Paul Raven

SOW reported the following actresses were in the mix for the recast of Phyllis that eventually went to Sandra Nelson Yvonne Perry (ex Rosanna ATWT) Mary Ellen Stewart (ex Frannie ATWT) Ellen Wheeler (ex Vicky/Marley AW,ex Cindy AMC) Cindy Ambuehl (ex Kim B& Linda Dona (ex Nancy GH)

On DOOL, Nancy Stephens only appeared a couple of times and Carla Borell's stint was also short.Not sure why,but in those days,many DOOL performers started out recurring.If they clicked they were put on contract,so it appears the producers were not happy with Stephens or Borelli. The Susan Keller recast was another story.I'll have to check why Stanger was replaced,returned and replaced again(By Melinda Fee).

Yes,Dorothy Malone was ill.The same thing happened on PP when Wilfred Hyde White played Martin Peyton due to George Macready's illness.

Julie Montgomery left as Samantha and Susan Keith replaced her. A few months later,Montgomery indicated she'd like to come back so Keith was quickly replaced. Luckily for her ,Keith was cast as Cecile on AW

Lisa was recast twice. Pamela King the first time Fulton left in 64 and then in the early 80's with Betsy Von Furstenburg.

Thank you Loyal to AMC for the Patience Cleveland mention.For years I have only seem mention of the other Katherine replacements,but was sure I had seen another actress play the role. i convinced myself it was McKenzie,but when I saw the name in your post I remembered the voiceover announcing the change. I recall she was in scenes with Liz and looked more like Julianna McCarthy than Jeanne Cooper. I don't think Harriet Hall was a temp replacement.Julia Barr left the role of Brooke when her contract was up and Hall was the new Brooke.She wasn't popular and Julia Barr returned to the role.

Peter Bergman auditioned for Brad Vernon on OLTL,replacing Jameson Parker.Steve Fletcher got the role. That lead Bergman to AMC,who were bringing back Jeff Martin.They decided instead to drop Jeff and create Cliff Warner.

Once Lorna was on the scene,Lisa(Felicia's niece)was forgotten.Then there was Jenna.They kept tying young women to Felicia and dropping them,so she was left alone again. I didn't like Anne Howard and what they did with Nicole.i always thought Philece Sampler would have been a better Nicole than Donna,especially if she played her like Renee on Days,which is more in keeping with the original Nicole character. It would have been interesting had Nicole been released from jail and seeing how she tried to fit in to Bay City and how Donna and Cass would have reacted.The writers could have played her as reformed and desperate to make a new start,or hardened by her prison time or a little psycho with an obsession for Cass, I think Sean McKinnon was MJ's son from an offscreen marriage. I disliked that the Frames were brought back by inventing characters like Dean and Frankie.Why not have Frankie be Molly? Giving Russ a daughter was a good idea but her Matthews connection was forgotten and his other daughter Olivia was also written out. What about Sam and Lahoma's daughter(Rachel's cousin and Ada's niece.)? There was way too many cast changes where viable characters were dropped.

AW should have kept the concentric circle theme in each opening-each of the circls representing those 'other worlds' we live in privately or strive to be a part of. They did the right thing by bringing back Dennis, but where were Nancy,Ben, Nicole and others who tied into existing characters and had heaps of story potential.

Philip Brown never made it to air on GL. After taping a few episodes,he quit and Hunt Block was rushed in to retape all of the scenes.

Thanx Gilbert for taking the time to post these. Steve had some great stuff on his site. Hopefully,you will be able to post it here.

Thanks Cedric for keeping The Doctors thread alive. Doug Marland was the writer at the time. Does anyone know who played Doreen's father Evan?

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...