Love of Life Discussion Thread

[Khan]

How did Paul die the second time?  And was his and Van's second marriage a happy one?  Or, as I suspect, did the writers turn Paul into an entirely different character in order to make viewers root for Van to return to Bruce?

[dc11786]

I believe Paul/Matt Corby was murdered by his ex-wife, Evelyn. This was why Bruce and Van ended up raising Stacey Corby for a bit afterwards. I think he got the Sam Reynolds recast personality adjustment as well. 

@FrenchFan might have more details as I think this was Loring Mandel's scripts and I can't remember if those are in his collection. 

[Paul Raven]

@dc11786 thanks. I don't believe that Van actually remarried Matt/Paul. Is that right?

[Khan]

Thanks, @dc11786 and @Paul Raven.  I figured LOL's writers wouldn't have pushed Bruce aside just so Paul and Van could reunite.  Like you said, @dc11786, Paul got the Sam Reynolds Recast Personality Adjustment, lol.

[dc11786]

I don't think Matt / Paul remarried Van. For many years, there was very little research out on that period of "Love of Life." I think Matt Corby arrived on the scene as someone's defense lawyer, maybe Bill and Tess when they were accused of killing John Randolph, Tess' husband. Then, it was revealed he was Paul. At that point, they introduced the Southern ex-wife, Evelyn, and their daughter, Stacey (or maybe she was just Evelyn's daughter). I think Van and Matt reunited, but I don't know if the intention was for usurpment of Van and Bruce, though. 

Bruce wasn't perfect at this point either. I think he was involved with Judith Cole, Marsha Mason's reporter character. Thinking about all of this, I have to wonder if Paul Raven's return was a substitute for the aborted return story for Meg which would have been in about the same time period. 

[Paul Raven]

@Franko As requested 1976 story summary. I'll be posting it in parts as it is very lengthy  and probably too much to take in at once. 

Since 1951 the story of the residents of the town ofRosehill, Love of Life, has revolved around the livesof Vanessa (Van) and Margaret (Meg) Dale and their families.

' Van, now married to Bruce Sterling, finds her husband has become mayor due to the death of the former mayor, Jeff Hart, who was her sister Meg’s husband. Meg offered her son Ben half a million dollars as a wedding gift to marry refined and responsible Betsy Crawford and thus abandon his playboy existence.
The offer was so good that Ben married Betsy with alacrity despite the fact that he was already married to Arlene Lovett, a fact very few people knew. Arlene reluctantly agreed to the bigamous marriage on Ben’s assurance that as soon:as he had his hands on the money they would skip town. However, Meg decided Ben needed more time to become responsible for such a large sum of money and has held up the gift.

Attorney Jamie Rollins has discovered discrepancies in Ben’s stories concerning his close friendship with Arlene but has been thwarted in his attempts to expose Ben by Ben and Arlene’s successful blackmail retaliation.They drugged him and took suggestive pictures of him in bed with Arlene, which they now threaten to show to Diana Lamont, Jamie’s lover, who is carrying his child. Knowing that Diana’s health and age make carrying this child dangerous to her, Jamie can do nothing. Ben is horrified to discover Betsy is now pregnant, too.

Felicia Lamont, married to Diana’s ex-husband, Charles, has been unable to consummate her marriage due to extreme emotional frigidity. Charles has been exceedingly patient, but Felicia’s emotional torment has been increased by the constant harassment of hoodlum/rapist Arnie Logan, whose subtle terror campaign is apparent only to Felicia, thus making her appear to be emotionally unstable. Only Eddie Aleata, Meg’s ex-husband, seems aware of the tortures Felicia is undergoing.

Caroline (Cal) Aleata, Meg’s daughter, is becoming romantically involved with Rick Lattimer, formerly married to Bruce’s daughter Barbara, to the dismay of his business partner in the Beaver Ridge Club, who has him earmarked as her latest lover—Cal’s mother, Meg!

Realizing that she is an accomplice, albeit unwillingly,in her- husband Ben’s bigamy, Arlene Lovett (Harper) tells attorney Jamie Rollins that she and Ben were once married but divorced before his return to Rosehill. To: prove good faith, Arlene gives Jamie the negatives of compromising pictures of him with Arlene that Ben set up, hoping they could keep Jamie in line by threatening to send them to his wife-to-be, Diana Lamont, who at forty is pregnant for the first time, and thus vulnerable. Jamie finds Diana collapsed on the floor and rushes her to the hospital, where their son is born prematurely. Learning that Diana found a partially burned picture of him and Arlene in bed, Jamie blames himself. The baby, Adam Jonathan. Rollins, has respiratory problems and cannot be saved. Diana feels she has lost everything, recalling the picture as well as the baby. Di and Jamie start to make plans for the future. Then Dr. Albertson informs them that | more tests are necessary, as a shadow appeared on her final X-rays. Exploratory surgery is scheduled, and Diana is shattered to learn later that a hysterectomy was necessary.

Ben again asks his mother when she’s going  to give the wedding present (Ben married Betsy Crawford because Meg promised a half million dollars, but she postponed the gift until Christmas, and still hasn’t delivered.) Betsy tells Meg she’s destroying Ben’s manhood by dangling the money in front of him.
Learning that Ben is into Ray Slater, a gambler, for six thousand dollars, Meg withdraws her promise of the money. When Ray informs Ben that his loan, with interest, is now up to nine thousand dollars, Ben threatens to go to the police. Ray replies that it’s the money or Ben’s skin, and when Ben tries to slip out of town, he’s badly beaten by collection men and dumped in the snow. Found by two backpackers, Ben is taken to a small hospital with a skull fracture and pneumonia.
Meg is stunned to discover that her partner in Beaver Ridge Club, Rick Latimer, whom she considers her private property, is in love with her daughter,Cal. Learning that Cal and Rick are planning a weekend together, Meg arranges an immediate audit of the Beaver Ridge books, keeping Rick in town. Meg’s plot backfires, however, when the audit reveals that Meg wrote the down payment for her next project, the Priestly Estate venture, on the Beaver Ridge construction account. Meg replaces the money, but Rick warns her to stop trying to run his life or he’ll press misappropriation charges.

Felicia Lamonte has been harassed by a young hoodlum, Arnie Logan, who has served time for assault and rape. At her painting studio she is again accosted by Logan, and she pulls out her gun, scaring him off. Unable to reach her husband, Charles, she calls Edouard Aleata, who has reinterested her in painting, and he arrives with the police. Charles, finding Eddie there with Felicia, fuels his growing suspicion that there’s something other than friendship between them. Because he’s already jealous, Arnie’s new harassment—notes to Charles that Felicia is unfaithful seem believable.
Felicia convinces Charles that a week apart will help their marriage, and in looking over her paintings, she realizes she has grown as a person and feels ready to be a woman. She calls Charles, telling him she no longer wants to be his child virgin bride, but a real wife to him.

Later, hearing someone at the door, Felicia assumes it is Charles, and is grabbed by Arnie when she opens it. He drags her downstairs, but she manages to escape and get back to her studio and her gun. Hearing footsteps outside, she fires blindly. Cautiously,she then goes to the door to find Charles lying there. He is rushed to the hospital, where it is discovered that the bullet is lodged in his spine. He’ll recover, but will be paralyzed. Logan is picked up, and charges are confirmed when other victims come forward with similar stories

STAY TUNED.MORE TO COME...

Edited May 7 by Paul Raven

[DRW50]

Thanks @Paul Raven 

Some of this sounds strong but it's all so heavy and some elements, like with Felicia and Charles, almost veer on parody. L&L seemed to almost always be a heavy show aside from some stuff we read about with Bill and Tess, but I do wonder if it all became too much for viewers.

Edited May 8 by DRW50

[Tisy-Lish]

If I'm not mistaken, much of this took place while Claire Labine was writing LOL -- and believe me, it was a very compelling show!  Probably the best soap on the air during Labine's short tenure as head-writer.  I assume Labine left LOL to create Ryan's Hope in 1975, but much of the action your describe seems to be her work.  Not sure why -- maybe some dates are off.

[VelekaCarruthers]

Posted in another thread on this board:

LOVE OF LIFE

 

Head writers :                  

Esther & Richard Shapiro (September 1970 - February 1972)

Loring Mandel (Feburary 1972 - April 1973)

 Claire Labine & Paul Avila Mayer (April 1973 – April 1975)

Margaret DePriest (April 1975 – December 1975)

Paul & Margaret Schneider (December 1975 – September 1976)

Gabrielle Upton (September 1976 – November 1978)

[Franko]

Thank you, @Paul Raven! I chose Love of Life because it's a show I don't have a lot of familiarity with, so I thought it would be interesting to look at this period with a more or less unspoiled view.

[Paul Raven]

@Tisy-Lish Seems like the bulk of 76 was the Schneiders who I don't believe ever headwrote another soap. I think the Labine/Mayer structured the show well in the time they were there and succeding headwriters used that to their advantage but then began chipping away with their own characters/story.

@Franko glad you're enjoying delving into unfamiliar territory

And now Part 2....

When a missing person’s report on Ben goes out, the Connecticut state police respond with their unconscious John Doe. When Ben awakens after brain surgery he calls for Betsy, angering Arlene, who gets drunk and goes to tell Meg the truth. Meg’s housekeeper, Carrie Lovett, who is Arlene’s mother (she had no idea of ‘Arlene’s involvement with Ben when she took this job), manages to prevent Arlene from seeing Meg. Ben, still hazy from anesthesia, tells Betsy how sorry he is for the way he’s treated her. Betsy, misunderstanding, assumes he means the gambling.
Diana is still feeling sorry for herself, despite Jamie’s efforts to convince her that they can have a full life with children by adoption. When he informs her that his divorce is almost final and they can plan their wedding, Diana refuses to acknowledge that she has any future at all.

Arlene, drunk and despondent, starts a letter to Ben in which she refers to herself as his “real wife.” Ray finds it and takes it to Jamie, threatening to give it to Betsy unless Jamie gets his client, Meg, off Ray’s back. Jamie has already warned Meg that Slater is no small-time hood; he has big money and power behind him. Arlene, confronted by Jamie, insists she meant “first wife,” but Jamie gives her seven days to produce a divorce decree or he’ll prove her and Ben guilty of attempting to defraud Meg. Ben, learning this, orders her to get a quickie Haiti decree, but she refuses, reminding Ben that he has told her sometimes he feels happy being married to Betsy and expecting a child. Arlene refuses to be dumped.
Ray comes to Ben’s aid with a phony divorce decree. Ben takes it to Jamie for verification while Ray tells Meg that Ben needed false divorce papers from Arlene. Meg confronts her son and agrees to help him out of this mess. She plans to expedite his divorce from Arlene and convince Betsy to renew her marriage vows on their anniversary.
Learning that Rick has known about Arlene and Ben’s marriage since the beginning, Meg withdraws her support from their planned ski resort. Rick realizes his dreams have just gone down the drain but can’t fault Meg’s motive.
Arlene decides she needs money now to get Ben out of town and sets out to blackmail Meg. Ben, realizing that the only thing left to do is to run away with Arlene, leaves a letter for Betsy explaining why he married her but that he later fell in love with her. At the edge of town, however, he realizes he can’t go through with it. He tells Arlene he loves Betsy and wants to be there with her when their child is born, and he gets out of the car and calls a cab. Arlene,
furious, races back to Meg’s house, where she tells Betsy the whole story. Betsy, disbelieving her, rushes to her bedroom, where she finds Ben’s letter confirming everything Arlene just told her.

In shock, Betsy calls her brother, Dr. Tom Crawford, to come right away. Ben arrives and is truthful with Betsy, who no longer wants anything to do with him. Realizing that Meg stands in the way of his being a man, Ben moves out. Betsy is unmoved when Ben and Arlene’s divorce comes through; she won’t expose herself to that kind of hurt again. When Meg cajoles her to live with her until her grandchild is born, Betsy tells Meg that in the eyes of the court this isn’t her grandchild and she’ll never allow her child to be corrupted by Meg’s money, as Ben was.

Meg, full of self-pity gets drunk and manages to get Rick drunk when she tells him Skyler Mountain is out. She then reminds him of how their relationship used to be and renews his passions, now affected by liquor. After they spend the night together, Meg decides to go ahead with the Skyler Mountain project after all. Rick makes it clear, however, that he still loves Cal and his relationship with Meg will be strictly business.

Betsy continues to refuse to see Ben and is determined to be self-supporting. When she inadvertently mentions Ben’s letter to Bruce Sterling, the mayor of Rosehill, he has to turn it over to the district attorney. Meg is furious upon discovering that her own brother in law is the one who found the evidence against Ben.

Dr. Joe Cusack is quite concerned about a teenaged alcoholic patient at the clinic, Lynn Henderson, who is determined not to be helped. She tries a sob story on Vanessa Sterling, but Cal, Van’s niece, overhears and warns Lynn not to put the bite on her friends and relatives. So Lynn, who refuses to heed Joe’s warning that alcohol has so destroyed her stomach lining that she could die from another binge, steals money from Van’s fund-raising folder and takes off.
She later turns up at Van’s to apologize for stealing charity money and explains she was the ugly daughter of a beautiful mother and grew up feeling unloved. Van persuades Joe to let Lynn stay with her instead of returning to the halfway house she hates. Bruce, Van’s husband, sees Lynn as another of Van’s strays and asks Lynn not to take advantage of Van.

Cal. is concerned to learn Rick will again be involve in business with Meg. He assures her it will be okay and that Meg is his last chance to fulfill his dream of making it big. When Meg overhears Cal telling Ben that she and Rick are engaged, Meg tries to tell Cal that Rick’s not the marrying kind and she’s wrong for him. Seeing that Cal is serious and Rick apparently is too, Meg threatens to tell Cal everything, including their most recent intimacy, if Rick doesn’t call it off immediately; she gives him twenty-four hours. Rick, for Cal’s own good, he feels, tells her he’s not the monogamous kind and she’d be better off without him. Cal, knowing she really loves him, refuses to let  go easily. So. he uses Cal’s knowledge of the fact that his son Hank dearly wants his parents to reconcile and tells Cal he and Barbara are planning
to try again, for the boy’s sake.
But Cal later runs into Hank and mentions that he must be glad his mother’s coming home. Hank has no knowledge of this and is confused. Rick, therefore, has to tell the child he used this as an excuse to get out of marrying Cal. But Hank, miserable at having his hopes raised and dashed, spills this to Cal when she tries to cheer him up. He tells her it was all a lie.

Jamie warns Rick that his Skylar Mountain contract with Meg has so many contingencies that if anything happens, he’ll be holding the financial bag. But Rick, wanting this success badly, signs the papers, and Meg releases the money.

Edited May 8 by Paul Raven

[Tisy-Lish]

According to the head writer list, it seems the show may have started to fall apart while either the Schneiders or Upton were writing.  And when it started to crumble, it crumbled fast.  It was sad to see everything Labine had brought to LOL be disassembled.  

[DRW50]

Thanks again @Paul Raven 

The Arlene/Ben/Betsy triangle is one I wish I could see for myself as on paper it doesn't tend to excite me but I can see how well-constructed it was. I wish I could see the Rick/Meg relationship too, although I wish they'd had him genuinely fall for Meg after he gets together with Cal. The whole Brooke/Deacon/Bridget story on B&B was horribly damaging to Brooke as a character but it was dramatically very sound because I could completely believe Deacon would fall for messy and vulnerable Brooke after finally settling down with the more docile Bridget.

[VelekaCarruthers]

I'm of a certain age where I caught some of Upton's final year and it was not great but Jean Holloway was worse. All I remember is Bambi, Bambi, Bambi!

[Soaplovers]

I know French Fan had released monthly summaries for all the soaps from 1975/1976/1978 that helped to put focus on who wrote what.   It's somewhere in the message boards (not sure if in archives or not).

From what I recall, Labine did start the Ben/Betsy/Arlene triangle, the Jamie/Diana story, the Felicia story, and Rick/Cal/Meg stories.   

When Depriest came on, she kept the ball rolling with all of those tales by having Arlene's mom starting to work for Meg as there was blackmail from Arlene to Ben, Felicia's story became more psychological where she was being stalked.. but you couldn't tell if she was truly being stalked or if it was in her head, and I think Arlene also had an admirer that ended up dying in a struggle.  The months she was writing sounded interesting and full of tension.

Once the Schneiders came on... it seemed as though what had been started by Labine and built on by Depriest was reversed by this team.  Looking at the imdb for at least Margaret Schneider.. it appears as though she had no soap experience and was more experience writing self-contained stories.  That could have contributed to their inability to keep the momentum going.

I wonder if perhaps Upton had to partially rebuild the canvas because of decisions made by them.

Edited May 8 by Soaplovers