Another World

[watson71]

This is the only episode of AW on YouTube that I have seen with Alma Rudder:

http://youtu.be/8bqq_oPFq9Y

[vetsoapfan]

I started watching in 1964, when Alice was just the "kid sister," with not much to do. A lot of the initial drama centered around Alice's elder sister Pat.

[Melroser]

Thank you!

[TimWil]

I distinctly remember a segment on Entertainment Tonight about AW and Victoria Wyndham referred to the show under the then relatively new headwriter Jacker as "undergoing a renaissance," meaning she approved heartily of Jacker's work.

What I wouldn't give to see again the David Susskind panel with the leading ladies of daytime soaps-it consisted of Wyndham, Robin Strasser, Mary Stuart and Eileen Fulton ss well as a few others I can't recall. It aired in the NY area on Sunday nights at 11:30 pm on my local Channel 5. I keep waiting to see if it ends up on YT but I have a sad feeling the tape was incinerated.

Edited April 27, 2015 by TimWil

[amybrickwallace]

Thank you, vetsoapfan. Did you watch AW for its entire run?

[vetsoapfan]

No, I stopped watching regularly (well, I actually felt ''driven away") in 1975, when so many of my favorite actors and characters were eliminated from the series. I stuck around for a few more years, as an occasional viewer, because I cared for the characters of Pat, John, and Aunt Liz, but after Lemay left, the writing became so poor, I basically dropped AW completely and concentrated on GH and OLTL, which were both thrilling and on fire at the time.

[Soaplovers]

I have watched some of the 1981 episodes.. and it seemed like L. Virginia browne was trying to restore the Matthews family with bringing back Alice and Sally. It's interesting that the majority of the Matthews family were written off in 1982 when Jacker took over.

It seems that Lemay and Jacker.. theatre writers didnt seem too interested in writing the Matthews family.. was it cause they were too boring?

[DRW50]

September 1967 TV Picture Life bio/interview with Beverly Penberthy.

http://boards.soapoperanetwork.com/topic/27061-the-doctors/page-107#entry1415918

[amybrickwallace]

Thank you, vetsoapfan. Did you ever tune in to see the brief later appearances JC (1984-85, 1989) and GR (1989) made on AW?

[zanereed]

I think Lemay tolerated the Matthews clan, but was much more interested in writing for the Corys and Frames. It seemed from his book that he loved Bev Penberthy and Hugh Marlowe, however.

As for Jacker, I wonder if she was under pressure from P & G to get rid of the Matthews family? I think they were trying to get Marland to do something similar with the Bauers during his time on GL.

[vetsoapfan]

Yes, I began watching AW again on May 4, 1994, to see JC return as Alice, but soon realized it was going to be a bust. The show had no idea what to do with her (Gary Tomlin, the writer at the time, later admitted that he didn't know much about the Alice/Rachel history and didn't know how to use Courtney effectively). Alice was soon sporting a very, very short, severe haircut which was totally wrong for her, and wearing the most hideous, mannish clothes. They paired her with an amiable but bland actor as her romantic partner, and then gave them no story. What a disaster. It's like luring Susan Lucci back to AMC, only to shave her head, dress her in polyester pantsuits, pair Erica romantically with Walter Matthau, and then keep her in the background for the next 12 months.

What a waste!

The 1989 returns of JC and GR were better written and more satisfying, although I wish they had used some meaningful flashbacks. During the 25th anniversary gala, Alice had a brief flashback to a 1984 scene with her and Rachel, but it would have been so much better if they had used something like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeZa_erR6dg

Or this:

Or this:

Or this:

I'll bet that the show did not want to use classic scenes, because using vintage flashbacks would have made the current episodes look so weak in comparison, LOL.

[LoyaltoAMC]

It's funny that Lemay liked Hugh Marlowe, because I recall reading some interviews with his fellow AW actors, with the consensus pretty much being that, although he was a very nice man, he only did the show for the money and essentially just phoned it in. Evidently he had a late in life child, and he needed the steady paycheck. I also believe Lemay simply tolerated the Matthews family and was more interested in exploring conflict from different social strata which could be better mined from the Corys and the Frames, as well as the Perrinis. I think L. Virginia Browne liked the Matthews family, even though they seemed isolated in separate storylines and not so much as a family unit. Even Jim had a storyline, with his blossoming friendship with Margo Grove, Blaine's mother-in-law at the time. Liz was angry over the attention Margo was paying to Jim. I have to wonder if they had planned on using Margo as a plot device to build a Jim/Liz romance, which would've been weird and out of character. I know that they tried something similar on SFT with Jo and Stu, and Mary Stuart wisely played it against the romantic angle the writers were trying to insinuate.

[vetsoapfan]

Hugh Marlowe also had increasing trouble remembering his lines, starting back in the early-to-mid-1970s. Harding Lemay blamed Virginia Dwyer, who played Marlowe's wife, for not giving him correct cues, but those of us who watched religiously back then knew that Marlowe would often stumble over his dialogue, no matter with what actor he played. As for a Liz/Jim romance, I think it would have been within character for lonely Aunt Liz to develop stronger feelings for Jim, but of course he would have never reciprocated. Like Jo and Stu on SFT, who ended up step-siblings when their widowed parents married each other, some romantic relationships would simply never work.

[amybrickwallace]

Hugh Marlowe's son Chris ended up on the very short-lived 1979 NBC sitcom Highcliffe Manor, starring Shelley Fabares (post-The Donna Reed Show and pre-Coach) and a couple of familiar faces from soaps - Gerald Gordon (TD, GH) and Audrey Landers (post-Somerset and pre-Dallas).

[slick jones]

Not to mention a Love of Life Role as Andy Marriott!