September 1974 Daytime TV

John Considine joined the cast in late May. John was last seen as Phillip Chancelor on The Young and the Restless. Walter Matthews has been reappearing in his role of Gerald Davis for a short time.

Variety October 16th 1974

Jeanne Lange, David Ackroyd and John Getz into cast of NBC's "Another World" soaper.

Jeanne Lang was great as Carol Lamont! I don't know why she disappeared after having played that role.

Wasn't she mostly a theatre actress?

Jeanne Lange was great! I really liked John Getz and David Ackroyd (the original Gary Ewing), too.

You can find two more at AddieCate's channel. Some of the last episodes for the underrated Laura Moss as Amanda.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Td7IGK2TFzU

I don't know how you go from this to sleepytime RC Lorna.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkTu14vXNBc&feature=channel&list=UL

I'm not sure exactly what they'll find in the P&G archives. From all accounts, what little they did keep from pre-1979 was not well preserved or documented. I have a tape of the 1974 wedding/tenth anniversary episode, and it's been confirmed that the Mary Matthews death episode is also floating around in the hands of dedicated soap opera collectors. But apparently, P&G never even kept a copy of many historically-significant episodes, like the premiere of SEARCH FOR TOMORROW from 1951, which I also have a videotape of, but P&G doesn't. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what they unearth from the archives, and hope for the best.

vetsoapfan,

Is the quality of the 1974 Tenth Anniversary episode that you have videotape quality or color kinescope quality? I was just curious. Thank you for any reply.

I believe that Constance Ford also had some issues with VW in the beginning as well, but they worked it out pretty quickly. Poor VW, it sounds like she walked into a hornet's nest on that set.

I think it's been documented in interviews, but in one of the first rehearsals involving Vicky and Constance Ford there was something in the scene that Vicky did and Constance jumped right out and said "Rachel wouldn't do that." Without batting an eyelash, Vicky turned to Constance and said "THIS Rachel would."

I think that broke the ice between the two. If Constance sensed that you were a stand-up actress and didn't cave in, she thought you were a stronger person, or so it seems. I could be wrong.

Funny, but IMO Strasser DID see the vulnerabilities in the role. It was Wyndham who played it full on the first two years or so. This from an interview.

Star: VICTORIA WYNDHAM

Role: Rachel Hutchins, ANOTHER WORLD

AW Debut: July 15, 1972

Birthday: May 22

Children: Darian and Christian

A WOMAN OF INDEPENDENT MEANS

Victoria Wyndham Celebrates Her Silver Anniversary as Bay City's Beloved,

Self-Reliant Heroine

DIGEST ONLINE: When you joined ANOTHER WORLD back in 1972, you and Constance

Ford (Ada) reportedly got off to a bad start?

VICTORIA WYNDHAM: I remember that first day rehearsing with her. I had made it

very clear to the people who'd hired me that I didn't want to hear, "Oh, well,

Robbie [Robin Strasser] would have done it differently." The problem with

taking over from somebody is that you're going to bring in your own bag of

tricks. That's what they were hiring, that's what they wanted. [The producer]

assured me [there would be no comparisons to Robin Strasser's interpretation

of the role]. "Oh, no, no, that's not going to happen," they said, "because

we're hiring you. We've tried other people and it hasn't worked. We've wanted

you for the whole year, even though we weren't able to get you because you

were retired with your babies. [FYI: Wyndham had put her acting career on hold

while her sons were infants.] And now we've got you. We hired you because we

want to change this character [and make her sympathetic]. It's what you do

that we want." So that first day I come in, and I'm doing a scene with Connie,

and we finish the scene, and she looks at the director du jour and she says,

"Well, Robbie never would have played it like that, is that the way you're

gonna play it?" I put my script down and I waited for the director to run

interference, and it was clear to me that he was a little intimidated by her,

so I put my script down and I said, "When you've all sorted this out, I'll be

in my dressing room!" I walked off the set, and that was the end of that --

that was the moment that Connie decided that I was a great replacement for

Robin.

DIGEST ONLINE: So you didn't let Constance Ford intimidate you?

WYNDHAM: I'd worked with people like this before. I'd been on Broadway, I'd

been off-Broadway. I'd been working with Lily Tomlin and Madeline Kahn and

everybody else, so Connie ford was certainly not going to intimidate me on my

first day. Well, that was all she wanted to do; she was testing my mettle and

she found out [i wouldn't wilt] and from that point on we got along famously

DIGEST ONLINE: It's interesting. You've become so strongly identified with

Rachel, a character that Robin Strasser first portrayed; and Robin has become

so identified with Dorian Lord (on ONE LIFE TO LIVE), a role that SHE didn't

create. Have you two ever discussed that parallel?

WYNDHAM: No I don't see Robin; I don't see anybody really in the business. I

live out in the country and when I am working in New York, we're all the way

out in Brooklyn [at the NBC studio] and she's in Manhattan [at ABC]. By the

time I finish taping, I get back [home] very late at night. I go to bed, learn

my words and go to work the next day, and then at the end of the week I go

home to the country. You know, I spend so many hours here [at the studio] with

this company, more hours than I ever get to spend with my family or my

friends, so I don't do a whole lot of business [things]. [Robin and I] see

each other at functions, and we enjoy seeing each other, but we hardly talk

shop; we usually talk about our sons, do mother stuff. It's strange. We admire

each other's work, but I think Robin is so totally identified with my

character. The first thing you all say to me is, "Well, of course you took

over for Robin Strasser." I took over for Robin Strasser? I've been doing this

part for 25 years, she did it for 5. If that's not parity, what am I nuts? I

don't consider it as taking over a part; I consider it that I created a new

part.

DIGEST ONLINE: When you became Rachel, making her more sympathetic was

immediately part of your vision for the character, wasn't it?

WYNDHAM: That's why they hired me. I just exposed her vulnerabilities, and

Robin didn't see the part that way. She saw it differently and it was totally

valid. From what I understand that she did, I think it was a very valid way to

go. You know, we're different, that's all. I find heavies are interesting

because of what you can bring to them from the other side of the deck. Some

people play heavies and think they're interesting, because they don't ever

want to show any other side of the deck. It's just two different ways of

working, and they're both valid. But what [producer] Paul Rauch and [head

writer] Pete Lemay wanted was to see a little bit more of what made her tick.

That's why they wanted me, that was what the deal was. I was to come on and

give them what I do, not what somebody else did.

DIGEST ONLINE: After all these years, do fans ever get the two of you

confused?

WYNDHAM: Do you know my favorite story about Robin? She made quite an

impression on everyone. I was coming down from Boston after seeing my son,

when he was at college at BU, and I'm on the Boston Turnpike. I'm going

through the tollgate and I'm futzing with my handbag, and the girl at the toll

booth starts getting all apoplectic and nervous and smiling and getting all

short of breath. She's very excited because she recognized me. So I hand her

the money and she goes, "Wait, wait, oh you're on my favorite soap." Well, I

don't supply my name, I'm waiting for her to get it, and as I'm driving away,

she goes, "I just love you Robin Strasser -- for years!" I drive away and I

think -- at that point I'd been on the show for 20 years -- and it still isn't

my part yet! It was a very funny thing. I laughed I think all the way down to

Connecticut. Because Robin and I don't even look alike. This woman obviously

was a current viewer; she knew who I was. She wasn't mistaking me for Robin,

she just couldn't get the right name. More power to Robin-- what an indelible

impression she made.

http://www.celebrity..._952_33517.html

Edited June 6, 201213 yr by toml1962

Thanks for posting that article Tom. One thing I loved about Wyndham is that she always referred to the show as 'a company'.

It probably should be pointed out that Constance Ford, when starring on the soap opera Woman with a Past, played the mother of actress Felice Carmargo, and Ms. Carmargo and Ms. Wyndham are sisters. So, the two actress probably had thought already about one another.

In 1970, AW’s title was changed to Another World - Bay City to coincide with the premiere of new soap and spin-off Another World - Somerset. Ironically, AW (which had originally been intended to be the first daytime soap spin-off ever) begat the real first daytime spin-off. The names were established to connect the two series (essentially making up the 1st hour-long daytime soap opera even though it would be another 5 years before the two series would air back-to-back). Regular AW characters Missy Palmer Matthews (now widowed from Bill), her son Ricky Matthews (the biological child of the late Denny Fargo), and newly-weds Sam Lucas (Ada’s brother) and Lahoma Vane Lucas (former best-friend of both Rachel and Lee) moved to Somerset which was located 50 miles away from Bay City. Early in the show’s run, there was much crossing over between the two series. However, ratings for the new series were low and the ratings for the parent series were beginning to drop drastically. In an attempt to fix what was broken, Robert Cenedella (who was head writing both series at the time and who had created Somerset) was removed from AW so that he could focus all of his attention on the new series. The parent name of the parent series was changed back to Another World and the name of the spin-off was shortened to simply Somerset.

Whoever wrote that article is ill-informed. Cenedella left SOMERSET to concentrate on AW, not the other way around. And he left the show in January 1971. about six weeks before the titles changed on March 1, 1971. This is all backed up by numerous sources including Daytime TV, Afternoon TV and the wonderful Another World website.