has the chance. ALSO SLATED to exit within the next month is Gwyn Gilliss and her "AMC" character of Anne Martin. Gwyn's screen husband, Paul (played by William Mooney) will probably be shipped off with a handful of other actors. It's a sad day, indeed, in soap heaven when such stal- warts as Tara, Anne and Paul, who've been mainstays since "AMC debuted, are relegated to the junk heap. On the other side of the casting coin, Tudi Wiggins joins "AMC" as Sara Kingsley; Brandon's wife. Erica, who's been sleeping in Brandon's bed, should really love that bit or news, since Erica has no idea her lover has a Mrs. Add the fact that Wiggins is one of the best "scene-chewers" in the soap business and "AMC" might have at least a temporary remedy for viewers who will bellyache about the dismissal of familiar Pine Valley folks. One guy who won't be missed, however, is wife beater Kurt Saunders Judging from fan mail, the actor who played this character was as loathed for his overplaying theatrics as for the character's vile story behaviour. We respectfully refrain from mentioning the actor's name. He's probably a nice guy who deserves an acting job else where, like Siberia. *The actor was William Ferriter BTW. AMC eased out those original charcters along with Linc and Kelly w/ouch backlash. I guess one reason was that Mary Lynn Blanks and Gwynn Gillis weren't super popular castings so viewers were less connected. And AMC had struck gold with Nina and Cliff. Erica was super popular and you still had Phoebe, Ruth, Joe, Chuck, Donna etc to provide consistency.

Phyllis, Alice, Sheila, Sharon, Mari Jo, Molly...maybe Bill Bell had a lot of maiden aunts he wanted to honor.

Doug Marland, Pat Falken Smith and John Corrington have all spoken against Gloria Monty. Seems she didn't accommodate writers too well. At least not those who wanted more autonomy. Jackie Smith also seemed difficult at times. That story where Doug Marland went into a meeting with Agnes Nixon.. I remember meeting Agnes Nixon downstairs at the elevator because Agnes was a consultant for all the shows on ABC and it was the week General Hospital hit number one solid-- wiped everything else out. The fact that this once pathetic show was the solid number show was like victory--this was the first story meeting I haven't dreaded. Agnes said, “Don't be too sure.” I said "What can they say, we're number one?” Jackie Smith came in , she's a half-hour late, and her opening remarks were, "We're in terrible trouble.” I that couldn't believe it. Her maid that morning had said that the Laura, Bobbie, Scotty thing was boring, she didn't like it --all our eggs are in that basket. I said, "It was the basket that brought us here.” She said, I “Yes, now we have to find ways to stay there." "I said the story isn't even over yet." I couldn't believe it. Agnes was totally right. She winked at me from across the room. There is an incredible instinct to panic. I have not found that at all with P & G."

Musical chairs ran from June to November 75 on CBS at 4pm replacing Tattletales which moved to the morning and then to 3.30. It made history by having Adam Wade as host, the first Black gameshow host. Mary Stuart was one of the guests on the first episode and Adam had appeared on search in 1970, so perhaps there was a connection there. Anyway, MC failed in the ratings and was replaced by another short lived show Give n Take which faired even worse, lasting only a few weeks. CBS moved Tattletales back to 4pm the same day Edge of Night began on ABC.

Courier Express, 26 April 1982 Writer says Malpractice Harms General Hospital 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 headwriter 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" (3 p.m. Monday through Friday, Chs. 7 and 11 in the Buffalo area). The overheated and trouble plagued ABC soap has been losing viewers by the ton for the last few months, and the husband and wife team had hired to pump some spirit into 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. In Chicago for a speaking engagement at Roosevelt University, 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 "GH" since last summer. Once among the most spectacular moneymakers in TV history, 'General Hospital" now is in very deep trouble. As reported here in recent weeks, the show is creatively bankrupt and has lost a staggering 3.5 million viewers since Christmastime. That represents nearly 25 per- ' cent of the program's former viewership, and many observers believe it's only a matter of months before "GH" gets bumped off its four-year joyride atop the 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 "GH" may be in jeopardy. ''You can't imagine how desperate things are," Corrington said. "'For the last three months, the writing has been the worst crap in the world, and the show is totally out of control." That candid admission should come as no surprise to anybody who has tried to follow "GH" since 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 "CH" to dizzying heights of popularity and media hype. The trouble was, nobody could agree on how Laura should be done away with. So to buy time, 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. During this time, 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 his own plausible scenario to explain Laura's demise, he said he was shot down 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 "GH" 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. But the bungling of the Laura story is only one of the many problems Corrington encountered during his three-month stint on "GH." Most of the scriptwriters who worked under him, he said, are "incompetent hacks who aren't worthy of writing on used toilet paper." Because producer Monty was out of action for several weeks because of surgery, "production of the whole show fell frantically behind schedule and has never recovered."

'Hospltal'intrlgue behlnd-the-scenes by Gary Deeb. COURIER-EXPRESS WEEK OF OCT. 18 to OCT. 24 1981 Patricia Falken Smith is mad as hell, and she intends to take it out on her former bosses - the producer of "General Hospital" and the ABC daytime program executives who preside over that enormously popular soap opera. As reported here recently, Falken Smith was the head writer for "General Hospital" for 2 1/2 years through last month. But in the wake of a series of disagreements with "GH" producer Gloria Monty, Falken Smith and her entire writing staff have departed that program and now are toiling on the storyline for the rival NBC soap .'"Days of Our Lives." Monty's office said Falken Smith was fired; Falken Smith, however, insists that she got tired of working for Monty and simply quit on her own. In fact, Falken Smith is so upset by what she believes is a deliberate attempt by Monty and ABC daytime vice president Jacqueline Smith to embarrass her that she's making noises about suing them unless they both publicly declare that her leaving "General Hospital" was a genuine resignation rather than a firing. "I won't be maligned by these two crummy broads," Falken smith told this column fired. I made this ----- show No. 1, but they've done nothing but scheme to keep me and my staff from getting the credit we deserve. We took those corny, awful plots that Gloria and Jackie dreamed up and we turned the show around. 'But now, because their stupid science-fiction storyline was such a drag all summer, they're trying to blame it on me. Well, that . .. (bad) writing all summer wasn't mine. It was created by the scab writers who worked last spring during the writers' strike, which I honored. I'm a very strong union person. I refuse to scab during a strike. And that's what got me in trouble with those two insecure broads. When I came back to the show on July 15 after the strike, they dumped all over me and made life miserable for me. ''So I quit - and then they put out the word that I got fired. All I know is I'm now the head writer on 'Days of Our Lives'; my entire staff of writers came over here with me; and I look forward to and watching 'General Hospital sink into oblivion." And folks, that's the sort of anger, skullduggery and personal intrigue that frequently makes life behind the scenes on a soap opera infinitely more electrifying than what winds up on the screen itself.

I didn't find that apartment that awful. Looked pretty spacious actually. Seemed to be a bit of ad libbing b/w Leslie and Laura. Gloria allowed that.

Is that LA restaurant actually outdoors? Through the slats on the back wall I saw a person walking in the distance. Maybe it's on the studio roof? I'm impressed with the hospital set -there's a corridor, waiting room and Noah's room. Some new sets and faces makes the show slightly more watchable. But as soon as we return to Cane/Phyllis...

The synopses at the time only mentions Jason's death: Alan found Amy admiring his house, then consoled her after learning her father had died Luke comforted Laura about her stepfather's death. Amy arrived right when Marland departed and Pat Falken Smith took over. I'm guessing Marland planned her arrival but PFS may have changed the story for the character.

Agree with that. Nitpicker here-but regarding the Hamilton decor-it'd further evidence that Hayley is an amateur and they should play it as such. Like she previously got involved with a rich guy and lucked out, so wanted to keep the lifestyle and went after Bill when the situation presented itself. If she had smarts the place would have decorated way less gaudy. Bill has been around the Duprees and would know from good taste. Maybe it should have been a little less awful and Bill could have reacted to it- showing he wasn't a fan but letting Hayley do her thing, cos he's in luvvv. As for Tomas, just write him out and bring in someone new for Kat and whoever. Sometimes you just have to recognize what's not working and move on.

😅

Bill does favor a singlet. No bare chested scenes for Timon.

If they had tried to make it look a little more authentic it would help. And that door that opens outwards bothers me. Is Isaiah going to visit his bro and sis in law in their bedroom? He made a good first impression and worked fine with Eva. Liked the brief appearance of Rosamund-those under 5 roles help to create a world outside the regulars. Still wish we saw Rowena.

Phyllis on her laptop at CL hacking into Cane's AI program and talking to herself...🥺

Would that have been 1980? Nancy was gone by 81. In July 1980 James was still the dashing suitor-his true nature yet to be revealed, so he would have been welcomed as Barbara's guest.

He just f'ing debuted. My God

I think this was Robert Calhoun's vision as EP. Bringing the Hughes back into focus.

Is Izaiah destined to be another character w/o a home?

Yes the set situation should have been better planned from the start. Like giving Jacob/Naomi a bedroom only. No workplaces for Naomi, Martin, Vanessa etc A bedroom set only has to be a couple of walls and a bed/side tables etc. We've seen those sets many times so I don't know why BTG isn't doing that.

Perfect place for it. There was recasting of Mary and particularly Ellis in the first few years. The rest of the cast was pretty stable.

The list of movies piloted or pick up as series is endless. Only a few ever took off. Sunset Boulevard was once considered. God knows how that could work as a series. Perhaps they were only going to use the title to attract viewers? Maybe it was going to deal with different residents of that address? Another one was Seven Year Itch. Again, difficult to grasp how it would work as a series.

The whole Christine/Danny wedding story is kind of random. Neither have had any presence on the show in years. As witnessed by the collection of 'friends' at the celebration. It's nice nostalgia but pretty much filler. Where is the wedding venue? GCAC?

Morgan was more suited to FC, FR and even Dallas than the more down to earth KL. And visually Morgan was probably too close to Donna Mills and would have played the same type of character. And when Jenna returned to Dallas, the character was much more sympathetic and relatable than anything Morgan ever played on the primetime soaps.

I was just going post that. What a bizarre idea. Such a contrived premise. As for Curtis and Lemmon, maybe that was unused footage from the movie?

Lee Grant, in her autobiography, talks about playing Rose Peabody on SFT. This was in the early 50's when she had, like many others, been blacklisted-unable to work in TV or movies due to supposed Communist sympathies. I remember getting a call from CBS asking if I was available to work on Danger, one of their shows, at the time. “No, no,” I protested, “you don’t mean me, check your records.” The nice network girl called back, flustered. “I’m sorry, you’re right, cancel that offer.” Then, through some wonderful oversight, I fell into a job on a soap opera. Ira Cirker was the producer-director. Soaps were big business, many of them with huge casts. I think it was Search for Tomorrow. I do know Mary Stuart, the leading lady who played Joanne Gardner, had been on every day since the show began. At the time my character was her friend Rose, who had a big grudge against Joanne for some reason. The last shot viewers had of me, I was holding a salt shaker containing poison over a soup pot in the kitchen. Would I or wouldn’t I poison the soup and kill Joanne and her loved ones? I felt really lucky. I was working live every morning, the show went straight into the television-watchers’ homes, the cast was like family, and I hoped that maybe the show was below the radar. I was going to work every day and nobody said anything. And my job was so fun. It was such a guilty pleasure to be below the visibility line on daytime television. Then Ira called me in. The network, CBS, had been threatened by Laurence Johnson, a grocer from Syracuse, New York. He’d read Red Channels and found me. Johnson owned a few supermarkets in Syracuse. A few markets, that’s all—not in New York City, not in Los An¬ geles. He threatened the advertising agency who represented Crest toothpaste, one of the sponsors of Search for Tomorrow. He would track down actors working on TV and threaten the sponsors—in this case. Crest—with a display in his markets in front of their merchan¬ dise: DO YOU WANT TO BRUSH YOUR TEETH WITH A PRODUCT FROM A COMPANY THAT EMPLOYS COMMUNISTS? It was very effective. Johnson also had a strong connection to a group of veterans in Syracuse, who he threatened would start a mail campaign. It put me out of the soap opera business and effectively stopped any paycheck I could count on, or Arnie could count on. Arnie had angina, and he needed help paying the bills. Losing the soap opera was a real loss for him and for me. *Subsequently both Nita Talbot and Constance Ford played Rose.