TV writer Raymond Goldstone dies

[Sylph]

TV writer Raymond Goldstone dies

Worked on 'Days of Our Lives,' other daytime series

By VARIETY STAFF

TV writer Raymond Goldstone, who wrote for series including Days of Our Lives, General Hospital, Knots Landing and Falcon Crest, died of a heart attack March 13 in Van Nuys, Calif. He was 88.

A memorial service for will be held on Friday, April 25, at 7:00 at the WGA Theater, at 135 S. Doheny Dr., Beverly Hills. To R.S.V.P., call 818-786-3235, or email [email protected].

Born in Little Falls, N.Y., Goldstone majored in journalism at Cornell U. and then became a newspaper reporter. During WWII, he served in the Army, writing scripts for training films and working in Signal Intelligence.

Upon returning to civilian life, he worked as a book editor and then moved to Los Angeles, where he worked as a story analyst at Warner Brothers. He was a professor of English Literature at the U. of Calif. at Santa Barbara for five years before joining the writing staff of the daytime drama, Love is a Many Splendored Thing in 1970. From 1973-1976, he worked on the writing staff of Search for Tomorrow.

In 1975, Goldstone and the Search for Tomorrow writing staff won a Writers Guild Award for daytime serial. During the late '70s, he was staff writer on Days of Our Lives, where he shared Daytime Emmy nominations for outstanding writing for a drama series as well as a WGA nomination.

In 1979, he co-wrote the action/disaster TV miniseries, The Night the Bridge Fell Down (co-written with Arthur Weiss and Michael Robert David), produced by Irwin Allen. In 1981, Goldstone joined the writing staff of ABC's hit daytime series General Hospital, serving as head writer. During the mid-'80s, Goldstone wrote episodes for TV dramas including Knots Landing and Falcon Crest. He also served as head writer of daytime serial Rituals.

He is survived by his wife, actress Mary Ellen Jennings Goldstone, and a sister, writer Ann Marcus.

Donations may be made to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.


http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117982736.html?categoryid=14&cs=1

[Limenade]

Wow--I'm not familiar with Goldstone, but I do remember Ann Marcus. Wasn't Ann Marcus the last--or one of the last--headwriter for Love of Life? She worked on that show with Cathy Abbi as the EP, who had come from Y&R.

[Sylph]

I've never heard anything about the man before this. I tried to find if this head writer GH information is true, but at that time most sources credit Pat Falken Smith and Margaret DePriest as the top scribes...

[sheilaforever]

He's credited as Ray Goldstone at IMDB.com...

[Sylph]

And there is only Falcon Crest in his credits.

[Chris B]

We all know the online resources can't be 100% without the episodes around to double check credits. Snark Weighs In recently posted an interview (from an old soap mag) with a SFT headwriter whose work there isn't listed anywhere on the net. Then you have Peter Brash who revealed in his ITZ interview that he had several more soap credits not listed on Toups' page.

I imagine this guys family, probably his soap writer sister Ann Marcus, wrote his obituary or at least provided the info and know what they were talking about.

[Sylph]

We all know the online resources can't be 100% without the episodes around to double check credits. Snark Weighs In recently posted an interview (from an old soap mag) with a SFT headwriter whose work there isn't listed anywhere on the net. Then you have Peter Brash who revealed in his ITZ interview that he had several more soap credits not listed on Toups' page.

Could you provide the link for the SFT writer interview?

I imagine this guys family, probably his soap writer sister Ann Marcus, wrote his obituary or at least provided the info and know what they were talking about.

Sure, only she could have known all this stuff.

[Chris B]

Ann Marcus' Wikipedia page also lists her as former GH headwriter. I also noticed that her IMDB bio listed more soap credits than her actual IMDB page. Here's the SFT interviews: http://snarkweighsin.blog-city.com/flashba..._interviews.htm

It has the former HW and some producers from the show.

[Sylph]

Ann Marcus' Wikipedia page also lists her as former GH headwriter.

Yes, she is also listed in the GH head writers timeline. But there is no mention of Raymond Goldstone.

Here's the SFT interviews: http://snarkweighsin.blog-city.com/flashba..._interviews.htm

It has the former HW and some producers from the show.

Thank you! I'm going to take a look at it!

[Sylph]

Here's an article about the Monty sisters on their GH work. Possibly it was posted before.

Monty sisters recall soap opera’s Luke & Laura days

BY SANDI CARPELLO, Staff Writer

From behind the scenes, Gloria Monty may have been "General Hospital’s" greatest heroine. It was 1978. The first test-tube baby was born in Britain. Egypt and Israel had just signed the Camp David Peace Treaty, and the ratings of ABC-TV’s longest running daytime drama had fallen lower than the Dead Sea.

"They were going to cancel the show," recalled Monty, the show’s former executive producer. "They had 13 weeks to boost it up, and ABC called me in. … ‘General Hospital’ didn’t want to go down in a sham."

Hiring her sister Norma to head the show’s writing team, Gloria came up with a plot line twist that sent even the most disinterested soap watchers into a frenzy. She paired the show’s ingenue, Genie Francis, with anti-hero and chronic ne’er-do-well Anthony Geary.

A rape, a run from the mob, a few bad perms and a wedding later, pop culture icons Luke and Laura earned "General Hospital" the highest daytime ratings of all time.

Currently, the ABC’s network’s most watched soap opera is alive and well, and the Monty sisters, who retired in 1994 to a waterfront home in Rumson, are living the good life.

Sitting in their self-designed, mahogany-painted living room, almost identically clad in linen pants suits, Jackie O sunglasses, and bright red lipstick, the two sisters gaze lovingly at their four golden Emmy awards that sit on the mantel above their television set.

With perfect diction, the two recall their days in Hollywood and speak about the simple pleasures of retired life: playing golf at the Deal Country Club, sunning at the beach, and donating their time and expertise to the communications program at Monmouth University and to the Children’s Cultural Center in Red Bank — a subsidiary of the Community YMCA of Red Bank, which provides arts education to children and teen-agers.

The Children’s Cultural Center, which is in the process of renovating a new location at the site of the former Red Bank Police Department headquarters on Monmouth Street, honored the Monty sisters for their support on Sept. 6.

"They approached us," said Gloria, explaining the sisters’ involvement with the organization.

"We helped design the curriculum. We helped raise money. We’re also planning to subsidize a television studio at the school," added Norma.

Like the children who will participate in arts programs at the Children’s Cultural Center, Gloria and Norma developed an interest in the theater at a very young age — studying ballet and elocution from the time they were 2 years old.

With dozens of theatrical credits behind them, the Monty sisters hope to steer those children and help them design a road map to artistic success.

"We want to help those kids to focus on their careers. So many people come in to this business thinking it will just happen. They have no idea how tough it is … it is a very tough business," Gloria said.

And she should know.

Leaving her Allenhurst home at 18 years of age to study drama and speech at the University of Iowa, New York University and later Columbia University, Gloria landed a job as a teacher of speech and drama at The New School in New York, where she trained cinema giants like Marlon Brando, Demi Moore and Tony Curtis — before they became famous.

After meeting her late husband, Robert O’Byrne, an editor for "Sports and Field" magazine, her show biz career began to flourish.

The couple established the Abbe Theater School in New York, which eventually led Gloria to dozens of directing and producing stints.

Her credits include the early-1950s television series "The First One Hundred Years," the 1973 television movie "The Screaming Skull" and 20-year daytime serial "The Secret Storm."

Even 50 years ago, television directing was "a high-paying job," Gloria said.

But as the first woman executive at the ABC network, Gloria said she earned her keep.

"You had 150 people under you. You had to prove yourself a lot more than the men did," said Gloria, who lacked knowledge of the television camera and spent hours observing the cameramen until she had the craft mastered.

"She was an authoritative figure," Norma said.

"We worked very hard on ‘General Hospital,’ seven days a week, sometimes 14 hours a day, and Saturday. We enjoyed it, but it was tough," she said.

Unlike her sister, Norma never set out to work in show business.

"I got into it because of my sister," said Norma, a former English teacher at both Edison and Middletown high schools. "When [Gloria] got the job at ‘General Hospital,’ she hired me to be one of her writers."

In Hollywood, the two women, then in their early 40s, created one of the most controversial plot lines of the decade.

"General Hospital" viewers were shocked, if not outraged, when Luke Spencer, lovesick and distraught at the Port Charles campus disco, rapes the show’s sweetheart Laura, who had literally grown up on the show.

Gloria, who told critics in the July 1987 issue of "Us Weekly" that the sexual encounter was not a rape "but a seduction," said the love story had a "Hitchcock quality, mystery and a lot of comedy,"

"It was a love story," Norma added. "It was very unusual."

In 1981, more than 30 million viewers tuned in to the wedding of Luke and Laura — the highest ratings in daytime television history.

Presently, there are thousands of Web sites dedicated to the star-crossed couple.

According to Norma, who holds a degree in English and comparative literature from Columbia University, the soap opera’s writing process was much more longwinded and actor-friendly in the ’70s than it is today.

Back then, developing the concept and storyline was more crucial than constructing the actual dialogue.

"If they didn’t feel comfortable saying something, I let them say it in a way they did feel comfortable — as long as they stuck to the show’s story line," Gloria said.

Geary, now 55, who still plays Luke Spencer on "General Hospital," was "one of the best I’ve ever worked with," she said.

John Stamos, of "Full House" fame, who played Blackie Parrish on "General Hospital" from 1982-84, was "just great."

And Jack Wagner, who originated the role of Frisco Jones on the show, was also one the Monty sisters’ favorites

"He was just in "Jekyll and Hyde" on Broadway, and when he saw us in the audience, he asked us to stand up," she said.

The sisters said they look forward to working with the children at the cultural center and instilling in them their lifelong recipe for artistic success: focus, freedom with discipline, joy for their art, and making the right choices.

"I chose not to have children," Gloria said. "If I had had children, I would never get to accomplish what I accomplished."

"Life is a series of choices and [experiences,]" Norma added. "Education was fascinating, I enjoyed being a writer and I worked very hard."

"You should also get joy out of what you’re doing," Gloria said.

When you start to get antsy, it’s time to get off board," she added.

http://independent.gmnews.com/news/2003/1001/Front_Page/054.html

[Limenade]

It seems everyone's been sleuthing so I won't repeat the readily available info on Goldstone or his sister Ann Marcus, that she has been an active member of the WGA-West and was in the news a few years ago for the lawsuit alleging age-discrimination in the entertainment industry on behalf of writers. I found a few links claiming the demise of Marcus, but I'll probably trust Variety that she's still alive.

I dug up my dog-eared copy of the 11/27/1997 SOD that prompted me to write my original reply to Sylph's posting of the Goldstone obit.

"Love of Life" producer Cathy Abbi: Can She Save a Sinking Ship?

In September 1978 Cathy Abbi, fresh from associate-producing popular "The Young and the Restless," took over as producer of "Love of Life." Among other things, "LOL" has been plagued by lack of storyline, massive turnover of actors, and low ratings. <snip>

Despite the numerous changes you've made in the program, its ratings haven't improved significantly. Does this ever frustrate you?

"I'm very frustrated because I think the show is terrific! I'm very happy with Ann Marcus and the writing. We've got so many things going on story-wise, and it's looking really good..."

*************************

No more references to Marcus in that article and none on Goldstone.

[Sylph]

Well, I'm not surprised - the obituary above doesn't mention him being a part of Love of Life's writing team. However, I'm still surprised that virtually nothing is known about him having in mind that he worked on many soap operas and was a head writer on two of those (GH and Rituals).

[sheilaforever]

Sylph, you always also have to ckeck the award and/or trivia section in IMDb profiles. At least his DAYS stint is covered there...

Let me explain the lack of data from someone who is frequently submitting data to IMDb: The main problem is that - since some time - they demand episodic credits and not year ranges. Even if you have Toups wonderful database or find a closing title at YouTube there still remains the problem that you can't actually submit it - without an airdate or episode number.

Both can be found very seldom and hence the lack of data for older series - especially soaps. You can only add (if you take this seriously) headwriters or producers because it is far easier to attribute some episode for him/her.

For scriptwriters/directors and so on there only remains a notion for the trivia section or that IMDb itself has some award data, which has been expended a lot in recent years because they got some huge Emmy encyclopedia, to cover the lack of actual episodic data...

The only classic soap with sufficient data is RYAN's HOPE and only because it ran on SoapNet and someone bothered to add data to IMDb.

Yesterday I submitted most of the Goldstone data from the Variety article which should be live by next week. I also checked the last two episodes of CAPITAL at Wost and submitted twice the entire crew list which sported some familiar B&B/Y&R faces - ironically B&B's lead director Michael Stich directed the last episode of that series...

[Sylph]

I'm not talking about the IMDB specifically. Just in general. One would say that a man who had written for so many soap operas, and was even a head writer, would pop up somewhere... Especially, having in mind that his sister is pretty much known. But I guess, not everything is Googleable.

And another thing: I'm not a fan of IMDB at all. For well-known celebrities, it gives me the information I already know, and for obscure, lesser-known people it gives - nothing.

I heard that the IMDBPro is a waste of money. I don't know if it's completely true.

[sheilaforever]

I has a nicer design than that site for the common people...

I got access to it as gift for regular submissions last year.

In general I really like IMDb but it is a work in progress. With all these DVD releases of classic shows and movies more and more voids are filled. Not withstanding that it still can be frustrating to check the soaps pages, GH is totally screwed up...

I'd like to improve the Y&R site but it's too much work, beginning from scratch. I did it with B&B but I've been massively adding data for 10 months now and it still covers only the basics. I wonder though if KKL is the person at IMDb with the most credits, now.

Another great plus about IMDb is that is rather flawless with data which actually gets live. At least compared with other sites. Yet, I always like to google for people because it sometimes gives the best results. It even works for me at my traineeship: Did not find anything at the library but did just a randomn Google Books search and came up with exactly what I needed...

Where were we? Ah, I never heard of Raymond Goldstone before, too. Simply because he ceized working long before Internet days...