Great find! And such beautiful quality too. Interesting how the show really didn't seem to go for glossy looks in casting.

I love how dramatic this photo is:

David Birney, who appeared on The Best of Everything (I do not  know that name of his character.) has passed away.   He is a victim of Alzheimer's Disease and died on Sunday.

I've always been puzzled about David Birney and Best of Everything.

Did he actually appear or is it one of those misprints that became accepted?

Was it the case that Birney was in contract talks with CBS and not happy with what he was offered and ABC swooped in and offered him more money w/o really having a role for him,similar to what happened with Denise Alexander a few years later?

Perhaps he was placed into Best of Everything but when that show was cancelled he was switched to a World Apart to see out a year contract?

Have we ever seen anything in print from the magazines of those days that talk  about this?

I only saw The Best of Everthing once when I was on vacation in a town that had an ABC affiliate.   (My market did not carry The Best of Everything or - initially - A World Apart or All My Children).    I had not remembered (or had possibly forgotten) that Mr. Birney was listed as having joined the cast of this show after he departed from Love Is a Many Splendored Thing as the second Mark.   It seemed VERY odd to me that he would have departed a highly rated show at the time and not go to California to appear on nighttime network shows or in movies.  (I know that he appeared on the CBS comedy with Bibi Osterwald from Where the Heart Is Bridget Loves Bernie, and that show began in the fall of 1972,)  That is about all that I know of his association with The Best of Everything and the ABC nework.

 

It was my thought over the years that this show was owned by ABC (which, I think, it was along with A World Apart).   However, I have heard that there was some connecton to Twentieth-Century Fox (which had probably owned the original motion picture of the same name).  The show's executive producer (Don Wallace) and headwriter (James Lipton) worked on Twentieth-Century Fox show after the cancellation of The Best of Everything (Return to Peyton Place).  ABC had aired the primetime Peyton Place (which had been produced by Twentieth Century-Fox).

It seems to me that ABC was trying to publicize that The Best of Everything was to feature three stars from Hollywood (Gale Sondergard, Geraldine Fitzgerald, and Patty McCormick) and two stars from the popular CBS soap opera schedule (Robert Gentry from The Guiding Light and David Birney from The Best of Everything).  Harold J. Stone had played the lead on The Nurses, and Geraldine Fitzherald had appeared as a star (along with Eileen Fulton) of Our Private World, both shows having been aired by CBS.

 

A World Apart also seemed to hire a lot of soap opera veterans (some, such as James Noble, Elizabeth Lawrence, Anna Mignot and Jane White, all of whom had appeared on CBS shows) plus a lot of new comers such as Matthew Cowles, Dorothy Lyman, Susan Sarandon, Heather McRae, and Clifton Davis.

(Also, after Don Wallace and James Lipton began working on Twentieth-Century Fox's Return to Peyton Place on NBC, Katherine Glass from The Best of Everything was cast as Alison McKenzie.)

Plus, I can imagine that the show's executive story editor, Irna Phillips (also the mother of the show's creator/headwriter) would have loved having a former star of Love Is a Many Splendored Thing (the last show on which she had created for CBS) on this new show.

According to Wikipedia, the show's production company was Twentieth-Century Fox.

However, new upon reading of Wikipedia's enty on A World Apart, David Birney is listed as having played Oliver Harrell on that show.  I am probably wrong about which of the shows Mr. Birney appeared on.      I do remember that, by the time I was able to watch A World Apart on the new ABC affiliate in my market, Mr. Birney was no longer on the show.

Edited May 4, 20223 yr by danfling

THE BEST OF EVERYTHING

CAST LIST AND CHARACTER GUIDE

MARCH 30,1970-SEPTEMBER 25, 1970 ABC

NEW YORK CITY

Mrs. Bang...M'El Dowd

Anne_____ Carter...Diane Kagan                 Mike's needy, bitter, invalid wife

Mike Carter...Jean-Pierre Stewart           Married to Anne, in love with Linda

Ginny (Tate) Curtis...Gwen Mitchell            Stenographer, sympathetic ear to all

___ Dedario ???

Connie Eaton Connie Eaton             Singer

Kate Farrow...M'El Dowd             Steno pool supervisor--older tense woman

Josh Jordan                Owned the building the characters lived in

                                                ...John Rust

                                               . ..Peter Harris

Kim Jordan...Katherine Glass            Daughter of Joshua and Violet; had a crush on Dr. Eddie; dated Randy and redeemed him; blamed for the LSD tainted chocolates;

Violet___Jordan...Geraldine Fitzgerald...          Ran the apartment building with Joshua

Amanda Shalimar Key ...Gale Sondegaard          Wealthy, ruthless head editor

Dexter Key...James Davidson                  Amanda's (?grand?)son; wealthy; had a fling with April that left her pregnant until she lost the baby

Joanna Key...Bonnie Bee Buzzard           Dexter's free spirited sister

Barbara Lamont...Rochelle Olliver          Neighbor in the Jordan House; depression

Johnny Lamont...Steven Grover          Son of Barbara and Ken; ate LSD tainted chocolates

Ken Lamont...Barry Ford            Wanted to leave Barbara and get custody of Johnny

April Morrison                Stenographer-- blonde and "rattled"; had a fling with Dexter that resulted in a lost pregnancy; desired by Ed

                       ...Julie Mannix

                         . ..Susan Sullivan

Dr. Ed Perrone...Victor Arnold             Doctor, liked by Kim though he was more interested in April; shared a basement room/lab with Kim

Greg Porter Terry O'Sullivan

Fred Shalimer...James Karen               Amanda's wealthy brother

Gary Warren...???????????????????

Linda Warren...Patty MacCormack         Stenographer that was desired by Mike Carter

Mrs Wilson ???             Parents, Randy

Mr Wilson ???             Parents, Randy

Randy Wilson...Ted LePlat           Gang member/guy from the wrong side of the tracks; blonde, motorcycle riding tough guy; reformed by Kim's affection and left the gang; killed

 

 

 

 

Craig ???

Minister ???

Squirrel Gregory Rozakis                Crazy gang leader that blamed the Jordans for Randy leaving the gang; broke in and left the LSD tainted chocolates in the lab to set up Kim

 

 

 

 

 

 

??????????????????

Alex Alexander 4/1970

Robert M. "Andy" Anderson

David Birney

Jane Alice Brandon

Robert Gentry ...

Lloyd Holar

Jill Melody

Douglas Norwick

Roy Shuman

Larry Rosenthal an Emmy award winning composer was responsible for the score of Best of Everything. The show did not use organ music which was still prevalent on most soaps of the time.

Another example of the high production values the show appeared to have.

 

Only seeing her for barely a second, I already hate Kim.

Why would you hate Kim, of all the charcters?

This show was produced by the late Don Wallace.   He had extensive prior soap opera experience after having worked on The Edge of Night, From These Roots and One Life to Live.  He pioneered location shooting when he was directing The Edge of Night. 

Why was this show so unsuccessful?   (Of course, I realize that James Lipton was not known for splended writing.)  Did this show use many scenes taped on location as had been used on The Edge of Night?

Edited February 16, 20241 yr by danfling