SFK

Yeah, Mark was her dad (Paula's estranged husband) who was involved with Clarissa for much of the show's run. He got pushed out when Baxter came back from the dead. Then of course they made him this spy/double agent commie trader or whatever and he got killed in a shootout I believe at the Lincoln Memorial. BTW, in the above SOW interview of Conboy, he means to say Jefferson Memorial, not Lincoln, where Sloane and Trey were married. Sloane was never pure evil, just a vixen I guess you could say, but not far in you could see that Julie was a bit of a drip (recasting with CH helped) and I at least sensed that Sloane was taking on the heroine role that for all intents and purposes belonged to Julie as originally intended. I have a clipping somewhere of a fan writing in and criticizing the show for softening ALL of its heavies, save for Myrna and or Paula, and even they weren't as conniving as they'd been. But what could have been a really fun, delicious pair of schemers (think AMC's David and Liza), Trey and Sloane became sort of your typical sappy romantic pair but infused with all of that '80s pretentious idea of romance (champagne, caviar).

I am not a fan of the Prince Ali stuff. I am not a "romance" person anyway which of course makes me not your typical soap fan, but as you know there are a lot of fans like me. It was all very flowy with all those white gossamer robes and sandy and blah blah, but I like Sloane the plucky demi-bitch ambitious reporter. I don't care for the soft stuff with her, like Mark being a trader/getting killed either.

Michael Catlin (Thomas) was good, he was a "good guy" on the show. He's the McCandless son who was a doctor and walked with a crutch, I guess he'd been born crippled. Not a showy role at all, kind of like an Adam Mayfield Scott Chandler minus all of the "dark" stuff. He was involved in the Lizbeth (Tonja Walker) triangle with Jordy. I want to say that he was involved in yet another triangle with Jordy when Leanne came along, but I need to consult my tapes. Lizbeth was his date to Sloane and Trey's wedding and it's obvious that Lizbeth's true feelings are for Jordan.

An acquaintance of mine was one of the Marshalls but he didn't get to do much. We've never had the chance to sit down and really dish AW but honestly I don't think he'd have much to share. I really like the idea of Felicia and Marshall, Linda and Randy Brooks looked great together. I remember someone saying that Linda looked like she barely kissed back when they smooched but I really don't want to think too much about the wherefores and whys of that. Would have to see it for myself.

I agree with them about Peter Lochran, he definitely could have played someone like Prince Michael on DYNASTY. A character that calls for a certain look and presence moreso than huge acting chops. It was always trippy that this man from Baracq (!) sounded like Carmen Duncan. Also interesting what they say about "Perils of Pauline" Jess Walton when things changed so suddenly for her career-wise and she's gone on to have the most successful daytime career of the bunch. They capture Marj Dusay perfectly in that short paragraph.

LOL, I meant to come back last night and post that I looked it up and JA is indeed still living. I was thinking maybe you were thinking of Raul Julia. Yeah, Audrey was just a flash in the pan role, but she did get to go pure soap with it, a lot of drama and tears. When I saw that I remember wondering if Clarissa was always like that. I had looked at a soap book in a university library once and there was this picture of CT as Clarissa sitting on the sofa looking like a suicidal alcoholic, kind of like those pictures you see of the last Ann Tyler Martin on AMC. Right, then she went on to play Mme. DeSchanel (sp??) which I never saw actually, but remember the pics from SOD. She had a cane and maybe a cape (?), muoy dramatico, sleazy cheater Eddie Cibrian's grandma, right? SOD did an article comparing SuBe to SB and they compared Constance's character with Minx.

When did John Astin pass away?? He's from around my parts, last I heard he was teaching drama at Johns Hopkins. Oh my God. Yeah, I love the point you make about CT avoiding condescending colonialism. She comes across as a very classy lady, I enjoy sitting and listening to her talk in that Carolyn interview. I'm not sure if they're still making new Biographies, but they definitely still air as my dad is obsessed with them and DVRs a bunch and then marathons (with that annoying digital remote that always ff's too far ). You're right, CT did play Clarissa with plenty of backbone, and she really was quite beautiful with her hair long and flowing around her shoulders. The only time i've ever seen her play "pathetic" if you will was when she played John's former secretary Audrey on Y&R. Audrey was in love with John and told some lie to Dina (ironically, Marla Adams, a Myrna to CT's Clarissa) that led her to leave Genoa City and this all came out in a very teary whiny confession. John was ready to wring her neck, all the damage she had caused.

Speaking of Conboy:

Admittedly, at first I was hesitant to delve into that lengthy read, but I am so glad that I did. Thanks yet again Carl! What an amazing narrative, it flowed just like *that* and I could hear CT's voice all along the way. The part about the American couple, he'd lost his fingers, she'd lost her leg, was so unsettling. And the old lady not coming out until she had a blanket was cute. Just hearing the Reagans being mentioned really takes me back. What a rich life the Gavins must lead, I almost get the impression that doing the soaps is like a glamorous little hobby she could take or leave when you hear stories like that. Not to detract from her love of the work or anything, just to say it puts things into perspective. I'm sure that some of you have seen this, but here Constance talks about Carolyn: <object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/xbwF8jy1gNQ?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6"></param><param'>http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/xbwF8jy1gNQ?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/xbwF8jy1gNQ?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object> (I love that shot of Clarissa and Tyler, very Conboy. You can't really tell from here, but I believe these scenes surrounding Tyler's Hero's Welcome Home Reception took place on what was then the largest and most expensive set ever done in daytme. I think The Great Hall of Eterna is what beat it, and we can't forget to mention Conboy's infamous baseball diamond on GL.)

You're gonna plotz when I tell you that Forbes March had an acting class going too.

May she rest in peace. Any relation to Roger Guenveur Smith?

About five years back, I remember he and Grayson McCouch were teaching together at Graystone Studios in the city.

I think I read that Mary just moved to D.C. from McLean (VA 'burb) and during the show Lynda (the Ritz Georgetown) and Stacie (not sure, but if I'm stereotyping, I'm going to say somewhere around the black Gold Coast, 16th St.) were the only two who lived in D.C. proper. But to be fair, that's how it works around here. D.C. is rather nebulous, the suburbs run seamlessly into the city, especially on the Maryland side. D.C. *was* MD once upon a time before MD and VA gave up a chunk of land on either side of the Potomac to create the capital, but VA took their land back that's why D.C.'s only half a diamond. Cat lives in Chevy Chase which straddles D.C. and MD. When I hear her bitch about living "way out" in Chevy Chase it is so obvious to me that she is not a local. D.C. is a car town and she could be chilling with the other housewives in less than ten minutes. Walking distance, no, but this is not Manhattan.

Yeah, I really like Stacie and her hilarious husband, I say they stay. I like the impression that they get together and shoot the [!@#$%^&*] about the other ladies off-camera. It's too bad that they didn't do this show a decade ago, D.C. divas like the late Effie Barry (Mayor Marion's ex), local CBS news anchor J.C. Hayward, women like that. They haven't tapped into the super elite of the city a-TALL, the women tucked away in fabulous homes in Georgetown, Kalorama, Foxhall, Mass. Ave. Heights... well, I guess I'm talking about the type of housewives who wouldn't deign to do a reality show. I agree that the keping them on is awarding the Salahis in a way they do not deserve, but they need to pull out some major punches if they want to ditch them and keep the show afloat. And is Cat coming back with the divorce and all?

I think the ladies of D.C. need Michaele whether they like it or not. If they're smart, they will bring on another "villainess" to pad the nest if they just can't BEAR to be around Michaele for a 3rd season. They need someone like Marlene Cooke, or one of the nouveau riche Persian "eurotrash" ladies. My aunt would have been perfect for this show.

Exactly, I think they goofed and meant harpsichord. As early as in the pilot movie, Sloane and Mark are standing outside their home and they look up to the window of Paula's "chambers" and hear her playing the harpsichord. One of those delicious little soapy character details. With Carolyn Jones in the cast, I'm sure someone had to make a Lurch joke. And Myrna's maiden name is "Graves" which I thought was a wink to her spooky past as Morticia, though of course that was also Leslie's (Brenda) last name. Yeah, I don't know much about Gillian, not sure why her return would be that big of a deal. Towards the end, Brenda was still dealing with her triangle with Dylan and Wally as far as I can tell, and Jordy was dealing with his damaged face and eye from the accident and was involved with Leanne, who died when she fell down the Clegg stairs arguing with her sister Kate (ha, "Sister Kate"). Kate was a femme fatale schemer who slept with Sam and was blackmailig him because she knew that he also slept with Kelly and was Scotty's father, not Trey. Oh Lord, I can only imagine what that Jess Walton/Richard Egan love scene looked like, if there was one. Kate was your standard '80s money/power-hungry vixen who wanted to be the younger version of Myrna. I guess SOD's predictions are acceptable if not predictable.

"The magazines at this time try to tell us how open the actors are and go into these great details, yet you can tell it's also manufactured, and there's a lot we don't know." Exactly. Thank you. That's funny you should say that about Matthew Cowles because at first glance I thought that was who was with Cindy Pickett.

Sion

Who Can I Run To?-Xscape

Melonie Daniels

Cold climate. $800,000.00 up front or $25,000/year over 40 years ($1 million)?

Feet

Once upon a time, I worked in a college's acting program admissions office. IAL had worked there years before, I sat at his old desk. Some how or another, my boss and I got to talking about soaps one day and he mentioned IAL whose name I did not recognize at the time. This was the late '90s and I'm not sure that we even had Google yet, it was a couple of years before I thought back and searched the name online. At any rate, my boss told me that he was a great guy and had to quit when he fell ill. He was so vain, my boss half-joked, that he wouldn't let anyone see him as he'd lost so much weight and wasn't looking or feeling his best. When he passed, his partner and his family all got together and threw him one hell of a homegoing, if there had been any friction in the past, it was all put aside. So it's nice to know that through the pain of illness and death, he had a lovely final chapter.

I saw this guy in a clip I watched the other night and I got to thinking, "Does any dude on the soaps sport a full beard these days?" (and please no JPL jokes, I'm asking seriously).