Anyone knows how long Edwards lasted at SFT?

Sorry - I got a phone call and when I got back on here I forgot to finish the article! I will type the rest up.

Despite his Vermont background, Mr. Edwards has never gotten around to skiing. He compares it with the New Yorker who never gets to the Statue of Liberty. He is a vociferous reader, devours books on musical history, and at the present time is learning about wines. He plays piano, and studied cello for a year. He also reads music scores which has served him in good stead throughout his career.

He loves New York for what it has to offer in music, theater, and the dance. Along with his wife, Lotte, who is a thoroughly trained modern dancer and choreographer (with a master's degree from NYU's School of Education), John Edwards finds excitement and fulfillment living in N.Y. "We are not intimidated by the city."

What common interests do the Edwards have as a family?

"My stepdaughter is a teenager, and it's not so easy to find common interests when they're that age. They're finding independence and are determined to maintain it. We go to dance programs and theater together. We don't attend concerts together, because my stepdaughter is totally into rock and contemporary music."

What does John think of afternoon television?

"Well, videotape TV, in the sense that it is live TV, is much closer to theater than films, so a theatrical background holds. That part of it I like. I enjoy actors and enjoy working with them. I also enjoy the element of being present and involved in the generation of story. A story begins and is executed by a writer, there's no question about that, but I have an opportunity to be present when the ideas are first coming out and to express thoughts and feelings I have on how something may work better. I use what I have learned about dramatic structure, which is something that you're trained in, in the theater, and which is something that a director must know, especially working with original material. It's a satisfying, and sometimes an exciting process. Then you have a chance to see the material slowly develop in the breakdown process when you go into dialogue, and see it happen five days a week."

Considering all the pressures of putting on a fresh show each day, John particularly admires the daytime actor's ability. "Acting is like carrying a tune," he says. "You either can or can't. You're born with it. Training can only improve what you've got. The true talent can only be transmitted by the genes.

"One of the great inducements of soaps is that it gives the actor work, regularly and steadily, and still allows him time for other projects which are closest to his heart. Our Larry Haines works constantly. He is rarely working on less than two jobs at a time."

At this juncture of the interview, Mr. Edwards associate producer, Bernard Sofronski, came into the room. The large color TV set was turned on and both men were ready to watch the final rehearsal. They got their scripts ready to follow along with the dialogue. Soon some of our favorites appeared upon the screen. We saw Mary Stuart, Tony George, Val Dufour, and Ann Williams. The producers flipped pages, stopping now and then to make notations on their script margins. When the rehearsal was finished, Mr. Edwards called the director in the control room and tactfully made suggestions to improve the show (the actress should change her blouse, this actor was coming on the scene too soon, or change that line on page 24, etc.) With the business of the rehearsal finished, we continued with the interview and asked John what his ultimate goals were.

"I'm certainly not prepared to be very specific about that. I've been producing for a little less than two years, and it's a good job. I feel I ought to leave myself open to whatever possibilities might come up. I love the theater, for that's where I began, but it's a very, very difficult way to earn a living. And you can't until you gain a certain degree of reputation, and even that can dissolve in the course of a few years. I've always dreaded the prospect of unemployment, particularly in these days of inflation. It's the worst thing that can happen to a person. For a person who pursues the theater, solely as a way of living, you've got to be prepared to throw anything over that might interfere. I'm not called upon to do that in this job, and there's another one of its assets. If someone came along with a play that I thought extremely interesting and felt I could do well, I would not hesitate to pursue to go ahead with it. But I certainly wouldn't leave this, just to go through four weeks of rehearsal and then close. But I'm open to whatever might happen. I certainly must give this a number of years to see what happens here. It's very difficult to see myself as a network vice-president. I don't think I'm built for that sort of activity and pressure. I really enjoy working for Procter & Gamble. They are extremely knowledgable and skillful in what they do. They are a very good, sound organization."

Story and photos by ARTHUR R. ROSE

Edited May 16, 201114 yr by CarlD2

I forgot to say, pages ago I posted a not all that positive Daytime TV Stars review of Search at the time Edwards was probably producer.

When was the picture page from? Was it when Search was still (barely) on CBS?

Edited May 17, 201114 yr by Paul Raven

Some cast and credits from 73 and 75. Seems Mary Ellis Bunim took over from Edwards

CAST:

Mary Stuart as Joanne Vincente

Larry Haines as Stu Bergman

Carl Low as Dr. Bob Rogers

Ann Williams as Eunice Martin

Ken Harvey as Doug Martin

Joan Copeland as Andrea Whiting

Anthony George as Dr. Tony Vincente

Robert Phelps as Dr. Matt Weldon

Linda Bove as Melissa

Billie Lou Watt as Ellie Harper

Andrew Jarkowsky as Frank Ross

Peter Simon as Scott Phillips

W.K. Stratton as Randy

Millee Taggart as Janet Collins

Courtney Sherman as Kathy Phillips

Tommy Norden as Gary Walton

Kathy Beller as Liza Walton

Gary Tomlin as Bruce Carson

David Ford as Karl Devlin

Ray Bellaran as Stuart Thomas Bergman, Jr.

Pat Stanley as Marion

John Cunningham as Dr. Wade Collins

Camille Yarborough as Terry Benjamin

James Hainesworth as Jay Benjamin

Joe Morton as James Foster

Val Dufour as John Wyatt

CREDITS:

Producer: John S. Edwards

Associate Producer: Bernie Sofronski

Directors: Bruce Mannix, Nick Havinga, Ned Stark

Assistant to the Producers: Mary-Ellis Bunim

Writers: Ralph Ellis, Eugenie Hunt, Bibi Wein, & Jane Chambers

Production Secretary: Sandy Stevens

CAST:

Mary Stuart as Joanne Vincente

Larry Haines as Stu Bergman

Carl Low as Dr. Bob Rogers

Ann Williams as Eunice Wyatt

Billie Lou Watt as Ellie Harper

Peter Simon as Scott Phillips

Millee Taggart as Janet Collins

Courtney Sherman as Kathy Phillips

Meg Bennett as Liza Walton Kaslo

Joel Higgins as Bruce Carson

Ray Bellaran as Tom Bergman, Jr.

John Cunningham as Dr. Wade Collins

Val Dufour as John Wyatt

Morgan Fairchild as Jennifer Phillips

Marie Cheatham as Stephanie Wilkins

Dale Robinette as Dave Wilkins

Anne Wyndham as Amy Kaslo

Lane Binkley as Robin Kennemer

Stephen Joyce as Sam Hunter

Neil Billingsly as Danny Walton

Michael Nouri as Steve Kaslo

Brett Halsey as Clay Collins

CREDITS:

Producer: Mary-Ellis Bunim

Associate Producer: Robert Getz

Assistant to the Producer: Robert Nigro

Directors: Neil Smith & Ned Stark

Writers: Ann Marcus, Ray Goldstone, Pamela Wilie, Joyce Perry

Music: Elliot Lawrence Productions

Announcer: Dwight Weist

Thanks for tracking this down and typing it all up. I'm sure it took a lot of time.

The flood episode.

So was Joe Lambie before or after Robert Reed?

This is around the time Ryder is killed off. Do you think that was a mistake?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_TMd2lhqDo

Edited May 23, 201114 yr by CarlD2

Ryder was just another in the revolving door of characters in those years.Why Carl,would you think killing him off made a difference?

What is it with the name Ryder? SFT,ATWT and Y&R have all used it ,but I have yet to come across anyone with that name. It doesn't hold any appeal to me,at least.

Edited May 23, 201114 yr by Paul Raven

I don't think it made a difference in terms of the show's fate, but I thought the actor had a very natural appeal and sincerity, and he made TR more tolerable (she seems very fake to me in the other scenes). I don't get why he was killed off.

Who was Suzi again? She was ill in this episode. For some reason I thought Suzi was already gone by this time.

I thought the live episode was Search's highest rated on NBC. It was the Jo kidnapping story?

June 1954 Radio TV Mirror. Posting this mostly because of the beautiful pictures of Mary Stuart, but I will type up the article too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii8rD2SSCHo

Lynn and said, "This is your mother." The little girl remembers that they shook hands rather solemnly, and that she was feeling strange about suddenly acquiring a second mother on a permanent basis - not just for one part of one show, as had happened on other programs. This was to be a mother-daughter relationship "for keeps," something like the one she had with her own mother.

"I liked Mary right away," she says now. "I kept getting to like her more and more as I got to know her better. I'm still getting to like her more and more - if that's possible, when already I love her so much. My Mommie loves her, too. On Mother's Day, I do double shopping and I don't even have to make two decisions. I decide on one thing, and buy two alike. Last year, it was a little dancing-girl pin. I don't quite know yet what it will be this year."

As far as Mrs. Loring is concerned, she couldn't be more pleased that her little girl has acquired another mother. "As long as it's someone as fine as Mary Stuart," she adds. "Part of Lynn's life is now spent with her, and my little girl would be bound to pick up certain traits from anyone she is with so much. Mary is one of the most natural, wholesome, charming - and least vain or egotistical - women I have ever known. Watching her, Lynn will never turn into a superficial person or a vain one. We laugh about how Mary never primps, how she seldom even looks in a mirror before she goes on the set. Lynn is usually the one who looks her over and pushes back any stray hairs or fixes a fold in her skirt. Mary dresses herself carefully, and has beautiful taste in whatever she wears, and then she never fusses over her appearance. She is always careful, too, about what she says in front of Lynn, just as I am. I couldn't be happier about the example she sets for my little girl."

For her part, Mary Stuart considers herself just as fortunate. "Lynn is a wonderful little girl. I haven't any children yet and when Barbara (Mrs. Loring) is busy, I love to take Lynn along with me - shopping, or sometimes in a matinee or the circus when it's in town, or a museum, or home to my apartment to sit near me and visit while I sew or cook. We don't live too far apart, which makes it easy. I buy little books for Lynn to read when I'm too busy to talk, but she's a resourceful child who can always amuse herself. We go window-shopping, sometimes the three of us - Barbra and Lynn and I - sometimes just Lynn and I together. When I gaze too long at a dress or suit in the window of my favorite shop, Lynn will grab my arm and warn, 'Remember Richard.' She means my husband, Richard Krolik, who is a television producer. Lynn is always looking after her interests! They are very good friends."

Mary is making the bedspreads and drapes for Lynn's pink and green and coca room in the Lorings' new apartment. (She is also making matching mother-and-daughter costumes for them to wear on the program - skirts, blouses and little aprons.) Lynn's new room is o much bigger than the one in their old apartment that it is being divided by bookshelves into a sitting room-bedroom. Furnishings are French provincial, and the windows are also framed in bookcases - so there is ample space for her collection of more than a hundred dolls, dozens of stuffed animals, books, toys, game and all ten-year-old's heart. Lynn has the first doll the director of her first TV dramatic show gave to her, and all the other dolls she has loved as one by one they joined her family.

Grownups she has worked with - including everyone on Search for Tomorrow - are always giving her little and big presents to make her round eyes dance even more than they do normally. Bess Johnson, who plays her Grandmother Barron on the program, knitted her a sweater and hat and gloves as a Christmas present - and made an identical set for one of her favorite dolls. Melba Rae, who plays Marge on the program, made one of Lynn's dolls a wonderful reversible raincoat, just like a full-size one. The men - Terry O'Sullivan, Larry Haines, Clift Hall, and all the others - are always finding surprise presents for her in their pockets.

Lynn's parents are pleased by all this, but they have definite ideas about how to bring up a little girl with a big dramatic talent. As far as her father was concerned, "Charles wasn't too sure she should be an actress at all," says Lynn's mother. "Actually, she represents my own frustration at not being allowed by my parents to try my wings as an actress. When I saw signs of talent in our daughter - and I admit I was watching for them - I was determined to give her a chance. I told her that, if we never saw any signs of her becoming spoiled, then she would have to give up on being an actress.

"Fortunately, Lynn is an intelligent child who understands how lucky she is, and we don't feel she has been one bit spoiled by the nice things that have happened. The stagehands play checkers with her during the waits between rehearsals and broadcasts, and I consider that one of the acid tests. Actors don't impress them at all, and they just couldn't be bothered with a 'bratty' youngster. They treat Lynn as thought she were one of their own kids."

Lynn's career began when she was four, first as a model. She was six when she auditioned for a role in a commercial film for a big electric company. The producers asked Barbara if she would leave Lynn with them and go home for some other clothes they wanted to test her in.

"I'm a meticulous housekeeper, but that day I couldn't find a thing. I was so excited," Mrs. Loring recalls. "By the time I got back, Lynn had become hungry, so they had taken her to lunch and she had told them all about herself, her family, her friends, her studies. They kept whispering to me how wonderful she was. I knew it all along! Of course, she got the role, although dozens of children had been auditioned. She was calmer than I was, and not one re-take of her part was needed. Her brother Neil had been teaching her to read, and she learned the line s easily."

After that, Lynn did some other commercial films, and then Barbara took her to CBS for a general audition. Lynn had had no formal dramatic training at all, but her first TV role was in pantomime, on Lamp Unto My Feet. Next, she had a dramatic part on Studio One - a real role with some lines to speak. "I was excited, but not nervous," she remembers.

Did SFT ever have a vocal verison to any of their theme songs?