Love of Life Discussion Thread

[saynotoursoap]

Richard Higgs debuted on Love of Life in January 1977. He committed suicide in October. I am surprised so many were not aware of Higgs' death as it was heavily publicized at the time. He was one of several actors from The Doctors, all appearing at the same time in 1970, to later take their own life.

[DRW50]

I know Higgs and Ginger Gerlach killed themselves - who were the others?

[saynotoursoap]

The episode from July 1975 on YT was not written Labine/Mayer. They had left to create Ryan's Hope.

[saynotoursoap]

Peter Burnell, the longest serving Dr. Michael Powers.

[DRW50]

Thanks - that's a shame.

This is the June 1972 TV Dawn to Dusk (Ideal Publishing Corp) serial of the month profile. I will type the other pages up. If any of you who know so much about the show's past have anything to add with this that would be great.

[DRW50]

[saynotoursoap]

dc11786, I appreciate your thoughtful and articulate post. I agree with many of your ideas, particularly the storyline of Sally's return to kidnap Suzanne, which is genius. I always felt that Sally's departure was too low key, and Debbie's offscreen death too convenient. The elimination of Jamie and Diana was an enormous mistake. As you pointed out, Love of Life needed a young man of moral conviction to counterbalance Ben's villainy. Jamie should have been recast.

However, casting proved to be a problem for LOL in the 1976-77 season. The loss of Chris Reeve, Deborah Courtney (Cal), and Elizabeth Kemp (Betsy) seriously derailed the momentum the series had going with its young cast members, much the same way Love is a Many Splendored Thing had been derailed by the constant recasting of Iris, Luara, and Mark. I am not sure how much of the writing problem was Gabrielle Upton and how much was interference by CBS, but I disagree with your assertion that Upton inherited a stale canvas. Love of Life was wonderful up until the point when Upton joined.

Many have written about the remarkable of success of Labine & Mayer, but in truth, the ratings initially plummeted under them (from a 7.2 under Loring Mandel down to a 6.0) and only began to rebound near the end of their run. After L&M left, Love of Life's audience actually increased slightly from a 7.0/30 to 7.2/32 and up to 9th place from 12th. Under Upton, it fell to a 6.3 and back to 12th again. Part of the problem was the aforementioned recasting of major, popular actors; however, Upton must share some responsibility for writing in too many new characters and changing established story dynamics to fit her vision of the show. L&M were longterm writers, meaning they created characters and relationships that were intended to move forward in a natural progression, toward specific outcomes, for many years. Upton came in and just changed all of that.

The Betsy/Ben/Arlene triangle had been enormously popular and somewhat carried the show for two years. Upton decided to reform Ben, which in my opinion ruined the character. She slowly moved Ben away from Betsy to Mia Marriott, whom no one in the audience cared about. Arlene inexplicably got over her obsession with Ben, which had driven her character since she arrived, and she was placed in a triangle with vicious Ian Russell and Ray Slater. The deliciously perverse relationship between mother/daughter Meg and Cal and the morally ambiguous Rick Latimer was dumped in favor of Rick and Cal being happily married one minute and then Cal having a curious on and off flirtation with Vietnam vet Michael Blake who rented an apartment from them. Unlike previous writers, who embellished or carried on the relationships established by Labine & Mayer, Upton simply cast those aside and tried to create a completely new landscape, and it did not work. I do not think it ever would have worked. Viewers enjoyed the continuity of watching long-running love triangles and quadrangles. They were not interested in a gaggle of new characters, none of whom were even half as interesting as the ones they replaced.

Re: Felicia and Charles. I never liked Charles. The only interest I had for the Lamonts was Diane Rousseau's beautiful, talented Diana Lamont. I never understood why she was saddled with a constipated stuffed shirt bore like Charles. I loved Diana's affair with Jamie Rollins and the scandal it caused all over Rosehill. The scion of Rosehill society was Vivian Carlson. I remember her running around Ben and Betsy's wedding devouring all of the town gossip in simmering outrage. Vivian could not believe that Diana and Jamie were living together in sin, and Di was telling everyone at the wedding that she was pregnant with Jamie's love child. Vivian insisted to Bruce that Di should be relieved from her position as the director of family services for the city of Rosehill, and she also sought to block Jamie from becoming legal counsel to the city government. For a short period, LOL had an air of social snobbery ala All My Children about it, and the audience loved it.

The biggest problem with Felicia was the actress. I think everyone must know Pamela Lincoln achieved the role through nepotism, as she was not a particularly dynamic actress. I suppose anyone would have looked good next to Jonathan Moore's lifeless performances in a lifeless character, but L&M initially wrote Felicia as a somewhat intriguing character. I remember it was hinted that Felicia murdered her father. She had told Charles that she had engaged in relationships with many men, and she suffered from nightmares in which she stood by while watching a man drown. She discussed the nightmares in sessions with Dr. Bryson, who was the resident shrink during that era. It was later revealed that the drowning man was Felicia's late father. At this point, L&M left.

Under Margaret DePriest, Felicia became more deceptive. She admitted to Charles that she feared she would lose him too if she allowed herself to fall in love with him and marry. Dr. Bryson urged Felicia to continue therapy, but she quit and lied to Charles that she had resolved all of her problems and was ready to commit to him. Clearly she was not! She confessed on her wedding day that she had lied about sleeping around and was in fact a virgin who was terrified of sex. Under a better actress, Felicia could have emerged into a very complicated and viable character, but regardless of who wrote the scripts, the scribes were seriously impeded by the limited range of the actress. None of it was helped by John Aniston's hammy performances as Eddie Aleata and that horrendous Italian accent he cooked up, "Mama mia, thatsa terrybull!"

The storyline certainly had a lurid, camp sensibility to it that made it at the very least entertaining. I enjoyed the plot in which Felicia was stalked by sex maniac Arnie Logan, and she accidentally shot Charles, whom she thought was Arnie breaking into her art studio to rape her. I also remember Felicia's graphically bloody demise when she hemorrhaged and died in surgery while giving birth to Eddie's baby. It was silly, but perversely fun. You are correct, though. None of these characters were ever leads who could have possibly carried the drama. Their stories were plot-driven filler. Occasionally amusing, but filler nonetheless.

Edited December 19, 2010 by saynotoursoap

[DRW50]

That's all fascinating stuff. Sometimes I wonder if at that time there was such a move for new and different that they expected too much of viewers, expected viewers to give up too many relationships or characters who compelled them. How did you feel about Ben's prison rape story? That's when the character was reformed wasn't it?

I wish I knew more about Vivian Carlson. How long was her character around?

What did you think of Ray Wise? Did you think his replacement was as good in the role of Jamie?

I was also going to ask what you thought of the actor who played Rick before Jerry Lacy.

Edited December 19, 2010 by CarlD2

[saynotoursoap]

Yes, revamping soaps was all the rage in the 70's. Sometimes it worked spectacularly, such as Doug Marland's revamp of General Hospital and the Dobsons' work on Guiding Light. Other times, it failed miserably. One of the problems with Love of Life was that it was a "small show". By that I mean the cast was not large, the setting was more intimate, and there were many long running characters. Shows such as those are difficult to revamp, and when you do, it has to occur very slowly. Within a year, from 1976 to 1977, Love of Life had written out or recast many of the most popular actors, and they had changed relationships and characterizations too swiftly. It looked like a completely different series almost overnight, and it was too much. Upton should have continued the plots she inherited without making drastic changes for at least a year. The Betsy/Ben/Arlene triangle should have continued along with the Meg/Rick/Cal story. Jamie and Diana should not have been dumped. The Marriotts should not have taken center stage along with Ian Russell and Ray Slater. Ben should have remained more ambiguous in character rather than becoming the hard-luck kid who only wanted to be good.

Yes, Ben really began to reform after the prison story. Men in prison, women in prison are genres I like, so the story itself was sort of fun. There was somewhat of a dilemma though in that Chandler Hill Harben played the prison scenes. It seemed a little unfair to see him getting pinned to the floor by Duke, when you felt it was Chris Reeve who should have been getting some comeuppance. After that, Ben became the perpetually put upon guy. Out of prison, he tried to turn his life around and promptly ran over and killed James Marriott. Fearing he would be sent back to prison, Ben kept his hit-and-run a secret, but when Suzanne swallowed a safety pin and was saved by James' father Andrew Marriott, Ben confessed. Ben's transformation occurred too quickly for my taste. I would have preferred to see Ben persuade Betsy in resuming their marriage, living a lie with the hit-and-run hanging over his head for a year, and having it all explode in his face. It could have been a wonderful pressure cooker story for quite a while; they ended it too soon without a proper fallout.

Vivian Carlson and her hen-pecked husband Henry were around for nearly 20 years. They were Bruce Sterling's former in laws, the parents of Bruce's deceased wife Gaye. The Carlsons were Van's first obstacles in her marriage to Bruce, as Vivian resented the ground she walked on. Vivian considered her own daughter Gaye to be a saint and snobbishly thought Van was not good enough to replace her daughter as Barbara and Alan's new mother. Henry owned the local paper company. They were disgustingly wealthy, powerful, and social leaders in Rosehill. By the late 1960's/early 1970's the Carlsons were not shown as much. They were similar to Winston and Mattie Grimsley on Edge of Night, making occasional appearances as dictated by story. Around 1971-72, Vivian and Henry ceased appearing, but when Labine & Mayer took over Love of Life, they wrote the Carlsons back in on a recurring basis, such as to cause problems for Jamie and Di when they had audacity to make a baby and live together without benefit of wedlock!

I loved Ray Wise as Jamie. I still love Ray Wise in whatever he does. However, he was not replaced as Jamie. When Ray left the series, Jamie was also written out.

I liked Ed Moore, the Rick Latimer before Jerry Lacy. I thought Ed Moore was hot. It is amusing that he mentioned in your article that he looked like a truck driver, because he did have a rough masculine air about him. I liked him as Harry Sowolsky on Loving, too. He did not stay on LOL long, only a couple of years. Lacy is the actor I identify most with the role.

Edited December 20, 2010 by saynotoursoap

[DRW50]

For some reason I thought Lloyd Batista took over for Ray Wise. I guess I got that mixed up because of the name Ray.

What did you think of LOL around the time of this article? Do you remember Marsha Mason's role?

Odd that they didn't mention her brief cameo on Dark Shadows as a vampire in 1970.

[DRW50]

It was hard to scan the words as the page was big, so I just cropped the photo and will type this out. It's from the November 26, 1991 Weekly (K-III Magazines). It's a Moonlighting, Star Track piece, Life After Daytime, on Zina Bethune. Written by Valerie Davison.

[DRW50]

[dc11786]

Thank you for your kind comments. I enjoy your knowledge of cancelled, often forgotten, soaps. Your responses are always interesting reads.

Was Christopher Reeves' departure inevitable? I'm aware of his later success in the "Superman" franchise, but I've also heard he was a bit green on "Love of Life." Ben Harper was a delicious role when Reeves' played the part. He was a strong male in a genre where women dominated. I read when the role was recast, it was a highly coveted by young males in that age range. Jon-Michael Reed reported Charles Harben Hill (or Hill Harben, I never can remember) and Gary Swanson were up for the role. Obviously, Hill got the role. Did you think Reeves could have been easily recast? Should Ben have gone to prison or do you think a recast should have assumed the role immediately?

Jon-Michael Reed alluded in his column to Deborah Courtney's acting ability or should I say lack thereof. The insinuation was Courtney was a bland actress and Roxanne Gregory was brought in to spice up the Rick/Cal/Meg triangle. From what I've gathered, you feel differently. What did you think of Courtney and Gregory? My only experience with Jerry Lacy is his role as Reverend Trask on "Dark Shadows" so I struggle viewing him as a suitable romantic lead. In my mind, Jerry Lacy and romance together in the same sentence leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I cannot imagine the Meg/Cal/Rick triangle being as fascinating as you describe it. I'm not saying this to contradict your statement, but rather explain my thought process.

In regards to Gabrielle Upton, I wasn't very forgiving of her run in the past. The stories I had read were fairly bad and the influx of characters was worse. SOD use to post old synopses online around 1997-1998 from the late 1970s. My first experience of "Love of Life" was reading the SOD synopses from the Upton period and I thought they were bad. The prostitution storyline with Arlene was bad, the Michael Blake storyline was bad, and minors characters like Mary Jane Owens, Wendy Hayes, and Doreen Patton were introduced in bit parts and took center stage. It sounded like a very bad period for the show

I state so earlier in this thread, but readjusted my opinion because of a comment you made in another thread about considering the behind the scenes politics of the show. So I considered the recasts, particularly Ben and Betsy, and readjusted my opinion.

To an extent, it must have been a gift horse to write the return of Ben Harper, but I do question the decision to make Ben good and Betsy as his 'true love.' I do understand that Ben saved Betsy from being prosecuted in the bigamy case, but she was an innocent. Ben just did one right thing in his life. This didn't change everything that had come before that moment. I just don't understand why the show didn't continue to pursue Ben as the bad boy. I would have loved for him to return from prison and for Betsy, and the audience, to wonder if he had truly changed because of his time in prison. Then, slowly, reveal Ben was up to his old tricks again just as Betsy was beginning to fall in love with him again.

I thought Upton's decision to pursue Mia/Ben full speed might have been due to the impending departure of Liz Kemp as Betsy. I was more forgiving of the Mia/Ben story when I looked at it in this light. Mia was still there and Betsy was gone. It seems like a logical decision. Yet, you seem to be saying Ben and Mia were being forced down the audience's throat from her arrival. I know Veleka Gray had kind words for Upton, but Mia seemed to be the centerpiece of a lot of stories.

When I said I believed Upton made a turnaround in her final months, I was referring to several casting/story decision which seemed like they were steps in the right direction. Particularly, I felt her decisions regarding the Ben/Betsy story made sense given the direction she had taken the story. The return of Betsy seemed to resume the Ben/Betsy storyline, which Upton hadn't properly resolved. The introduction of her rather ambitious lawyer husband, Elliot Lang, seemed delightful. He was the law, but still morally corrupt. It opened up the possibilites of reviving the good/bad theme the show had played with since its inception If Ben was going to be our hero, Elliot seemed like a suitable foe. Upton had made Mia Marriott morally ambigious enough to replace the Arlene role in the storyline even though Arlene should have assumed the role herself. I think the groundwork was laid for some potentially long running stories involving the quartet.

Similarly, I felt like the departure of Rick and Cal was a step in the right direction, which you may disagree with. While I think Cal's role as Meg's daughter was important, the Michael Blake storyline was so bad when I got to the summaries where Cal was written out I was relieved. I felt maneuvering Meg into the Marriott realm worked. I believe Meg was romantically interested in Andrew, who was crushing on Van during the awful Bruce is dying of anemia or whatever plot. I thought reviving the rivalry between Van and Meg was interesting even if Andrew wasn't the most dynamic character (Ron Harper is another actor who I feel lacked that dynamic quality. Was he different on "Love of Life"?) There were hints that Meg might become involved with Andy Marriott, Andrew's cad son who was very much in the mold of her own son Ben.

The idea of Andy/Meg/Andrew triangle excited me. I loved the idea that Meg would become infuriated with Andrew's affection for her good sister, Vanessa, and give into Andy Marriott's sexual advances. Andy was looking for Meg to bankroll something. I could see her buying trinkets and lavishing her boy toy. I thought Andy had the potential to be the younger bad boy the show needed in the vein of Ben Harper. Plus, as I think you've described, there was a slightly incestuous relationship between Ben and Meg. Meg becoming involved with a young man old enough to be her son and who shared similar qualities could have been fun. Plus, Lynn Henderson, Van's ward, seemed to have an attraction to him, which I felt would have complicated things nicely. Lynn, too, had been attracted to Ben at some point, but that never seemed to go anywhere.

I don't understand why Christian Marlowe was written out. Andy seemed to have real potential. Was Marlowe a weak actor?

After rereading your post, I realize I misspoke when I said Upton inherited a stale canvas. I was aware Depriest and the Schneiders continued the bigamy plot milking it for what it was worth, and thought of this as a bad thing. I felt they allowed the story to come to a conclusion without having any plans in place for when the story ended so Upton was left to place the Eddie/Felecia/Charles story in the lead because that was all that was available. Your point about continuing long running triangles and quads made me see the errors in my previous statement.

Wrongfully, I felt Ben's imprisonment was the end of that story. I interpretted the decision to pair Jamie and Betsy romantically prior to Ben's return as a rather bland continuation of the story that was in place as both characters were rather noble characters who were in a relationship that lacked a true external threat. Certainly, Diana wasn't going to make any calculated moves to ruin their relationship. Thinking things over, I could see how having Ben return to town, still selfish and calculating, could spark significant drama. Ben could have been the external force which would have driven Jamie and Betsy to a breaking point. Ben's return could have been the latest chapter in the Arlene/Ben/Betsy saga with Jamie and Diana playing significant roles.

[DRW50]

I think Jerry Lacy proved something of his ability as a leading man when he played Tony Peterson on Dark Shadows. He and Nancy Barrett were wonderful together. I thought it was a big mistake to write Tony out and to stick Carolyn with duds like Adam and Jeb.

[dc11786]

I wasn't trying to doubt Lacy's acting versatility, but rather to explain where I'm coming from. I think I saw an episode or two with Lacy playing Tony Peterson, but I watched most of the 1795 flashback and the 1840 flashback where Lacy played religious zealots. In my mind, it's hard to imagine Lacy as the center of a romantic triangle. I'm not saying he couldn't have driven the story. When I imagine how that storyline played out in my head, I struggle because of my perception of Jerry Lacy.