42 minutes ago, P.J. said:

I'm fine with first born sons being named after their fathers--and especially in Billy's case, it made sense that he would want to pass on his father's name. (I can't think of another son named after the father after A-M and Bill....I guess there's Phillip and Harley's kid Alan Zachary, but he was just Zach. I must be forgetting someone.)

I am humbly grateful however, we were never stuck with anyone naming their daughter after "dead" Reva. That's a step too far.

You're lucky you never watched EastEnders, where characters regularly name their kids after dead relatives even in the most contrived of ways, like when a teen mother named her daughter Peggy after a grandmother she had barely even known for most of her life. (the show, a few years later, also named a nightclub after Peggy and had a huge portrait of her on the wall)

Tonawanda NEWS Friday, August 31,1973

Soaps still actor's way to make living By JACK OBRIAN

Talk to anyone who's been sick for a while, and chances are pretty good that person is hooked on the "soaps " Yes soap operas are alive and well on daytime TV, and they offer an excellent way for a young actor to make a living.

Don Stewart stars on The Guiding Light." TV's longest running detergent drama. Don said If he wrote us a letter, it would go like this '

'Dear Jack, In the five years since I last wrote you, I married and divorced a girl who turned out to be a really bad one. In fact, she is trying to break up someone else's marriage now. Brother Ed as you know is an alcoholic, and he started drinking again long enough to get married to a very restless and impulsive child. I'd expect more from a great surgeon. Then, the other day, I finally married Ed's ex-wife, which of course makes me both father and uncle to his son. I guess that means I could be called "Uncle-Daddy." I recuperated well after being shot in the heart. It turned out to be only a flesh wound. My law practice has been extremely successful since I saved at least three people from the gas chamber or prison. My daughter ran away from home, but I found her in a blinding snow storm. Don

"WOULD YOU BELIEVE that all these incidents related above happened to me " Don asked. "It's true. They did - that is, they happened to me on the television screen. They're all incidents which have occurred in the last five years to Michael Bauer, attorney-at-law, in The Guiding Light ' How can they get away with such stories? The fact is they appear just as often in the news. In the words of Mary Stuart, a friend of mine who stars on 'Search for Tomorrow,' a redeeming factor about daytime TV is that the villain always pays for what he has done —and pays, and pays, and pays.

"SOME MEN put down soap operas and they put down their wives for watching them. But after all, what's the difference between watching soap operas all day or watching football games all day? "I don't want you to feel that I'm trying to justify my existence as an actor on a daytime drama (as it is more respectfully referred to). It is a tremendous job for an actor, very highly sought after and coveted. It's steady, it offers an opportunity to work continuously in one's craft, and allows time to pursue other activities. More than half the actors on our show are doing or have recently finished Broadway jobs. Also, daytime drama is a fact of life and affords an outlet for people who find it difficult to communicate, people in hospitals, older people, as well as housewives who are home with small children.

"ONE DAY I was entertaining on a program that featured great actress Joan Crawford. I was supposed to introduce her on the show. I went over to her table to meet her, but before I could introduce myself she said, I know you. You're a very fine lawyer!'

"On another occasion I had the opportunity to go up to the late Irene Ryan to compliment her on her role in Pippin.' But again, before I could get a word out, she said: Hi! I know you. I watch you everyday.'

Aww, I find it sweet that Irene Ruan watched the show.

I guess they're referring to Ed marrying Holly? In '73?

Lots of celebs watch or watched soaps. Sally Field said she has watched GH since the 60's. I remember reading Soap Opera Digest that former Governor John Connally and his wife Nellie would schedule their day so they could watch As The World Turns during lunch. People said they knew not to disturb them during that time. They did that up to their deaths.

7 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

a redeeming factor about daytime TV is that the villain always pays for what he has done —and pays, and pays, and pays.

That might have been true back then, but nowadays a lot of villains end up becoming the leading men on soaps, LOL.

Thanks for posting these, @Paul Raven. They're like windows into the past, and it's great when they mention storylines that happened during periods of the show we can't see.

14 minutes ago, DeeVee said:

That might have been true back then, but nowadays a lot of villains end up becoming the leading men on soaps, LOL.

Thanks for posting these, @Paul Raven. They're like windows into the past, and it's great when they mention storylines that happened during periods of the show we can't see.

Yeah there are a few that pay but mostly dead otherwise they are the leading men and that has been a trend for like the last 3-4 decades

3 hours ago, SoapDope78 said:

Lots of celebs watch or watched soaps. Sally Field said she has watched GH since the 60's. I remember reading Soap Opera Digest that former Governor John Connally and his wife Nellie would schedule their day so they could watch As The World Turns during lunch. People said they knew not to disturb them during that time. They did that up to their deaths.

Bette Davis was a big fan of Lisa Brown and Eileen Fulton, etc. Shelby Foote a novelist who wrote the book the Civil War, which Ken Burns turned into a groundbreaking miniseries...loved ATWT and would take a writing break when it came on..he and his wife called it "Doorways," cause someone was always in a doorway eaves dropping.

Not a celebrity, but I always remember being in the third grade, where our classroom was right across from the principal's office, hearing the theme music from ATWT as the nuns and the secretaries would stop and watch it...(imagine their chatter over what Lisa or Joyce were up to..)

The whole thing about not recasting Hope as they aged up AM was dumb...I think Deas and Frankie D were less then 10 years apart and I never thought anything of it...the Lyla actress and all the Margos were the a decade apart if that. They were just too lazy to recast.

Edited 15 hours ago15 hr by Mitch64

IIRC, Buzz's real name was Frank Cooper Sr.

What i dislike is when there's two ppl with the same name with no relation. Sure its realistic but y&r having John Abbott and his lawyer John Silva was dumb. At least have one John with an "h" and they other one without. To a lesser extent when Edmund and Ed Bauer were on GL at the same time

5 hours ago, Mitch64 said:

The whole thing about not recasting Hope as they aged up AM was dumb...I think Deas and Frankie D were less then 10 years apart and I never thought anything of it...the Lyla actress and all the Margos were the a decade apart if that. They were just too lazy to recast.

Elvera Roussel who played Hope 1979-81 was born in 1948. She would have been 17 years older than Rick Hearst who was born in 1965 and 20 years older than Carl T. Evans who was born in 1968. She could have pulled it off.

Robin Mattson who played Hope 1976-1977 was born in 1954. I wonder if she could have pulled off Hope with the aging up of Alan Michael ?

15 minutes ago, SoapDope78 said:

Elvera Roussel who played Hope 1979-81 was born in 1948. She would have been 17 years older than Rick Hearst who was born in 1965 and 20 years older than Carl T. Evans who was born in 1968. She could have pulled it off.

Supposedly, Roussel was willing to come back, but they didn't want her.

There were other available soap actresses around the same age as her. There was no reason not to recast her.

I can understand not bringing Rita back because Lenore was so identified with the role, and because she was a very complex character. But Hope was a legacy character who was born on the show. There were a lot of different ways they could have gone with the character. The Dobsons didn't really get a chance to form her as an adult. Marland was not really interested in her character and wrote her mainly as a credulous dummy for much of his run. Even though it was for an exit story, Long making her an alcoholic and disillusioned with Alan could have set up years and years of story. IMO, this is one of the biggest mistakes GL made, and I think the reason they did it was because they did not want to bring the Bauers back into the story as a major family.

Edited 9 hours ago9 hr by DeeVee

8 minutes ago, DeeVee said:

Supposedly, Roussel was willing to come back, but they didn't want her.

There were other available soap actresses around the same age as her. There was no reason not to recast her.

I can understand not bringing Rita back because Lenore was so identified with the role, and because she was a very complex character. But Hope was a legacy character who was born on the show. There were a lot of different ways they could have gone with the character. The Dobsons didn't really get a chance to form her as an adult. Marland was not really interested in her character and wrote her mainly as a credulous dummy for much of his run. Even though it was for an exit story, Long making her an alcoholic and disillusioned with Alan could have set up years and years of story. IMO, this is one of the biggest mistakes GL made, and I think the reason they did it was because they did not want to bring the Bauers back into the story as a major family.

It was foolish not to bring her back. The same for Elizabeth. So much wasted storyline opportunities. Most writers are mainly concerned with creating characters of their own or casting actors they are friends with. I also hate when writers just kill off a character because they can't be bothered to write up material for them.

There always should've been room for Hope on the canvas. Especially after Maureen died. She should've stepped in as the next Bauer matriarch. The aging of Alan Michael never was a barrier to that, as others have mentioned, actors playing parents/children haven't always been a generation apart. Successive writing regimes either weren't interested or didn't see the need.

I'm less convinced when it comes to Elizabeth Spaulding. The woman was dull as dishwater.

THE JOURNAL-NEWS, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1983

Life is not all suds for writer of soap operas By LYNDA HIRSCH

On a recent Monday, L. Virginia Browne was assured by a Procter & Gamble executive that she would have a long life as “Guiding Light’s” head writer. On the following Thursday she was asked to stop down at the office before lunch, where Allen Potter told her she was fired. It was Potter’s last day as executive producer before he was to head out to fill that spot at 'Another World.” Browne called us and said she was “stunned. If I hadn’t been assured just four days earlier that they loved me and my work, loved the storyboards and the long-term plot lines, I wouldn't have been so surprised. We all assumed with a new producer coming in that things would change, so being told that everything was fine was a great relief.”

Why was Browne assured one day that she was doing well and a few days later let go? “The man who assured me that my job was safe was conspicuously absent. When I asked the others why I was let go, I was told that I was ‘too strong’ a head writer, whatever that means.”

According to Browne, under her head-writership the show had gone , from No. 7 to No. 5 in the daytime ratings. Browne, who served along with several other writers as dialoguers to Doug Marland when he was head writer of the show, took over a mere 13 weeks ago, right after Pat Falken Smith was let go. Browne said she had a conversation with Falken Smith, who told her, “At least you beat the length of my term as head writer.” Gene Palumbo, who came on with Browne to be cohead writer, is going to continue in that role.

According to Browne, she has been asked to continue working on the show’s long-term stories through July. “They may throw it out the window when I’m done with it, but I’m at least pleased that it appears I might have some say on how the show goes through July.” As for future projects, Browne says that she has a nighttime idea that is being serious connsidered, and of course she would still love to do daytime. “I truly love ‘The Guiding Light.’ I’ve worked I on other soap operas, and of course they’re all special to you, but ‘Guiding Light’ was more so than others. I loved the group of people I worked with and the characters. Although I may have been head writer for only 13 weeks, I worked on the show in a writing capacity for over a year.”

As to who decided to axe her, Browne says she’s not certain; she was unable to reach Gail Kobe, the show’s new executive producer, as Miss Kobe was on vacation before taking over her duties. The Cullitons, who served as head writers on “Texas” before that show’s demise last month, are coming over to “Guiding Light.”It would appear that life is not all suds for those working in the world of soap opera.

L Virginia Browne could have been good for SFT or ATWT but she never had a headwriting position again,