"Secret Storm" memories.

[DRW50]

I keep forgetting she's still alive. I'm glad she was able to honor Jose. I wish I could see her soap work.

[danfling]

Frances Sternhagen also played two roles on One Life to Live. Her son played a role on Ryan's Hope.

[edgeofnight]

Well, after meeting Frances Sternhagen the other day at the Jose ferrer First Day of Issue ceremony in NYC, I couldn't resist writing to Gary Sandy and telling him the scene that has been permanently implanted in my brain...the scene in which Ma Reddin held her son (Gary Sandy) at bay with a pitchfork.

[danfling]

Roy Winsor worked with the show up until the time that CBS purchased it (and Love of Life) from American Home Products. He may have been some type of consultant or something, but I doubt that he had much clout or that his consultations were followed.

After the cancellation of The Secret Storm, he was a headwriter (succeeding Henry Slesar) of Somerset and a co-creator and headwriter of Another Life.

Dianna Millay played Kitty Styles first. This was AFTER her two runs as Laura on Dark Shadows. Kitty was a neighbor of Laurie Stevens. I don't know if she was a widow or a never-married mother, but she had a son. Something happened in her life, and she had to leave town, so she left her son (I can't remember his name, but Jamie comes to mind). Laurie already had one son (Clay, named for Hugh Clayborn). Clay was the son of Jill and Ken Stevens. Since Jill was presumed dead (although, I understand that the show was on the verge of returning her but the cancellation came) and Ken had died. Laurie was rearing Clay. Jamie may have simply been the name of one of these performers (Jamie Grover) and not the name of the character. Kitty asked Laurie to keep her son until she returned; however, Kitty became unable to be contacted, so this was more like a desertion. Kitty later returned and was mixed up with Alan Dunbar. Diane Ladd played her after she returned. (Diane seemed younger to me.) I think that Kitty was somewhat emotionally dependent on Alan. (Their relationship sort of reminded me of Faith and Ivan Kipling on One Life to Live, although this came later and the writers could be more daring on One Life to Live. Ivan later returned with a similar character named Astrid, played by Marilyn McIntyre).

The writer of these last years was Gillian Houghton/Gabrielle Upton. I do not know exactly how she was billed. One of these is a pen named. I think that she was also a writer on The Guiding Light and Love of Life. I have heard (but do not know) that actor/writer James Houghton (from the origianal cast of Knot's Landing), but I do not know this for a fact.

I am somewhat confused about the character of Susan during the show's last years. I know that Judy Lewis left at some point. Diana van der Vlis also played Susan, but I think that this was as a temporary replacement for Miss Lewis, who returned to the show. Then Judy Lewis left (and also campaigned for the role of Nicole on The Edge of Night when Maeve McGuire was leaving the show for the first time). Then, an actress named Mary McGregor played Susan. The name of the singer who had a top 40-musical hit called Torn Between Two Lovers was also Mary McGregor, but I am not sure if this was the same person. Then, I am told that Judy Lewis replaced Mary McGregor before the cancellation.

Also, there are clips of Michael Zaslow playing Jerry Ames that have been on the internet, but his name is listed no where as having played the role.

Gillan Houghton move the show very slow, but I liked her writing. It seemed that each episode had a conclusion while remaining a serial.

I especially loved the show during the era when Terry Kiser on it (although he is not really a favorite actor). I loved Judi Rollin as Didi Clayborn and Lovelady Powell as her Aunt Birdie.

I think that the Dianna Millay appearence was during the time that Robert Costello was producing the show. Several former Dark Shadows performers were on The Secret Storm: Joel Crothers, Lovelady Powell, Jerry Lacy, Frank Shofield, and Clarice Blackburn. I don't know how many of these were hired by Mr. Costello.

The character of Alan was being recast shortly after the cancellation of Dark Shadows, and I expected that perhaps either Jonathan Frid or Louis Edmonds could have been cast in the role, but it was the primetime actor Liam Sullivan who was cast. I believe that Alan returned from being a prisoner of war in Korea. All My Children also introduced the character of Paul Martin as a former Korian p.o.w.

One of the last storylines (with Linda Purl as Doreen Post) reminded me of Dark Shadows, and I think that the show was trying to capture some of the old Dark Shadows fans. The final timeslot for The Secret Storm was the same timeslot of Dark Shadows, I believe.

I love Stephanie Braxton, but I preferred the first Laurie Hollister, Linda DeCoff. Laurie began as the other woman who broke up Ken and Jill. However, with the change in the show's ownership, CBS recast her with Miss Braxton (who had been impressive in a one-day role on Love Is a Many Splendored Thing) and the character was made a heroine.

The show was re-purchased from American Home Products. They were attempting to syndicate. I am told that my CBS affiliate, WJTV, was the first station in the country to purchase this. However, not enough stations bought this, so the cancellations plans were dropped. There was not supposed to be an end show, and the storylines were to continue through the syndicated version. With these syndication plans dropped, the writer(s) had to end the storylines fast with happy endings. Therefore, the endings seemed syrupy sweet and the last episodes are not remembered fondly.

NBC later bought the rights to both Love of Life and The Secret Storm. I recently read online that NBC was either going to revive The Secret Storm or air a new soap opera (How to Survive a Marriage) and the latter was chosen.

[DRW50]

That's fascinating stuff. I guess NBC should have revived Secret Storm, as HTSAM didn't work out.

I didn't know Judy Lewis returned to the show at the end. I thought she was gone a few years earlier. I never knew DIana van der Vlis replaced her! I would love to see that. I wasn't a huge fan of Diana Millay on Dark Shadows but I'd like to see her here, along with Diane Ladd.

Thanks for all these details. If there are any actors you want to see any articles on, let me know (if you haven't already seen them of course).

[Brent]

Linda De Coff was a far more interesting Laurie Hollister than Stephanie Braxton--couldnt' have been more different--very neurasthenic--always playing the piano--looked a bit like Jennifer Darling. Clarice Blackburn was on in Jan-March, 1970 and was a denizen of the mental home where Amy was then recuperating.

Liam Sullivan's debut as Alan was in Jan-Feb, 1971, several months before Dark Shadows ended. He was first depicted arriving on a jet, (the interior passanger compartment was his first scene).

Brent

[DRW50]

March 1974 TV Radio Mirror

[DRW50]

will be occupied by the first game show on the CBS network starting February 11.

At the time that Storm was cancelled, Jada Rowland, who played the part of Amy Britton Kincaid, was the only member of the original cast of that first fifteen-minute show back in 1952. (Storm was extended to a half-hour segment in June of 1962.) Jada was just 11 when she joined the cast to play the part of young Amy Ames. She has continued to play that role through the years with the exception of three leaves of absences - once when she was killed off, another time when she decided to leave to travel, and another time when she was replaced by Lynne Adams in the Amy role. Through the years, the part of Amy has grown from the rather secondary role of a child-part into the pivotal role on the show. As Storm ends, clearly Amy is the protagonist, pitted against the evil Belle Kincaids and Robert Landers of the world, trying to keep her family together and occasionally getting help and comfort from another favorite Storm character, Valerie Ames Northcote, Amy's stepmother and sounding board and crying shoulder. Valerie has been portrayed by Lori March since the character's introduction some ten years ago, and lately the man who played Valerie's husband was Alexander Scourby, Lori's mate in real-life for more than thirty years.

Another famous Storm player was Haila Stoddard, who played the role of Pauline Fuller Rysdale from the show's debut until 1971. Haila was a veteran of innumerable Broadway shows but it was the role of sometimes witchy but always interesting and captivating Pauline for which fans remembered her and loved her best. When Haila retired in 1971 it was with regret and with the desire to devote more of her time to her work as writer and producer. One of her smash successes as a producer was co-producing The Last Sweet Days of Isaac.

"It's just been marvelous," said Haila then. "On a TV soap series you're paid 52 weeks a year, which in the theatre is unheard of. But aside from the security I've enjoyed it thoroughly.

"For about 10 years I was the protagonist and I just loved it. I was very spoiled, self-willed, father-oriented, very frank and dashing. Fans would tell me I did all the dreadful things they want to but can't...Then after I'd been in every situation an adventurous woman could get into, they reformed me and Pauline became more difficult and less interesting. I solved it by begging them to let me do comedy, so if there's a grain of humor in any situation they let me play it. It's kept me happy and also the viewers, because it's such a relief."

Another longtime Storm favorite was Marjorie Gateson who remained on the show and was a member of the cast, like Jada and Haila since its premiere. Marjorie was the lovable old dowager Grace Tyrell, the maternal grandmother of Amy and the owner of the largest department store in Woodbridge, the setting for Storm. Marjorie, until her retirement, was a veteran of more than fifty years in show business, including the early days of Broadway and movies.

But there have been many distinguished actors who have been associated with The Secret Storm. Beautiful blond Marla Adams, who played the part of Belle Kincaid, and in real life is the mother of two children and wife of Paul Lyday. Bernard Barrow, the man who portrayed the Dan Kincaid character, who had so many roles in movies and had several degrees in the theatre. Peter Hobbs, who played the role of Peter Ames, when Storm first began back in 1952. The character of Peter was killed off in April, 1968, when it was portrayed by Larry Weber. Judy Lewis, who portrayed the role of Susan Ames Dunbar Carver, and is Loretta Young's daughter. But the list of fine actors who have contributed their talents to The Secret Storm goes on and on - June Graham, Mary Foskett, Don Galloway (now on Ironside), Diana Muldaur, nightclub and supper club singer Julie Wilson, George Reinholt, Terry O'Sullivan and Larry Luckinbill. But perhaps the most famous of the Storm performers, although she only appeared for a few sequences, was Joan Crawford.

Actually it was Joan's daughter Christina who had signed up for the Secret Storm part, playing the role of Joan Kane, an unhappy wife who was seeking a divorce. Suddenly Christina was hospitalized for major surgery, and someone had to fill in for her while she was ill. Like the truth trouper and veteran performer she is, Joan volunteered to sub for her daughter.

The Secret Storm was also the first soap opera to feature a black player. The first black on daytime TV was cast on Storm, in 1968.

When the show first began, the character of Peter Ames, the head of Tyrell Department Store in Woodbridge, was the focal point of the story, with his three children and his second wife Myra. Then the spotlight turned more frequently to the problems of Pauline Fuller Rysdale, wife of well-to-do businessman Arthur Rysdale and stepmother of young Kip. Kip as a high school student was in love with Amy and Amy with him. But the romance was thwarted because Kip had made another girl pregnant. Amy tried to forget Kip and went away to college in Woodbridge where she met and fell in love with Professor Paul Britton. When Kip was free, he re-entered Amy's romantic picture and the two were married. As in most soap opera marriages, it wasn't what it seemed it would be, and Amy longed to be free. When she and Kip divorced she married Paul Britton. Yet Paul was enticed away from Amy by newcomer Belle Clemens, a sexy blonde with a way with men. Belle was the kind of girl who always got want she wanted. She got Paul, married him, and then set her sights on another man - this time Dan Kincaid, the show's prime political material and ripe choice for governor of the state. Yet Dan was not all Belle wanted, for after their marriage, it was discovered that Dan had many underworld connections. He was sent to prison and Belle became attracted to a man many years her junior, Robert Landers. In the meantime, Amy married Dan's son, Kevin, which also complicated matters between her and Belle. Always the resourceful witch, Belle decided to blackmail Amy when, unknown to Kevin, Amy became pregnant through artificial insemination, although Kevin thought he had fathered her child.

So The Secret Storm has evolved with its focus on Amy and her problems, as offset by the evil Belle.

Of course, perhaps the most interesting plot development through the years of Secret Storm, and certainly the one which garnered the most outside publicity was the episode which involved the priest and his girlfriend. Father Reddin, played by David Gale, himself a lapsed Catholic, fell in love with young widow and mother Laurie Stevens, as played by pretty brunette Stephanie Braxton. Father Reddin eventually made the controversial decision to leave the church and marry Laurie. It was such an unusual and daring plot development that it was even covered in Time Magazine and the national news magazines. It seemed to have revived viewership in the somewhat faltering serial, and ratings had climbed after the episode started appearing. However, there are those who felt that the priest's problem was too daring for daytime TV, and some felt that this sequence only contributed in the end to the show's cancellation.

[Paul Raven]

Nice article,but they needed to brush up on their research. Amy was never killed off,Peter was not married to Myra at the debut and the show didn't start in 52!

[DRW50]

From Daytime TV. This refers to 1971.

Liam Sullivan left as Alan Dunbar on December 15. Nicholas Lewis joined in October as Tim Brannigan.

[DRW50]

July 1973 Daytime TV

Madeline Sherwood (Carmen) left in March and Frances Sternhagen (Jesse Raddin) was "killed off" April 2. Jada Rowland returned to her role, Amy Kincaid, replacing Lynne Adams, the end of April.

[danfling]

Also, concerning the article above, there had been African-American performers on The Secret Storm prior to 1968.

[danfling]

Branigan must have been the first daytime role for the late Anthony Herera (As the World Turns, Loving).

[Susan Hunter]

I'm curious about the Valerie Ames character after Peter died. Was she involved in major stories or was she more supporting?

Also was Peter's death after CBS purchased the show and started messing with things? Anyone know which writer killed him off?

[toml1962]

The article is also incorrect about the show being the first to feature a black player. In 1962, The Brighter Day made history by hiring the first African-American contract player, actor Rex Ingram, about six weeks before the show ended in 1962.

On July 12, 1965, Micki Grant debuted as Peggy Nolan on Another World.

On Edge of Night, Al Freeman Jr played Assistant DA Ben Lee from 1965 to 1967.

In 1966, Guiding Light hired THEIR first African-American contract players, Billy Dee Williams and Cecily Tyson. The roles were later recast with James Earl Jones and Ruby Dee. Jones also appeared that same year on As The World Turns.

On Another World, Lon Sutton debuted on July 25, 1968 as Peggy's husband.

Also in the middle of 1968, Love of Life hired Darlene Cotton and Lincoln Kilpatrick, and OLTL brought on Ellen Holly sometime in the fall of that same year.

Edited June 1, 2012 by toml1962