Where the Heart Is (1969-1973)

[slick jones]

Does anyone know who appeared as DR. Feldman and Harriet Jessup? What character did Roy Scheider play?

[dc11786]

Josephine Nichols was Harriet Jessup.

[amybrickwallace]

Is ANY of this soap available ANYWHERE? Last I checked on YT - nada. Were any of the master tapes saved, or were they all erased and recorded over? Who owned the show?

[danfling]

CBS owned this show during its entire run.

[amybrickwallace]

Thanks - I figured as much since it wasn't a P&G soap.

[danfling]

The show was created by Lou Schofield and Margaret DePriest. Both had been writers on The Edge of Night. Before that, Margaret DePriest had been an actress on The Edge of Night.

My understanding is that Roy Winsor was developing a spin-off of The Secret Storm called The Widening Circle for CBS, but picked this show instead. (Probably that CBS owned it was the deciding factor.) The new show was to have featured Judge Stevens (Terry O'Sullivan) and his family.

I also understand that Where the Heart Is offered a role to Carol Roux. (I don't know if it was when the show was beginning or later into its run.)

I began watching the show, but I lost interest in it.

[amybrickwallace]

Yes, Carol Roux did mention in an interview that she was offered a role on WTHI, but turned it down. Carl (I think) posted that interview on the Somerset thread.

[slick jones]

I'm setting up the cast list for Where the Heart, and I have 2 questions before I post:

Was Ken Kercheval a cast member?

Did anyone other than Jeanne Ruskin portray Lois Snowden?

[DRW50]

Diana van der Vlis interview during her WTHI days.

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[amybrickwallace]

God rest her. It was because of Diana's husband, who worked in the publishing industry, that her WTHI co-star Louise Shaffer was able to get her career as a novelist underway. Of course, both were on RH (Diana as two separate characters!!) but at different times.

[dc11786]

Vicky Lucas Hathaway in all her crazy glory. Audio only.

 

March 1971: Vicky pushes Mary down a flight of stairs.

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March 31, 1971: The Hathaways gather to for Vicky's confession.

 

[Bright Eyes]

That second clip was mesmerizing. I've never seen the actress in anything, but she certainly sounds superb. Those vitriolic joyful screams about seemingly killing Mary and her unborn baby made her sound like a demon possessed. Amazing.

[DRW50]

That was great stuff. I'd only ever seen Robyn Millan in her mercifully brief run as Delia on Ryan's Hope (where a number of WTHI actors popped up during the Labine/Mayer years), but she's absolutely chilling here. And you can see how different WTHI was to any other soap at this point. I wish more was available, but I never thought I'd ever hear this.

[DRW50]

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[dc11786]

I've really enjoyed this material.

 

Vicky Hathaway's breakdown is delicious. Because it was audio only, I forgot that Vicky was still faking paralysis at this point in the story. I was pleasantly surprised that it seems Joe Prescott is given the heavy lifting admonishing Vicky for her deceitfulness, but I guess it might have been a bit hypocritical from it to come from any of the Hathaways. Milan delivers some of those lines with such venom ("Or was it your big idea, Kate.") and then her begging Michael to protect her is so powerful and raw. And then when she comes for Julian ("I tried to tell you! Why didn't you listen?!" was just so heartbreaking. I wonder if they played out Vicky's accusation (Michael was the baby's father) as I could see that slowly destroying Julian's mentally, but it would have also been the perfect motivation for Julian allowing Michael to marry Liz.

 

The scene between Ed and Vicky was equally powerful. I would have loved to see Ed's physical reaction to the fact that his daughter was completely insane.  

 

I also found the scenes between Steve Prescott and his mother surprising. Nan was much more developed than I expected her to be, but I think Joe and Nan represented the good wholesome parental figures that were typical the center of the show rather than on the fringes as the in-laws, or this case future in-laws. I did appreciate that Joe Prescott was the family doctor and Ben Jessup, Allison's father-in-law, was the old law partner of the late Daniel Hathaway. It keeps the story tighter and gives the characters history.

 

I have no clue how Jack Blaine or the Connie character fit into this. Initially, Steve Prescott was in Northcross to get the land that Daniel Hathaway gave away in the will to Kate. Steve was trying to procure the land for Arthur Saxton, the shady real estate developer. I thought it was Arthur who was after Steve when he had amnesia in late 1970/early 1971. I guess I was wrong. Anyway, I was surprised how quickly the story moves. Ellie is killed in May and by June Steve and Kate have married and the Jardin sisters arrive in Northcross to take Peter Jardin.

 

I'm hoping more of this pops up. It has been a real treat.