Paul Raven

Variety June 72 Yale Summers ( ex-" Daktari") has replaced Lawrence Casey in the role of Rodney Harrington in NBC's "Return To Peyton Place" Sept 72 Susan Brown, who starred on NBC-TV's "Bright Promise" for two years, has joined that we b's "Return to Peyton Place," replacing Bettye Ackerman as Allison MaoKenzie's mother March 73 Frank Maxwell has been signed to temporarily replace the late Stacy Harris in NBC-TV's "Return to Peyton Place," debuting in the Leslie Harrington part on March 28... Katherine Glass, who for the past year has played the role of Allison Mackenzie in NBC-TV's daytime strip, "Return To Peyton Place," has asked for and received a release from her contract.

One of the best stories Tom Phillips remembers about his mother concerned her answer to the question of why she never got married. Irna Phillips adopted Tom in 1941 and his sister a year later. "Why the hell should I get married?" Irna said. "If I want to get in a fight, I will call those buffoons in Cincinnati." The buffoons in question were the sponsors for the radio and television soap operas she created and wrote. One of those soaps, "Guiding Light," is going off the air today after 72 years and 15,762 televised episodes. Phillips created it for radio in 1937 and shepherded its move to television in 1952. She is largely credited with inventing the soap opera genre and by all accounts you did not want to mess with her. "She was made up 100 percent of the things that make cookies tough," Tom was saying Thursday. "Guiding Light" going dark today has sparked renewed interest in Phillips, and as it happens, an abundance of her papers are stored at the Wisconsin Historical Society in Madison. There are scripts from "Guiding Light" and other shows she wrote, as well as correspondence with colleagues, listeners, viewers and advertisers. Not in Madison yet, but coming soon, is Phillips' unpublished autobiography. Tom discovered it earlier this year in a box after his sister died in Los Angeles. He's read it, and after his wife and kids read it, he plans to send it here. Irna Phillips attended graduate school in speech at UW-Madison in the 1920s, as did Tom - in American history - in the 1960s. According to Tom, the autobiography reveals his mother's thought process when creating "Guiding Light" more than seven decades ago. Earlier she had created the first soap, "Painted Dreams," a feel-good drama about an Irish-American mom imparting homespun wisdom to her daughter. In her autobiography, Phillips wrote, "I cannot pinpoint when the transition occurred, but somehow along the way I had made up my mind that any writing I did in the future would be based on reality and not fantasy." She started developing "Guiding Light." Writing earlier this month in the New York Times, Barbara Kantrowitz noted of Phillips: "Her decision to create central characters who were often professionals - doctors, lawyers, ministers - became a convention that most soaps have followed, with emotional scenes often taking place in hospitals and courtrooms." Kantrowitz continued: "'Guiding Light' brandished a social conscious streak from the start; its name comes from the reading lamp in the window of the show's original main character, the Rev. John Ruthledge, who preached racial tolerance and spoke out against war and the injustice of poverty." Phillips' papers at the historical society include several letters from attorneys explaining the significance of opening statements, closing arguments and other legal nuances Phillips wanted to include in her scripts. "She cared greatly about the authenticity of her stories," Tom said. She was incredibly prolific. In a 2005 article about Phillips in The Common Review, Les White noted it has been claimed that Phillips "wrote more words per year than Shakespeare had written in his entire life." Born in Chicago, where she spent most of her life, Phillips used pluck and talent to rise to the top of a male-dominated profession. Her other successes included creating "As the World Turns." Some said she was tough to work with, but proteges like Bill Bell and Agnes Nixon used her inspiration to become soap opera legends themselves, Bell with "The Young and the Restless" and Nixon with "All My Children." Phillips died in 1973. White wrote that today she's "largely forgotten," while noting there's a historical marker near her home on Chicago's Gold Coast calling Phillips "the mother of the soap opera." She was a real mother, too, not easy to know, even for her son, but endlessly interesting. It was clear Tom enjoyed talking about her Thursday. "I thought she was pretty cool," he said. http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/doug_moe/article_370b7820-a3dd-11de-8666-001cc4c002e0.html

Yes,Lisa got involved with Wally Matthews (Charles Siebert) who was a minister and doctor of some sort and the father of Peter Burton,a friend of Tom and Carol.Peter had found out he was adopted and didn't hit it off with Wally,unaware they were father and son.

Paul Roberts replaced the Dobsons. and was in turn replaced by the mysterious KC Collier. I wonder if that was a pseudonym for another writer.

Irna returned in Jan 72 as ATWT was being threatened as the #1 soap after 14 years as GH and Days had taken that slot on occasion. She immediately began making changes and ratings rose but by 73 her plotlines were proving unpopular and she was fired.

Colleen joined in 78 but Barbara had originally been seen in 71/72 played by Wandrey.

From Variety June 74 Sylvia O'Brien, Armand Assante, Lauren White and F. Murray Abraham have joined the regular cast of NBC-TV's "How to Survive a Marriage" soaper August 74 Ken Kercheval, James Shannon, Albert Ottenheimer, Tucker Smallwood and Elissa Leeds join the cast of NBC-TV's "How to Survive a Marriage

From Variety April 68 CBS-TV's "Secret Storm" soap is reviving the Amy and Paul Britton characters with original players Jada Rowland and Nicolas Coster in an effort to hypo the strip's numbers. November 68 The Secret Storm" daytimer gets Tony Converse as its new producer and an additional writer, Lou Scofield, to team with John Hess. November 71 A featured player in the upcoming film, "Going Home," Audrey Landers, has joined the CBS soaper "The Secret Storm."

Variety reports that Paul Roberts,previously a story consultant for Days has been named headwriter,effective late April 1981.

January 1969 1.30 - 2.00 pm timeslot ATWT CBS 14.4 Lets Make a Deal ABC 10.5 Hidden Faces NBC 4.4 May 67 Password" inherits a 44.2 share from the powerful soaper, "As the World Turns," yet sinks to a 32.1 share. Prompting CBS to introduce LIAMST into that timeslot.

For reruns and syndication,it was Andy of Mayberry. A lot of other shows had title changes.I'm not sure why.

Variety November 65 Gloria DeHaven joins the cast. October 63 Ruth Warrick, who starred for many years on the daytime soaper, "As The World Turns," rejoins the pivgram next Tuesday for four days to celebrate the 70th birthday of the grandpa character.

Our Private World,the ATWT prime time spin off debuted in May 65 with a rating of 11.9/25,compared to 11.1 for ATWT in the daytime.

Variety October 73 Moreover, in daytime, where the financial payoff is greatest, ABC came through the summer No. 1 with an 8.6 average for the same eight-week Nielsen period against a 7.0 for CBS and a 6.8 for NBC.

Variety January 1971 The husband and wife team of Dick and Suzanne Holland, late of ABC* "All My Children," have been signed as the new headwriters of "Apart." So,Irna and her daughter Katherine lasted a year. I wonder whether they chose to leave or ABC had the power to push them out?

In her WLS interview Denise Alexander was wanted as the original Julie on Days,but she didn't want a contract role at that stage.She ended up there a few years later as Julie's rival Susan.

From Variety Dec71 1. ATWT 9.5 2. Family Affair 9.2 3 GH 9.2 4. DOOL 9.2 5. AW 9.1 6. SFT 9.0 7. TD 8.9 8. GL 8.9 9. LIAMST 8.9 10.Gomer Pyle ? Family Affair was a morning sitcom rerun on CBS but given the ratings and title,maybe CBS should have re-invented it as a soap!

Variety Feb 74 Jeff Pomerantz, of the just-cancelled "Secret Storm" cast, has joined CBS-TV's "Search for Tomorrow"

Variety May 5th 1971 Barbara Rodell switched from CBS-TV's "Secret Storm" soaper to same web's "Guiding Light" Nov 71 - Tudi Wiggins has joined the cast of "Guiding Light" on CBS-TV Never seen a mention of Tudi's character Karen in synopses.

Variety Oct 72 "Guiding Light" grad, Kathryn Hays, has switched to "As the World Turns."

Variety July 26th 1972 Victoria Wyndham has joined the cast of NBC-TV's "Another World".

Variety April 5th 72 Rita McLaughlin back into CBS' "As the World Turns.With the wedding held in July,Irna must have fast tracked the Carol/Tom romance.

Variety Feb 14th 73 .Geraldine Court, formerly of CBS-TV's "As the World Turns," has joined cost of NBC's "The Doctors" soaper.

Variety May 73 On Friday May 4th, when NBC-TV was celebrating the ninth anni of its "Another World" soaper, the Nielsen pocketpiece arrived with news that the series had passed CBS' "As the World Turns" in the ratings for the week ending April 20, 9.9 to 9.7

1972 -Variety reports that ATWT will shoot a wedding July 21st at Riverside Presbyterian Church, That was the marriage of Tom and Carol. 1973 Bobby Short, the supper club singer-pianist, will play himself in April 26 episode of "As the World Turns" Dec 72 British actress Judith McGilligan into "As the World Turns."