2 hours ago, DRW50 said:

RIP Camilla Carr, who was on AW in 79-80 as Rita Connelly, aunt to Joey's soon-to-be-late wife Eileen Simpson and the estranged wife of Rose Perrini's beau Paul Connelly.

Rita and Paul Connelly were created by Harding Lemay as new characters enlarging the cast for AW's expansion to 90-minutes in 1979. Both were ill-conceived characters, in my opinion -- especially Aunt Rita who was essentially a working-class version of Liz Matthews. Aunt Rita was a shrew to her husband (Paul), and meddled terribly into the lives of her niece and nephew, Eileen and Morgan Simpson, who were late-teens or early-adults at that time. Aunt Rita was simply nasty, with not an ounce of humor, and no redeeming qualities -- unlike Aunt Liz, who had an established background on AW as a lonely widow with plenty of money, but no one to love.

By adding Paul and Rita Connelly to the cast, I believe Lemay was attempting to add some sort of serious religious conflict to AW, as he had done so successfully with social-class conflict. But his attempt was an utter failure, because Aunt Rita was nothing more than a stereotyped religious bigot. And because Rita and Paul were Catholic, the entire story arc gave rather anti-Catholic vibes. I'm not Catholic, but even I was uncomfortable seeing a devote Catholic woman being portrayed as such a nasty interfering bitch. Yes, Lemay's least successful character creation was Aunt Rita Connelly.

24 minutes ago, Tisy-Lish said:

Rita and Paul Connelly were created by Harding Lemay as new characters enlarging the cast for AW's expansion to 90-minutes in 1979. Both were ill-conceived characters, in my opinion -- especially Aunt Rita who was essentially a working-class version of Liz Matthews. Aunt Rita was a shrew to her husband (Paul), and meddled terribly into the lives of her niece and nephew, Eileen and Morgan Simpson, who were late-teens or early-adults at that time. Aunt Rita was simply nasty, with not an ounce of humor, and no redeeming qualities -- unlike Aunt Liz, who had an established background on AW as a lonely widow with plenty of money, but no one to love.

By adding Paul and Rita Connelly to the cast, I believe Lemay was attempting to add some sort of serious religious conflict to AW, as he had done so successfully with social-class conflict. But his attempt was an utter failure, because Aunt Rita was nothing more than a stereotyped religious bigot. And because Rita and Paul were Catholic, the entire story arc gave rather anti-Catholic vibes. I'm not Catholic, but even I was uncomfortable seeing a devote Catholic woman being portrayed as such a nasty interfering bitch. Yes, Lemay's least successful character creation was Aunt Rita Connelly.

Thanks for the info. I knew basically nothing. I forgot Eileen even had a brother. I wonder what Lemay would have done with them.

A late 1969 promo for the NBC Daytime lineup. Just a title card but I thought it may interest you.

2 hours ago, DRW50 said:

A late 1969 promo for the NBC Daytime lineup. Just a title card but I thought it may interest you.

0

Interesting, Shepard Strudwick (Jim Matthews) is featured alone in the photo representing Another World. And Strudwick lived until 1983 -- outliving Hugh Marlowe who assumed the role of Jim, after Strudwick's exit.

9 minutes ago, Tisy-Lish said:

Interesting, Shepard Strudwick (Jim Matthews) is featured alone in the photo representing Another World. And Strudwick lived until 1983 -- outliving Hugh Marlowe who assumed the role of Jim, after Strudwick's exit.

Thanks. I thought that was him. I never really thought of Jim as being a male lead of the show, but maybe he was seen that way in these years.

7 hours ago, Tisy-Lish said:

Interesting, Shepard Strudwick (Jim Matthews) is featured alone in the photo representing Another World. And Strudwick lived until 1983 -- outliving Hugh Marlowe who assumed the role of Jim, after Strudwick's exit.

According to the AWHP, Marlowe assumed the rôle in July 1969. If so NBC was making no effort to be current.

7 hours ago, DRW50 said:

Thanks. I thought that was him. I never really thought of Jim as being a male lead of the show, but maybe he was seen that way in these years.

I note also that Macdonald Carey is used as the face of Days of Our Lives. Certainly current in that case but was Tom any more of a lead than Jim at that time? Maybe they were just going for patriarch?

18 hours ago, Tisy-Lish said:

Interesting, Shepard Strudwick (Jim Matthews) is featured alone in the photo representing Another World. And Strudwick lived until 1983 -- outliving Hugh Marlowe who assumed the role of Jim, after Strudwick's exit.

Strudwick was my favorite Jim Matthews.

I love the days when he, Virginia Dwyer, Jacquie Courtney, Sam Groom and Beverly Penberthy played key Matthews family members.

11 minutes ago, vetsoapfan said:

Strudwick was my favorite Jim Matthews.

I love the days when he, Virginia Dwyer, Jacquie Courtney, Sam Groom and Beverly Penberthy played key Matthews family members.

I barely remember Strudwick as Jim, mostly because I didn't begin watching AW daily until 1971. But from what I remember, he seemed a little old to be married to Virginia Dwyer, and Marlowe seemed a better fit -- at least age wise. I don't know the DOB of either Strudwick or Marlowe, but Marlowe at least looked younger. And I believe Dwyer was only in her mid-50s when she was fired in 1975, while Marlowe was in his early-70s when he died in 1982-83. I'd love to see more Nixon era episodes with Strudwick, Dwyer, and Groom.

It seems to me that NBC put some effort into casting former movie stars as the patriarchs of some of their soap operas in the 1960s and early-70s. And that may have contributed to there being four actors cast as Jim Matthews. All four had at least some experience in motion pictures, but Marlowe had by far the most experience in Hollywood. So NBC was satisfied with Marlowe and they finally had their movie star. Of course DOOL had MacDonald Carey, and Bright Promise had Dana Andrews. I'm not aware of any attempt to cast a movie star on either The Doctors or Somerset, although there may have been some effort that ultimately failed. And aside from the patriarch role, AW also had Ann Sheridan and Connie Ford, both had lots of motion picture experience. I do not recall either CBS or ABC casting movie actors in major roles during that time period, so this seemed to be a special effort on the part of NBC. All just speculation on my part, of course.

Edited 3 hours ago3 hr by Tisy-Lish

2 minutes ago, Tisy-Lish said:

. I do not recall either CBS or ABC casting movie actors in major roles during that time period, so this seemed to be a special effort on the part of NBC. All just speculation on my part, of course.

ABC had Joan Bennett on Dark Shadows, Keith Andes had done movies when cast on Paradise Bay on NBC.

Jeffrey Lynn on Secret Storm.

3 minutes ago, Paul Raven said:

ABC had Joan Bennett on Dark Shadows, Keith Andes had done movies when cast on Paradise Bay on NBC.

Jeffrey Lynn on Secret Storm.

How could I have forgotten Joan Bennett? I was/am a huge Dark Shadows fan. I'm not familiar with the other two actors, but appreciate the information. And Paradise Bay would have been another NBC attempt, as you point out. Never Too Young on ABC cast Tony Dow -- not a film actor but a well known primetime TV actor.

29 minutes ago, Tisy-Lish said:

I barely remember Strudwick as Jim, mostly because I didn't begin watching AW daily until 1971. But from what I remember, he seemed a little old to be married to Virginia Dwyer, and Marlowe seemed a better fit -- at least age wise. I don't know the DOB of either Strudwick or Marlowe, but Marlowe at least looked younger. And I believe Dwyer was only in her mid-50s when she was fired in 1975, while Marlowe was in his early-70s when he died in 1982-83. I'd love to see more Nixon era episodes with Strudwick, Dwyer, and Groom.

It seems to me that NBC put some effort into casting former movie stars as the patriarchs of some of their soap operas in the 1960s and early-70s. And that may have contributed to there being four actors cast as Jim Matthews. All four had at least some experience in motion pictures, but Marlowe had by far the most experience in Hollywood. So NBC was satisfied with Marlowe and they finally had their movie star. Of course DOOL had MacDonald Carey, and Bright Promise had Dana Andrews. I'm not aware of any attempt to cast a movie star on either The Doctors or Somerset, although there may have been some effort that ultimately failed. And aside from the patriarch role, AW also had Ann Sheridan and Connie Ford, both had lots of motion picture experience. I do not recall either CBS or ABC casting movie actors in major roles during that time period, so this seemed to be a special effort on the part of NBC. All just speculation on my part, of course.

Ahhh, now you have sparked my curiosity about all the actors' ages.

Virginia Dwyer was born in 1919.

John Beal (Jim Matthews #1) was born in 1909.

Leon Janney (Jim #2) was born in 1917.

Shepherd Strudwick (Jim #3) was born in 1907.

Hugh Marlowe (Jim #4) was born in 1911.

So Janney was technically the youngest of the men, and Strudwick the oldest (at 12 years older than Dwyer.)

Over the decades, folks have come to accept the idea that Harding Lemay's era of AW was the show's best written period. While I give HL all the credit in the world for his work, Agnes Nixon really helped the show take off and (to me), her material on a par with Lemay's. I wish all fans of the soap had had the privilege of watching her stories play out.

I agree that NBC seemed to on a hire-a-star kick in the 1960s, but I've never felt that hiring a former movie actor ended up having significant effects on soap ratings.

This made me go look at some of the slides on AWHP, which I'd never noticed before.

ANOTHER WORLD: PUBLICATIONS

Susan Trustman has three, which shows how important she was to AW's early years.

This one is gorgeous (even though I imagine it was in B&W on TV). It is so evocative of Missy's 1930s-flavored story and why she caught on with viewers.

tvslide5.jpg (900×631)

This is also striking but interests me mostly because I had no idea Willis Frame was ever a big enough character to get his own slide. He is with Rachel in the shot (although they are two different shots), which makes me wonder if the show had any plans for them if they hadn't had to recast Willis.

tvslide6.jpg (737×585)

This Mac/Rachel slide would make a great avatar.

tvslide8.jpg (900×639)

Having seen Shepard Strudwick on episodes of The Twilight Zone and Have Gun Will Travel, I have a hard time believing he could have been the lead in anything. He didn't have the charisma, definitely not like what Macdonald Carey and James Pritchett had.

1 hour ago, DRW50 said:

This is also striking but interests me mostly because I had no idea Willis Frame was ever a big enough character to get his own slide. He is with Rachel in the shot (although they are two different shots), which makes me wonder if the show had any plans for them if they hadn't had to recast Willis.

tvslide6.jpg (737×585)

I believe at least somebody in the Brooklyn studio had plans for a Willis/Rachel connection. Maybe it was Lemay, perhaps it was Rauch, or somebody at P&G, someone at NBC, or maybe just a publicist. But there are enough subtle hints in photos and published ads that definitely suggest someone was a fan of getting Willis and Rachel together. Two things probably derailed the likelihood of a Willis/Rachel romance -- 1.) Wyndham and Watson's unexpected on-screen chemistry, and 2.) the decision to kill-off Steve Frame in 1975. Because with Steve dead, a Willis/Rachel connection would have been of little consequence.

8 minutes ago, Tisy-Lish said:

I believe at least somebody in the Brooklyn studio had plans for a Willis/Rachel connection. Maybe it was Lemay, perhaps it was Rauch, or somebody at P&G, someone at NBC, or maybe just a publicist. But there are enough subtle hints in photos and published ads that definitely suggest someone was a fan of getting Willis and Rachel together. Two things probably derailed the likelihood of a Willis/Rachel romance -- 1.) Wyndham and Watson's unexpected on-screen chemistry, and 2.) the decision to kill-off Steve Frame in 1975. Because with Steve dead, a Willis/Rachel connection would have been of little consequence.

Good points. It's definitely a huge what might have been, especially as Willis was drawn to Alice. Rachel's reaction to two Frame brothers loving Alice would have been volcanic. I imagine Lemay would have had Alice still become drawn to Willis, maybe if Steve has become too successful or the ties he has to Rachel over Jamie still gnaw at her. And Steve probably would have ended up being drawn to Rachel again in jealousy over Willis dating her.