FrenchFan

Here is the most accurate list of SFT head writers I have done: Agnes Nixon (1951) Irving Vendig (1951-1956) Charles Gussman (1956-1957) Frank & Doris Hursley (1957-1963) Julian Funt & David Lesan (1963-1965) Leonard Kantor & Doris Frankel (1965-1968) Lou Scofield (1968) Robert Soderberg & Edith Sommer (1968-1969) Ralph Ellis & Eugenie Hunt (1969-1973) Theodore Apstein (1973-1974) Gabrielle Upton (1974) Ann Marcus (1974-1975) Peggy O’Shea (1975-1976) Irving & Tex Elman (1976-1977) Robert J. Shaw (1977- April 1978) Henry Slesar (April 1978 – August 1978) Joyce & John William Corrington (August 1978 – May 1980) Linda Gorver & John Porterfield (May 1980 – November 1980) Gabrielle Upton (November 1980 – April 1981) Harding Lemay (April 1981 – July 1981) Don Chastain (July 1981 – December 1981) Ralph Ellis & Eugenie Hunt (December 1981 – July 1982) C. David Colson (July 1982 – September 1982) Gary Tomlin (September 1982 – April 1984) Jeanne Glynn & Madeline David (April 1984 – June 1984) Caroline Franz & Jeanne Glynn (June 1984 – March 1985) Paul Avila Mayer & Stephanie Braxton (March 1985 – October 1985) Gary Tomlin (October 1985 – July 1986) Pamela K. Long & Addie Walsh (July 1986 – December 1986)

Here is a review of the last few months of "Where The Heart Is" (1972-1973) Written by: Claire Labine & Paul Avila Mayer Starring: James Mitchell (Julian Hathaway), Diana Walker (Mary Hathaway), Gregory Abels (Michael Hathaway), Louise Shaffer (Allison Jessup), Dian Van Der Vlis (Kate Hathaway Prescott), William Post Jr (Dr. Joe Prescott), David Cryer (Dr. Hugh Jessup), Alice Drummond (Loretta Jardin), Peter MacLean (John Rainey), Tracy Brooks Swope (Liz Rainey Hathaway), Priscilla Pointer (Adrienne Harris), Lisa Richards (Vicky Lucas Hathaway). Kate Prescott has entered the hospital for a battery of diagnostic tests to explain her recent symptoms - blackouts and erratic beahvior. Kate is relieved to then learn she's in fine physical condition, but is shaken tohear the recommendation (nearly an order) that she see Dr. Feldman, a psychatrist as her problems may well be emotional in origin. Kate is apprehensive about the upcoming session and carefully prepares in advance the things she'ill tell the doctor. When her release from the hospital is delayed, fatigue and nervousness cause her to once more lose control and Betty (that part of her which is uncharactertically sarcastic and bitter) emerges and behaves insultingly towards Amy and the floor nurse. When Kate regains control, she realizes it's happened again and cries out for "somebody in this place who can just tell me what's happening to me". But still, at her first session with Dr. Feldman, Kate cannot free herself to talk openly and deeply. Dr. Feldman uses her original fear that she was suffering from a series of embolisms as her mother did before her death to turn the conversation to her parents, but Kate carefully helps praise upon her capable and precise mother and professionnaly involved father while taking Dr. Feldman asks her if her parents' busy lives ever led her to feel neglected, she becomes uncomfortable and says she refuses to say anything bad about her parents. Dr. Feldman tries to make her see she has so far given him a lawyer's brief - an edited version of her life which says only nice things about everybody, nothing critical anywhere. He explains this is, however, typical of a first session and informs her she should schedule analysis sessions three times a week. Kate protests her law studies won't allow this, she'll delay it until after graduation. But Dr. Feldman cautions her that her medical problem is serious enough that she must take the time. John Rainey stops by to see Chris in order to learn the facts about her confrontation with Adrienne, his wife, at the sanitarium during Chris' stay there. Chris carefully tells John the initial scene with Adrienne caused her to suffer a second withdrawal but in a leter discussion, Adrienne assured her it was an intentional attempt to help her. And since Adrienne did get Katina back for her, she, Chris, feels she owes Adrienne something and hence agreed to Adrienne's request that she establish an emotional distance between herself (Chris) and John. John then goes to the sanitarium and, since Chris' doctor is in Europe, talks with Miss Butterfield, who decides she's not violating professional confidentiality inasmuch as Chris herself gave John the original information. Miss Butterfield firmly stats that Adrienne knew exactly what she was doing when she confronted Chris and what the results would be - a disrpution of the delicate balance of Chris' supportive therapy, she could only be disturbed by the confrontation, and also, it was unconscionable to interfere with someone else's patient. Kate, meanwhile, has told Hugh that she's sure John is still in love with Chris and Chris with John. Julian Hathaway notices his daughter-in-law Liz (Adrienne's daughter) flirting with Bert, a fellow student, just before class is to begin. Feeling suddenly unwell, he arranges for Loretta Jardin to take over the class and he goes home. Liz tries to cut Loretta down in class inferring her background as a high school teacher is insufficient for a college teaching assignment, but Loretta slashes Liz to ribbons by showing Liz's lack of preparation for the literature class in an embarrassing (to Liz) and clever (as realized by the class) way. Liz, however, later turns Loretta's counterattack to her own advantage by complimenting Loretta's cleverness on the one hand while implying, on the other, that Loretta's brightness is the reason Julian's attracted to her as the rumor goes. Liz adds the rumor (her rumor) is believable because Julian's wife Mary is a mousy housewife totally preoccupied with her new baby. Julian, meanwhile, admits to Mary he's been suffering stomach pains for weeks now. Mary sees the pain mirrored in his face and calls Joe, who says he'll expect Julian in his office in the morning. Learning from Joe that Julian's symptoms are classic ulcer symptoms. Mary asks Julian what could be bothering him as that's an ulcer cause. When he's quick to say nothing, she suggets it could be subconsciously bothering him. He should think about that. Ed is worried about Vicky Hathaway's apparent retreat to her millhouse. Vicky tries to make him understand there's a difference between loneliness and solitude - she has found peace and happiness there. Vicky later tells Carol she's moving out if the apartment to live at the millhouse. Carol thinks it's a good idea for Vicky. Michael and Liz help Vicky move her things to Back To Nature. Liz thinks it's kind of odd that Vicky's taking very few possessions with her, she cannot understand the idea of living simply, a more basic way of life without every possible creature comfort. Liz tells Michael there's a terrible rumor circulating on the campus that his father and Loretta are having a "thing". Michael is concerned that the rumor not get back to Mary. Liz stops by Julian's home and cannot conceal a flicker of pleasure at Loretta's disclosure that Julian's suffering ulcer pains. Seeing this, Loretta expresses disgust at a girl who would first try to take a man from his family and, failing that, would try to make everyone suffer as a consequence. When Liz shares the news of Julian's ulcer with her mother, happily taking credit for his emotional torture - "he doesn't know what I might say or do" - Adrienne warns her that she must be careful, she could wind up hurting the two of them in the process. Hugh and Allison Jessup decide when John, who is closing in on the true facts about Chris and Adrienne, asks them point blank, they will take the chance in telling all for Chris' sake after all, what realy can Adrienne do after the fact? Liz encourages Mary to believe Julian is indeed keeping something from her, hence the ulcer. Julian, meanwhile, has learned from his secretary that the rumors on campus are progressing to the point where he, Mary and Loretta are now being called "menage a trois". John finds another piece of the mosaic - Michael tells him that he and Liz had decided to marry before John married Adrienne but Liz asks him to keep it quiet until after the wedding as her mother preferred it that way. Julian calls Liz to his office and accuses her of starting the rumors. She denies it but Julian knows better and informs her the only way to stop her vendetta is to tell Mary the truth now. Liz retorts that HE doesn't know the whole story - the baby she's carrying is not Michael's, it's his! AS she explains further Julian realizes it's true, but he insists he'll still tell Mary, or Liz will continue to torture him. John goes to Chris and tells her his whole situation is soon to change and when it's resolved, he'll have much to tell her. He then asks her to avoid Adrienne for the next few days, saying Adrienne's not her friend and for her own (emotional) sake, she must avoid Adrienne. Julian tells a devastated Mary about his deeply regretted affair with Liz last summer and her subsequent torture campaign. He then tells her the child Liz is carrying is his, adding he had to tell her before Liz, herself, did. Michael visits Vicky at the Back To Nature and comments he would like to live there, himself, but Liz wouldn't care for it. Michael and Vicky's friendship deepens. Liz drops by to see Mary. Finding Mary already knows, Liz adds salt to the wounds saying she's not sorry about the affair, they had a marvelous time last summer. This snaps Mary's attempts at restraint and she releases her anguished hostility upon Liz. Liz retaliates by assuring Mary her pregnancy was no accident: she jeers that an affair Mary might have forgiven, but "fathering a child is something you will never be able to forgive of forget." Mary slaps her across the face and lets Liz know what she thinks of her. But only when Julian tells Liz he cannot allow Michael to go on believing the child's his, does Liz stop enjoying the game. She begs him not to, but Julian's adamant and Liz runs from the Hathaway home in hysterics. She runs to her mother for help but Adrienne's out, so she appeals to John. John dismisses her lies about the Hathaways, and tells her he knows what she is, a deceitful liar who deserves everything she's now getting. He informs her he's discovered she was already planning to marry Michael when she made all those pretty speeches about how much she wanted to live with him and her mother after their marriage. He concluded he did Liz a greater disservice than he realized when he left her as a child as she grew up as deceitful as her mother. Mary tells Julian she could have forgiven infidelity, anything, if had had only come to her and been honest to her, and not left himself open to manipulation by Liz and her, Mary, in a position where Liz could make a complete fool out of her. Julian is desolate when she informs him she's packing and leaving, taking Danny with her. She'll go to Kate's and needs time to think. Liz goes home, wanting to tell Michael the truth before Julian can, but she does have feelings for Michael and even tosoften the blow, she cannot bring herself to hurt him with the facts. Adrienne returns home to find John waiting for her. He carefully chronologues her duplicity in tricking him into marriage. He starts with her testimony against Chris, disclosing he's discovered she supplied questions for cross-examination in advance, then her deliberate confrontation to upset Chris, insuring that she would remain in the sanitarium until the marriage was a fait accompli. He concludes that she knew of Liz and Michael's wedding plans, a final deception, part of the master plan. Adrienne tries to deny it and failing that, defends herself by claiming she was motivated by love for him, pointing out they have had happiness in their marriage. But John makes it clear he understands her only too well and, taking his waiting packed bags, he walks out. Julian tells Michael, in front of a stricken Liz, about his affair with her, he revenge upon him when he ended it and her threats to tell Mary. Michael is horrified, he begins to put it all together in his mind. Liz insists it was only a rebound infatuation but Julian then tells Michael about the baby and Liz's informing Mary it was a deliberate decision. Michael goes over the events of last summer in his mind and realizes it was all lies on lies on lies. Liz tries to make him see that she didn't know what to do but that she knew he loved her and she loved him and she thought it would all be okay, but Michael now sees what she really is and telling her what he sees, he turns and walks out. John comed to Chris explaining what has happened, how he was tricked by Adrienne but he's now ended that. He asks her if it's too late, could there still be a life for them, are any of her old feelings for him still there? Chris quickly moves into his arms and assures him of her love. Joe convinces Kate that her condition may be serious and she promises to begin regular sessions next week. Kate's happiness at Chris and John's finding each other again is dimmed by Mary's arrival. Learning why Mary's left Julian and that Julian's telling Michael right now, Kate becomes very upset and Steve instantly decides he's taking her off to the Caribbean for ten days of rest and relaxation. Joe approves the decision and Kate agrees that both analysis sessions and law school will have to wait. They immediatly pack for a tonight departure. Michael goes to Vicky's for consolation. She shows him that Liz lies, therefore she is the fool, not he. Michael begins to see the beautiful qualities Vicky possesses and the completeness of the life she's establishing here at Back To Nature. Vicky doesn't want to have to face anyone, saying why should he go when he's already where he belongs. The family rejoices in Chris and John's happiness and their efforts in helping this come about have brought Alison and Hugh back to the family: there is a new closeness. Julian arrives at the Prescotts' to see Mary. He confronts her in the kitchen and begs her to listen to him. Mary is reluctant, after all, it hurts so much because of her love for him. But Julian makes Mary see his anguish has been as great as her own, that he only wants to make a good and happy life for his family. Mary begins to realize she can see what happened in terms of a mistake in Julian's past and they reconcile. Adrienne and Liz tearfully console each other over the loss of the men in their lives. Liz maintains she wants her baby, it's all she has left. They consider their future and decide that at least until the baby's born, they will stay in Northcross, they will but a house and live together. And then later, well, they'll see. Julian comes to Back To Nature to see his son. He takes full blame for all that's happened but assures Michael that Liz had convinced him she and Michael were through before he began his affair with her and that he learned only today the truth about the baby. He then askes Michael if their relationship can ever be salvaged. Michael explains he doesn't want to lose his father any more than his father wants to lost him. He adds that he never wants to see Liz again and concludes they can have hope for the future.

Here is an article about the beginning of LOL. Written by reporter John Crosby (I already posted an article by him about "The First Hundred Years" and he is clearly not fond of soaps). It was published on August 23rd, 1952 in a newspaper of Reno, Nevada. " "Three human beings filled with the explosive mixture of hate and love are exposing themselves to the open flame of direct contact. Each of these person must now say or do things which he or she would never do. And the result is certain to be catastrophic. Can any of them stop the disintegration sure to occur?" Chances are no one can because that was the teaser on an episode of one of television's rapidly multiplying list of soap operas specifically "Love of Life" which is billed as "the exciting story of Vanessa Dale and her courageous struggle for human dignity." Just how, Vanessa's "struggle for human dignity" has been interrupted for three weeks while the actress who plays her (Peggy McKay) takes a European holiday. The camera, meanwhile, is trained mostly on Vanessa's poisonous married sister Meg Harper (Jean McBride) who is currently trying to break up the romance between her husband Charlie, and the pretty, thoroughly wholesome young painter, Sandra Gamble, he met in Paris. "This is what you live on" Sandy shouted to the poisonous Meg last week. "People writhing in trouble, screaming silently, people unhappy and showing it! You love that , Mrs. Harper!" That illuminating scrap of dialogue not only explores Meg's character fairly thoroughly, but also the nature of soap opera and the people who are addicted to it. In the transference from pure sound to sight and sound, nothing has changed very much. Soapland folk are still writhing in trouble, screaming (though not necessarily silently), terribly, terribly unhappy, and for the first time showing it. You no longer have to imagine the tears: you can see them, a great technological stride forward. "Love of Life" went on the air last fall and climbed to third place in the daytime ratings in six months. In second place is another soap opera produced by the same ad agency (Blow) called "Search for Tomorrow," the almost perfect soap opera title (In soap opera, they're always searching and there is always a tomorrow when things might work out but don't). The serial follows the old soap tradition. Vanessa may love life, but it's hard to see why in less than a year of air tune, she has been mixed up in aa murder(she was found guitly but wrathed out of that one) smuggling and narcotics. At other times her heart and those of the viewer has been lorn by the unhappiness of Beanie, Meg's son, who had no will to live because he heard his mother say she didn't want him. John D. Hess, who writes the show, is not primarly a radio writer. He writes short stories and has written a play about to be produced on Broadway this fall. Once in awhile his current chore, his writing for TV, gets a little too much for him and he sticks his tongue out at himself in print. One episode, for example, ended with a stage direction which read: "She closes the rest of the gap with near violence, kissing him with the same violence with which she had slapped him . . .hands around his neck and as our rating goes up three full points: Fade out". "Love of Life" has quite an extensive cast of characters but you never meet more than two or three of them in a single episode. Mostly, you'll find just two people, glaring at one another and standing so close to each other (simplifies things for the director) that the actors get cross-eyed. One will be saying to the other: "You aren't satisfied to know how wretched you've made everybody. You've got to actually see it. Or: " Everything you've over touched all your life Meg, has turned unclean and fallen to pieces. Bui not this. Not with this. Or this is one of my pets "You're representing the woman who still has the gall to call herself my wife.' The imporlant thing about televised soap opera, beyvond wringing the heart, is ( a ) to save money ( to stretch out the plot; as thinly as possible over the most possible episodes. Hess has a lot of little tricks to accomplish this. One is the telephone. A lawyer character consumed half of one installment in the telephone, expostulating first to Meg, then to Charlie, to get the two into his office. The next installment they got there, all right, but they spent much of it trying to stalk out but not quite leaving. Most any episode finds one character, his hand on the knobs, threatening to walk out forever. Another soap adage, never violated, including this case, is that men, either the good ones or the bad ones, are essentially weak, women, both good and bad, essentially strong. Hess not only follows this rule but has garnished it with the following observation as expressed by Meg: "I know that when all's said and done that a weak man needs a strong woman and a strong woman needs a weak man. " "

Yes, her name is Jean Holloway. She wrote for Love of Life in the late 70s'. Schemering definitely did not like her. I recently saw an episode of TFHY on youtube and it did not look like a soap. It was very theatrical and every episode seemed to be very independent.

Here is an article published in a newspaper in Iowa on January, 27th 1951 about "The First Hundred Years". It is written by reporter John Crosby and is very ironic on the show but I wanted to share because there was some information. "Scholars of television history, a small but enormously erudite bunch of hard-drinking intellectuals, will never foregt Dec. 4, 1950. It dawned clear, bright and cold and somehows in the very air you could detect the odor of history about to be made, an acrid smell if you've never noticed. Dec. 4, 1950 is the day television's first soap opera "The First Hundred Years" went on the air, thus instantly taking rank among historic dates somewhere between the fall of the Bastille and the death of Charlemagne. "The First Hundred Years" is an apt title for a soap opera, each of which is designed to run at least that long, though of course, it refers to the first hundred years of marriage as being rather more trying than the next hundred. In soap opera, marriages, though fraught with every sort of peril from mothers-in-law to flirtations, endure for centuries. The particular marriage commemorated in this epic is that of Chris and Connie Thayer, a couple of misty-eyes youngsters whos wedded life is already beset by extraordinary tensions. For one thing, Connie's mother-in-law, a flibberty gibbet, lives across the street, will lead to endless trouble. Chris'in-laws live nearby. Across the stree from them lives Scott Blair. Any student of soap opera will tell you that a man with a name like that is up to no good. The moment he walked on to my scree I distrusted him. Sleek good looks, curly hair and a moustache - obviously a scoundrel. He's a writer, too, and you know what those people are like. One of the more striking characteristics of any soap opera is the pace of its plots, which are about half the speed of an aging snail. In his exhaustive treatise on the subject in "The New Worker", James Thurber mentioned several specific examples of just how slow the action is in soap opera. In one case - if my memory is at all accurate - a man clambered into a barber chair to get shaved on Monday and hadn't even been lathered by Friday. This tradition of slowing time almost to a halt is being nobly perpetuated in "The First Hundred Years". Two weeks ago, for example, the denizens of this opera started getting ready for a dance at the country club, a relatively simple operation anywhere except in soap opera, where tying a black tie can take quite awhile. They finally got to the dance last Monday. Elapsed time: 11 days. Getting them out of the country club is another matter. That may take up the rest of the winter. Last week one day's plot consisted entirely of Connie and Chris getting into a spat over a girl he once knew named Mildred. Mildred crept into the discussion because Chris said she likes a song they were dancing to. Connie took umbrage and fled to her mother's house. The next day's episode was largely devoted to Connie telling her mother what Chris had said about Mildred, just in case anyone had missed it the day before. Another soap opera tradition carried forward on this program is that of giving the listener the minimum of plot and the maximum of commerical. "The First Hundred Years" opens with an extensive paean to Tide, a detergent, set in prose and song and included both live action and cartoons. This elaborate operation takes about three minutes. There is a reprise just before closing. Altogether, this leaves about 10 minutes to investigate the marital woes of Chris and Connie. To be quite fair to the show, there has yet been little of the mood of sustained anxiety which is both the curse and stock in trade of radio soap opera. Soap opera heroines are perpetually on the brink of losing something valuable - their careers, their husbands, their homes, their virtue - to list them more or less in the order of their soap opera importance. Chris and Connie are relatively free of worries so far but I wouldn't bank on their continuing to be for long. About the only other thing to tell you about this historic show is that it is set - according to a press release - in a middlesized town "somewhere east of the Rockies and west of the Alleghenies" - which takes in an awful lot of real estate. The lead on this press release, incidentally, is a classic of press argentry. Television, the young giant, reaches maturity with the start of a new daytime dramatic serial show...Reaches what?"

Thanks for your answer. His two email adresses are no longer available

Could someone help me?

It's off-topic but I have to reach Mark Faulkner, who created the wonderful EON website. His email adress does not work anymore. If anyone can help me, please PM me. It is important. Thanks

Wow I want you to do that for every show and every year (just kidding) but thanks, lots of thanks for that.

Thanks Paul. It gets clearer and clearer on my mind

Thanks both of you. In the monthly 1982 summaries I have, Billy blackmails Natalie who is engaged to Luke. Billy keeps receiving pages of Natalie's diary but it's not Natalie who sends it. PS: Paul, have you received my email?

Does anyone know what was the stoyline with Natalie Bell played by Jane Badler?

Paul, do you know something about the storyline between Eleanor and her husband Scott? It seems to involve Althea but my summaries began at the end of the storyline.

Not a problem. I was just trying to make up my mind about it.

An October 1981 episode lists Elizabeth Levin as HW and a December 1981 episode lists Aaron Scott & Anne Marie Barlow. Are you sure Lawrence M. Konner & Ronnie Wenker Konner wrote the Christmas episode because it looks like the Konners left sometimes between April and October, bein replaced by Levin then Scott & Barlow before Harding Lemay took reigns at the very end of 1981.

To help your timeline, I know for sure that Tovrov was still headwriting mid-1965. I have found an article at newspaperarchive.com from April 1965 and he talks about the upcoming wedding of Matt and Maggie.

Waouh Paul ! THANKS. I'm gonna save it into my archives. Do you have this kind of things for other cancelled soaps?

I found this article about the show in an old issue of SOD (August 28th, 1984) with C. Hickland, S. Bond & L. Hunley on the frontpage. I think it is rather good so I scanned it for you:

1/ Holly Norris 2/ Vanessa Chamberlin Reardon 3/ Lillian Raines

1/ Monti Sharp 2/ Gilly Grant 3/ I don't know the word in English: in French it is "saxophone"

1/ Hillary Bauer 2/ Explosion of the Spaulding Lab 3/ Car crash after learning that her husband Ed carried an affair with Lillian Raines (I hate you JFP for killing off Maureen)

1/ It's hard: I think they are half-cousins. Because Ben's biological father, Kyle Sampson is Billy's half-brother. Billy is Bonnie's grandfather. 2/ Jeffrey Morgan 3/ Josh Lewis and then his nephew Bill Lewis.

1/ Yes, Blake is Hart Jessup's half-sister. Hart is R.J.'s father. 2/ Eleni Andros Spaulding Cooper Bonus/ Yes, Blake is Ross Marler's widow. Ross was Dinah's father (his daughter with Vanessa)

1/ Sandy Foster 2/ Kim Zimmer (outstanding lead actress), Jordan Clarke (outstanding supporting actor), Gina Tognoni (outstanding supporting actress), Tom Pelphrey (outstanding younger actor) 3/ Olivia Spencer

1/ Justin & Jackie Marler 2/ Lizzie Spaulding BONUS/ Rick Bauer