Paul Raven

Looking forward to it!

What was her relationship with Victoria Wyndham, both professionally and personally?

Memories of Constance Ford?

What led her to return to the role?

What was the feeling on the set during each stint i.e. being on a low rated show/one facing cancellation?

Thanks.

American Home Products,sponsors of Secret Storm announced plans to syndicate the show and continue the Monday after CBS cancellation.They claimed to have lined up 140 stations to carry the show.That was repoerted late 73,early 74.

Obviously,something happened along the way and the plan never went ahead.

Re Joan Crawford's appearance on SS. Legend has it that she was boozed up and her performance was erratic.Whether this has any basis in truth is unknown(after Mommie Dearest,anything connected with La Crawford was tainted).

The fact remains that she was a 60 something woman playing a 24 year old - not even a star of her magnitude could pull that one off.apparently Joan made $585 for her 4 appearances.

Timeslots - SS always played late afternoon.Originally from 4.15 - 4.30.it premiered in tandem with Woman With A Past at 4.00 but that show(starring Constance Ford) lasted only a short time. Then Brighter Day took over as lead in until Storm expanded to 30 min in 62. Until 68,it played from 4.00 - 4.30.

From 63-68 Edge of Night was a strong lead in.

from 68 - 72 it moved forward an hour to 3.00 replacing To Tell The Truth, Edge of Night now followed SS.Guiding Light was the new lead in.

in 72,CBS shuffled its lineup and SS moved back to 3.30.Love Is A Many Splendored Thing was the new lead in.

Then it moved to 4.00 for its final year.Hollywood's Talking,the Match Game was the lead in.

After regularly being in the top 5,the ratings fell in 68 and never really recovered.

Competition ABC - At 4.00 ABC aired the Afternoon Film Festival till 56,the American Bandstand,Never Too Young,Dark Shadows,Dating Game and Dark Shadows again. Then it moved to 3.00 up against GH. The 3.30 move put it up against OLTL. The 4.00 competition in 73-74 was Love American Style.

NBC - A variety of shows went up against SS in the 50's and 60's but it was Match Game from 62 - 68 that was the mainstay.The at 3.00 the competition was AW. At 3.30 in 72 NBC offered RTPP. Finally at 4.00 SS was opposite Somerset.

Original title 'Bright Star'

This thread is awesome.I have some SS material that I will share in the coming days.

By the way,Carl,you are confusing Keith Charles with Larry Keith.

Interestingly,Keith Charles returned to SS after his role as Nick to play Brian Neeves late in the shows run. He was one of the actors who played the most roles on soaps.

Best of Everything was replaced by reruns of That Girl.

My take on Cali/Judi is that when Days canned her,AW jumped at the chance to have a popular and respected actress on the show and decided to sacrifice Cali as Paulina.

I don't think they created Paulina for Judi.

I always remember that Cali's brothers and sister were part of the group Cowboy Junkies.

Apparently,when Irna Phillips was involved in the planning of PP (she had been hired by ABC to consult on their drama programming)she suggested that Alison become involved in a romance with a young doctor named Bailey, who would be revealed as Eliot's son (and therefore Alison's half- brother).

Seems Paul Monash and ABC were not too thrilled by the 'incest' story and they and Irna parted ways.

Just found out an interesting bit of AW trivia.

I knew that John Beal was let go as Jim Matthews after the first week of shows,and was replaced by Leon Janney.

What I didn't know was that Janney was appearing on ATWT as a character named 'Major Page'.The Thursday before he became the new Jim, Janney was still appearing on ATWT.

Irna Phillips wrote him out so the actor could switch to AW.

Seems they were in such a hurry,they looked around for an available actor already working on a soap.

Just discovered that the RTTP primetime special aired in which aired Sunday Jan 21st 1973 was a ratings flop.It ranked 58th for the week out of 65 programs with a 12.9 rating.However,the fact that its daytime average was a 7.2 at this time made it a success on those terms.

Does anyone know more about it? I've read that it dealt with Allison being found guilty of the murder of Benny/Jason.

At that time NBC ran Disney from 7.30 - 8.30 and Mystery Movie 8.30 - 10.00. Columbo was the mystery movie that week and ranked 5th with a 28.5 while Disney was 4th with a 28.7

Night Gallery usually ran at 10.30 so RTPP pre-empted it that night.

The competition was most likely a movie on ABC and Mannix on CBS.

I think this was the first and only time a soap made it to primetime until Capitol debuted in 82.

Love of Life The 60's...

1960

For 3 years,the show featured the exciting Tammy Forrest Porter story. Originally, Link Porter arrived in Rosehill with his wife Maggie(Joan Copeland) who was terminally ill. After her death,Link married Tammy (Ann Loring),the NY actress that Van had replaced.Tammy,an alcoholic,was going deaf. Then Maggie's twin,Kay Logan(also Joan Copeland)tried to steal Link away from Tammy. Link died of cancer in 1966.

1961

Lee Lawson replaced Nina Reader in the role of Barbara.Paul Savoir played the first Rick Latimer,the brash young son of wheeler dealer Guy Latimer(John Straub).Despite the objections of her father Bruce, and her grandparents,Barbara married Rick. Zina Bethune replaced Lee Lawson in 1965.

Jack Stamberger replaced Tom Shirley as Henry Carlson and remained until 1970,when the character was written out.

1962

Tammy and Rick had tense scenes. Paul Savoir remained until 1966 and was succeeded by Michael Ebert,Edward Moore and Jerry Lacy.

1966

Dennis Cooney replaced Dan Ferrone as Alan Sterling,now a young adult.In 1969 John Fink took the role. Dennis is now Jay Stallings on ATWT.

Fred Stewart joined the show as Rosehill pharmacist Alex Caldwell,who later married Van's mother Sarah,(she had become a widow early in the story). Played by Joanna Roos,she came back on in 1968. When Fred Stewart died suddenly on Dec 12th 1971, Charles White,who resembled Fred Stewart,took over the role.

Eileen Letworth and Marie Masters came on as mother and daughter Sharon and Hester Ferris. When Sharon became gravely ill in the story,Eileen was swamped with get well cards and letters. Today, Marie is Susan on ATWT and Eileen is Margo on AMC.

Famous actor Robert Alda played opposite Eileen as Jason Ferris.Neurotic Sharon tried to wreck Van's marriage. Later Sharon and Jason left town for good.

1967

Jonathan Moore and Diane Rousseau played the Sterling's next door neighbor's,Charles and Diana Lamont. They have always had marital troubles(currently they are divorced),but have remained the Sterlings best friends.

Gene Bua,as Charles' son Bill Prentiss (from a former marriage) and Toni Bull as Tess Krakauer, played a storyline emphasising Young Love. Gene Bua was a singer before becoming an actor,and sang on the show. Bill and Tess were married- several times,in fact, owing to complications caused by Tess' infatuation with and marriage to wealthy John Randolph. Bill died of leukocytemia ( a fictional blood disease) in 1972,and Tess left in 73 after the ordeal of a long trial for the murder of a crook who had tried to rob her of an inheritance. In real life,Gene and Toni were also wed,and today are happily involved with their nightclub act.

1968

As Rita and Joe Bond,Darlene Cotton and Lincoln Kilpatrick played out a romance and were the first black couple to be featured on Love of Life.

1969

Renee Roy played Clair Bridgeman, a tavern owner and mother of teenager Sally,who became infatuated with Bill. When Bill married Tess,Sally became involved with the campus drug scene. at this point Love of Life was experimenting with Relevance. Mandatory elements were ethnic storylines(such as on OLTL) and topical problems like drug abuse.

Welcome Bojangles.

Re BOE,it looked like part of a concerted effort by ABC to get a soap block happening from noon till 1.30.Really,to cancel the show so quickly made no sense.

Apart from a few photos in various soap books,little exists on the show.

I was hoping to talk more to Patty McCormack at Palm Springs Film Noir Fest,but there was one particularly pushy chick that wanted Patty all to herself! Bitch was lucky I didn't go all Rhoda Penmark on her...

Some Love of Life memories from 'From Ma Perkins to Mary Hartman-The Illustrated Guide to Soap Operas' by Robert LaGuardia

1951 - Jean McBride played the bad sister Meg dale Harper.Paul Potter was wealthy Charles Harper,whom Meg only married for money,and Dennis Parnell was Benno Harper ("Beanie") their son.

Peggy McKay was the first Vanessa Dale,the good sister who searched for human dignity.While catty,selfish Meg argued with her husband and became involved with various lovers,Van tried to give Beanie the love his mother couldn't give him.Peggy stayed till 1955.

Van only loved one man in the early years:lawyer Paul Raven(Richard Coogan). Van's roomate was ellie Crown,played for five years by Hildy Parks. Ellie was a colorful character whose amoral attitude towards life often shocked the upright Van.For years Ronald Long played Evans Baker who helped prove Meg innocent of the murder of her criminal boyfriend Miles Pardee( Joe Allen Jr)

Hollis Irving,wife of the famous director Charles Irving was on during the first year of the show, Marie Kenney played housekeeper Mrs Rivers.

1952

Family confrontations caused by Meg's dangerous escapades were common.Jane Rose and Ed Jerome played Sarah and Will Dale,parents of Van and Meg.

Jane Rose remained in the part for several years.Dennis Parnell continued as Beanie until 1958.

1953

Stephen Gethers was corrupt casino owner Hal Craig.The characters moved to New York occasionally,but most of the action took place in Barrowsville,a mythical small town in upstate New York. A divorced Meg took up wqith Craig and Van,a reporter for the Barrowsville Times,helped expose Craig and his crooked Halfway House.

1954

Joanna Roos was Althea Raven.Paul's mother.Fourteen years later,she came on the show again,but as Van's mother.In the early storyline Paul Raven figured prominently as Van's fiance,but also as a lawyer helped acquit both Van and Meg of murder charges and put a few of Meg's boyfriends behind bars.

Vanessa wed Paul in September 1954.Not long after Peggy McCay left for Hollywood.

1955

Bonnie Bartlett took the role of Van and stayed till 1958.She had briefly played the role of Ellie Crown before Hildy Parks took over.

Virginia Robinson was Judith Lodge Raven,Paul's insane first wife,who tried to cause trouble for Van and Paul.Van was now pregnant and taking care of Carol,Paul and Judith's daughter,who had become deaf and dumb after witnessing a terrible crime.Althea tried to protect her son from Judith's instability.

1957

Judith was bludgeoned to death and left for dead in the Dale home,which burned down.Van's fingerprints were found on the murder weapon and she was tried for murder.Evans Baker successfully defended her and it was revealed that Paul's brother Ben was the murderer.

Carol had witnessed Hal Craig murder his twin brother.Hal admitted the crime and Carol was cured.

Tommy White was the new Beanie.

1958

After involvements with shady Miles Pardee and Hal Craig,Meg married Jack andrews(Donald Symington)who lost all her money.She divorced him to marry Tom Craythorne(Lauren Gilbert),despite being pregnant to Jack.

Jack was later murdered but not before involving Paul in a crooked land speculation deal.Paul and Jack's associates were flying out to the Southwest to inspect land when the plane crashed and Paul was reported dead.A pregnant Meg left Barrowsville with 3rd husband Tom and Benno.

Van had been living in New York City,where she won an audition to replace alcoholic actress Tammy Forrest(Ann Loring) as hostess of Starship,a successful TV show.Noel Penn(Gene Peterson) fell in love with Van,but the producer was married and noble Van had him return to wife and family.

Van next met Bruce Sterling(Ron Tomme) a teacher at Wingfield Academy in Rosehill,another upstate town.The two fell in love and were engaged and Van moved to Rosehill.She ran into trouble as Buce had two children from the late Gay Carlson-Alan and Barbara(Jimmy Bayer and Nina Reader). He also had ever present in laws Vivian and Henry(Helene Dumas and Tom Shirley).Gay's parents were wealthy and Barbara and Vivian were hostile to Van for replacing Gay in Bruce's heart.

1959

The day before the wedding Bonnie Bartlett was playing Van but it was Audrey Peters who said "I do".There was a contract dispute and Bartlett had to be quickly replaced.

Although Tom Craythorne had left the story,his daughter Cindy(Kimetha Laurie) came to Rosehill.

Barbara Sterling's first marriage was to Dr Tony Vento(Ron Jackson).spoled by Vivian,she had always been attracted to dashing,impetuous youn men,and was trouble to her father.

Next,the 1960's...

Don't know if this has been mentioned but the Bare Essence mini series is on YouTube (23 parts!)

1980 was not a good year for SFT as the writers who followed the Corringtons made many changes and the show went downhill.The ratings started to fall and Search endured constant change in the years that followed.

How was Jamie,Kathy's sister in law?I don't recall Kathy having a brother.

I always wondered if Patricia Estrin(Jamie) got the job because she was Rod Arrant's wife.Perhaps it was part of his deal to re-sign as Travis.

Incidentally,veteran actress June Havoc,who played Madame Zophie in Search's last year,died this week aged 97.

Nancy was very much a wasted character with a lot of potential.

The show never was on solid ground character wise.They should have looked to who was available rather than constantly bringing on new characters.

With the Loves,they got rid of Nicole and Peter.

The McKinnons were established as the working class family and then everyone of them-Vince,Mary,Ben,Cheryl,MJ and Kathleen were goners.

The Corys lost Jamie,Nancy,Sandy/Blaine etc

Rachel's sister Pam and father were never brought back.She also had a cousin(Sam's daughter)who could have been utilised.

Way too many mistakes were made.

The only child on SB during that time was Gina's son Brandon and I think he pretty much stayed true to his age,

The other chidren born on the show were not aged significantly over the years.

Out of all the changes that happened post Lemay.Blaine emerged as one of the strongest characters.

she had so many things thrown at her by different regimes but Malone made it work.

She made the fatal mistake of not losing her pregnancy weight and Dewey,her temp replacement took over.

Blaine/Malone should have been brought back.Maybe Sandy needed to be killed off,as he was never used again and Chris rich had moved on.

Either that or a strong recast.

Ira Cirker,who directed AW for 16 years and won several Emmy's died recently at age 86.

Tin O'Connor talks about Eliot Carson and PP

When you got the regular role on Peyton Place, did you decide immediately that you would relocate to Los Angeles?

Yeah, I was making a commitment to stay out there. I was travelling so much, back and forth, that I decided just to go and do it. At that time, I had a house on an island in a lake in New Jersey.

Really?

It just came up, and my wife and I decided that it sounded like a good idea. We were apartment dwellers and always had been in New York, and this sounded great. It was about an hour out of town, and a long bus ride. I just loved it, the water, the summer and the winters. In the winters we could walk across because it would be frozen. It was our own island, a small island only large enough for one house.

Tell me about your character on Peyton Place, Elliot Carson, and your approach to the role.

Initially, as it came on, he was in prison and he was just being released, but he was not really guilty of what he was charged with. He was a true blue kind of fellow who felt that what he found in terms of Allison and Constance, the love he felt there and that they felt back, and the family feeling that he had, put him in such a positive ground, that he was a force for good. He was there for what he stood for, in the way he wrote his stories and how he ran the newspaper. That was all sort of brought out with his father. His father and he both worked at the newspaper, and had a lot of everyday conversation about what was happening in Peyton Place. So the discussions were a great deal about self-improvement. He was always kind of nagging himself that he could be better.

Elliot had a subtext of anger that was there at the root, and could begin to surface at any time. He really had no in between. His experience of the time he spent in the penitentiary, and his survival in the penitentiary, I think gave him a different sense of being. Although he deeply appreciated where he was and understood what he had, and he did not want to lose it, he wasn’t a person to be bullied. And a couple of shows did come up with that, where that was demonstrated.

You worked more with Dorothy Malone, who played your wife, than with anyone else in the case. What do you remember about her?

I liked her. She was nice, and she was a pro. She’d come from films into this, and I think there was just this little bit of adjustment for her into television. Dorothy had an Academy Award, and she was a very good actress. I seemed to work well with her. We didn’t have a great deal going between each other, but it wasn’t anything that was uncomfortable.

Did you and Dorothy Malone choose to leave the show in 1968?

No, we were written out. They dropped the characters. The problem, as I understood it, was ABC. The cost of the show, after three and a half years or more, was going up and up and up. ABC had a contract they wanted to stay with, and Twentieth [Century-Fox] was beginning to lose money on making the show, as popular as it was. They looked downstream a ways, and just slowly began to release Dorothy and myself and others on the show, and change the format of the show. And within a year it died, it was dead.

When Peyton Place went to three half-hours per week, Fox added a second unit, so that multiple episodes were shooting at the same time. Did that make it more difficult?

We went back and forth, from whatever set to the next, whenever we were needed and whenever we were called. It was really crazy, and very, very difficult to do. We had to be on top of three scripts at a time.

Did you meet with the writers at all, or have any input into how your character was scripted?

No. Maybe the other actors talked with them, but I liked what was done with [my character], and I just kept pushing it. They seemed to write to the person that I thought this guy was. And if I wanted to do something, I just simply did it, and took the dialogue that way, with me.

I remember the first scene that I had on the show. I was in prison and I was talking through the bars. I think it was to my father, [played by] Frank Ferguson. We had this very long scene, which was this character’s introduction, and there were an awful lot of nuances in it. The way it was written was one way. The way I played it [was another]. I can’t remember which director shot it, but he was rather happy with what I did that he hadn’t seen, that element in it that I was introducing. I smiled through it, teased it, and I would indicate just via looks that the character was so strained and had so much internal controversy.

All is Forgiven aired on NBC as a spring tryout series.It scored good ratings after Golden Girls,but was not picked up for fall.At that time NBC had so many hit comedies that there was really no room in the schedule(how times have changed).

Maybe it wasn't that good and they decided to go with other shows.Anyway,Carol Kane played Nicolette,the head writer of the soap All is Forgiven and star Bess Armstrong was the producer.

Another show that possibly qualifies as primetime soap was 'For Love and Honor 'on NBC.It aired Fall 83.It was inspired by 'An Officer and a Gentleman' and was set on an army base.

Cliff Potts was Eugene Allard,whose adulterous wife Phyllis(Shanna Reed ex Terry Texas)was an alcoholic.He was having an affair with Carolyn,the base medical officer(Shelley Smith,who has been previosly mentioned in this thread). China Bell(Yaphet Kotto)was an embitteredformer boxer and Viet vet.

Other familiar names in the cast included Rachel Ticotin,Keenan Ivory Wayans,Kelly Preston and Amy Steel(ex GL)

The competition was Falcon Crest and Matt Houston and the lead-in was the notorious bomb 'Manimal'. You would have to question the wisdom of putting this show up against Falcon Crest,seemingly appealing to the same audience.

Stephanie recently did Coronation Street as a love interest for Ken Barlow.

Never saw Year in the Life,but it sounds quality.

Colbys Season 2 started to come together.Much as I worship the woman,Barbara Stanwyck's character was not missed.Stanwyck herself complained about not being given anything meaty to do.

The original love intersts for Bliss(!) and Monica were Wayne a blind C&W singer,Neil-played by Phillip Brown and Sean played by Charles Van Eman.

They were boring and jettisoned for Season 2.

Instead we got Cash(played by James Houghton-Y&R,KL)for Monica and Kolya for Bliss.Adrian Paul played Kolya and he was hot!(He should have become a bigger star.I thought he would have made a good James Bond.

But Charlton Heston was a drag.

Falcon Crest was another show that was slow off the starting blocks and fairly stodgy in Season 1.The arrival of Richard Channing and the move to full on serialization really lifted the show.

I found Season 1 of The Colbys pretty flat but Season 2 really took off.

Does anybody recall 'A Year in the Life' on NBC in 87-88?

It reads a little like Family.

It began as a mini series exploring the death of the mother,which brought back 4 grown children to the family fold.

The series explored the lives of the 3 generations of the Gardner family.

Cast included Richard Kiley,Wendy Phillips,Adam Arkin,David Oliver(Perry AW),Diana Maldaur and Sarah Jessica Parker.