Paul Raven

I wonder what life had in store for these two after their soap stints ended. Funny how some actors kept working in soaps through the 80's and 90's and others disappeared.

Was that the end of John and Ashley? I'm blanking out on how many of the characters were written out-Brad,Jack,Darcy,Viveca.I think some of these had potential and it was damaging for them all to be dropped when the audience may have been getting interested. Variety over the years would note cast comings and goings (not everything unfortunately)Some of them were unknown to me.Maybe Carl or others might know more. 1965 March Sindee Richards (Penny Davis) March Ann Williams out (Maggie) June Jacqueline Bertell ? 1966 May Harry Packwood (Mike) August Morgen Stone (Keith) 1968 April Conrad Roberts (Dr Simon Harris) September Peter Burnell (Mike) 1969 June Jim Shannon August Mel Winkler (?) October Virginia Vestoff (Althea) Ginger Gerlach (Julie) 1970 March Frances Sternhagen (?) Robert Silvio (?) October Elizabeth Hubbard returns (Althea) 1971 May Palmer Deane (Hank) July Nancy Barrett (Kathy) 1972 July Holly Peters (Kathy) 1973 January Julia Duffy (Penny) Marie Thomas ( 1974 Michael Landrum (Mike) 1977 July Chuck Weiss becomes exec producer 1978 May Peggy Cass (Sweeny) August Carla Dragoni (MJ) 1979 May James Storm (Mike) July Doris Quinlan becomes exec producer October Ben Thomas (Jack) 1981 November Ashby Adams (Mike) Amy Ingersoll (MJ)

In later years,it seems Robin's beauty tips could be narrowed down to one sage piece of advice 'get some good work done'

July 74 Ann Marcus named headwriter.

Gillian Houghton became new headwriter in June 1969. She also was known as Gabrielle Upton.

As well as Susan and Barbara Vining,Judy worked behind the scenes on Texas as a producer.

August 1960,NBC announces that Roots will remain on air due to viewer feedback-thousands of letters were sent once word got out about the imminent cancellation.

Will try and find out about Stadd's departure. In May 1960,NBC announced that FTR would be cancelled in October to make way for repeats of the Danny Thomas show.They shelled out $7,000,000.Variety said that FTR was close to cancellation before ,but the acquiring of Thomas reruns sounded it's death knell.NBC had been experiencing success with Loretta Young reruns,so was willing to take the chance with Thomas. Anyway,that didn't happen and FTR was granted a reprieve.Thomas was put up against ATWT at 1.30

In September 1960,Pickard and Provo quit the show due to 'unwillingness to write under editorial supervision'.Guess this means that NBC wanted more say now they owned the show.That's when Stadd took over.

Jan 63 1. ATWT 12.8 2.House Party 11.2 3. Password 10.8 4. TGL 9.9 5. SFT 8.7 6. TEON 9.2 7. To Tell The Truth 8.5 8. LOL 8.2 9. SS 8.2 10. Millionaire (reruns) 8.1 CBS had every show in the Top 10.

That drop by AW from 8.6 in 77/78 to 7.5 in 78/79 saw the show drop from equal 1st to 8th place which is pretty drastic. Meanwhile GH went from a 7.0 to an 8.7 and from 8th to 2nd. That first drop was merely a taste of things to come.I think it was the 90 min format,which posters in the AW thread are all agreeing was a lot of filler,the cast changes,Lemay's departure and the resurgence of GH all combining to damage AW.

The Variety article said that GH was planning a 4 week story arc based around a black couple.She would be a schoolteacher who is assaulted by a student she flunked. They stated that theater actor Bobby Dean Hooks was in the running for the male role.I guess he was later known as Robert Hooks.

Has it ever been mentioned that Beverlee McKinsey was on LOL? Variety reported in July 66,Bev, who was noted as having understudied leads in Barefoot in the Park and As Wednesday on Broadway,was joining LOL in a 'running lead'.

Variety reported in April 65 that Billie Allen would be portraying a confidante to a Flame character newly arrived in Manhattan.Yje article goes on to say that GH and Young Marrieds would be adding black characters to their casts.

From the craziness of Hollywood to the craziness of preachin'...

That 73 article solved a mystery for me re the Benjamin family.I have seen those names in cast lists but never was sure who they were. I wonder if they were contract players and how much airtime they got as I have never seen them mentioned in summaries. I have a feeling that Jay was a policeman and Terry a nurse so they could easily blend into the canvas without leading stories.Maybe there was more planned for them but writer changes got in the way. Seems under John Edwards SFT was really trying to be contemporary and relevant and it was working.

In August 68,entering her second year as headwriter Rita Lakin worked out a deal with Colgate,NBC etc to co write the show with Rick Edelstein,citing exhaustion at being solo head writer. They each got 16 weeks off per year and shares the more than $100,000 pay check. Lakin communicated with exec producer Allen Potter by mail and a 10 min phone call each week. By 69 Lakin was working in primetime as story editor for Mod Squad.

'Joyce and I are not the Perfect Couple' - true.They divorced in 74. He then married onscreen daughter in law Suzanne Zenor (Margo) Joyce went on to marry William Asher (who had been married to Elizabeth Montgomery).Interestingly,Asher adopted Mallory's son who was called John Mallory Asher.

The decision to drop so many characters,add newbies and expand to 90 min was crazy. I can understand the decision to drop John to some extent,but alternatively Pat and John could have remarried and become the new tentpole couple-something the show lacked.Or Pat meets a new man with children. Mike and Marianne were viable characters and their romances and marriages could have been a focus for years.Give Russ a decent love interest/wife,perhaps with a teen child of her own,and have them have their own child.Or do the Sharlene story years earlier,with her having a child by Russ. Use what's there rather than trying to re-invent the show.The show never really recovered from decisions made late 70's/early 80's

Feinstein returned to daytime soaps in 88 on GH as a love interest for Bobbie.He was a senator,I think, named Gregory Howard.Diane McBain (Foxy,Days) was his wife Clare. I recall that this was a character and story created during the writers strike and quickly dropped once the strike was over.

In March 75, Variety reported that CBS was exploring the possibility of extending Search and ATWT to 45 min each ,with SFT running 12.30 - 1.15 and ATWT from 1.15 - 2.00. Apparently affiliates were not happy about losing the 1.00 - 1.30 slot and CBS instead expanded ATWT to 60 min. Things might have been different for Search if the expansion had gone ahead.

March 68,just 6 months after its debut,Variety noted that LIAMST was facing the ax,despite heavy promotion and juiced up storylines.It was below a 30 share and running third behind Newlywed Game and Days of Our Lives.And this was off the back of the #1 soap ATWT. LIAMST thing was brought on to boost CBS in the ratings as NBC shows hit their stride,Days and DRS had hit the best ever numbers. That was the time that Nancy Hseuh was dropped.

Great to see Irna Phillips in that pic.Interesting that Hickman and Bartholomew both went from child actors to daytime execs.I've never seen a photo of Bartholomew at that age-he looks like he did as a youngster whereas 10 years later he was much heavier. Sad that so many of those actors have passed away.

John Gibson was the first Henry from 59-62. Boruff played the role from 62 -66.Then Lester Rawlins and Paul McGrath played Henry in 67.

Henry Benedict was the father of Anne (Elizabeth Hubbard ) who married Paul Fletcher.