Another World Discussion Thread

[DRW50]

I never knew that about the criticism they got over Scott (where did you see that?). I'd forgotten about Bill Bauer's death. That's a good catch! I always thought his death seemed nonsensical and sudden, just from reading about it. This helps explain why.

[DRW50]

September 1972 Weekday TV.

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showing me a collection of stills of many of the stars I not only remember, but also adored. There were marvelous photos of Carole Lombard, Katharine Hepburn and of course, Greta Garbo. On a wall, she had a framed letter from Errol Flynn and did that ever help to make the years slip backward.

I knew that Constance Ford had started her career as a Conover model but I didn't know that she was only twelve years old at the time. Born and raised in the Mosholu Parkway section of the Bronx, New York, Constance Ford had one childhood dream. She always wanted to be an actress. Her modeling days were just the start of that dream. By the time she was eighteen she realized that she couldn't continue modeling. The two careers were time consuming.

So, she made her choice and fortunately for all of us, acting won out. She won a screen test by a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer talent man, who asked her to put a scene together for the audition. She was sent to Betty Cashman (coach and teacher) for that purpose and even though the screen test didn't work out, Constance went into stock work, then became an understudy, then to a role on the road and finally to Broadway in the hit play, Death of a Salesman.

Her first daytime serial was Woman With a Past, which didn't hold up too long, but then Hollywood beckoned to her and she went into films. In a span of three years, she did twelve films of which she named just a few. A Summer Place, Rome Adventure and All Fall Down are just three in that group. She said, "I'm still terribly proud of All Fall Down even though the critics didn't give it much hoopla. It was one of Warren Beatty's first and a good film."

In the beginning of her career she studied at the Actor's Studio; then with Herbert Berghof; then with Robert Lewis. Now, she has her own studio and teaches there. Then she told me she was once on Edge of Night in the role of Eve Morris and that Ed Kemmer (Somerset) was her lover on that show. Ed's wife, Fran Sharon, is on Edge now as Cookie Christopher. It's a small world.

Then we asked Constance how she liked New York.

"I love the city but I'm afraid of it in the sense that I'm afraid to walk out at night. Also, financially, things are almost out of reach and the hostility quotient is high. I wouldn't live in this apartment if it wasn't so well protected. I have a home out of the city which I rent for the summer because I love the water and I love sailing. I also love to swim and play tennis. That really keeps me in physical shape."

When we asked about the star's hobbies, she had a quick reply; "living."

Then we discussed her most recent appearance in Last of the Red Hot Lovers at the Papermill Playhouse. Constance told me, "It was really fun. I'd forgotten what it was like to work before a live audience. You know, you get so used to working before cameras. When you work on stage, you're close to the audience. They can feel that you love them and you can feel that they love you. It just makes you feel so great and it's so gratifying.

"As to my future? Well, I like to act and I act where it's at. I love doing the soap because it's like doing a long movie. I can feel the role grow and progress. But, I'd also like to do a good play and a good film."

It was at this time that Constance turned on her stereo and gave me the headphones to put on. Wow! Dionne Warwick and her latest on headphones. What a concert! It was just sensational. I even found myself doing a little dance step or two and then it really became fantastic to believe that I was dancing around in the living room of Constance Ford. But, it was true and what a morning it was. It was truly one that will go down in my memory book forever.

[SFK]

Priceless.

Robin must melt whenever she remembers that one of Connie's favorite pics was of holding her son.

What would she think of Dionne now?

[DRW50]

Yesterday I was watching some of the fighting between Rachel and Mac after she drove Blaine and Jamie out of town. It was so ferocious, and while it was at times a little hammy, I was riveted to the scenes, especially when Mac said he finally knew he'd married the woman everyone had warned him about, and Rachel said Mac wanted to turn Amanda into another Iris. There's an especially good moment when he grabs her arm - electric.

It's a shame the show never really worked out a way to keep them at odds that didn't isolate the characters, as seems to have happened during the time Rachel was with Mitch and David Canary's Steve.

I also really liked seeing Richard Backus/Ted Bancroft playing verbal tennis with Iris and trying to worm his way in with Rachel. It's a shame that they gave up on the character.

The 90 minute episodes are your only chance to see Brooks and Louise discussing table arrangements in extensive detail

[Paul Raven]

I wonder if Connie Ford had a partner? Wasn't there a rumor about her and Irene Dailey?

[DRW50]

SOD covers the 1989 AW Christmas party.

[soapfan770]

Harshness. But if it's because her Matthews and Frame sides were never utilized, I completely agree with you. I would have even like her more had she just gone by Josie Matthews instead of Watts. However I did like the Gary and Josie pairing and enjoyed the '98 recasts although the triangle with Cameron was really pointless and the story ended sad with the two ending up with another dead child. Yeesh.

Oddly each Josie recast was improvement an over their predecessor.

Edited June 24, 2011 by soapfan770

[DRW50]

The biggest problem with Josie is she was nothing inside. Just a generic ingenue. The actresses who played her could never do anything about that and I don't know if they had the talent (although Amy Carlson has been OK in some other roles).

[soapfan770]

Carlson was alright, I did like Stenovitch better. I do get what you're saying as I found it completely unbelievable for Josie to become a cop and I do recall she was terrible as a cop too.

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I always loved how the AWHP writeup for her went on about how she got commendations every time she was terrible at her job.

At the time I found Stenovitch very cold and hard to care about, although that was down to bad writing as well. I liked her more when they brought Anna Holbrook back for a few days.

[soapfan770]

Oh lol thanks for reminding me of that. I find it hilarious especially since Eddie usually maintains good level of objectivity in his writeup.

It was AW 1998/1999 and that point I my watching was becoming increasingly infrequent but I couldn't appreciate Jake and Vicky so I got behind Gary and Josie as my rooting couple along with Grant and Cindy.

I liked they brought back Holbrook too to bad they didn't keep her til the end but hey Goutman was EP....

[soapfan770]

Well, another June 25th has came and went Matt P. Smith took a detour on his usual write-ups for soaps and for Another World he wrote quite the extensive essay, even more so than his essay on ATWT. I love his sense of optimism at the end and it made me a little sad:

Edited June 27, 2011 by soapfan770

[DRW50]

And now all those mentions are gone

I guess the different version of AW that ABC wanted may have just meant Felicia?

This is very well-written. I'm glad to know more about Mike Bauer's stories.

I think JFP's tenure did bring in a ratings increase for a while but not enough, and probably not worth the financial cost.