Paul Raven

My problem with Alex is that he was put into too many stories at once. The Magnis/Anderson business, Phyllis lover, Marie's ex lover with a shady past, involved with the hospital, came on to Maggie, involved with Cathy etc Maybe if those angles came into play over months it would have been more effective. Also Alex/Quinn was another over 40 male. Let's see- there was Tom. Bill, Mickey, Bob, Doug, Robert, Neil and Tommy lurking around. Maybe Alex should have been younger- a boy toy for Phyllis. Of course that wouldn't have worked with Marie. To get to a Doug/Julie/Lee triangle there was a lot of plot and character manipulation. Doug was made to look foolish which put the burden on Lee to be the total heavy. I think it would have been better to see more of Byron and Lee before he died and giving Lee a daughter may have given her extra motivation also.

re Michael Romano. I never knew till now that he and Jay Novello were one and the same. I'm guessing he changed his name when he left Chicago for the West Coast and perhaps didn't want to be known as a soap actor? Guiding Light Peter Manno Ann Thomas Career Girl Arnie Keller Girl Alone Dr George Richards aka 'Top Hat' Right to Happiness 1941 Arnold Grimm's Daughter 1940 Thunder Over Paradise Durango Backstage Wife 1945 Ma Perkins Ferguson (lawyer)1946 Houseboat Hannah Joe Mosey Lil Abner Scoodles Shaw Lonely Women 1943 Road of Life Allen Hayes

@beebs Just want to add my thanks for the write ups. I love discussing past soap storylines and the choices writers faced and decisions made. The tone of the show changed very much by 83 with a whole bunch of plots that would never have been utilised earlier. It gave the writers freedom to do stuff that never would have been entertained in the years prior to create dram/conflict. eg murders, psychos, super villians, doppelgangers etc. All to the detriment of the genre IMO. Back to the era under discussion. Days was facing the fact that the original characters were aging and played out yet were still popular and warranted airtime. Hence the Marcus and Harrower stories. By Harrower's time the decision was made to drop Laura and back burn Bill, make Mickey and Maggie supporting and break up Doug and Julie to basically replay their love story again. The next generation David/Mike were aged up to step into the spotlight but weren't given stories of the same magnitude as their parents. David/Val had that potential to be star crossed for years but the interracial aspect caused problems and it was short circuited. Meanwhile Mike was basically married off in a dead end story to a terminally ill woman. Not much to work with there. The show really failed to bring in young relevant characters. Chris was really the only popular new character of that time that had lasting power. The show wasted Steve and stubbornly refused to bring back Sandy. Donna operated in a vacuum- there was no new peer group for her. Janice perhaps should have been an older character in the first place and then return in 79 as a teen and become friend/frenemies with Donna. Give Lee a teen daughter that she had to support who charms Doug etc.

Ann Thomas We Love and Learn Dixie Blake Barbara Weeks was a castmate, not a character.

Vivian Smolen David Harum Myra Kathryn Card Story of Mary Marlin Della Worthington

Barbara Weeks Right to Happiness Carolyn (6 week replacement for Claudia Morgan) 1948 Jeanne Juvelier Story of Mary Marlin Marie Angelina Woman in White Linda Houseboat Hannah Maria The Guiding Light Mama Felzer/ Anjelina Pasquale Romance of Helen Trent Mme Frances Kitty Keene Mrs Levy Her Arnold Grimm character was proprietor of an exclusive dress shop.

Elaine Rost Just Plain Bill Leila Young 1945 Our Gal Sunday Front Page Farrell 1947 Rosemary Patti Road of Life Isobel Daly Elizabeth Reller Manhattan Mother Leona

Julian Noa Story of Bess Johnson 'college professor' Cameron Prud'Homme Backstage Wife Bryant Second Husband 1943

When Marie returned as a nun Bill Bell wanted to do a story about her being tempted to forgo her vows but it never came to pass. Bill was struggling to tell current stories in the half hour and I guess the controversial aspect put a lid on that development.

Inge Adams Her Light of the World segment was 'Queen of Sheba' Perry Mason Liz Wren Big Sister Wendy Tom Tully Hearts in Harmony Uncle Si Big Sister Editor McGregor

Re Bill and Maggie. that would have been a difficult one. Had they had Maggie growing close to Jennifer (which would have been in character) it might have thrown Bill and Maggie together but to go any further would seem too much considering what went before. Years later they teased Chris and Maggie but again nothing happened.

Thanks. Florida Friebus Light of the World 'Joseph' Azenith Young Widder Brown Hope Wayne Monks Our Gal Sunday 1945 Stella Dallas 1945 Just Plain Bill 1946

Angeline Orr Judy and Jane Jane Stepmother Trouble With Marriage

The attachment is unavailable.It sounds fantastic so i hope we will be access it.

Never really sure what Harrower had in mind for Jordan. There was a hint of an interest in Marie but nothing came of it. Meanwhile Marie moves to the front burner...Lanna Saunders was one of my faves, bringing so much to the role. I hated the fact that she was given the awful back story of a S&m/druggie affair and a possible murder. Also hate that old trope that events that happened in the past involve people who randomly cross paths again years later or have a connection to a small town miles away. Hardly the basis of a grand love story but Lanna made Marie a real character and engendered sympathy. Maybe the original plan was Alex/Marie/Jordan with the latter two endgame. As the story goes on we'll see some odd events and story directions. Steve is another character that had no real purpose or direction.He was recurring throughout his stint which says something. The opportunity was there to make him the black sheep and cause all sorts of trouble as a part of the Horton family but he stayed on the fringes. The whole diamond smuggling story was abust. Final thought. As I said I loved Marie/Lanna but bringing in a 40 plus character on a show that was top heavy with older folks seemed a dumb move at a time when the youth move was big in daytime. Maybe Sandy Horton would have been a better choice?

i would hope that someone out there is able to scan Afternoon TV issues from the late 70's early 80's.There were a lot of interesting articles and in depth looks at the soaps with interviews with writers and producers. I kept my SODs from that time but foolishly tossed heaps of other mags. Fingers crossed.

Grace Garland Another World Nurse 1981

Brian Farrell Days of Our Lives Phillip Briggs 1981 James C Burge Guiding Light Another World

I agree, suggestions that Bill and Kate hooked up after Laura was committed makes more sense on a number of levels and doesn't alienate long term viewers. So frustrating when writers sabotage the story... Getting back to Harrower's tenure so far. As mentioned earlier she took over and faced the same issues that Marcus had encountered with the three couples happily settled. Harrower realized they needed shaking up so her approach was 1. Bill/Laura. She looked into Laura's past (her mother's mental issues) and used that to delve into Laura having issues of her own. From reading synopses it seems a rather sledgehammer approach with Laura acting way out of character and family and colleagues not noticing until it was too late.Maybe the day to day treatment was more nuanced? It seems from the outset the story would culminate in Laura being committed and Rosemary Forsyth dropped. So I guess the feeling was that Laura had run her course and Forsyth was expendable. Seems a sad ending for such an important and well loved character. And where did this leave Bill? Judging from the episode counts for the second half of 79, Bill was averaging one or two days a week and there didn't seem to be much interest in him dealing with the loss of his wife and struggles as a single father. So maybe the long term plan was to drop Bill (as happened later). Maybe it would have been better to kill off Laura, rather than Bill being in limbo. Had he been given another love interest the writing would have to have been strong for him to garner audience support for a new romance while his wife was stashed away. At least as a widower that would have cleared the way for a new romance. Bill could have just as easily got involved with Liz Chandler as Neil. 2. Mickey/Maggie Harrower's approach here was to backburner them and give them little conflict. So not much to say here. 3.Doug/Julie The big story here was Julie's scarring and turning away from Doug. It kept them front burner and lead to divorce but the motivations seem muddled. Doug and Julie had been impetuous before in their actions eg Doug marrying Addie,Julie marrying Bob but that was years before as obstacles to get together. Doing the same thing once they were happily married never works as well. Doug's motivation for marrying Lee also seemed half baked. Of course it's easy to look back and judge. Do others agree or feel Harrower did what needed to be done?

Donald Briggs Ellen Randolph Donald Meade 1941 Wheatena Playhouse 'The Rains Came' Tom Ransome 1941 Young Dr Malone Dr Holton Stella Dallas 1946 Strange Romance of Evelyn Winters 1952 Aunt Jenny 'Moon Madness' 15 eps 1956 Viola Berwick Lonely Women Mary Collins Effie Palmer Jane Arden Mrs Lavender

Amazing list! I'm going to add to your workload with some more additions later and these requests. Florida Friebus Tom Tully Klock Ryder Angeline Orr Julian Noa Jeanne Juvelier Inge Adams Brian Farrell James C Burge Michael Jeter Jordan Williams Ron Parady

NIELSEN- RATING' TOP RADIO PROGRAMS Week, Nov. 16 -22, 1952 WEEKDAY (Average For All Programs) I Romance of Helen Trent (CBS) 7.8 2 Our Gal, Sunday (CBS) 7.8 3 Guiding Light (CBS) 7.7 4 This Is Nora Drake (Seeman) (CBS) 7.7 5 Ma Perkins (CBS) 7.6 6 Aunt Jenny (CBS) 7.5 7 Wendy Warren and the News (CBS) 7.2 8 Perry Mason (CBS) 7.0 9 This Is Nora Drake (Toni) (CBS) 6.7 10 Big Sister (CBS) 6.6

The initial scenario is months if not years of painful surgeries with no guarantee of success thus causing Julie untold angst and then for story purposes presto Julie is back to normal with no after effects. Bit of an insult to real burn victims and complete turnaround of what had been previously established.

The Julie story was pretty much savaged at the time .I think it was John Kelly Genovese in Afternoon TV that said it was a story that could have demonstrated Doug's devotion to Julie and her needing and gaining strength from his love but instead it was used to split them up with unconvincing motives.

Sidney Ellstrom Masquerade Mr Wendell Joan Blaine Stories America Loves 'So Big' Selena Peake 1942 Alan Bunce David Harum Dr Kenneth Stuart Doc Barclays Daughters Billy Van Cleve Sarajane Wells Dr Paul 1950