11 hours ago, j swift said:

My impression from the memoir was that AW was the first time that he managed a writing team.  And I would assume it is difficult to give up dialogue writing, after writing for the theater.  So, it stands to reason that he gave extensive notes on how he wanted things done.

That being said, the dialogue was never so staccato during Lemay's period, and what I recall the most was that each character really had their own way of speaking. Certainly, Ada and Iris never sounded alike, and neither ever spoke only in single sentences. 

Lemay certainly comments in Eight Years in Another World on how dissatisfied he was working with subwriters. He talks about firing experienced subwriters in order to hire novices (hoping he can shape them according to his preferences) and then firing the novices and hiring a cowriter, and then he gives the impression that he fired the cowriter and did all the writing himself (as well as kept all of the money budgeted for subwriters) because no one else wrote what he wanted and he was rewriting so much anyway.

I agree that if Lemay didn't use the staccato style it seems unlikely that he would have given those instructions to dialogue writers. He does mention "specific guidelines" but "contradictory situations" sounds more like plot than style?

Yet in spite of hours spent each week training novice subwriters, I was never completely satisfied with any of them. It is almost impossible to write a good script from someone else’s outline.

The most gifted subwriters often ignored specific guidelines and created contradictory situations more to their liking, which had to be eliminated to maintain consistency of character and mood. Soap operas are unique in that the original characters and situations are created by one writer and the dialogue and moment-to-moment action are written by another.

 

 

I'm not sure whether this actor looks familiar or if he just looks similar to someone familiar. Anyone recognize him?

This is from an episode in July 1991. The character is some guy that Cass and Kathleen pretend that they are interested in chartering a boat from in order to try to find out where Taylor Benson might have gone. The character may be called Ruskin.

He certainly resembles Darby Hinton of Days of Our Lives 1985  Ian Griffith. But, I've been online for a couple hours. I'm probably wrong.

 

 

19 minutes ago, Xanthe said:

I'm not sure whether this actor looks familiar or if he just looks similar to someone familiar. Anyone recognize him?

This is from an episode in July 1991. The character is some guy that Cass and Kathleen pretend that they are interested in chartering a boat from in order to try to find out where Taylor Benson might have gone. The character may be called Ruskin.

 

9 hours ago, slick jones said:

He certainly resembles Darby Hinton of Days of Our Lives 1985  Ian Griffith. But, I've been online for a couple hours. I'm probably wrong.

 

 

 

I definitely see a resemblance although I would think it more likely if he had an obvious NY presence or if he was already on the AWHP actor guide/DP list. Are there any video clips online so I can hear his voice and compare?

 

Edited August 10, 20241 yr by Xanthe

Anne Heche, It's Been 2 Years, Gone But Not Forgotten

2 hours ago, Xanthe said:

I definitely see a resemblance although I would think it more likely if he had an obvious NY presence or if he was already on the AWHP actor guide/DP list. Are there any video clips online so I can hear his voice and compare?

 

 

At 17:13 his Days scenes.

 

On 8/10/2024 at 11:07 AM, slick jones said:

 

At 17:13 his Days scenes.

 

Thanks very much! Very possible. I am not 100% certain but I also didn't see anything that made me sure it couldn't be Darby Hinton. 

18 minutes ago, Xanthe said:

Thanks very much! Very possible. I am not 100% certain but I also didn't see anything that made me sure it couldn't be Darby Hinton. 

The similarity is close, but I've been corrected many times on pictures, so... 

15 minutes ago, slick jones said:

The similarity is close, but I've been corrected many times on pictures, so... 

I wouldn't push it as definite, just not impossible, but it's not just the picture, the Days video/audio seemed reasonably similar.

I don't see any contact info on darbyhinton.com so I don't know if there's a way to get a definitive answer.

I figured out that we had Anne with us from July 1987 till Aug. 11, 2022 so for 35 years & I can be grateful for that.

 

 

I would say that is Darby Hinton. Back then he looked like the Brawny paper towel man. The classic one, not the current bastardized version.

Edited August 12, 20241 yr by SoapDope

@mikeaw1978 Not sure if anything from this episode was already available or not.

I wonder if they made a mistake writing Ben out for good - not sure if he was ever even mentioned in later years. New writers may just not have even known he existed.

2 hours ago, DRW50 said:

@mikeaw1978 Not sure if anything from this episode was already available or not.

I wonder if they made a mistake writing Ben out for good - not sure if he was ever even mentioned in later years. New writers may just not have even known he existed.

Agreed.  There was so much potential with Ben. I also like Richard Steen and would have been happy to see him return to the role.

6 minutes ago, Efulton said:

Agreed.  There was so much potential with Ben. I also like Richard Steen and would have been happy to see him return to the role.

I never have understood some of the choices in this period of the young cast they let go, which meant they just had to end up relying on a few actors (and Tom Eplin is the only one who had a long run). Perry was another one, although I wouldn't be surprised if they felt he was not straight-presenting enough. With Ben they even brought on his whole family, which just makes it even stranger. I wonder if he even knows his mother isn't dead. If I ever write any AW fics I suppose there's all kinds of material to dive into.

On 8/10/2024 at 11:07 AM, slick jones said:

 

At 17:13 his Days scenes.

 

Thanks for posting that interview. I would have missed it otherwise and I found it interesting. Before watching it, I was fast-forwarding it trying to find Darby until I realized he was the host! Lisa Trusel hasn't aged a bit. I very rarely say that because I feel like people overuse that phrase as a compliment. But in her case, she almost looks the same. I would recognize her today in a second.