Where the Heart Is 1969-1973

[dc11786]

From the September 5, 1969, edition of the Schenectady Gazette:

From the December 29, 1969, edition of the same publication:

[DRW50]

Thanks so much for all of this. I wonder how long most of the characters mentioned here lasted (aside from the big names).

[dc11786]

Carl,

Loretta remained on the show until the end. In one of the show's final stories, Elizabeth Rainey spread rumors around Northcross College that Loretta and Julian were having an affair because Julian's wife, Mary, was busy tending to their young son Daniel. FrenchFan provided a recap of the final months from the show's conclusion on page 3 or 4 of this thread. It's definitely worth looking back on.

I don't believe Tony Monroe or Ruth Monroe were on very long. Christine would eventually be pulled into the triangle with Alison and Hugh Jessup that went on for some time before becoming involved in another triangle with John Rainey and Adrienne Harris.

IMDb says Meg Myles was there until 1971, which I assume means she left when the Steve amnesia / Ellie Jardin murder plot came to its conclusion.

Osterwald's Stella was never a major player, but Wesley Hyatt says she was shipped out of town in 1972 when Osterwald joined 'Bridget loves Bernie.'

Ben Jessup's son Hugh was a major player so he was around for some time. His wife Ruth Jessup was supposedly a snob who looked down on the relationship between her son and Christine Cameron as well as being mortified to having a grandchild who was born out of wedlock.

[DRW50]

Thanks again.

Ugh I can't believe none of this show exists.

[DRW50]

Some 1971 and 1972 Afternoon TV articles. The Diana one is from the issue whose cover Paul Raven posted.

[DRW50]

[dc11786]

Love Diana van der Vlis. She always seems like such a unique presence in both her roles on "Ryan's Hope." Thanks, Carl. The pictures of the sets are great as I haven't seen them before. I love the way Louise Shaffer has her hair in those pictures. Delightful.

Abels appeared yesterday in the RH reruns. It's Christmas 1976 and Art and Kathleen are in New York for the holidays. I was imagining this would be what Michael Hathaway would be looking like in 1976. lol.

[DRW50]

I never paid a lot of attention to Art on the earlier runs of the show, but did this time around. When I saw he was named Greg Abels I remembered seeing him in a few of the early 70's magazines. This was a little more than I expected (most of these don't run 6 pages). I wish they'd used him a little more on RH, but you have to give Claire Labine and Paul Avila Mayer credit for trying to find roles for their old WTHI ties. This is the only chance most soap viewers will ever have to see Abels, Robyn Milland, Delphi Harrington, or even Louise Shaffer.

I have another article somewhere that has a rundown of the characters when the show started - it's just some photos, but when I find it I'll post it.

I do like Louise's hair. I'm not overly fond of their dresses (a little long when they stand and too short when they sit) but Louise looks great.

Diana van der Vlis is so wonderful - she hooked me from the first time I saw Nell. I wish she'd lived longer so she could know the fans she'd get when Soapnet began running the show.

[dc11786]

I'm surprised Art and Kathleen weren't brought in briefly when Maura/Katie arrived. Then again, it was Falken-Smith's time with the show, which was fairly rough. I don't know what they could have done with the Thompsons. Kathleen and Art were happy and settled unlike the rest of the Ryans. I appreciated Kathleen coming back after Mary's death to talk to Jack. I thought that was a nice touch.

Someone online said Nancy Reardon (Kathleen, RH) subbed for Diana van der Vlis as Kate Hathaway on 'Where the Heart Is.' Maybe saynotoursoap can confirm or deny this?

I definitely be interested in reading that article. Saynotoursoap says the early episodes were boring, which is a shame because it sounds like it had the makings to be very interesting.

I didn't notice the dresses. The weird broach thing on them bothers me a bit, but I like the style. I can see what you mean about the length, but I still think it looks good on van der Vlis. She reminds me of the often seen pic of Christina Crawford in the cast shot for 'The Secret Storm.'

Nell's story is my favorite story from the show's first year.

On youtube, there is a wonderful performance of van der Vlis from her second run on RH where she plays Sherry Rowan. One episode is devoted to the conclusion of the murder mystery involving Sherry's late husband. Van der Vlis is wonderful as she gets a confession out of her husband's former mistress.

Harrington can be seen as the Countess in 'Swans Crossing.' All those episodes were on youtube at one point. Unfortunately, the quality isn't great. I have dubs of a similar quality. Harrington was interesting in the role, but its not a huge part.

[DRW50]

I'll have to look for the Swan's Crossing stuff.

I keep meaning to watch Sherry before those episodes are gone, but I never can muster up what it takes to watch the show's post Soapnet years, for some reason.

I think after ABC took over in 1979 they very quickly began eliminating any of the touches of familiarity like Kathleen. It's too bad.

A family with Diana, Louise, and James Mitchell could easily be my favorite soap family ever.

[saynotoursoap]

Sorry fellows. I do not recall Nancy playing Kate Hathaway, but that does not mean it did not occur. Remember, I was in school during the series' run.

Did I write that WTHI was boring in its early years? I do not recall doing so, and it was not my intention. Perhaps I failed to express myself well, which is often the case with me. Where the Heart Is was never boring; however, I did find the first year to be somewhat incongruous with the theme. I believe that Lou Scofield and Maggie DePriest attempted to create a serial similar to Days of our Lives for CBS. Days had recently exploded in the ratings with strong psychosexual drama. The problem was that Scofield and DePriest came from The Edge of Night, so they mixed in an element of crime with the sexual drama. Steve Prescott was a land developer, and he got mixed up with Arthur Saxton, who had mob ties. They tried to rub out Steve. It seemed out of place in a serial whose opening sequence was a butterfly gliding over a sunny field. When Pat Falken Smith came on board, she dropped the criminal element and focused on the ever changing emotions of the characters and particularly the roundelay of love affairs. "Where the Heart Is" then became an apt title. The show even changed it's opening visuals and theme music. To understand what I mean about PFS' writing, you should watch the Days episode from August 1976 that I uploaded on Youtube. PFS wrote that episode, and its tone is indicative of what she did with WTHI. Coincidentally, she later became a writer for Days. I prefer to remember these writing stints instead of the disastrous work she did for RH and GL, which is not surprising since those were "family" soaps, not psychodrama. I like soaps which have a clear theme and stick to it.

I concur wholeheartedly about Diana van der Vlis on RH, and the scene you cited, dc, was wonderful. What a treat it was to see Diana playing a more manipulative role. She was perfect for Sherry Rowan, and it truly demonstrated her range as an actress. Sherry was a far cry from the saintly Kate Hathaway.

Regarding the clothes, another poster (Brent?) mentioned the wardrobe on The Secret Storm. I loved the late 60s and early 70s era because the women looked so smart. The false eyelashes and hairstyles and designer clothes were so classy and added an interesting element to the visual production. I know that I sound like an old fuddy-duddy, but women on contemporary soap operas largely look like whores who just rolled out of bed. I remember a brief period on Another World circa 1988 when I thought the clothes and hair on the ladies had a similar 60s look. I miss those days.

[dc11786]

Thanks for replying.

I misinterpreted what you had said. A few pages back, you described the early days as so-so in comparison to the later runs of Falken-Smith and Avila Mayer / Labine. After reading this, I have a firmer grasp on your meaning.

In the beginning, was Arthur Saxton involved in the plot to get the Hathaway land that had bestowed to the Hathaway siblings after the death of their father? I posted interviews a couple pages back that discuss the story. Allison and Roy Archer were scheming to sell the land so they had split up with the intent of Roy marrying Kate to get his hands on her share of the land. Steve was also interested in her land, but I assume he was more honest about his attempts. Do you know if Roy Archer’s death by mugging was related to the criminal storyline?

And after Roy’s death, how long was it before Allison married Hugh? I cannot imagine it was very long considering the amount of story Christine had with Hugh and later John. I know ‘Where the Heart Is’ is said to have played at breakneck speed, but it’s just hard to get a sense of timing based on the information that is out there.

Thank you for taking time to share with us your memories of these often forgotten program, and I apologize if the constant string of questions is a nuisance. It’s just so rare to find people who have seen the many of the shows first hand and remember them with such detail.

[saynotoursoap]

No worries. It is not a nuisance. I enjoy remembering stories from so long ago and am annoyed with myself when my memory fails. Where the Heart Is seems to be one of the more challenging serials to recall as I could not watch it regularly. In my area, the serial was telecast at 11 a.m. During high school years, I always went home for lunch and could see many soaps airing in 12:00-1:30 range, depending upon the year.

Yes, if I recall correctly, Roy's death was planned. He did something to double-cross Saxton. Roy and Alison were in New York, a short train ride away from Northcross, to see a show. Roy was supposed to meet someone in Central Park, maybe either Saxton or Helen Wyatt. A hit had been ordered with instructions to make it look like a mugging gone bad. By the way, the mugger who stabbed Roy was played by William Devane, though he was unknown at the time.

With her plan to get the Hathaway estate failed, Alison turned her attention to Hugh. It did not hurt that Hugh was somewhat taken with Christine Cameron, who happened to be Kate's best friend. Alison and Kate had been in competition with one another, and Kate was none too happy that Alison ran off years before with Roy, who had been Kate's beau. Alison could be on the sadistic side at times and took pleasure in lousing up Chris and Hugh's relationship and consequently causing more fretting for Kate. Alison married Hugh fairly quickly. Roy was killed off in mid- 1970. I think Alison and Hugh were married within six months. Hugh's family encouraged his engagement to Alison, as Chris was a working girl and considered beneath him socially. Alison had style, class, and the social connections that Hugh's mother craved in a daughter-in-law. Their marriage quickly deteriorated, though. Alison was demanding, self-centered, and unwilling to kow-tow to Hugh's ego -unlike Chris, who was very loving and made Hugh feel like he was the most important man in the world.

By early 1971, Hugh and Chris were having an affair, and she got pregnant in the summer. I remember that Delphi Harrington, who played Christine, was pregnant in real life, but not on the show. And when the actress left on her maternity leave, the character of Christine was then said to be pregnant, which was very confusing. Chris had difficult pregnancy because she was being harrassed. Hugh had left Alison when Chris became pregnant. Someone, assumed to be Alison, phoned Chris at all hours of the day and night tormenting her with disturbing prank phone calls. The caller referred to her as being a "wanton woman" and threatened her because of her affair with Hugh and the illegitimate child she was carrying. Everybody in Northcross thought Alison was behind the calls, as she had gone all over town referring to Chris, in a running gag, as "that Hester Prynne of Northcross". Kate, however, thought Alison had gotten exactly what she deserved and withheld all of her sympathy for Christine, which infuriated Alison, making her appear even more guilty. This played out in late 1971/early 1972. By that time, Hugh had grown weary of Chris, who was becoming slowly unhinged physically and mentally from the pressure. Alison seized the opportunity to get Hugh back, and they had an affair.

It turned out that Alison was innocent. The real stalker was Will Watts, a lab technician at the hospital where Hugh worked (Labine and Mayer partially cribbed that story for the Kenneth Castle plot the first year of RH). Will kidnaped Christine. He was deranged because he had murdered his late wife when she had an affair similar to Chris'. Hugh saved Chris from Will, but she discovered that Hugh and Alison were having an affair and refused to go back to him. She was so angry that she wanted to keep him away from their newborn baby daughter Katina. Chris hired John Rainey to ensure that Hugh had no legal rights to the child, butr Alison convinced Hugh that they could win custody if they remarried, thus providing Katina with something Chris couldn't -a stable home with two parents. To Chris and Kate's horror, Hugh and Alison were married in the fall of 1972. Shortly thereafter, the custody trial began.

During the trial, Chris began to get close to John, who was divorced. John urged Chris to see a psychiatrist as her behavior was becoming increasingly erratic. Chris could not bear the idea that Alison had stolen Hugh and was about to take her daughter, too. Also, she had not completely gotten over the trauma of being stalked and kidnaped. She took John's advice and began seeing a psychiatrist named Adrienne Harris, who unknown to Chris, was actually John's ex-wife and the mother of his bitchy daughter Liz, who was attempting to break up Julian and Mary Hathaway's marriage. Adrienne subtly manipulated Chris into becoming more unhinged. During the trial, Chris went insane on the witness and began raving, causing the judge to decide against her and give Hugh and Alison custody of Katina. Chris had to be committed to a mental hospital. This was at the very beginning of 1973.

Over the next two months, John realized that Chris' doctor was Adrienne, and it came out that she had set up Chris to be committed. Hugh, who genuinely thought Chris was sick and a danger to Katina, agreed -with a now more contrite Alison- to share custody of Katina. Thus, all ended well.

[DRW50]

That story with Chris sounds very juicy (I hope the lab tech part was better than that mess on RH). I wonder what their plans were if the show hadn't been canceled.

I was reading an old TV Dawn to Dusk from right after this and LIAMST were canceled and they printed an entire page full of angry letters. While the focus was more on LIAMST, you could tell a lot of people treasured both shows. One woman wrote in saying she knew only a man could cancel these shows.

What did you think of Delphi Harrington?

[dc11786]

Once again saynotoursoap, thanks for taking the time to share your recollections.

The retelling of the Chris / Hugh / Allison story delves more into the shading to the plots that you simply do not get from the soap books. Allison's motivations for pursuing Hugh seem double-edged as she wants a suitable mate as well as to stick it to her sister / rival Kate. Above, I said Hugh's mother was Ruth, but I was thinking of Ruth Monroe. I believe her name is actually Harriet. Also, I didn't realize how Christine's mental collapse had developed. I was aware of Adrienne's manipulation and Christine's history with married men, but I didn't consider the complications of the Will Watt saga. One of the reviewers in the Village Voice said Christine was foolish when she awoke to find Will with a pillow in his hands claiming he was only trying to make her more comfortable.

This was much appreciated.