Search For Tomorrow Discussion Thread

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From the 12/76 SOD. S. O. D. Publishing Inc. SFT turns 25. Part of this also includes Love of Life's 25th.

Edited November 22, 2010 by CarlD2

[Paul Raven]

Thank you carl for all these treasures!

Billie Lou Watt's husband is Hal Studer,who was in several soaps himself(the first Donald Hughes).

[DRW50]

Thanks for reading and replying! It's the nice words that make me know people are interesting.

I didn't know that about Billie Lou Watt's husband. I wonder why he left ATWT.

It's so touching that they sang to Mary Stuart and gave her the bracelet. I know she had her battles with the brass but there was clearly such love for her.

[Paul Raven]

According to LaGuardia, Irna Phillips had Hal Studer fired because he was too short!

[DRW50]

Geez. Kirk Geiger, the Eisenhower years. I'm just glad she didn't get to fire Helen Wagner. Who replaced him?

Edited August 25, 2010 by CarlD2

[Paul Raven]

Richard Holland was the new Don and stayed for 6 years.

I take it you are aware that Irna did want to axe Helen and wrote out Nancy after 13 weeks. When wiser minds prevailed,Helen was doing a play and played hard to get,which made the mercurial Irna all the more determined to get her back.

[DRW50]

I knew she wanted Helen out. I didn't realize they had actually gotten Helen out for 13 weeks or that she played hard to get. Good for her though. I guess she knew how to get to Irna.

They could write a book on Irna's issues with actors. She seemed to wreak a lot of havoc at early AW...

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I was reading that there were cancellation rumors with SFT in mid/late 1982, not long after their move to NBC. Why do you think NBC kept them around until 1986?

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12/77 SOD. S. O. D. Publishing Inc. Meg Bennett says goodbye as SFT turns 26.

Edited November 22, 2010 by CarlD2

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Also in the 12/77 SOD - Joel Higgins and his music.

Music Is...Joel Higgins

by Sue Facter

He acts, he sings, he writes, he plays and he's never taken a lesson in his life!

That's Joel Franklin Higgins, our man Bruce Carson on CBS' Search for Tomorrow. We visited Joel in his west Village apartment, a one-bedroom abode where he lives with his lovable dog, Zeppo.

Joel had to cancel our interview twice because of his heavy work load - a five day a week stint on "Search" and the lead in "Camp Meeting," an off-off Broadway musical in which he plays a revival preacher.

"I don't get a chance to play character roles very often and I enjoy this opportunity. Usually I have to play your typical leading man type, the standard Mid-western WASP type." He laughs and adds, "Although I know I'm no Robert Redford!"

Although Joel has only been in TV land for two years, he is not a newcomer to show business. He landed the coveted role of James in Broadway's "Shenandoah," played Vince Fontaine in the National tour of "Grease" and more recently portrayed Sebastian in "Music Is" in Seattle, Washington D.C. and its short lived run in the big apple.

"Commuting to and from Washington was one of the memorable highlights of my show-biz career. I had to wake up at five in the morning, hop on a plane to New York, take "Search", shuttle back to D.C. before curtain time and collapse at the end of the evening! It must have cost me about $100 a day on expenses!"

Joel comes from an upper-middle class family where "people really do that for a living." Joel assumed that he would go into business, like his father, have a home in the suburbs and a wife in the kitchen. "I certainly have changed my thoughts since then. I've come close to getting married three times, but haven't quite made it yet. Eventually I do want to settle down."

A native of St. Louis, Missouri and a graduate of Michigan State where he studied advertising, Joel always had an eye for entertainment. He did the usual folksinging in school, was an entertainment specialist while stationed in Korea, and formed "The Green Apple Nasties" with some army buddies. They toured around the country with music and even recorded a record, which didn't quite make it.

It was a matter of luck, talent and charm for Joel to make it to "Shenandoah" after doing summer stock and touring with "Grease." Look at the thousands of performers who study and take classes for years and never make it beyond waiting tables and driving cabs. It's also a matter of ambition.

Higgins worked so hard this past summer that he only made it once to his West Hampton house in which he has part ownership. "It's worth it though. The work is good for the career and the career is what my life is all about right now."

"I'd like to go to Nova Scotia with my best buddy and just camp out for a while. I have to get away from the city every once in a while. You don't come to New York to live, you come to work. Although I'm not a city person, I have to admit if there's anyplace to be, if you have to pick a city, then it's definitely New York. There's a lot of work and a lot of culture here too."

Joel takes out his guitar and sings an original tune, "Judy's Room." He wrote it while living in Chicago in 1973 while touring with "Grease." He also played a comical tune about a New York neighborhood in which he used to live. Since it has not been copyrighted, it will remain nameless.

"When I play the guitar, Zeppo often falls asleep in the guitar case! No I don't play the piano, but I keep it here so that I can work with people." Joel also has a massive audio collection with tape recorders, mixers, tape slicers, and even microphones. "I like to hear what I've composed or sang. It gives me a chance to be a bit more objective about my work. One of these days I'll make a few demos. I've made demos before, but always of someone else's work."

Joel is very serious about his singing and likes to separate it from his acting chores on "Search." "I was hired to act, to do a role, not to sing. It doesn't mix that well. There's one show on TV where they just belt out a tune in the middle of the serial and it doesn't really make sense. It works with Michael Nouri (Steve Kaslo) and Mary Stuart (Joanne Vincente) because it's part of their characters - they're songwriters. Unless I'm horsing around with my kid or something like that, i see no need to sing on the show. And I have an understanding with the writers about that."

Joel is also writing a book for a musical at the present and depending on whether "Look Homeward Angel" opens this fall, will be performing in that play. "It's being done in a musical format."

Joel is the middle child of a family with five kids. He has an older sister who is a doctor, an older businessman brother, a younger brother at Columbia Law School and a younger sister in architecture school in Ohio. His folks live in the Florida Keys where he likes to relax and fish. "When you go down to my folks place, you have to eat what you catch. It's the rule of the house."

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SOD's features on Liza becoming a fashion model, and on SFT's 25h anniversary, and on Stu and Ellie getting married. S. O. D. Publishing Inc. Sorry, I know some of these pictures have already been posted.

Edited November 22, 2010 by CarlD2

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