Search For Tomorrow Discussion Thread

[saynotoursoap]

Was it recast again? The way I remember it, when Robert Reed left, Estelle blackmailed Lloyd into departing Henderson. The following month, Liza miscarried their baby, and Lloyd never returned. I believe Jane Krakowski also left, with TR joining Lloyd in Europe, but she did return for the final episode.

I think one reason Reed had such a short stay was that there was little to do with his character. The writers had tied Lloyd to his relationship with Liza, and none of the actors paired with Louann Gideon's Liza seemed to work. In my opinion, Gideon was the problem, and TPTB would have served the show well to recast Liza again.

[robbwolff]

Reed was the last actor to play Lloyd. Peter Haskell originate the role and was then replaced by Joe Lambie, who was then replaced by Robert Reed. Reed lasted about three months and then Lloyd was phased out. This was right around the time that Gary Tomlin was placed by Addie Walsh as head writer.

[Max]

I had mistakenly believed that the role was cast yet again, so I appreciate the correction. Thanks also for the explanation as to why Reed's tenure was so brief, because I always found that odd.

[Paul Raven]

Variety Feb 21st 1968

Playwright Arthur Miller's sis, Joan Copeland. into the "Search For Tomorrow" serial cast.

[Paul Raven]

Variety May 3rd 1972

Susan Sarandon to take a regular role in "Search for Tomorrow" along with Kipp Osborne. She was in the movie "Joe" and he was in Broadway's "Butterflies Are Free," as Keir Dullea's replacement . . .

[saynotoursoap]

And no mention that Susan had starred in A World Apart just a year earlier.

[Soaplovers]

I always thought it interesting that Pamela Long was listed as executive story consultant while someone else was the head writer. Did that mean that Long was technically the final decision maker.. or was she someone who advised the head-writer when needed?

I know she was only on the show for five months.. but was this stint successful? Or was the show doomed anyway no matter who would have joined it?

[Paul Raven]

I am reading Mary Stuart's autobiography 'Both of Me'. It deals with her personal and professional life and I thought some posters might be interested in tidbits about SFT.

I'll add more as I read on.

Through luck Mary had dinner with Roy Winsor who said he'd be interested in talking further with her about a new show 'Search for Happiness'.At an acting class months later Charles Irving said he'd been watching her at Winsor's suggestion and agreed she'd be right for the show which he was producing. She signed a 7 year contract.

They did a kinescope in Jan 51 in preparation for a May debut.By September Irving was now producer and director.They originally had no sets,just black velour backdrops with door frames and windows hung over the front.After the first 13 weeks,they were under budget.Irving was proud but was soon told not to let that news out or the budget would be slashed. Instead he spent the money on better sets with actual walls.

Lee Grant was the first Rose Peabody but was fired after 6 months after the insinuations about Communists spread through the industry.

When Don Knotts left Mary was worried for him as she didn't think his quirky looks and persona offered him a future in show business.She advised him to take up an offer to be a disc jockey in Texas.

There were many mishaps being live.In one instance Lynn Loring noticed that the porch set had fallen down so little Patti surprised Jo by telling her it was too cold to go outside.Mary wondered what was going on and made for the door as the script called for them to go on the porch and peel apples.. Lynn ran in front of Mary and blocked the way and then Mary noticed what had happened . Lynn took the bowl of apples and put them on the table and they continued the scene.

She said cast and crew grew very close and the main contact at P&G was the exec at the Biow agency with whom they had a familiar friendly relationship.

Jo and Arthur were married in June of 55. Prior to that it had been revealed out of nowhere that Arthur had been married before.Mary states that was the first of many times that the writers threw in something out of the blue and the actors just had to live with it and try and make it work.

Mary had her baby and went on maternity leave while Arthur and Jo went on a honeymoon. Terry O'Sullivan quit and when Jo and Arthur returned Karl Weber was the new Arthur.

Melba Rae always called Mary 'Jo'.

At the beginning of the 7th year,things began to change.There were now several successful soaps on the air and competition was stronger.The Biow agency closed down and Leo Burnett took over. Irving Vendig had left to write 'Edge of Night' and the new writer was having trouble. Mary states the original themes and characters were starting to wear thin.Backstage personnel had moved on and the close knit feel was eroding...

[DRW50]

Thanks so much for taking the time to share this with us. I'd heard her talk a little about the changes in the show when they killed off her son, but I didn't realize when exactly it had started. I also enjoy hearing about the bloopers - never heard the one about the porch.

Pathetic that Lee Grant was fired because of the blacklisting, but I guess in the long run it worked out for her.

[soapfave06]

Thanks for sharing that Paul Raven. Sounds like an interesting book. I wasn't even alive during the time it was on but Search For Tomorrow has always intrigued me, at least up until the early 80s.

[juniorz1]

So much word to THIS! I'm not sure another recast would have worked at that point though. They need Sherry Mathis back or to ship off Liza and write Lisa Peluso's Wendy back in. Because Liza was such an important character at the time, Louann Gideon was never Liza, and it was painful to watch her act opposite anyone.

[Paul Raven]

More from 'Both of Me'

The ratings were sliding and Charles Irving was commuting back and forth from LA and not giving 100% to the show.There was a bitter dispute between Irving and the ad agency representing P&G..Finally Charles Irving was fired.Things fell into disarray.

The new team was Frank Dodge,producer, Dan Levin, director and the Hursleys as head writers.

Doris Hursley told Mary they wanted to make Jo less perfect,more human and said she wanted to get to know Mary. Mary later discovered that the Hursleys insisted on their names being first in the credits rather than Mary's. Mary never had that in her contract,it just became tradition.

Mary states that the Hursleys and Levin were hired on Irna Phillip's recommendation. Levin had been working on TGL but was having problems with the actors.Mary claims that Irna wanted Search's 15 min timeslot to expand TGL and that these hires were not put in place to help SFT.

The first story the Hursleys had for Jo was her reconciliation with Arthur after he cheated on her with her sister Eunice and developed a drinking problem.Jo would not sleep with Arthur and took a job as a secretary to a handsome foreign correspondent ,even though she has a 2 yr old son to care for and supposedly was trying to reconnect with her husband.

Under the new director,things changed.Previously the actors and director made changes together and were open to suggestions but Levin was strict about every shot,move and line of dialogue,not wanting any changes.It upset the rhythm the actors had previously established.

In Mary's eyes, Jo became vindictive towards Arthur ad eventually Mary refused to say a particularly hateful line.Mary found the atmosphere toxic as she tried to preserve her character. Levin began arriving late for rehearsals which aggravated the situation.

The story led to Jo being held at gunpoint and seeking therapy from a new doctor in town,a pretty but inexperienced actress. In one scene,Mary was developing a cold and had to stifle coughs throughout. That led to her being called into a meeting with Dodge and P&G and ad agency reps.She was accused of making things rough on the young actress because she knew this character was a replacement for Jo.Mary was stunned...

Mary does not mention the actress or character's name. Does anyone have an idea?

[DRW50]

Wow. Classic Irna.

[Paul Raven]

Mary had ongoing problems with Dan Levin the director.Jo was only being used peripherally as a talk to character and not driving story.When she did get a story it was the death of her son Duncan. Mary was furious on a number of levels. Duncan had never been seen on air and Mary had visualized her own son when she was cooing over an empty bassinette. She didn't think viewers would want to see such a story,with many of them being young mothers themselves.Her protests fell on deaf ears.

After this the story moved to Janet Bergman and a now older Patti,In 62 the Hursleys had Jo enter a custody battle over Jimmy Bergman,who was originally written as Stu and Marge's son,but suddenly became Stu's nephew,son of his neglectful sister.Mary took a stand and the story was quickly dropped.Mary thought it was ridiculous that Jo would try to take a child away from its mother.Jo went on the backburner.

She recalled the difficulties of live TV. A phone call was dropped as the show was running late.Nobody told the sound effects man so all of a sudden the phone rang while Marge and Stu were in the middle of another scene.Melba ad libbed that she thought the call was for Stu so Larry was forced to react. He picked up the phone,declared it was a wrong number and moved on.

[DRW50]

Thanks for continuing to share these stories with us. I never knew that about the custody battle. That's nuts.