Paul Raven

Might be easier to read by following the link https://www.dga.org/Craft/DGAQ/All-Articles/0702-Summer-2007/Television-Soap-Operas.aspx Inside the Soap Machine Thanks in part to the precision work of the director's team, the fast-paced drama One Life to Live cranks out an astonishing six shows a week. Here's how they do it. BY ANN FARMER It's Monday afternoon, and on ABC's daytime soap opera One Life to Live, the young, blonde and beautiful Sarah Roberts has just discovered hunky Todd Manning lying comatose in a bed, blood from a chest wound oozing through the sheet. Peering down at Todd, Sarah hears him faintly murmur the name of his ex-wife, "Blair." She rummages in a drawer, pulls out Todd's cellphone and hurriedly scrolls down to that listing. Then she hesitates. She stares into space. An anxious expression ripples across her countenance. "Cut," says director and executive producer Frank Valentini into his control room headphone, bringing the scene to a pause. "Tell her to look more nervous," he relays to his stage manager, Alan Needleman, who receives the instruction through his earpiece while standing on the alert in the studio. The production is taking place in a cavernous armory on the Upper West Side of Manhattan that ABC took over decades ago. Needleman immediately walks up to the actress playing Sarah and whispers in her ear. She nods and repositions herself along with the crew. The next take works like a charm. "This is where the stage manager is of the utmost importance," explains Needleman as the shooting resumes. "You are the eyes and ears of the director when he or she is in the control room. You are funneling a lot of information from the director and it's coming out of your mouth." Without the stage manager's help, in fact, the directors on One Life to Live would never be able to churn out scene after scene, episode after episode, year after year of this longstanding, award-winning show. The same thing applies to the other members of the directing team: The three associate directors ready the cameras and edit the show. The two production associates track all the details and monitor the show's running time. "It's a completely interdependent world," says director Larry Carpenter, emphasizing that each directing team role is vital in facilitating the director's vision. "It's the director's energy that drives the day," Carpenter says. "But without the team it'd be insane. I depend on every DGA person there to help me accomplish the direction of the show." ON THE FLY: Stage Manager Keith Greer keeps his eye on the script. (Photo: Todd Garrin/ABC Photos) Compared to nighttime episodic dramatic television, in which an entire week is set aside to produce a one-hour episode, daytime soaps are produced at an average of six one-hour shows a week. "Our day is very high-paced," explains producer John Tumino, who's usually found in the back row of the control room, giving the final approval on each scene. After the 7:30 a.m. rehearsal, dozens of cameras, boom operators, stagehands, hair and makeup artists begin circling the talent. Some directors plow through as many as 140 pages a day. After the studio finally shuts down, anytime from 7 p.m. to midnight, the carpenters and electricians begin tearing down the sets and reconstructing tomorrow's. The lighting crew arrives in the middle of the night to start hanging lights for the next day's shoot. "Because we have to keep things moving and on budget," adds Tumino, "it all happens at incredible speed. What it comes down to is: time is money." At the same time, One Life's high production values remain a hallmark of the show. The soap is noted for staging fantastic events that have included tornadoes, a prison breakout, and a plane crash for which they cut and hauled a DC-3 from Tucson to their Manhattan studio and partially rebuilt it. This year, the show was nominated for 10 Daytime Emmys, including one for the directing team. Jill Mitwell, one of the seven directors on the show, and her team also won the 2006 DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Daytime Serials. When asked how the DGA crew keeps the operation moving, Valentini says, "You want someone who thinks before you do," describing how every single detail must be considered and put down on paper before anyone walks into the studio. And that preparation, more or less, begins with the production associates. Nathalie Rodriguez started as a script supervisor and a year ago became a production associate. "This job is good because you learn every aspect of production," she says, as she sits in her office upstairs from the set. She's meticulously reviewing a director's script that's marked with meeting notes for a shoot that will take place in two weeks. "We go through it page by page," Rodriguez says, describing how she's looking for cue times and notes about special effects, sound or props. For instance, a scene might require a meal that needs to be arranged for. Or perhaps a clock needs to be set at an exact hour and minute. "We try to foresee problems before they happen. She draws up a formal prop list and a schedule for the actors' hair and makeup calls. "We're the liaison between everybody and the director," she says, just as her phone rings. It's already past 4 p.m., but someone wants a wig that matches an actor's hair for tomorrow's shoot. "This is the type of last-minute thing that comes up," she says, dialing the prop department. "But it always ends up working out." Moving on to her next task, she picks up a stopwatch to time the show's dialogue. The script for each episode is usually about 100 pages. It's up to the production associates to estimate whether these novellas effectively time out for the show's running time. Rodriguez's lips move silently as she reads through each scene, recording its length and circling each estimate before moving on. Since every episode also involves a range of actors, coming up with an accurate timing is tricky. "When you first start doing it, it's very hard," says Rodriguez. "But after awhile, you get to know the voices of the actors and you get a sense." "It's half luck and half skill," adds Anthony Wilkinson, another production associate. He recalls the first time he had to estimate a lovemaking scene. Since there was no dialogue, he asked for advice. "The director said, 'Give it 30 seconds,'" Wilkinson recalls wryly. "So I allowed 30 seconds. When they did the scene it was 3-1/2 minutes long." Stage Manager of 16 years Alan Needleman keeps it light on the set. Any number of factors can throw an estimate off. Actors might read their lines slower because of their mood. "Sometimes scenes go more quickly because of the excitement," says director Gary Donatelli. "One director may be a quick storyteller, whereas it takes me five minutes to say hello," he adds self-deprecatingly, while also pointing out that if a show is long, it can always get cut in the edit. If it's short, then you have a problem. As a further safeguard, the PA will again track the show's running time on the actual shooting day. They take their spot on the front deck of the booth and record the ins and outs of each take, informing the associate director whenever anything's off, including script deviations. "The PAs are held accountable as the day proceeds," says Donatelli. The PA also attends a morning dry rehearsal before the shooting commences, which is the first time the actors speak their lines together. He or she follows along, marking any script or shot changes, which they incorporate into a revised "cut and changes" packet and distribute. Since scenes are often shot out of sequence, the PAs must also be prepared to field continuity questions. "Sometimes a director asks us what happened before this scene to get a better sense of things," says Rodriguez. "It's a very grueling job," admits Wilkinson, who says he regularly clocks in 60-hour weeks. He's not the only one. The stage managers step into the production process once the morning rehearsal ends around 9 a.m., and they often remain on the floor for the next 12 hours. This is when things start percolating. All the lights have been hung and the sets reconstructed. One Life has 125 sets. About four to six of them are utilized in a shooting day. As the stagehands, actors, camera operators, director and rest of the crew merge onto the set to block the first scene of the day, it's up to the stage manager to control the chaos. "They are the bosses of the floor," says Donatelli. "They ensure that the actors are up and ready on time. They supply the carpenters, electricians, and hair and makeup. They're like field lieutenants. They keep order on the floor." Actually, with his Bronx accent and affable manner, the lead stage manager, Alan Needleman, seems more like the mayor of the operation. He's been stage-managing One Life since 1991. For 21 years before that he worked as a production manager for ABC. He also does stand-up comedy, which serves him well in this capacity. "He knows how to quiet an entire bleacher section and get them roaring," says Donatelli. "We work long days. It's good to have someone with a sense of humor." Associate Director Tracy Casper Lang gets ready for a take. Production Associate Nathalie Rodriguez clocks a show's running time. Production Associate Anthony Wilkinson regularly works 60 hour weeks. Just then, Needleman comes out with a quip. Donatelli is directing a bedroom scene and half-jokingly told the actors, "Mad, passionate love has been made, like nothing on this planet." Needleman pipes in, "You mean for three minutes, like in my house?" eliciting a chuckle from everybody. "I try to break up the normal everyday tension," he says later. "But there is a time and place for everything. If we were shooting a serious scene, I wouldn't want to break it up with any levity." The stage manager is also responsible for prompting and cueing the actors. That's why Needleman sticks close to the director while he blocks a scene, recording the camera shots and making diagrams in his battered, black notebook. For instance, today one scene opens with a character lying on a prison cot with his head poking out of a body bag. Using a pen from the gaggle he keeps on a chain around his neck, Needleman draws a square that indicates the set. Inside that, he draws a stick figure with a sad expression in relation to where the actor is lying. "This is a stage manager's delight," Needleman chuckles, because most of the time he has to draw more complex scenarios, with multiple characters and various arrows indicating which direction the action moves. "The actors will say, 'Needles, where do I cross stage right?'" says Needleman, who also keeps a column of yellow, one-inch tape strips adhered to his left pants leg for marking spots. "In my black book, I've drawn an arrow, so I know where they need to go from." When they're in the booth, the directors also turn to the stage managers for help in guiding the emotional performance of the actors. "It's tough when [we're] in the booth and [we] want to stop and say something to the actors," says director Larry Carpenter. "I can't take the temperature of the floor, nor can I run out and take the time to give all the notes," he adds, explaining that he has to keep things moving. However, he says he's quite comfortable passing his notes via Needleman. "He is very aware of how to help an actor get the performance accomplished." Needleman adds, "You've got to be a people person. The actors need to trust you. A lot of it is tact. I'll make a note to one actor one way and a note to another actor another way. You're dealing with a lot of egos." What Needleman especially enjoys is choreographing the extras. "It is a lot of fun," he says, describing how he sometimes directs dozens of extras for as many as eight to 10 cameras (although, on average, scenes are shot with three or four cameras). He'll show the extras how to act in the background and to look for visual cues, such as when he raises two fingers indicating that they should move behind camera two. When a scene is finally ready to be shot, Needleman gives the 5-4-3-2 countdown, along with the associate director in the booth. "I'll tell the AD, 'We're ready on the floor,' and they'll say, 'We're ready in here,'" explains Needleman, who stays silent on the count of one and points to whichever actor speaks first. It's critical that the set remains quiet. That job more often falls to the second stage manager, Keith Greer. In fact, Greer barks out "quiet" so many times in a day that recently, he says, "I was in a restaurant with friends and I inadvertently shushed the whole restaurant." He laughs, "Another time, I woke myself up from sleep saying, 'Standby.'" TEAMWORK: Director Gary Donatelli moves as much as 140 pages a day. Today, however, Greer has other concerns. The writers and producers have created their version of High School Musical to air June 20, showcasing the singing talent of its younger cast. This episode features an original music score woven around a prom night theme. After weeks of the preparation, everybody's hyped to shoot the first foggy, dreamlike sequences being directed by Jill Mitwell. But right now, the fog keeps getting sucked up into the air vents almost as quickly as it's being generated. While Greer troubleshoots that problem, another ABC stage manager, Brendan Higgins, brought in just for the day, rehearses the talent—snapping his fingers to help the talent match their strides. Meanwhile, in the control room, associate director Mary Ryan is doing her part to realize Mitwell's creative ideas. During an earlier take, Ryan noticed how an actor appeared too pensive. "He needed to do a little more with his face. Also, we had too much fog on the master," she says, explaining how she brought those issues to Mitwell's attention and they reshot the scenes. "She's open to that," says Ryan. The associate director functions as the right arm of the director. In fact, the AD sits to the director's right in the control room on the front deck along with the PA. But what the ADs are especially good at is multitasking. They ready the cameras by constantly communicating with the camera operators. When everybody's set, they give the five-second cue. They also interact heavily with the PA, technical director and producer. "You've got to have good eye and mouth coordination," says Ryan. Later, it's the AD who will fine-edit the show in postproduction. "That's because the pace we go at is so incredibly fast," says Carpenter. "So we have to trust the AD to take what we're doing in the booth and move it into edit, and make it be our vision." While in the booth, the AD prepares for their subsequent edit session by taking notes and filling out a log listing which material from each camera needs to be digitized overnight for the nonlinear AVID edit system. Often in the middle of shooting, the AD may realize that a scene could look awkward the way it's being shot. "You want to make sure you have what you need," says Ryan, who brings any potential editing issues to the attention of the director and producer. They decide whether it's worth taking the time and expense to reshoot a scene differently. To manage all these responsibilities, the three ADs on One Life rotate days in the booth, the edit room, and an online day when they assemble elements such as credits and clip reels. "We try to edit the shows we worked on," says associate director Tracy Casper Lang, as she sits in the edit chair trying to shave 30 seconds off an episode. Valentini checks on her progress and tells her, "That was better, whatever you just did," before scooting out again. "The directors may give editing notes, but we execute what they have in mind," she continues, explaining that One Life was the first soap to use ADs as editors. She says it's excellent experience for becoming a director, something she's already doing as a backup. "When you're sitting here," says Lang, "you really see if something doesn't work." The way things work at One Life to Live, it's quite common for the ADs, PAs and stage managers to move up the ranks. "I'm always pushing my people through," says Valentini, who started out at One Life over 20 years ago as the assistant to the executive producer, and subsequently sailed through every position on the directing team. He adds, "Long ago, I heard that Woody Allen likes to work with the same crew because then it becomes like shorthand. That's what we've been able to do here—create a little shorthand."

I was surprised that Marland went to the trouble of writing in all those relatives for MJ. The Doctors was always stingy when it came to this sort of thing. Here's Kathleen Turner reflecting on her stint as Nola Dustin Morrow: After you finished your college degree, you moved immediately to New York City to work in theater. Kathleen Turner: Yes, it was terrifying but exhilarating to move to New York. I drove there the day I finished classes. I had exactly $100 in cash. Period. I was supposed to stay with a friend that first night but she had reunited with her boyfriend. I got to New York at about 3:00 in the morning and slept in my car on the east side, up in the 80s. It was scary—Manhattan wasn’t the Disney playground that it is now—but it was incredibly exciting and I was fearless. D.M.: And you were able to start working as an actor pretty quickly. K.T.: Almost immediately. I mean, I had day jobs like every other actor, but I started acting professionally very quickly. I was off-Broadway within five months, on the soap opera after nine months, and was on Broadway by eleven months. D.M.: Tell me about the soap opera. K.T.: I was a regular on The Doctors. Which no longer exists, for which we can all be thankful. The Doctors was a soap opera set in a New England hospital that ran on NBC from 1963 to 1982. Kathleen appeared on the series in 1978 and 1979. Among the many other notable alumni of the series are Alec Bald­win, Ellen Burstyn, and Ted Danson. D.M.: No good? K.T.: Whatever. It was fine. It was just a very run-of-the-mill soap opera. My character was so incredibly dumb that at a certain point I just couldn’t figure out how to justify the words that came out of her mouth, so I just asked the writers to make her a drunk. D.M.: Ha! That is crazy. K.T.: So crazy! I’ll tell you the breaking point for me on The Doctors. I remember this like it was yesterday. I was doing a scene where I was giving birth, after a four-month pregnancy of course, and I had researched the process and learned lamaze breathing and everything. After the first take the director, who was a man of course, came up and said, “You’re doing great, I can really feel what you’re going through. But can you just be a little more . . . ummm . . . attractive?” “Attractive.” While giving birth. That was it for me. D.M.: Stick a fork in you. K.T.: Yessir. Done. D.M.: Actors who move back and forth between theater and cinema or theater and television always talk about the differences between stage and screen acting, so I thought that instead I would ask you to tell me about the skills that translate, especially since I know that you started in stage and then moved to TV and then to film. What were you able to carry from one step to the next? K.T.: Moving from TV to film was less of a leap for me than moving from theater to TV. That was a big transition. D.M.: How did you get the part on The Doctors? K.T.: Before I got the regular role on The Doctors, I was getting called in to do day spots on soaps because I have a near-photographic memory. I could learn scripts almost instantly. That made me pretty valuable as a soap actress. D.M.: Theater and television are wildly different forums for an actor. K.T.: Coming from the stage, I had always thought of acting as a process of rehearsal, of trial and error, of carefully fine-tuning something until it’s just right. You don’t have that kind of luxury, that kind of time, working in soap operas. When shooting a soap, you come in around seven or so and go through hair and makeup and wardrobe, and then you shoot until around four or so, and at five you do a light rehearsal, or sometimes just a table read, of what you are going to shoot the next day. That idea of creating a performance every single day was new to me, that idea of making choices that you had to implement on-the-spot. That was the most valuable thing that the soap opera gave me. D.M.: What did you learn from that experience about acting for the camera? K.T.: I don’t think I learned a lot about camera craft because it was a soap. It was essentially these huge, hulking, awkward cameras that wheeled around in a cumbersome manner. They didn’t afford a tremen­dous variety of camera angles. And there were several of them shooting at once, so the angle wasn’t as defined or as specific as it usually is when shooting a film. And there were all these terribly artificial soap opera performance demands. I would get a script that would say, “And we slow fade on a shot of Kathleen’s surprised expression.” And I would have to hold this ridiculously melodramatic expression until they finished this agonizingly long fade that would take them into a commercial. It was so stupid and so unrealistic. D.M.: Well, no one watches soap operas for realism, I guess. K.T.: Isn’t that the truth! But I did learn a very valuable lesson about how to use my personal experiences in my performances when I was doing The Doctors. There was a storyline in which my character’s mother died, and in reading the script I had this incredible rush of feeling, remembering my father’s death. It was a wave of emotion that I hadn’t felt in years, as he had been dead for several years at that point. It was as though the script had torn open a scar that I thought had healed over, it was hard for me. But I went home and I just thought, “Okay, just hold it together, keep it together, don’t indulge anything until the camera rolls tomorrow and then use it all.” So the next day we shot this scene in which my character spoke to her dying mother in this hospital room, and I just let it all go. And I was wracked with grief, sobbing uncontrollably almost, and when we finished the show I thought, “Well, that is one of the truest things I have ever done as an actress.” And then I saw the show and it looked like the worst, hammiest acting in history! The lesson learned was that you don’t really want to be 100% real, on camera or on stage really. The performance of a real emotion is different from the actual experiencing of that emotion. D.M.: For one thing, one is controlled and the other isn’t. K.T.: That’s true, and you don’t ever want to be out of control when you are acting. Acting isn’t meant to be dangerous. We were auditioning young men for the role of the addict in the Broadway production of High, and one young man got so physical with me onstage that there was a genuine sense of the loss of control, and I felt for a moment that I was in real danger. He was way too rough with me. You won’t get a part if you can’t control your performance. That said, I think that I have come closer to using real experiences on stage than in film because I have a lot more space to do it in. But that scene on The Doctors was awful, bad acting. However true it felt to me didn’t matter, it wasn’t about the truth. D.M.: So it’s more about verisimilitude, an appearance of truth, than finding an actual truth. K.T.: It’s about the truth of the scene, not the truth of the actor’s per­sonal experiences. D.M.: The compressed period of time that you were talking about, with the fast production schedule of The Doctors, where you have basically a day to make big performance choices—if you are coming out of a theater background where you have a luxurious rehearsal period, then that’s tough to deal with. Do you just say to yourself, “It’s scary but I’m going to commit to this choice I made five minutes ago and hope for the best”? K.T.: Basically. You have to. Having that experience on The Doctors helped me when I did move on to feature filmmaking, because I learned that on the day, on the moment when the shot was set, you had to be committed to your choices. There’s no do-over if you don’t like what you did on a given shoot day on a film. You can’t just go reshoot something because you were unhappy with your performance, it would be prohibi­tively expensive. There are times when, if I happen to catch a few minutes from one of my films on TV, I see places where I could have made better choices. But that’s okay. What I am sure of is that I made the best choice I could make on that day, at that time, given the circumstances, given where we were shooting, who I was working with, and how everything had led up to that moment on that shoot day. I’m sure I said, “This is the best I can do.” So I am happy with all my film performances, because they represented my best effort on the days I shot them. It does no actor any good to sit around bemoaning mistakes or missed opportunities. Move forward and be proud of what you’ve done. D.M.: I have heard from actor friends who’ve done them that soaps can provide valuable experience as an actor. If one of your students was considering going into soaps, what would you tell her? K.T.: I’d tell her to do it, but not for too long. No actor should stay on a soap for more than eighteen months. The trap that actors on soaps fall into is they lose the desire to explore because they get into the habit of thinking that the first choice is the best choice. And that’s a very danger­ous habit for an actor. Soaps don’t foster exploration in the acting process. D.M.: Did they have teleprompters when you were doing The Doctors? K.T.: Ah, yes, “teleprompter acting.” On The Doctors, they used cue cards, but it was the same basic thing. There was this guy, Bobby, who had these big white cards that he’d hold up just off-camera. I never used them, as they so obviously impede a performance. D.M.: That seems like it’d be terribly distracting. K.T.: You can always tell when an actor is using them, their eyeline is all wrong.

Ep # 6202 Taped Tues Sept 9 1975 Aired Tues Sept 16 1975 CAST Ben Betsy Arlene Rick Cal Carrie Jamie Meg SETS Ben/Betsy Bedroom Arlene's Apt Jamie's Office TIME New day/mid morning Exec Producer Darryl Hickman Writers Margaret De Priest with Clarice Blackburn/Mary Ryan Munisteri/Moe Cooper

Ep #3944 Airing Monday June 28 1971 CAST Penny Bob Chris Simon Pete Meredith Tom SETS Hughes Living Room Hughes Kitchen Gilby suite Meredith's Room WRITERS Winifred Wolfe Warren Swanson Ep#3947 Taped Wed June 30 1971* Aired Thurs July 1 1971* For unknown reasons this episode was taped Wed evening b/w 6.45-7.30 pm and aired the next day. CAST Chris Judge Lowell Simon Lisa Pete Tom SETS Chris' Office Lawyers Club Simon's suite Restaurant Dining Room Ep #4007 Airing Thurs Sept 23 1971 CAST Bob Nancy Tom Chris Bob Simon Meredith Susan Dr Foley (Chief technician) David Dan Dr ? SETS Waiting Area - Hospital Chris' room Pathology Lab Living quarters-bookstore Phone Booth Hospital corridor Writers Warren Swanson David Lesan John Boruff

Ep #888 Taped Mon Sept 20 1976 Aired Tues Sept 28 1976 CAST Leslie Jen Lorie Chris Stuart Snapper Lance Brad Vanessa SETS Brooks Living Room Pay Phone @Allegro Restaurant Chris & Snapper's Apt Brad & Leslie's Apt Ext Brooks Home Vanessa-Limbo phone Ep #904 Taped Tues Oct 12 1976 Aired Wed Oct 20 1976 CAST Liz Greg Snapper Nancy Chris Jill Nurse U/5 Telephone Installation Man U/5 Karen U/5 SETS Hospital Corridor o/side Bill's Room Bill's Hospital Room Ron & Nancy's Apt Chancellor Living Room Ep #907 Taped Fri Oct 15 1976 Aired Mon Oct 23 1976 CAST Lorie Leslie Lance Vanessa Chris Peg Ron Nancy Karen Brad SETS Lorie's Apt Vanessa's Room Ext Brooks Home Becker Apt Brad & Leslie's Apt Ep #908 Taped Mon Oct 18 1976 Aired Tues Oct 25 1976 CAST Liz Jill Brad Lorie Nancy Ron Snapper Greg SETS Foster Living Room Ron & Nancy's Apt Foster Living Room Bill's Hospital Room Ep # 940 Taped Tues Nov 30 1976 Aired Mon Dec 13 1976 CAST Chris Brock Nancy Jill Kay Stuart Nurse #1 Nurse # 2 Nurse #3 SETS Allegro Restaurant Limbo area Mental Hospital Foster Living Room Chris & Snapper's Apt. Ep #999 Taped Tues Oct 19 1976 Aired Wed Oct 27 1976 CAST Brock Kay Liz Ron Nancy Snapper Karen U/5 Jill Male Attendent #1 Male Attendant #2 SETS Allegro Restaurant Chancellor Living Room Foster Living Room Ron & Nancy's Apt. Ep # 1051. Taped Tues May 10, 1977 Aired Wed May 18 1977 CAST Kay Joann Liz David Mallory Ron Nancy Miss Simpson Dr Hanlin Jill Derek SETS The Allegro Foster Living Room Nancy's Hospital Room Golden Comb Salon

Ronn Moss update https://www.canberratimes.com.au/national/act/ronn-moss-s-intimate-evening-in-canberra-20190221-p50zbi.html When RonnMoss speaks about Hollywood, it's worth listening. Born and raised in the haze and heat of Los Angeles and a survivor of the voracious appetite of the world's most popular soap opera, Moss has chosen to edge away from the the epicentre of entertainment. He quit The Bold and the Beautiful in 2012 after an incredible 25 years playing fan favourite Ridge Forrester. And it's only now he's prepared to talk about the real reason he did leave. (More on that in a moment.) Moss moved out of Los Angeles, just ever so slightly, but enough to make a difference, to Ventura County to the north. And while he is about to embark on a tour of Australia performing his music and telling stories about his life and career, Moss seems very happy to have said goodbye to Hollywood. When asked how someone survives sane and healthy for so long in Tinsel Town, Moss is blunt. "You don't. Sane and Hollywood are not two things that go in the same sentence," he said. "I always consider myself down-to-earth and I think that's why I moved the hell out of Hollywood. "I grew up in Hollywood, I've been there most of my life and I moved out into a little bit of the countryside to get out of Hollywood and I can't stand going back. It's hard for me to go back. "But the insanity of Hollywood has just gotten worse to me. So I separate myself." It's not the Ronn Moss we're used to, this is someone a little more serious and introspective. We're more used to those tongue-in-check appearances on Rove when he'd joke about his ponchos and re-enact those suspenseful mid-distance stares on The Bold and the Beautiful. He's still got that sense of humour. But it's as if freed from the shackles of Ridge Forrester he can be more himself, more candid. So fill us in, how has Hollywood become more insane? Exactly. "Oh, lots of ways. Politically, it's absolutely fricking insane," Moss said. "And the insanity of showbusiness, it makes me not want to be a part of it, because of some of the people that are involved in it. And then I think of the creative aspects of it, and I go, 'Okay, I'm doing it for my own creative reasons but I'm not going to take all that bullshit that people go through with, with Hollywood'.'' Ronn Moss turned 67 on March 4, his hair and drop-dead gorgeous cheekbones still in place."I don't want to talk too much about politics but there's a liberal insanity that has taken over Hollywood and for me, I'm sorry, but it is insanity. It defies logic, it defies human rationale. And I don't understand it."Is he talking about the #MeToo movement?"It's all of that. There's an insane sort of thing that's taken over," he said."And I know why it's happening but that would be far too long a conversation.... There's a force behind it that knows exactly what it's doing and everyone in Hollywood is falling for it"It's making them accuse everyone else of being racist and homophobic, whatever other adjectives you want to use, when they're actually the ones perpetuating it. I call it transference. Where you transfer to somebody else the very qualities that you are yourself projecting."But you transfer it to make sure everybody else is that way when, actually, it's you. That's kind of what's happening and it's happening on such a grand scale that I don't even want to go to Hollywood anymore." That much is clear.When Moss left The Bold and the Beautiful, he suggested it was simply time. And salary issues. But there was much more to it."I pretty much left Bold and the Beautiful because I felt I couldn't continue to do it,'' he said."I was in a pretty bad car accident which really debilitated my ability to keep going with that show. I think I'll probably talk about this when I come there for my shows because people keep asking and they don't really know the real reason.''The accident was in July, 2012, around the time he announced he was leaving The Bold and the Beautiful, a fixture of the soap since its inception in 1987"I kind of stayed mum about it because there was a legal aspect to it and the insurance. And I'm not one to complain, that's my problem. If I'd been one of the fricking complainers, then everyone would know, 'Oh, no, I was in an accident'," he said."I just kept that to myself because I didn't want to seem so much of a whinger. Is that an English term or is that an Australian term? Actor Ronn Moss has two adult daughters but is in no rush for grandchildren, telling his daughters to "go out and enjoy your lives"."I don't like doing that. My wife after the fact said, 'Why don't you tell people the real reason of what's going on?' and I was like, 'I don't want to whine about something like that'. I can't stand that."The accident virtually made it impossible for Moss to keep acting with the show."We got whacked really hard and I was kind of the centre of the storm and fractured my shoulder in three places and it gave me a bit of a concussion and it made it hard for me to memorise all the fricking dialogue we had to do on the show," he said."And I was just struggling for the last two weeks struggling to get through it, going, 'What the [!@#$%^&*] is going on with me?'. I lost all strength in my left hand, my left arm."And I went, 'Oh my God is this going to permanent? I don't know'. So a lot of things were compiling on me and I just went, 'I don't know if I can keep going on this show. I think I'm really at a loss here'. Because I'd never been in an accident before. I'd never had that experience before."The accident, as terrible as it was - he and his wife Devin DeVasquez were hit at full force by another vehicle while their car was stationary - it was a catalyst for change."This was just a facilitator for me to go and do something different," he said"The short story of it is, 'Things are thrown at you in life and you either pick up the ball and run with it or you try to fight against it'. And I wasn't going to fight against it, I was going to run.''He's certainly not in retirement mood. Moss turned 67 on March 4, a birthday he celebrated just ahead of his departure to Australia. He is producing movies in Europe. Keeping an eye on his two adult daughters - the boyfriends have been vetted. And excited to keep working and concentrating on his music.His show, called An Intimate Evening with Ronn Moss, will feature clips, stories and music from his career. He knew, at 11 years old, after watching The Beatles’ appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, that he wanted to play music, or be Ed Sullivan, or both.His band Player had a No.1 hit with Baby Come Back and toured with the likes of Eric Clapton, Heart and The Little River Band.Moss returns to Australia with his good friend, musician Jawn Star, performing alongside him, rather than a full band."We're going to do a very unplugged, very intimate, one-on-one thing with our Australian friends," he said.Moss' Bold and the Beautiful co-star Katherine Kelly Lang is also a regular visitor to Australia and recently appeared in the local version of, I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! Would he consider doing that kind of show?"Over the last four years, they've asked me three times to do it and it's never really worked out,'' he said.Again, he says the car accident prevented him from doing I'm a Celebrity for Australian TV. It's a shame because, despite his more introspective musings, he seems like one Hollywood star who doesn't take himself too seriously."No, I definitely don't. And that's a trait I share with my Australian friends, just having a good sense of humour about things," he said.Ronn Moss appears at the Southern Cross Club in Woden on Thursday, March 21. Bookings 6283 7200 or online. For more on Moss go to his Instagram page.

Lewis Arlt (SFT, AW, RH etc) is now in Real Estate www.scarsdale10583.com/about-joomla/shout-it-out/5319-lewis-arlt-s-first-act

Some 70's pics that I don't believe have been posted before. That era seems to have no profile. The move to 60 min seems to have weakened the show. View large image (1144 x 1600)

Just finished reading Ed Zimmerman's novel 'Love in the Afternoon' published in 1971. At that time Zimmerman was playing Dr Joe Werner on TGL. It's a fun read and a look at soaps of that time and seems pretty much based on TGL. Actor Steven Prince is Daytime TV's brilliant but ruthless surgeon, Harlan Cross. Dr. Cross is a steely-eyed perfectionist, scheming to lure nice nurses into nefarious post-surgery seductions. Actor Prince is a near-sighted (can't even read the teleprompter) blunderer whose trick knee sometimes collapses in the middle of a tricky operation. The show is live and the moments lively as Prince copes with an assistant (actor) who can't keep his lines straight. . . or even memorized; a nurse (actress) who slaps his surgical gloves on backwards; an aging mother (aging super-star) who plans to really dominate the scenes; a love interest (sexy ingenue) who insists on dressing in his dressing room and a wife and mother (real) who sometimes get him confused with his character. It's a slight but sometimes very funny look at the traumas behind the souped up, soapy dramas. One character seems based on Stefan Schnabel (Dr Steve Jackson) In the book he's presented as an old sleaze, coming on to younger female co-stars, although it's supposed to be seen as amusing, in keeping with the times. He also details an aging Hollywood star coming on who makes a mess of dialogue and cues but always delivers on air. The only actress I could think of that might apply to is Jan Sterling who appeared on GL in Zimmerman's time frame(or maybe it was based on someone on another show that he heard about) Anyway it's a quick read and definitely worth it for soap history fans.

So it seems that there is no way of accessing TD apart from Retro broadcasts? We are now up to mid August 77 and as mentioned in the past Marland has taken the action away from Hope Memorial. The major stories revolve around the Dancys, none of whom have any association with the hospital. Only Matt, Maggie, Steve and MJ are in the medical field. Jessie is hardly seen and Mike is due to return to medicine. Jarrod who used to post here has started a blog with detailed daily summaries. I hope he doesn't mind me posting the link so those interested can keep up with the show and Marland's work. https://serialdigest.wordpress.com/

It is fascinating looking over primetime cast lists and seeing various actors crossing paths before and after soap stints.

Re 3 Steps to Heaven Add : Howard Smith , Ralph Stanley

Radio Ratings for 2 weeks ending Oct 23 1954 - to give you an idea of the popularity of particular shows at that time. 1. Ma Perkins 2. Arthur Godfrey 3.Young Widder Brown 4. Road of Life 5. Romance of Helen Trent 6. Stella Dallas 7. Arthur Godfrey 8. Arthur Godfrey 9.Our Gal Sunday 10. Perry Mason Regarding Arthur Godfrey appearing multiple times, I think each segment with a different sponsor is ranked separately.

14 yr olds should not be given storylines beyond their years... Watching this the problem for me is none of those characters were related to the core. Emily Srewart would have been the right age to be at the forefront of stories at this point. If they didn't want Susan back, Emily could have come to stay with Ellen and David while susan took a job in some far away land. Don Hughes' step daughters Alice and Debbie should have been kept around. So much easier to keep veterans relevant with young characters to play off.

No Greek connection with mike or Margo...I think it may have been some 70's New Age thing...Margo was a hippie chick.

I have included this in this thread as Joel was on Secret storm at that time. New York Times Nov 12 1970 WOR‐TV, Channel 9, which began a nightly half‐hour news cast on Monday, dismissed its theater and arts critic, Joel Crothers, five hours before he was to deliver his first review. Mr. Crothers, a working actor, was ordered not to make a scheduled air performance on Tuesday evening by WOR.‐TV's general manager, Michael Mc Cormick. Mr. McCormick said that while he did not question Mr. Crothers's integrity or ability, he believed that to have a professional actor review actors, producers and angels with whom he might have professional contact could create a conflict of interest and “our journalistic integrity would be questioned.” When it was announced several months ago that Mr. Crothers was to be Channel 9's critic, the fact that he was working actor with an “inside” knowledge of the theater was given is one of the reasons for his hiring. But Mr. McCormick and WOR‐TV's news director, Lem Tucker, agree that the question has gnawed at them constantly. Mr. McCormick said that when Mr. Crothers's name and qualifications were first brought to him “I seriously questioned the desirability of our placing a gentleman with his occupation and background in a major medium to critique the medium he could occupy.” Mr. Tucker said that Mr. McCormick had come to him and said that it looked like conflict of interest.” I disagreed and the subject was dropped,” Mr. Tucker went on. “It was brought up two other times. I disagreed and it was dropped. Monday night we promoted Joel for the Tuesday show. Tuesday afternoon Mr. McCormick came to the office and again went into the conflict of interest. said that knowing. Joel as I did I felt we ought to put him on a few times to see if he compromised himself or the station.” He said Mr. McCormick disagreed, and gave Mr. Tucker a “direct order, citing that he wanted us to be above suspicion.” Mr. Crothers was slightly bitter. The 29‐year‐old actor, who is appearing in the WCBS daytime serial “Secret Storm,” said: “I won't starve. And I'm healthy in the head.” He added, however, that he had turned down several readings for Broadway shows be cause of his WOR‐TV commitment “and if there's anything to be angry about, that's it.” He said that WOR was “foolish to think that as a working actor I would be subject to pressure. I just don't work that way.” He suggested wryly that “I probably set a new record for getting fired.” Tuesday's review was to have been of “Hay Fever” followed last night by “Two By Two.”

Days Mike and Margo - matching headpieces! What was that about?

Weird headpieces seemed to be an 80's soap thing

A picture of the bathroom but not the kitchen? I wonder where she moved to... She had a daughter I believe. Hope they are close and Kathryn is healthy and happy,

Good story. Wonder if he had been cast as Jeff, the role would have last longer? At first Peter Bergman was going to be Jeff but it was decided to make him a new character. I think they tried a couple more times with Jeff and then he was forgotten until John James. BTW Amy, nice to see you posting again!

True Story 1958 (the show continued for a number of years but this is all the info I have at the moment) Jan 4 ? by George lowther Cast Loretta Leversee, Lesley Woods, Randy Kraft, James Congdon Jan 11 Bitter Holiday by James Blumgarten Cast Susan Dean Pat Hosley Frank Overton, Bill Mason Jan 17 ? by Joan Cunningham Cast Phyllis Hill, Richard Coogan, Tom Carlin, John McGovern Jan 24 The Scent of Roses by Elinor Lenz Cast Lenka Peterson, John Kellogg, Shirley Grayson, Robert Webber February 1 The Opening Door by William Kendall Clarke Cast Terry O'Sullivan, Jan Miner February 8 Panic by George Lowther Cast Kathleen McGuire, Phillip Abbott, Joe Campanella, Henrietta Moore February 15 Blackout by Harry Junkin Cast Bernard Grant, Diana Douglas, Martin Brooks, Heywood Broun February 22 Obsession by Tom Reynols Cast Mark Roberts, Augusta Dabney, Audra Lindley, Lisa Howar March 1 Designed by a Daughter by Bob Corcoran Cast Lee Beneke, David White, Ray Bramley, Biff McGuire March 8 The Sisters by George Lowther Cast Navcy Wickwire, Lila Martin, Hugh Reilly, Stuart McIntosh March 15 The Operation by Max Ehrlich Cast Phillip Abbott, Ann Flood, Mary K Wells, Frank Sutton March 22 The House on Willow St by James Blumgarten Cast Kathleen McGuire, Martin Brooks, John Kellogg, Doris Wiss March 29 The Parkinson Award by William Kendall Clarke Cast Jan Miner, Dolores Sutton, Randy Kraft April 5 ? by Joseph Cochran Cast Harry Bellaver, Abby Lewis, Sam Grey, Arnie Freeman April 12 If the Shoe Fits by George Lowther Cast Jim Bowles, Tom Carlin, Darryl Grimes, Rudy Bond April 19 3:10 Local by William Kendall Clarke Cast Phyllis Hill, Coe Norton, Millette Alexander, Biff McGuire April 26 Faith by Michelle Cousins Cast Bernard Grant, Earl Hammond, Staats Costworth May 3 The Awakening by George Lowther Cast John Nappier, Ann Flood, Jana Pierce, Ed Peck May 10 The Cats by George Lowther Cast George L Smith, James Congdon, Jan Miner May 17 Phone Call From a Stranger by Jesse Sandler Cast Georgann Johnson, Phillip Abbott, Larry Weber, Warren Berlinger May 25 Milk and Cookies by Earl Hamner Cast Meg Mundy, Frank Schofield, Bern Hoffman May 31 ? by Harry Junkin Cast Staats Costworth, Barbara Wilkins, Bert Freed, Jamie Smith June 7 ? by Michele Cousins Cast Audra Lindley, Edmon Ryan, Pamela King, Lesley Woods June 14 ? by George Lowther Cast Mary K Wells, Alfred Ryder, William Prince, Rudy Bond June 21 ? by Michele cousin Cast Maxine Stuart, Jay Barney, Bill Daniels, Maggie Grindell June 28 ? by William Kendall Clarke Cast Jean Mallory, Henry Lascoe, Richard Knox, Abby Lewis July 5 ? by William Kendall Clarke Cast Delores Sutton, James Congdon, Jamie Smith, Graham Denton July 12 ? by Mildred McDaniel Cast Nancy Wilder, David White, William Prince, Phyllis Hill July 19 ? by Irving Elman Cast Diana Douglas, Staats Costworth, Joanne Le Compte, Frank Sutton July 26 Lone Woman by George Lowther Cast Loretta Leversee, Jane Rose, Frank Marth, John Kellogg August 9 ? by Gene Watts Cast Helen Auerbach, Scott Peters, Harrison Dowd, Ben Hammer August 16 ? by Irving Elman Cast Roger de Koven, Flora Elkins, Bill Daniels, Martin Brooks August 23 ? by Irving Elman Cast Joy Hodges, Ed Peck, Sally Kemp, Dean Harens August 30 The Last Man in One B by Barry Lake Cast Jan Miner, John Gibson. Warren Berlinger, Phillip Sterling Sept 6 ? by Bob Corcoran Cast Diana Herbert, Arch Johnson Sept 13 Dinner Party by Franklin Barton Cast Frank Schofield, Sally Gracie, David White, Lesley Woods Sept 20 ? by joseph cochran Cast William Redfield, Betsy Meade, Dortha Duckworth, Stuart Mc Intosh Sept 27 The Sad Blackmailer by Bob Corcoran Cast Stephen Elliot, Melba Rae, Jay Barney, Don Fellows Oct 4 Till We Meet Again by Irving elman Cast Vilma Kurer, Simon Oakland, Maurice Kahmi Oct 11 The Imperfect Secretary by Bob Corcoran Cast Staats Costworth, Susan Brown, Dick Van Dyke, Pat Hosley, William Putch Oct 18 A Question of Faith by Barry Lake Cast Robert Mandan, Dolores Sutton, Frank Dana, Bert Freed Oct 25 Chainsaw Man by Irving and Jane Robbin Cast Mike Keene, Virginia Kaye, Barbara Dana, Fred Stewart Nov 1 The Boy and The Bicycle by Ian Martin Cast Loree Marks, Paul Stevens, Glenn Walker, Paul Liposon Nov 8 Say A Few Words by Michele Cousin Cast Phtyllis Newman, Kathleen Murray, Dalton Dearborn, Leta Bonynge Nov 15 Strange Honeymoon by George Lowther Cast Marion Poane, Ed Bryce, Frederic Downs Nov 22 Everything Money Can Buy by Mildred McDaniel Cast Wesley Addy, Meg Mundy, George Lambert, Ben Yaffee Nov 29 Venture Into Night by Calvin Klements Cast Fred warriner, Carol Lawrence, Henrietta Moore, Arch Johnson Dec 6 The Logical Victim by Gene Watts Cast House Jameson, Ed Stehli, Sandra Church, David Ford Dec 13 Silver Eve by William Kendall Clarke Cast Jerome Cowan, Maxine Stuart, Jill Kraft, David White Dec 20 The Manager by Bob Corcoran Cast Elizabeth Ross, Michael Conrad, Karl Light

Very early on.Peggy McKay and onscreen dad?

Re Secret storm John Fink's role was in 1966. He was from Grosse Point and the local newspaper reported he got a part on the show for his girlfriend Sharkey Finnerman (!)