Ryan's Hope Discussion Thread

[Paul Raven]

People like Teri Keane should have been acknowledged for her contributions over many, many years.

 

I'm sure she would have many fascinating stories to tell.

Edited July 29, 2019 by Paul Raven

[vetsoapfan]

 

Bill Hayes of DAYS was born on June 5, 1925, making him 94. I am happy to see that he still looks wonderful and can contribute to the show.

 

I'd love to hear her thoughts about her long career, about getting fired from EDGE, and about being one of the "fake Bauers" on TGL.

[safe]

 

Well, he was "rocker" enough to hang around with Mick and the Stones.

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  On the SN board, most there saw him more like a John Denver type.

 

 

Yes,  while there were many issues with Sarah - there were issues with other actors, too, and  they weren't let go like Sarah.

 

Sean, the webmaster at the Ryan's Hope Memory Book  fan site and he posted on SON years ago,  told us on the old Soapnet message board that Sarah was also asking for a hefty raise. He knew that there were castmates who were not sorry to see here go. He said the network didn't like how she would speak out negatively about the show. We were told by another poster that she was vocal about the show suddenly dropping the Pat/Nancy inter-faith s/l.

 

Someone who claimed to know Sarah said that Sarah found out they were looking for a another Siobhan when she came to work one day and saw Siobhan actresses lined up in the hallway.

 

Edited July 29, 2019 by safe

[danfling]

Some of the other soap operas airing at the time would have been blessed to have her on their shows.

 

Sy Thomashoff, who designed the sets for Ryan's Hope, has passed away.

[safe]

 

2 Michael Levin (Jack) pieces

 

Michael's feeling about soap opera didn't change over the years.

 

In the second piece- I didn't realize that after RH ended,  he did try to find work in Hollywood. It sounded like he gave it a year. While some RH actors had found work in L.A. quickly, I think most needed to give it longer than 1 year.
 

 

February 19, 1989

COMING CLEAN ABOUT SOAPS 

Michael Levin's soap bubble burst in January when "Ryan's Hope" went off the air after 13 1/2 years. Levin had played investigative reporter Jack Fenelli for the entire time. Levin, who lives in Bedford, started off as a theater actor. He performed Shakespeare in Stratford, Conn., and worked at the prestigious Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. He also performed on Broadway in The Royal Hunt of the Sun.  All that was before he became a soap star and, in some ways, a prisoner of daytime drama. Soap opera actors, it turns out, make tubs full of money. But acting out people's everyday problems every day is not the kind of work that keeps an actor's instrument tuned. Levin feels he traded security for quality. And now that "Ryan's Hope" has succumbed to low ratings, he's wondering if his Faustian bargain was worth the price he paid. 

 

During a recent interview, Levin talked about the choices he's made and the consequences he's faced.

 

Did you like performing on "Ryan's Hope"? 
Best job in the world, not a very good career. I was used to the stage, where you'd work for weeks in rehearsal to prepare, you have an opening night when everything has to be as good as it can be. Your adrenaline is pumping and you go out and do it. When you do a soap opera, you have to do it all in one day for a camera. If you treat it like an opening night, you'd die. You couldn't survive more than two or three days. It will never encompass that kind of energy or commitment.

 

Tell me some of the things that went on behind the scenes on the "Ryan's Hope" set. 
A lot of things happened but they were sexual, (and) you can't print it! You change lines. You monkey around. You make fun of the script. I remember a scene when a baby cried all the time. Finally, we just filmed it. He's crying, I'm talking. 

 

Overall, what do you think about soap operas? 
I don't like soap operas. I don't watch them. I think they're not relevant. I don't think they're intelligent. I think they can be good. At their best, which we were at times, they can be close to true, exciting and revealing of human nature. But that's about it.

 

Why is there so much "I didn't," "You did," "I didn't" arguing in soap operas? 
What you're talking about is filler. You have to do a show a day. If you were to write a scene for the theater or film, the playwright may write five pages, then they start to distill it and they end up with half a page. In a movie, you can write 10 pages and all they end up with is a shot.  With soap operas, it's the opposite. We've got to fill up a half hour every day. The scene may be as simple as, "I'm tired of telling you to bring home the coffee." And you say, "OK."   But if it's a soap opera, it's "Look, I'm tired of telling you. . ." "Yeah, I'm sure you're tired." "Well, I am," "So, I am, too." You go back and forth and back and forth. 

 

That must be difficult to play. 
You're right. In watching the scenes I've done recently, I thought I got worse, which really bothered me. 

 

Do you think the audience knows the difference between filler and substance? 
Soaps are no different than any other television. Most television isn't very good. But that's what the audience watches. "Ryan's Hope," and I'm going back 10 years, was totally different when it came on the air.  No soap ever had an Irish Catholic family. All soaps used to be in Glennwood USA, and if people were religious, they just went to "church.” No soap ever took place in New York City. 

 

What happened to force the show off the air? 
You keep doing it and doing it. The writers run out of steam. You run out of stories.

 

Do you think you're a better or worse actor than 13 years ago? 
If I had left the show eight years ago, I would have been a better actor. I think the show was wonderful for me, and I got to do an awful lot. But for an actor to be on a soap for more than five years. . . I'm not saying it's bad. But if you want to be as good an actor then five years is more than enough. Three years is more than enough. I was much hotter eight years ago than I am now. 

 

Why didn't you leave earlier? 
Money. I was raising a family. I lived in Scarsdale. For an actor to have a job that's regular, where they pay you every week, and you know when you're going to go to work, and you can have a home, and you don't have to fly to California, are you kidding? Do you have any idea how many actors there are? Do you know how many make a living? Do you know what the average union actor makes a year? It used to be $2,000 a year. If I had the courage, I would have left. I didn't.  

 

Why didn't you have the courage? 
You're talking about confidence. You'd have to feel inside that you're going to make it no matter what.

 

Do you feel that now?
I'm different now. I don't have to make it. I'm much wiser. Making it is a bubble. Celebrity is a bubble. You can't eat it. All it means is opportunity. I'm not saying I don't want fame or success. I want all those things. But it isn't that important anymore. I'm not good enough, and the world's too tough. You've got to be a genius. 

 

Did you watch the last show? 
Yes. I was with my wife. There were so many mixed emotions. I was very moved by it. There were so many people I had worked with for so long. So you cry. And you go on.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

May 27, 1990

The Tempest" Principal players: Michael Levin, Mana Barney, Thomas Delventhal. Director Gillette Elvgren, for the Three Rivers Shakespeare Festival. Where: Stephen Foster Memorial Theatre, Oakland. When: 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays; and 2 p.m. Sundays. Performances run through June

Michael Levin stars in "The Tempest." His biggest obstacle was line memorization. Out of panic, he worked hard in New York and came to the first reading with all his lines down. The role of Prospero fascinates Levin. "People say there's some of Shakespeare himself in Prospero. Part of his brilliance is Shakespeare reaches so deep, his plays are still modern. We've learned things are not in our control in this world. And that power is double-edged. Someone says to Prospero, 'You have one day to solve all your problems and set your life right. Avoid it and you'll regret it.'” 

"And to achieve his ends, Prospero must give up his power. He must accept death. 'The Tempest' is very sad; you laugh and cry at the same time." A native of Minneapolis, Levin says Pittsburgh reminds him of his hometown. His son went to Carnegie Mellon for a degree in architecture. "To leave New York is an eye-opener and a pleasure. When I came through the Fort Pitt Tunnel, I couldn't believe it. It was stunning." 

Overshadowed by his 13 years of work in the soap opera "Ryan's Hope" as Jack Fenelli. "I had never done or seen a soap." recalls Levin. "I never cared about them. They made me sign a three-year rather than two-year contract I had no intention of staying. Famous last words," he says, grinning. Despite having done Shakespeare with Jessica Tandy and Zoe Caldwell at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis in its first season and having worked on the Broadway production of Peter Shaffer's "The Royal Hunt of the Sun" with Christopher Plummer. Levin says "Ryan's Hope" was fun at first. "It was the only show with ethnic characters as leads. The creators put themselves out on a limb to get their own show and they took risks. It was very exciting and very successful. The other soaps looked over their shoulder at us." So despite glamour on the stage, Levin found his notoriety in soaps. "Eight months into the show, I was doing interviews and there were all these stories. I thought 'What the hell's going on here?' Then you realize it isn't Shakespeare and you settle in." Thirteen years of steady income and work was hard to walk away from. "It's the only steady job in New York for actors. I didn't have the courage to leave - or I had the sense to stay. It was a mistake career-wise because all you did was tread water.”

"There were no risks, no challenge. It's terribly comfortable. I thought it was time to go after the third year, but they offered more money. And how could I leave with a wife and two children.”

Freed up when the show was canceled in January 1989, Levin went to Hollywood to find work in television. He didn't succeed, so he came back to New York and now does off-Broadway shows and TV here and there. That's the way it'll be unless I go on another soap opera." When the Shakespeare Festival called, Levin had not done Shakespeare in years. How did he feel? "It was scary but very exciting. I was as excited as I had been in at least 10 years. Doing Shakespeare is the greatest challenge anyone can do. To do contemporary plays is the most satisfying, but Shakespeare is the hardest"  
 

 

Edited August 2, 2019 by safe

[safe]

 

 

Maybe MacKenzie Allen would have been better off taking the Tom Bergman role

 

 

July 29, 1981


"RYAN'S HOPE" HAS signed Mackenzie Allen, another daytime newcomer, to portray police investigator Jim Speed. Watch Jim "race" to make time with one of the show's leading ladies in the weeks ahead. 
 

_______________________________________________________________________________________

April 2, 1982


For MacKenzie Allen soap stardom came in a rush. There he was trying to decide what would be the best project for him to try next when both CBS and ABC came knocking on his door. It was a Thursday when CBS decided they wanted to him to screen test for the part of Tom Bergman on Search For Tomorrow" but ABC slipped a contract offer to him on that Friday for the part of Jim Speed on "Ryan's Hope." Although the character of Jim Speed has not been written in that heavily for some weeks, in the next few weeks Jim will resurface in the storyline as the character of Joe is put in a sticky predicament by crime boss Vartova. Despite his recent inactivity, MacKenzie is an enthusiastic soap actor,"Soap acting in fabulous if you can work under pressure," he says, "I think that if you can work successfully in soaps you can work anywhere. It's a great training ground." Most of the credit for his success rests in his own hands however. Allen realizes that show business is, after all, a business like any other and has avoided some of the pitfalls that his fellow actors have fallen into. "I see some other performers floundering around like lost kids," he observes. "They fail to recognize that for all it's art, the bottom line is that show business, is very much a business.'' As for what's ahead MacKenzie is content with soap work and would perhaps like to do film and stage work in the future. Until then let's hope we see more of Jim Speed as he searches out the more unsavory element on Ryan's Hope.

 

[safe]

Ana Alicia (Alicia)

 

They were looking for an Alicia Nieves for 6 months -  they started looking in September of 1976!?  I guess that means there were some other storyline ideas they had for Alicia since Delia didn't have her miscarriage and meet her until March of 1977 - if they were looking to bring the character on the show that much earlier.

Oh, and there were a lot of actresses who auditioned for the role of Alicia, too

____________________________________________________________________
Part of a October 1982 interview

 

"When I graduated from the University of Texas at El Paso, I got several scholarships to law school but I decided to come out to Hollywood just to try it out." Ana arrived in Hollywood with a $1,000 in her pockets. She didn't know anybody, "I moved in behind the Chinese Theatre in an incredibly seedy area of town, but I didn't know any better. It was very exciting. I got the trade papers and checked out the agents without any pictures or resumes, which was really hysterical. I would walk in and they would say 'Who are you?' and I would say 'I'm from El Paso, Texas, and I'm considering you as my agent.' They would go crazy but I guess some of them thought I had a lot of guts, because I ended up getting agents and work immediately." 

 

Four months after Ana's arrival in Hollywood, she auditioned for a part in a soap opera called "Ryan's  Hope." It was Ana's first screen test and competition for the part was heavy. The casting director had auditions both in Hollywood and New York for six months, looking for the right person to play the part of Alicia Nieves. Ana Alicia got the part, and a week later on two days' notice was on her way to New York. "I loved New York," she says. "All I remember is calling my mom and saying, 'Well I think I found my city. You always said I walk too fast, talk too fast well, everyone does here.' I took cabs everywhere in New York. I was tipping $50-$100 because the money I was going to be making was more money than I ever dreamed of making. But then I never realized New York costs more than you'd ever dream of spending," she laughs.

After a year in the city, Ana returned to Los Angeles, planning to resume her law school goal. But instead, she was contracted by Universal Studios, and acted in television movies and guest slots for several series. Some of her credits include a guest role in "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" and starring roles in the TV movies "The Ordeal of Bill Carney" with Ray Sharkey and "Coward of the County" with Kenny Rogers. Her one feature film credit is "Halloween II." "My life got to the point where I was flying to Tucson for six weeks to do a TV movie, and then flying back to Los Angeles to take exams for law school. Even though I was doing well, I had to make up my mind," Ana says. She decided on acting, but pursues other interests in business and real estate.

 

"I do have certain goals that will always exist. And I will always do the best that I can and live during the moment." "Later on, I would definitely love to do more stage work, whether in New York or England or wherever." She looks back on her acting career and personal decisions with no regrets. "Its a real rough business. It's been good to me. When it has it lows, they're real low. And the highs are exceptionally high. Its like any dream."

Edited August 9, 2019 by safe

[Khan]

Ana Alicia would be a fantastic addition to just about any primetime drama.

Edited August 9, 2019 by Khan

[adrnyc]

First, thanks to the person who posted all the above articles - those were a fascinating read.

 

Second, I need some help and don’t know where else to go to ask. Is there any book and/or online site that can help fill in the gaps between what is posted of Ryan’s Hope 1983 to the end? I’ve been watching 1983 this year and there are now some significant gaps in the story. (I found further back in this thread the Soap Opera Digest recaps of 1982 and early 1983 which were a HUGE help to get me up to speed with the beginning of ‘83.). I got to July and it’s missing. As is Sept - Nov, I think?)  Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[safe]

 

 

 All that is here are some of the Soap Opera Digest that you mentioned and the weekly newspaper recaps for 1982, 1983, and 1984 that are on page 20 of this thread.

 

I sent you a PM. Let me know if you received it

[adrnyc]

 

Got it - thanks!

[safe]

This was posted on Sitcoms Online in 2003 -  before they decided to rewind back to 1975 for the first time

 

 

1981-1689 - Maeve worries about Faith; Rae refuses to fire Jane.

1982-1690 - Ari gains control of the Smith museum; Seneca agrees to help Jane in her plan against Barbara.

1982-1691 - Joe makes an agreement with Ari; Mendenhall traps Faith in the shrine room.

1982-1692 - Seneca baits Barbara in a trap; Faith is terrified by the shrine.

1982-1693 - Seneca catches Barbara on her feet; Jill alerts police to Faith's disappearance.

1982-1694 - Joe calls Jim with a report; Roger proposes a deal to Barbara.

1982-1695 - Faith is found; Ari prepares to meet his queen.

1982-1696 - Faith and Ari argue about Joe; Delia learns the Jane cleared Roger.

1982-1697 - Jane learns that Ox is dead; Jack learns the story of the Meritkara.

1982-1698 - Jane agrees to have dinner with Roger; Jack sets out to learn the truth between Joe and Ari. 

1982-1699 - Delia confesses to Maeve that she is in love with Roger; Joe learns that Siobhan has left town.

1982-1700 - Ari and Faith share in their feelings for one another; Joe wins Maeve's sympathy.

1982-1701 - Faith awakens in Ari's bed; Rose accepts a job in Hong Kong.

1982-1702 - Delia vandalizes Roger's car; Jim checks up on Joe.

1982-1703 - Maeve scolds Delia about her behavior; Roger discovers a listening device planted at the beach house.

982-1704 - Delia plans to spy on Jane; Maeve and Matt cheer one another up.

1982-1705 - Ari is threatened with being exposed; Delia learns that Jane has been in prison.

1982-1706 - Orson delivers a report on Ari; Joe offers to find Jane's old cellmate. 

982-1707 - The shrine is opened; Delia learns more about Jane.

1982-1708 - Joe demands information from Jim; Everyone learns that Jane went to reformed school.

1982-1709 - Ari changes the combination to Spencer's safe; Maeve collapses and lies unconscious.

1982-1710 - Maeve's heart reacts to massive infection; Ari tells Faith what she means to him.

1982-1711 - Maeve receives last rites; Roger contemplates marriage.

1982-1712 - Jill learns that she is Ed's natural daughter; Matt visits Maeve in the middle of the night.

1982-1713 - Wes sets out to get the Meritkara story; Faith rejects Jill as her half-sister.

1982-1714 - Yvonne makes a move; Delia arranges for Matt to get more information about Jane.

1982-1715 - Yvonne zeroes in on Joe; Ari removes second seal from safe.

1982-1716 - Roger proposes to Jane; Joe learns more about the Meritkara treasure.

1982-1717 - Jane tells Rae about her upcoming marriage; Delia learns that Jane and Ox were married.

1982-1718 - Delia has a favor to ask Roger; Charley pays a visit to Jane.

1982-1719 - Maeve gives Jill more information about her mother; the second seal is opened.

1982-1720 - Jack gives Jane some professional advice; Yve drugs Faith's drink.

1982-1721 - Jane learns that Ox is alive; Yve tries to learn more about the river of gold.

1982-1722 - Jane fails at telling Roger the truth; Joe calls Roger with news that Faith is missing.

1982-1723 - Jane tries to tell Maeve the truth about Ox; Faith is found.

1982-1724 - Faith tells Ari all that she remembers; Ox makes another appeal to Jane.

1982-1725 - Roger asks Jane to marry him as soon as possible; Ari asks Mendenhall to guard Meritkara.

1982-1726 - Joe forces an explanation from Ari; Delia learns about Roger's accelerated wedding date.

1982-1727 - Ari and Faith plan to leave town immediately; Joe prepares for a fight.


 

 

You're welcome!

Edited August 12, 2019 by safe

[safe]

In the early 2000's, Mary Carney's (Mary #2) husband, Mike Houlihan, sued Malachy McCourt (Kevin) and his brother

 

‘TIS THE MCCOURT BROTHERS’ LIFE STORY, JUDGE RULES
By Keith J. Kelly 

August 5, 2002

Frank and Malachy McCourt – this is your life.

A federal district court judge in Chicago has tossed out a legal challenge by a Chicago-based actor, playwright and theater producer who claimed he was owed 40 percent of the profits from the Irish brothers’ bestselling books and a movie.

Frank McCourt’s 1997 Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir “Angela’s Ashes” – which was made into a movie of the same name – has sold more than 4 million copies and spawned a bestselling sequel, “‘Tis.” Younger brother Malachy’s memoir, “A Monk Swimming,” about life in Ireland and the United States, also hit bestseller lists when it appeared in 1998.

At the center of the dispute was a two-man play, “A Couple of Blaguards” in which the two brothers acted out scenes of growing up dirt poor in Ireland and sang songs from their hard-scrabble youth – laughing through all their anguish.

The brothers first staged the show on their own in New York in the early 1980s. In 1984, they signed an agreement with Michael Houlihan, a Chicago-based playwright and producer, who raised $20,750 and put the play on for about a year in that city.

Houlihan’s suit claimed an agreement signed at that time gave him rights to royalties from the play and any “subsidiary” works for 15 years. Since the books drew on the same boyhood memories as the play, he felt he was entitled to the royalties from the books, which have earned millions.

But Chicago federal district court judge Ronald Guzman thought otherwise.

“This court cannot endorse the idea that granting rights to one incarnation of part of a life story automatically grants away rights to all conceivable tellings of that life story,” ruled Judge Guzman in a 15-page decision handed down last week.

Said Malachy McCourt, “I feel that Abraham Lincoln did not die in vain and the 13th amendment to the Constitution is fully effective. Greed is on the way out.”

Houlihan could not be reached. His Chicago-based attorney, Ed Scanlon, could not be reached by press time.

At the time the brothers first mounted the play, Frank was a school teacher at Stuyvesant High, and Malachy was an actor and owner of the Bells of Hell pub in Greenwich Village.

Frank McCourt is now a full-time writer. Malachy, who is still acting, has been frequently called on to play an Irish priest in soaps and in the movie, “The Devil’s Own.”

The play was rarely performed between the mid-1980s and the arrival of the McCourts on the literary forefront in the late 1990s.
 

[safe]

Ilene Kristen's (Delia #1) guest appearance as Jeff's rock star client on Family. Aired March 17, 1980.

 

Ilene can be seen at approx. 12:08, 20:14, and 37:52
 

 

 

[Chris 2]

We used to watch “Family” when I was younger, and it fascinates me to this today, because virtually every character, with the exception of Buddy (Kristy McNichol) was unlikeable.

 

This episode confuses me for two reasons: I don’t understand why ex-son-in-law Jeff is hanging around the family years after he divorced daughter Nancy (who doesn’t seem to be in this episode). And Kate Lawrence isn’t exactly the type that a young man would have a crush on.