Edge of Night (EON) (No spoilers please)

[Paul Raven]

@Maxim Kim Hunter article from TV Guide TV GUIDE FEBRUARY 23. 1980

Though she’s enjoyed her limited time in soap opera, celebrated actress Kim Hunter insists..

'Once around is quite enough'

In case you missed it, here is a recap of what has happened lately to the real-life men and women who labor on ABC’s soap opera The Edge of Night...

Henry, the soap-opera writer who' secretly wants to do mysteries, dreamed up a new character named Nola, an aging movie star who drinks too much and has a messed-up love life. Nick, Henry’s boss, loved the idea but couldn’t find the right actress for the part. Meanwhile, Ruth, the casting director— unaware of the new character Henry had created—went to a cocktail party where she met Kim, a famous actress with some 40 years’ experience onstage, screen and television. The next day, when Nick told Ruth that Henry needed someone to play Nola, Ruth immediately thought of Kim! At first Kim said no, but eventually she agreed to play not one but three parts: Nola, the aging actress; Hester, a witch; and Mrs. Cory, a woman who drugs her neighbors!

But why is Kim, an Oscar-winning actress, willing to appear in a low-brow soap opera? Can a performer of her stature ever find happiness in the assembly-line world of soap opera pro duction? And will Henry concoct some incredible new plot to keep Kim on 

the show after her contract runs out???

Such is the stuff that has kept Edge of Night going for nearly 24 years. And that’s just the real-life part!

Henry is Henry Slesar, author of more than 50 TV scripts for Alfred Hitchcock programs and for the past 13 years head writer on Edge of Night. Nick is Erwin (Nick) Nicholson, known in soap circles as daytime’s most affable producer, which helps explain why his program has lasted so long. Ruth is Ruth Levine, the casting director who quite accidentally met Kim at that cocktail party last spring. And Kim, believe it or not, is Kim Hunter, who won an Academy Award in 1952 as Stella Kowalski in “A Streetcar Named Desire” and went on to a long and illustrious acting career without ever watching a soap opera, let alone appearing in one.

But since last June, Hunter has been a regular member of the cast of Edge of Night. Shortly after that chance meeting over cocktails, she signed a six month contract to play the part of Nola Madison, a washed-up and juiced-up actress, with the understanding that Nola would be written out of the script by December. Then, last fall, Henry Slesar cooked up a new storyline that had Nola returning to films in a movie within-a-TV-show as Hester Atherton, a witch. And just for good measure, Slesar also conjured up a secondary plot in which Nola disguises herself as Martha Cory, an old bat who slips drugs into her neighbors’ food. On the strength of Slesar’s wild new ideas, Hunter agreed to stay for three more months.

Most performers with Kim Hunter’s credentials would sooner hock their Oscars than join the cast of a daytime soap opera. Occasionally a big name— such as Sammy Davis Jr.—pops up on a soap for a few days, but never for nine months. The schedule is grueling, the work is rarely satisfying and the programs themselves—despite their appeal to millions of viewers—can hardly be classified as art.

Yet Kim Hunter, at 57, is an energetic and gracious performer who seems willing to put up with just about anything for a chance to practice her craft. Having burst onto Broadway in “Streetcar” at age 25, and having won an Oscar for the film version four years later, Hunter watched helplessly as her career was practically ruined by the blacklisting policy that so sharply divided the entertainment industry during the McCarthy era in the 1950s. Virtually unable to land a part in Hollywood or New York for nearly five years, Hunter was finally rescued from the blacklisters’ clutches by producers of the TV series Omnibus, who hired her to play a few scenes from “Saint Joan.”

Since then Hunter has had hundreds of parts, but not always easy ones. For instance, she played Zira in three of the highly successful “Planet of the Apes” movies and spent four hours prior to each day’s filming letting makeup experts make a monkey out of her.

In 1977 she received an Emmy nomination for an episode of Baretta in which she played an unkempt character called Crazy Annie. And when producers weren’t exactly beating down her door with offers, she turned to radio— starring in 16 installments of “CBS Radio Mystery Theater.”

Nowadays Kim Hunter devotes nearly every waking moment to Edge of Night. Most weekdays she can be found answering an 8 A.M. call at the cramped and unglamorous Screen Gems studio in Manhattan. Bouncing around the set, rehearsing for the afternoon taping, she is wearing a flannel work shirt, rumpled corduroy pants and blue tennis shoes. Unlike the other, mostly younger, members of the cast, she has carefully tucked tissues around her collar to prevent her makeup from smudging. And, unlike the others, she knows all of her lines.

 

“Scared?” she says in answer to a question about her venture into soap operas. “I was positively petrified. I had never done a soap opera before; it was a totally unfamiliar world to me. The first thing I discovered was that they work backwards in soaps. Usually you rehearse for a while, reading the lines, then memorize. It’s easier to remember the lines that way because you know what they mean . But there’s no time for that here. In fact there’s so little time for rehearsal that you’re always tense. You’re never completely sure of what you’re doing.”

Many of the other actors on Edge of Night are quick to call Hunter a real pro for diligently memorizing her lines at night. But the pro confides, “I have to memorize the lines. At my age, I can’t see the darn teleprompter.”

It was that kind of selflessness that made it possible for Hunter to fit in with the rather closely knit Edge of Night family. For example, she flatly denies ever trying to coach or counsel any of the less experienced actors on the show. But according to producer Nick Nicholson, “She’s too modest. Many of our people are very young and they consider it a great honor not only to work with Kim Hunter but to learn from her. Kim’s got a name, a reputation, she’s done loads of stuff— big stuff—so it’s a challenge for us to work with her.”

Director John Sedwick agrees. “We were all a little nervous when Kim first joined the show,” he recalls. “We do things on a very tight schedule, from run-through to dress rehearsal to taping in less than six hours. I imagine many veteran actors would want nothing to do with us or our methods. But Kim’s been delightful.”

A few months ago, Hunter’s graciousness was put to the ultimate test by the twists in Henry Slesar’s bizarre scripts. “Honestly, I don’t know why I ever agreed to do that again,” she says, referring to the makeup necessary  for the part of Hester Atherton, the ugly old witch, it was unpleasantly reminiscent of her “Planet of the Apes” days.

But members of the cast and crew never caught a hint of Hunter’s feelings about the witch routine. Her response when the scenes were completed last December was to surprise the more than 100 people who work on the show with individually wrapped Christmas gifts for each of them.

Now, after some eight months on daytime TV, Kim Hunter is in a unique position to weigh the pluses and minuses of the soap-opera genre.

On the plus side: “The characters are fascinating. And these characters are allowed to grow and progress, which doesn’t happen very often on nighttime TV. I was also surprised by the subject matter in daytime scripts. It seems the characters can do anything here. It’s incredible—they’re popping in and out of bed ail the time!”

On the negative side: “I work best with more rehearsal. Although the characters progress in the story, they are never properly developed from day to day. And the actors never have time to interact properly, so they are each groping for the way they think a particular scene should be played.

“I plan to leave the show in March and if the producer of some other soap were to come to me and say, ‘We’ve got a terrific part,’ I’d tell him no thanks. I’ve learned what soaps are about. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world, but once around is quite enough.”

But Kim Hunter has no notions about retiring. Indeed, she is more eager than ever to return to the theater. And as has been the case throughout her career—including her run on Edge of Night —she seems willing to go to any lengths for an opportunity to act. This spring, she is interested in starring in “The Belle of Amherst.” Who cares if this particular version of the play is being staged ... in Australia

 

 

 

[Maxim]

“I plan to leave the show in March and if the producer of some other soap were to come to me and say, ‘We’ve got a terrific part,’ I’d tell him no thanks. I’ve learned what soaps are about. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world, but once around is quite enough.”

Thank you so so much for sharing this and tagging me. A fascinating read.

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[NothinButAttitude]

 

About 14:50 -- Orgies being mentioned in daytime?! 

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I wonder how they managed to slip that line in there with no grievances from the network. 

[Maxim]

After a huge pause - mostly, because of work, I am back to binging Edge... and boy oh boy, Raven is a troublemaker! There is no second boring when that girl is around.