ATWT Tribute Thread

[DRW50]

Thanks, Paul Raven. Once again your knowledge of the soaps is impressive. I never knew Alma was recast. I do wonder if she was just there for a fill-in, perhaps Ethel was originally supposed to be in it? Then after this she just stopped appearing, the character I mean? I don't even remember Lisa ever mentioning her mother, alive or dead, by the time I started watching, or in the clips I've seen of Lisa from 84 on.

I'd never heard of this doctor or knew he was involved with Kim, I guess like AW in the 70s they had a lot of men coming in and out, some of them just prototypes or there to serve the plot for the main ladies and the rest was up to audience response. There didn't seem to be a lot of men with core family backgrounds or long ties in Oakdale then, just John, Bob, Dan, sometimes Don.

[FrenchFan]

I have read that William Johnstone had chosen to retire in an article. In September 1978, the Judge Lowell chose to take a trip out of town to look after a property (source: Lynda Hirsch).

John Michael Reed wrote in a September 1978 article: ATWT had written off the roles of Judge Lowell (William Johnstone), Alma Miller (Dorothy Blackburn), and Betsy Stewart (Suzanne Davidson). Joe Rothenberg had just taken over as EP and he might have ordered some change.

Ethel Remey was said in another article to have died in February 1979 in New Jersey following complications from a stroke that made her leave the role in 1978 so Dorothy Blackburn only played Alma for a couple months. Ethel had a stroke on March 1978 and Blackburn was said to only fill in for the role. In September 1978, it was probably clear that Ethel Remey would never come back and Alma was written out just like Judge Lowell.

Edited August 23, 2010 by FrenchFan

[DRW50]

Thanks, FrenchFan. I wonder if she had an actual exit or just wasn't seen again after the recast stopped airing. Nothing against Ethel Remey but I can't help thinking that a story with Lisa and her mother might have made for some good drama, if they had recast Alma again later on, especially a story where Lisa had to take care of her mother and this reminded her of some of the problems of her past.

[DRW50]

From the July 76 SOD. The cover had a few issues so I cropped some of it, sorry.

[DRW50]

Edited August 24, 2010 by CarlD2

[DRW50]

Also from July 76 SOD, Marie Masters and John Reilly in New York. Sorry about the fold in the second photo, that was an accident. You don't miss anything though.

Edited August 24, 2010 by CarlD2

[DRW50]

[DRW50]

July 76 SOD. ATWT celebrate their 20th anniversary. The day before Edge of Night had celebrated their 20th so that's why the last page has a few EON shots. Somerset also celebrated their 6th (and last as it turned out) anniversary at this time.

[Mitch]

LOL..love those pics. Fulton seems to be a funny little live wire in the Paley Center thing, but from those pictures of days past, she seemed to be believing she WAS Lisa and a STAR....a tiara???(hopefully it was done with irony, but it doesn't seem that way. )

Which was the more popular Dan, Colenbeck or the Reilly guy (I always thought Colenbeck was kinda hot, wonder what happened to him.) However, from these pictures I can see why they made Ellen Stewart wear that severe old lady bun...she looked the same age as he TV son!

Seeing these pictures make me sad. I hope all our vets invested wisely..it seems a shame that they gave a good chunk of their lives working on this show and now they have no income at all. Hastings and Hays seem level headed, but poor Fulton, I hope she didnt spend it all on tiaras and marrying gigilo/composers. She seemed to be a perfect choice to host a bad talk show, (ala the Felicia Gallant actress) or have a QVC line, I wonder why she didnt do something like that, a cosmetics line geared towards more mature ladies...("Girls take it from daytimes original vixen...you can still look glam and sexy in your 50's , 60's and beyond!" )

The 20th anniversary pics are interesting...just five short years later Wagner will leave the show and most of those people were already gone.

[dragonflies]

Wasn't sure if I should put this in this thread, CZP tweeted this:

[DRW50]

Thanks for commenting, Mitch. I know what you mean about feeling kind of sad but I do like seeing the photos, mostly as a record of things past when the show had such a bright future, and a reminder of how long it managed to last in spite of a lot of odds against it. It's also kind of interesting to see just how much glamour a somewhat creaky old show had -- I can't really see the one who plays Allison (no offense to her) doing a big fashion spread.

I think Fulton might have known it was a joke, based on that outtake in the fashion spread where she's laughing, but who knows. I didn't even notice the tiara until you mentioned it

I don't know who was more popular of the Dans. I get the feeling that Colenback was more establishment while Reilly was a bit edgier and not the usual P&G leading man. Some of the fans I know who were watching back then still remember Reilly very clearly, so he must have made an impression.

Edited August 24, 2010 by CarlD2

[Mitch]

I don't know, some of those old photos I see of Fulton, looked so "staged," as she has the practiced smile and stance..I always see her taking herself VERY seriously, while laughing at everything else (though I do remember an article in National Lampoon where she was complaining that the CBS dressing rooms were so cold her nipples were turning blue, and a picture of her in full Lisa regalis, fur coat and wearing oven mits she slipped under the coat to keep her nipples warm...weird thing but pretty funny.) I know there is a picture in her book (yea, I read it, I am a total dork, but it has some good backstage gossip) of her going down to buy her parents a house, and there she is, in some podunk airport, getting off the plane like she was Joan Crawford or something, wearing a fur coat, holding a little peckinese to her face, as she smiles directly to the camera while her parents, are on either side, smiling adoringly at her. I remember thinking how the hell long it must have taken to pose that and what a pain in the ass it would be to have an actor/performer/star/celebrity in the family. "Eileen, can you just get off the f*cking plane and get in the damn car so we can go get something to eat!" I do know in some interview Helen Wagner said how Eileen was really, really into the whole being a star and glam, and being a celebrity, and like Lisa, and she was practically rolling her eyes when she said it!

I wonder what happened to Colenback ( I had a baby fag crush on him, and I do mean baby, I had to have been like eight at the oldest) and other stars of that era. And really, was there anyone on earth who, even in 1972, not known that Dennis Cooney guy was gay..he was flaming in those pictures and came to the event with his mom and his little fru-fru dog!! LOL!!!

Edited August 24, 2010 by Mitch

[DRW50]

Those are interesting stories about Eileen. Do you remember any of the gossip in the book?

Thanks again for commenting on the photos and all that.

[Mitch]

She talks about a "producer," who must have been Mary Ellison-Bunim leaning back in her chair, with a glass of wine, saying, "Eileen, I have come up with a great plan, we are going to phase out the old people while bringing in new, young exciting characters. We will do it slowly and the young people will be so dynamic no one will notice until they are gone."(like that would be a new plan???) And Fulton was thinking "Uh, you do know I am one of the old people you are considering getting rid of," (which must have been Bunims way of saying, "Watch out in negotiations," and other stuff like the guy who died of a drug ovedose one of the Snyder guys she talks about. Actaully on thinking about it, it wasnt that good, I would like to read about how the cast felt with the Dobsons came in, and the changes that took place during that period into the stability of the Marland era.

[DRW50]

Thanks. I guess Goutman was more clever -- he phased in new people while still keeping the old ones around while barely using them. I know some might say Eileen was lucky to have a job these past ten or fifteen years when her character was rarely utilized, and I would agree to a point, but I still hope she tells some stories eventually about the ridiculousness of her position over the past decade. I really think if they had made even a small effort with Lisa she would have been an asset to the show.