48 minutes ago, Soaplovers said:

And I liked that both women had a lot to say so Alan didn't rail road them either with his pointless babbling.  

Those are always the very best episodes of his show!! 😊

On 10/16/2021 at 12:59 AM, FrenchBug82 said:

From the way she told the story I think it was actually the first time she met Mary Stuart which makes it even more ... special.
She started by saying she was terrified of Mary Stuart when she started (and later said she was terrified of her all throughout lol).

Then the anecdote: Maree mentioned that the CBS studio was very cold so she liked to wear big fluffly slippers. Their dressing rooms were upstairs and the set downstairs so there would be a lot of climbing the stairs up and down to go to rehearsals and blocking etc.
So she did the trip with curlers still in her hair and her big slippers and when Mary Stuart saw her (and again this seems to be the first time they had met, or shortly after they met), she said: "So THIS is our sex symbol?".
And from Maree's delivery, Stuart didn't say it in a cheeky teasing way but in a condescending manner. I think Maree's face when mimicking Stuart telling her that says everything that needs to be said about the way it was intended.

Mary told this exact same story in ALL OF ME, her autobiography, and it does come off as tongue-in-cheek there. 
 

Now somebody ask Maree why she was really fired from SFT.  (Although Nelson Aspen told everyone in HIS book.)

 

I think she’s still pissed. 

I really enjoyed seeing and hearing Maree and Lisa. I have always liked both, and Maree has always been a special favorite.

1 hour ago, antmunoz said:

Now somebody ask Maree why she was really fired from SFT.  (Although Nelson Aspen told everyone in HIS book.)

What did Nelson have to say?

1 hour ago, antmunoz said:

Mary told this exact same story in ALL OF ME, her autobiography, and it does come off as tongue-in-cheek there. 
 

Now somebody ask Maree why she was really fired from SFT.  (Although Nelson Aspen told everyone in HIS book.)

 

I think she’s still pissed. 

I mean, in all fairness, that's a joke *I* would make so I can and could totally see a scenario where it was indeed teasing and dry humor.
I haven't read her book and I only based my assessment on the way she told the story in this particular instance. Maybe she made it sound meaner here for comedic effect.
I wouldn't presume to know. I just repeated

10 hours ago, antmunoz said:

Now somebody ask Maree why she was really fired from SFT.  (Although Nelson Aspen told everyone in HIS book.)

 

I think she’s still pissed. 

I had a feeling Alan wouldn't ask this, though we got a teeny tiny bit of insight when he talked to Louise Shaffer.

@Paul Raven

On 5/22/2020 at 11:32 AM, antmunoz said:

“Another of the show’s longtime stars, who played the ongoing nemesis of Mary‘s (Stuart, Jo) character, was unexpectedly and unceremoniously fired after more than a decade on the show.  Someone had overheard her in the make-up room the day before, reading about some natural disaster that had made headlines in the paper.  She dryly quipped, ‘Over a hundred people killed. Tsk tsk. And not one of them was a writer.’  The walls certainly had ears and someone rattled to The Powers That Be. Viewers wound up seeing her start a scene with her TV daughter on a Tuesday and an entirely new actress picking up mid-conversation on a Wednesday. (This is not a business known for its job security.)“

—Nelson Aspen, HOLLYWOOD INSIDER EXPOSED!

Edited October 18, 20214 yr by FrenchBug82

17 hours ago, antmunoz said:

Now somebody ask Maree why she was really fired from SFT.  (Although Nelson Aspen told everyone in HIS book.)

In the Soaps of Yesteryear thread there was a story contemporary of the times that suggested Maree left because she got married and her new husband did not live in New York.  It is less salacious but equally likely.

 

Edited October 18, 20214 yr by j swift

 

3 hours ago, FrenchBug82 said:

Another of the show’s longtime stars, who played the ongoing nemesis of Mary‘s (Stuart, Jo) character, was unexpectedly and unceremoniously fired after more than a decade on the show.  Someone had overheard her in the make-up room the day before, reading about some natural disaster that had made headlines in the paper.  She dryly quipped, ‘Over a hundred people killed. Tsk tsk. And not one of them was a writer.’  The walls certainly had ears and someone rattled to The Powers That Be. Viewers wound up seeing her start a scene with her TV daughter on a Tuesday and an entirely new actress picking up mid-conversation on a Wednesday. (This is not a business known for its job security.)“

—Nelson Aspen, HOLLYWOOD INSIDER EXPOSED!

Nelson tells a nice story, but logistically this would have been impossible.   It would take weeks (if not months) to negotiate the hiring of an actress as popular as Louise Shaffer (was at that time) into a role. Plus, other actresses would have been at least considered, if not auditioned -- further slowing the casting process.  Nelson makes it sound as if Shaffer was hired over-night, and was on camera the following day.  

Plus, soap opera actors criticize writers all the time, and they don't tend to be fired for it unless it affects their performance or the atmosphere in the studio (George Reinholt, for example). 

IF Maree was fired, it was probably because of some lame attempt to "youth-ify" the show by recasting Stephanie with an actress considerably younger AND more popular with youthful members of the audience.   This recast most certainly took weeks to complete.   

9 minutes ago, Neil Johnson said:

 

Nelson tells a nice story, but logistically this would have been impossible.   It would take weeks (if not months) to negotiate the hiring of an actress as popular as Louise Shaffer (was at that time) into a role. Plus, other actresses would have been at least considered, if not auditioned -- further slowing the casting process.  Nelson makes it sound as if Shaffer was hired over-night, and was on camera the following day.  

Plus, soap opera actors criticize writers all the time, and they don't tend to be fired for it unless it affects their performance or the atmosphere in the studio (George Reinholt, for example). 

IF Maree was fired, it was probably because of some lame attempt to "youth-ify" the show by recasting Stephanie with an actress considerably younger AND more popular with youthful members of the audience.   This recast most certainly took weeks to complete.   

I don't believe the story happened like this either.

Is it possible Maree said that and that was the straw that broke the camel's back? Seems flimsy enough, but, sure, maybe. But there is no way you'd fire someone just for a remark like that. If she was fired, either she had already pissed people off a lot many times or there was another agenda, whatever that might be.
And, in any case, even if she was fired like that, it didn't happen overnight as you rightfully say. NB is really telling a tale for the sake of a juicy story here.

Which brings me back to why I don't trust NB. I am sure there are grains of truth in the gossip he tells. But he embellishes and BS so much that it undermines the credibility of the real nuggets.

Maree is a well established actor who worked in TV both before and after SFT.  So, one tends to think that she was aware of the boundaries of good taste and professionalism when it comes to jokes about natural disasters in the makeup room, particularly if sensitive writers, (whose offices are not usually on set), are concerned.

She was moving to Texas, producing two shows, and the soap had been warned by NBC that they would be cancelled if ratings didn't rise, so it makes sense that she walked.  But, what does it say about Nelson and other fans when we can easily research the actual statement released by the actress and people still debate whether or not it is true?

Edited October 18, 20214 yr by j swift

I'm liking the mystery of Maree's departure. Did she get fired for trash talking the show? Did she leave to start a new life with her new husband? I do wish Alan would've asked Maree about this.

One more piece of the puzzle.  Ann Marcus created both the role of Stephanie in 1974 for Maree on SFT and Charlene when she writing on General Hospital in 1987.  Which would be evidence that the actor had good relationships with writers.

SFT had five different writers in 1984, according to @FrenchFan on the first page of this thread,

Gary Tomlin (September 1982 � April 1984)

Jeanne Glynn & Madeline David (April 1984 � June 1984)

Caroline Franz & Jeanne Glynn (June 1984 � March 1985)

but the rumor probably refers to Gary Tomlin.  Which is also easily debunked given that he directed her on Days and later worked with her when she had a guest stint on Passions.  Thus, it is illogical that she was deride him and wish him dead, given their relationship before and after 1984.

Edited October 18, 20214 yr by j swift

I thought Gary Tomlin's time as an actor on SFT might have overlapped with hers, but imdb says he was only there 1973-1974 and she didn't arrive until 1975.

Also, wasn't Ellen Barrett producer at that time?

She was former EP of Ryan's Hope where Louise had worked.

My guess is that Maree wanted to leave as Search was not the show it once was and she was ready for a change. Ellen was agreeable as she wanted to make changes. Louise may have been cheaper at that point also.

Maree started in 73.

Edited October 18, 20214 yr by Paul Raven