The Original Cast of Soaps

[AMCHistory]

I remember Betsy Kennicott was friends with Sybil Thorne (Bobby Warner's Mama) too. I did not know she slept with Wally. Was he driven away by Devon's own infidelity and alcoholism.

Here are the only pictures I have of Greta Lind as Katie Kennicott, with Michael Brainard as Joey/Jake and Liz Vassey as Emily Ann.

[cct]

Yes, yes, thank you AMCHistory. I actually was quite impressed when Jake brought this marriage up recently in a conversation at BJ's with Frankie. Making the connection between Emily Ann's mother, Donna, a hooker, and Randi, a, well, hooker.

[SteveFrame]

I loved Betsy Kennicott.

I loved her and Wally as a couple - more than Devon & Wally.

I don't remember all the specifics of Wally & Betsy, but I know that Wally was truly in love with Devon but she never loved him. I always felt that Wally was just reaching out to Betsy. They started out as friends and it just went too far.

Devon only slept with Wally to get experience so Dan would sleep with her. She got pregnant and of course they were expected to do the right thing and they married. Devon never loved Wally and was so unhappy. She didn't want to be married. She didn't want to be a mother. I think I remember her not even sleeping with Wally at all for months. He was so unhappy.

She was drinking and slept with Sean.

Betsy was so virginal - a typical Agnes Nixon heroine - straight in the vein of Alice Matthews, Meredith Wolek, Tara Martin, and Mary Kennicott who she had created.

Later her sister Katie was in the same vein - almost cut out of the same mold - and played almost the same story.

In fact I think Dan was the only Kennicott who was had bad characterisitics. The Kennicott girls were all very virginal and super sweet.

[All My Shadows]

Wow, I never realized there were four Kennicotts. I only thought there were Mary and Dan. I may have vaguely read about Katie before, but never Betsy.

[EricMontreal22]

In the 1981 eps I watched (summer of 81 I believe) Devon had just come back from her alcoholism treatment center. She was at the hospital havign lunch with Sybil--reluctantly--when a construction worker sat with them who Sybil knew--I believe his last name was Kingsley so I guess a brother of the rich guy Erica was with at the time (Brandon?) He mentions that there's a girl he's really interested in--Betsy, and Devon gets suspicious ehn he says that she's already seeing someone--a married guy. Then she goes home and is really upset and plans for Betsy to come over confronting her--apprantly Betsy had moved ino to their home when Devon was away beign traeated--to help with the house and their kid and I guess her and Wally had slept together then.

[EricMontreal22]

Interesting that they kept the Kennicott line around! Yeah I think it was just before--I believe Joey left around 1990? I started watching late Summer/Fall 1991 (Skye had just left but I remember was mentioned a lot--she had been involved with Will) . Brainerd did come back as Joey a couple of times--for Tad's wedding I think and for the 95' anniversary week.

[EricMontreal22]

Yeah I hadn't watched the Bell interview till nwo and realized that. Damn--I wonde rif the link on the museum's own page--thru google video works?

The Agnes interview was done by Marlena Delacroix--she spoke a bit about it and apparantly most of the questions were kinda official "Museum of Broadcasting Archive" questions she had to say--as was trying to get dates. What I find interesting is you can tell what a nice person Agnes is and how reluctant she is to gossip. There's a lot she could say--why she left Roy Winsor and Serarch for Tomorrow SO quickly, what happened with the creation of Loving when originally it was meant to be her and novelist Dan Wakefield creating it (he who wrote and got along with her so well for All her Children) and then when Marland came in why he left after only a year and his name was removed from co-creator credit--etc etc. But she always seems to try to say the nicest thing possible about someone--though you can tell how she beams up when there's someone she truly liked (liek Gordon Russell who she trained to take over from her on OLTL).

I'm glad you are enjoying them! There's a lot to get through but really they're full of--for a soap history geek like me--TONS of insanely good information.

Steve Frame said:

"Betsy was so virginal - a typical Agnes Nixon heroine - straight in the vein of Alice Matthews, Meredith Wolek, Tara Martin, and Mary Kennicott who she had created."

When Agnes returned and created Greenlee, etc in 99/2000, I firmly believe she wanted Becka to be a modern version of this same soap heroine ideal. But she never caught on--partly I honestly think because that kinda soap role simply holds less audience appeal in this day and age.

[Paul Raven]

Betsy Kennicott was played by Carla Dragoni from 79-82.

She had been on The Doctors as the replacement for the original MJ (Lauren White)I believe she was dropped when Kathy Glass left OLTL as Jenny.TD snapped her up and put her in the role of MJ,leaving Dragoni out of a job.

Rick Kincaid was the guy interested in Betsy.

It seems the traditional soap heroine no longer plays today,but I think that with a more modern approach,the 'good girl' could still be interesting.

[SteveFrame]

Carla Dragoni was a total miscast for me as MJ. She seemed way too young at the time. But she was perfect as Betsy.

I hate that the good girl is no longer appealing to audiences today. I don't mind the "modern" viewers idea of the central protagonist but I really miss the good girl.

All the shows used to have one and were centered around them. But today it is the Kendall Harts, the Greenlee Smythes, the Carly Tenneys, the Reva Shaynes that the shows are centered around. They are good characters but there just isn't any balance.

Yes soaps have had those type characters before - i.e. Rachel Davis, Julie Williams - who were reformed and still had that bad streak to them. They were good characters but they were also balanced by the good girl who wasn't perfect but she offered another dimension in the town.

It is just another lack of balance on the show. And much of it is due to fans not liking them and rooting for them as they once did. I don't know if it is an outcome of our society or what, but now fans root for the bad girl more.

And all that has lead to really flawed characters who never pay for what they do or never learn from their mistakes.

Someone like Julie or Rachel often reverted to some of the old meddling or conniving ways, but they paid for it and they didn't do it. They learned and they grew.

Over the years characters like Carly Tenney, Kendall Hart and Greenlee Smythe never seem to grow. They do whatever they want and fans forgive them and go right on. And so do the men or others in their lives. It is time for these ladies to quit making the same mistakes over and over again. But writers can be lazy with it because they know that fans don't care that one week Kendall can be a good girl who has learned from her past and then next week she can do something so conniving that the old Kendall would have done. Fans will make excuses for it and go on. So the next time the writers don't have to do any character growth because they can just lazily write the same thing and fans will forget it again.

[cct]

I don't think the audience LETS the characters grow in this case, Frame. In the past 2-3 years, Kendall became more of the soccer mom with her two children and marriage in a real home. Even Minshew acted as if she was pleased the character went in this direction. Most viewers thought she had changed from Kendall to Ken DULL, including this one. I'm blaming this one on poor writing (end of McT through B&E). Pratt seems to be restoring Kendall's inner bitch; it rings a bit more authentic to "true" Kendall, but still lacks the "growth" the character experienced in the past few years. There's no gray, I suppose. But I am blaming that one as much on the fans as the writers.

[EricMontreal22]

I agree. It's interesting though--when Agnes created Greenlee, I really saw her as the new generation Erica. She still has potential to be but... (I wish Pratt would bring back her mom Mary--we don't have a scheming, older character role like that on right now anyway--unless Erica counts lol )

[dc11786]

Marland had a two year contract at "Loving". He claimed in the newspaper that he had no problems working with Nixon. The show seemed to go through major cast overhauls during his time on the show with cast purgings at the beginning and the end of 1984. Does anyone know how long Nixon wrote for?

Steve, I always felt that Stephanie Gatschet played Tammy as one of those sweet and innocent heroines until Kriezman messed the character up. I loved Tammy until they paired her up with Jonathan and made her so dark and gloomy. Guiding Light has wasted so much potential in the last decade.

I don't think the problem is so much a societal issue but more so an acting issue. Very few actresses today can portray a complex character who isn't inheritedly evil. How many actresses playing sweet and innocent ingenues been massacred by the online audience only to become fan favorites when the character is made nasty?

Unfortunately, overall daytime isn't offering complex characters, and this is the fundamental problem. When we look at the best soap writers in the business, the one thing they all have in common is/was the ability to create strong and interesting characters. When a character shows up on a soap today, they are simple added as a romantic foil to whatever relationships are going on today for the most part. Recently, I was watching Paul Avila Mayer and Stephanie Braxton's work on "Search for Tomorrow". They were panned when the show originally aired, but I was fascinated. Mayer & Braxton introduced Quinn McCleary. Quinn's brothers, sister, and mother were already on the canvas so he had strong ties and he was paired with Wendy Carter and Sarah Whiting. What made him interesting though was he came in with goals and desires. Quinn had a desire to suceed in show business and seem to resent the privilege that Chase Kendall represented. This was a nice conflict because Chase was dating Quinn's sister, Adair. Even Sarah was interesting because she enjoyed singing folk songs (which would have been outdated for the 1980s) and was quiet and shy. Sarah didn't like confrontation, but was willing to stand up for her beloved grandmother, Jo (who was an audience favorite). As much as fans didn't like the storylines, character was established first.

Daytime doesn't do the necessary character building anymore in order for these characters to drive the plots. Until they realize this, audience deflection is going to continue.

[EricMontreal22]

It's hard to get definite lists of Loving's writers though there have abeen a few valiant attempts. I believe she wrote a year or maybe almost two after Marland was out. Then I don't think she returned officially (I'm sure she still consulted especially since she owqned the show for its entire run) till '94 when she really shaped things up for a good 6 months.

I dunno, I just think there was something more there. Marland helped create the show, yet he was so happy to leave afte rjust one year (when ratings were still slowly climbing??) I guess P&G offered him ATWT but still-- And then his name was removed from the created by credit??

[SteveFrame]

Oh I agree about the point of character.

No longer do the writers have the goal in mind of would the character do this - which is one of Marland's rules on how not to ruin a show.

It used to be that writers looked at the character and fit the story to the character. No longer do they do that. They mold the character to fit the story. And characters change from story to story and I don't mean that in a good way.

Used to be that yes characters changed from story to story in a way but it was a growth. Today it is just a change.

I've brought it up so many times, but Joanne Barron was a mainstay character on Search for Tomorrow for 35 years. Not once in 35 years with many writers did Joanne's character change or her history. She grew and she learned, but there were no secret children that she didn't remember giving birth too. Her age was screwed with.

If different writers could do that for 35 years and keep the character a part of the show and often a big part of the show even in her later years - then why can't the hacks running daytime soaps do that today.

The answer is they can and I firmly believe that. It is just easier not to do it. It takes work and takes time and that is obivously something they don't want to do.

[dc11786]

I have an article from February 15, 1985 saying he was leaving at the end of his contract with no mention of going to "As the World Turns". It's possible he was in negotiations.

One thing that has been going through my mind lately is the Lily incest storyline. Supposedly, ABC halted it, yet Marland isn't said to have made a stink over it. This is a man who was fired by Gloria Monty because he refused to write the way she wanted and who left "Guiding Light" upset over the firing of Jane Elliott. I think Marland may have enjoyed bouncing between soaps.

However, considering the storyline upheavals I wonder if there wasn't fighting back stage. The show's first two major storylines: Lily's sexual abuse and Merrill & Roger's forbidden affair came to an end by January 1984. Much of 1984 was devoted to Jonathan Maitland's attempts to cover up his involvement in the murder of an elderly patient of Edy Lester Donovan's only for Edy, Jon, Doug, and Stephanie to be written out in November or December 1984. It seemed like quite a waste of time when only Lorna (who had been Jonathan's lover) was left the only one left standing. Marland's stories for Loving were definitely complex and complicated, while the material that followed him seemed rather mellow.