Any Capitol Fans Here?

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From the December 17, 1985 Digest. Network Publishing Co I will type up the other two pages.

Edited November 22, 2010 by CarlD2

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Admittedly, at first I was hesitant to delve into that lengthy read, but I am so glad that I did. Thanks yet again Carl! What an amazing narrative, it flowed just like *that* and I could hear CT's voice all along the way. The part about the American couple, he'd lost his fingers, she'd lost her leg, was so unsettling. And the old lady not coming out until she had a blanket was cute. Just hearing the Reagans being mentioned really takes me back. What a rich life the Gavins must lead, I almost get the impression that doing the soaps is like a glamorous little hobby she could take or leave when you hear stories like that. Not to detract from her love of the work or anything, just to say it puts things into perspective.

I'm sure that some of you have seen this, but here Constance talks about Carolyn:

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(I love that shot of Clarissa and Tyler, very Conboy. You can't really tell from here, but I believe these scenes surrounding Tyler's Hero's Welcome Home Reception took place on what was then the largest and most expensive set ever done in daytme. I think The Great Hall of Eterna is what beat it, and we can't forget to mention Conboy's infamous baseball diamond on GL.)

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Speaking of Conboy:

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Thanks for reading. I do apologize for the length of the text -- I decided to type it out because it was only two pages in the magazine and I didn't want to scan just for those as I've been doing that more lately and it takes up more room I should be using on pictures or whatever. I'm so glad you read it -- I wasn't totally sure if it was already out there but I didn't think it was. I thought Constance wrote a moving and grounded story, and she did her best to avoid any condescending colonialism. She also focused on how this could just as easily happen in the US.

Thanks for posting the biography on Carolyn (does A&E still even do Biography now, or is not "hip" enough for them). It's a sign of her talents that after seeing her as Myrna I totally forgot she even played Morticia, and I wondered why John Astin (RIP) was interviewed. It's nice to hear the stories from Constance. Even though Capitol was a relatively short part of Constance's life, you can see how much she loved some of her co-stars, through this and through her singing at Richard Egan's funeral.

I know a lot of women say playing good girls is boring but I think that Constance, and Lara Parker, among others, both managed to make a good girl more interesting because they could play her with backbone.

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When did John Astin pass away?? He's from around my parts, last I heard he was teaching drama at Johns Hopkins. Oh my God.

Yeah, I love the point you make about CT avoiding condescending colonialism. She comes across as a very classy lady, I enjoy sitting and listening to her talk in that Carolyn interview. I'm not sure if they're still making new Biographies, but they definitely still air as my dad is obsessed with them and DVRs a bunch and then marathons (with that annoying digital remote that always ff's too far ). You're right, CT did play Clarissa with plenty of backbone, and she really was quite beautiful with her hair long and flowing around her shoulders. The only time i've ever seen her play "pathetic" if you will was when she played John's former secretary Audrey on Y&R. Audrey was in love with John and told some lie to Dina (ironically, Marla Adams, a Myrna to CT's Clarissa) that led her to leave Genoa City and this all came out in a very teary whiny confession. John was ready to wring her neck, all the damage she had caused.

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I didn't know Lochran was on AW. He seemed to all but vanish after Capitol.

I guess Deborah Farentino has gone on to quite a bit, although I haven't seen her in most of her projects.

If P&G had focused on Conboy's record they would have hesitated about hiring him at GL when he clearly likes to focus on $$$$$$$$ above all else. That worked for him in the days of the soap boom, but those days were long gone by 2002.

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Oops. I thought he'd passed away. You're right. He's still alive.

Yeah I remember Constance's Y&R role. It wasn't much of a role, she deserved better, but she did a great job and she did get some dramatic moments. I think she was only on like one or two episodes. But Bell might have helped get her back in the spotlight, as she got a cameo on Sunset Beach after this, and that role is probably what led to her being cast as Helena.

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LOL, I meant to come back last night and post that I looked it up and JA is indeed still living. I was thinking maybe you were thinking of Raul Julia.

Yeah, Audrey was just a flash in the pan role, but she did get to go pure soap with it, a lot of drama and tears. When I saw that I remember wondering if Clarissa was always like that. I had looked at a soap book in a university library once and there was this picture of CT as Clarissa sitting on the sofa looking like a suicidal alcoholic, kind of like those pictures you see of the last Ann Tyler Martin on AMC.

Right, then she went on to play Mme. DeSchanel (sp??) which I never saw actually, but remember the pics from SOD. She had a cane and maybe a cape (?), muoy dramatico, sleazy cheater Eddie Cibrian's grandma, right? SOD did an article comparing SuBe to SB and they compared Constance's character with Minx.

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I agree with them about Peter Lochran, he definitely could have played someone like Prince Michael on DYNASTY. A character that calls for a certain look and presence moreso than huge acting chops. It was always trippy that this man from Baracq (!) sounded like Carmen Duncan.

Also interesting what they say about "Perils of Pauline" Jess Walton when things changed so suddenly for her career-wise and she's gone on to have the most successful daytime career of the bunch.

They capture Marj Dusay perfectly in that short paragraph.

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I'd never heard of Michael Catlin. What did you think of him?

Jess actually did play the pain and distress of Jill very believably, but she can also be far more.

Constance came onto SuBe to wrap up the mystery of Cole's paternity and the starcrossed love of his grandparents or whatever. I always got the feeling that story was supposed to go on longer but tanked with viewers, as did poor Leigh Taylor Young's role. If Constance hadn't got GH I wonder if SuBe would have used her more.

I know I've asked this before but did you prefer the Ali stuff with Sloane or did you prefer her before all of that?

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Michael Catlin (Thomas) was good, he was a "good guy" on the show. He's the McCandless son who was a doctor and walked with a crutch, I guess he'd been born crippled. Not a showy role at all, kind of like an Adam Mayfield Scott Chandler minus all of the "dark" stuff. He was involved in the Lizbeth (Tonja Walker) triangle with Jordy. I want to say that he was involved in yet another triangle with Jordy when Leanne came along, but I need to consult my tapes. Lizbeth was his date to Sloane and Trey's wedding and it's obvious that Lizbeth's true feelings are for Jordan.

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I am not a fan of the Prince Ali stuff. I am not a "romance" person anyway which of course makes me not your typical soap fan, but as you know there are a lot of fans like me. It was all very flowy with all those white gossamer robes and sandy and blah blah, but I like Sloane the plucky demi-bitch ambitious reporter. I don't care for the soft stuff with her, like Mark being a trader/getting killed either.

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Mark was her father?

When did the show move away for good from her being bitchy?