THEY SPIN THE TALES FOR SOAP OPERAS by Kathy Henderson

'It's hard to surprise a daytime audience today,'' says Douglas Marland, head writer of the CBS soap opera ''As the World Turns.'' ''They know all the formulas and are usually six feet ahead of you, but if the surprise is well thought out and justified, they love it.''

Since joining the 30-year-old series last September, Mr. Marland has created a ''boy-next-door-type'' psychotic murderer, turned a heroine into a villain and introduced a new family filled with good-looking teen-agers, one of whom is now flirting with a girl who may actually be his niece. ''You've got to be very devious to write a soap opera,'' Mr. Marland says, only half jokingly.

In addition to guile, head writers in daytime television must have enough imagination and enough discipline to fill five hours of programming every week, with no summertime reruns or hiatuses. They are a breed of writer who seem to thrive under pressure, keeping track of production requirements and supervising a staff of outline writers and dialogue writers even as they lay out plot lines six months in advance in book-length story projections. Some, like William Bell of ''The Young and the Restless'' and Wisner Washam of ''All My Children,'' stay with the same show for years; others, like Mr. Marland, who has worked on six daytime serials in 12 years, happily jump from show to show.

Recently, Mr. Marland allowed a visitor to sit in on a weekly meeting with ''As the World Turns'' executives in the CBS Broadcast Center on West 57th Street, as well as a story conference with the show's two outline writers. Before scripts are written, the week's story outlines (called ''breakdowns'') are critiqued each Wednesday by executive producer Robert Calhoun, two production officials from the network and one from Procter & Gamble, which owns ''As the World Turns'' and three other soaps. Each day's outline runs 15 pages long and is detailed enough to list the time of day of every scene.

Discussing the episodes to be shown this week, the group praised Mr. Marland's handling of confrontations between two strong-willed women characters and his development of a romantic triangle. ''I like the way we spend a lot of time on a few stories,'' said Laurence Caso, CBS director of daytime programming.

Mr. Calhoun passed around photographs of a picturesque Connecticut pond selected for location shooting of various innocent and illicit romantic scenes, including an affair that will begin on tomorrow's episode. In typical soap-opera fashion, the lovers will be caught in the act by another character.

''We don't want him voyeuring,'' Mr. Marland said. ''He stumbles upon them, turns and goes.''

''Is there a story purpose to his seeing them?'' asked Mr. Caso.

''Oh, yes,'' Mr. Marland replied, without specifying what it might be.

Technical questions abounded: What breed would be best for an attack-dog sequence? Could a young actor whose character has run away to the rodeo be taught to use a lariat? Would there be enough room on a small porch set for four actors to play a scene?

The group reached a consensus quickly on casting a major new teen-age character named Emily Stewart, who, in tomorrow's episode, has already moved to town and begun flirting with one of the show's young heartthrobs. A 22-year-old actress from California, Colleen McDermott, was chosen from six screen-tested finalists. ''She's young and green, but she's going to grow into someone special,'' said Mr. Calhoun. ''I want to get her into acting school right away.''

Later, as he and Mr. Marland watched that day's installment of ''As the World Turns,'' Mr. Marland talked about the craft of plotting a soap. ''I try to gear younger stories for summer,'' he said, to attract the college-age viewers advertisers covet. ''But I don't think young stories work unless they're contrasted to the older generations.''

Interestingly, Mr. Marland, a courtly man of 51, has developed a reputation for writing believable stories about teen-agers and was hired to give ''As the World Turns'' a younger, more exciting image. He admits accepting advice from his 20-year-old niece, Tracy, whose fantasy of falling in love with an older man became a popular plot line during Mr. Marland's tenure as head writer on ''Guiding Light'' several years ago.

His ideas for ''As the World Turns'' are fleshed out with the help of breakdown writers Garin Wolf and Caroline Franz and a team of five dialogue writers, each of whom turns out one script a week. Mr. Marland himself writes two breakdowns a week and edits every script to ensure consistency in language and tone. (Many head writers delegate the latter chore to an editor.) ''It's like you're living in three time zones,'' he says of the writing process, ''because you're watching a show at 1:30 that you wrote the outline for eight weeks earlier and edited six weeks earlier.''

Every Tuesday, Mr. Wolf and Mrs. Franz discuss a week's worth of outlines with their boss, either in an all-day telephone conference or at Mr. Marland's Federal-style home in New Canaan, Conn. The house, built in 1801 and featured in the current issue of Antiques magazine, attests to the financial rewards of reaching the top in daytime television.

A recent session began with plans for handling the death at age 79 of actor Don MacLaughlin, who had portrayed the Hughes family patriarch since the first episode of ''As the World Turns'' on April 2, 1956. ''Although there will be a six-week delay [ in the audience's learning of the death ] , we felt we must play it out, not simply stick something into existing episodes,'' Mr. Marland said. The writers discussed how each character might react to the news that ''Chris Hughes'' had died in his sleep, and Mrs. Franz suggested weaving in flashbacks from earlier installments.

The three writers then moved on to a scene-by-scene summary of the first show of the week, with special emphasis on the three opening teasers designed to grab the viewers' attention. ''An audience responds to continuity and a clear sense of direction, and I just don't think you get that without one head writer,'' Mr. Marland had said earlier. ''To me, writing by committee is horrendous.''

Mr. Marland downplays the pressure of the job, even as he methodically chain-smokes his way through a pack of cigarettes. ''Doug is an amazingly creative and energetic writer,'' says Mrs. Franz, who spent six months as co-head writer of ''As the World Turns'' in 1983. She returned to dialogue and breakdown writing after developing stress-related digestive problems. ''You have to be a workaholic to survive in this business,'' she adds. ''With 258 hours a year to fill, you gobble up stories so fast, and then they're after you to produce more and more. For me, it was not worth the agony.''

''A lot of people think that any idiot can write this stuff, but I've seen wonderful playwrights who can't do it,'' says Kathy Talbert, the manager of writer development for Procter & Gamble productions. Miss Talbert receives submissions from a thousand would-be soap writers a year and conducts twice-a-year seminars for a handful of promising candidates on one of the genre's three ''branches'': scriptwriting, breakdown writing and head writing.

''Dialogue writers have to have a terrific ear,'' Miss Talbert says. ''They've got to absorb all the characters and be able to delineate those different voices. Breakdown writers must be good at dramatic structure and pay close attention to character motivation and conflict within each scene. Head writing is a different gift - someone who can spin a story that goes on and on for months. Sometimes we think of it as the novelist of the show.''

Mr. Marland learned the craft in P.& G.'s first scriptwriting seminar in 1974, after having spent the initial half of his career as an actor. Nowadays, he insists, ''you can make a soap as realistic as you want it to be. But when you pull things out of left field, it sours the audience.'' With some pride, Mr. Marland admits to having been fired from ''General Hospital,'' which went from 12th to first in the ratings during his tenure in 1979, because he refused to break up a popular couple two months after they'd been married.

''As the World Turns'' hasn't shown a similarly dramatic ratings rise (it's currently sixth among 13 shows), but wins its second half-hour and, according to Mr. Calhoun, has been steadily increasing its share of teen-age and college viewers this year.

The relative ease of writing for a once-a-week prime-time serial holds no allure for Mr. Marland. ''I love the freedom we get in daytime, based on the fact that we have to produce it so quickly. We don't have people breathing down our backs to rewrite or tearing our work apart - because there simply isn't time.''

Mr. Marland hopes to stay with ''As the World Turns'' for another year or two, then launch a new soap. ''If you really want to tell stories that lead you to other stories, this is the only place you can do that,'' he says. ''Daytime gives you that sweeping, never-ending canvas. The people who really love it stay with it.''

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Thanks for taking the time to share that.

It's weird to read, knowing how much the writing for soaps has devolved. Does anyone for a moment believe breakdowns are still so detailed as to go to the "time of day"? ATWT regularly, gleefully, ignored "trivialities" like geography and the time-space continuum. "Time of day"? Phfft....

Sigh---I miss Doug. I'm really glad he stayed instead of developing his own show.

Didn't know where to post this chat transcript but its with Joseph Breen from May 5th, 1998 on the old SOD website:

ATWT/GL/Loving Alum Joe Breen (ex-Scott/Will/Paul)

May 5, 1998

SODhost: ATWT/Loving alum Joe Breen has just arrived! Hi, Joe! Thank you for joining us today!

JOE BREEN: Well, thank you... it's great to be here.

Marina1_98 asks: Why did you leave atwt here in Holland we still miss you on atwt the second Scott just left and we liked you much more

JOE BREEN: I was unfortunately written out of the show.

JefHamlin asks: Would Joe be willing to talk a little about when he left ATWT?

JOE BREEN: Sure.

RYaddaYadda asks: Hi Joe, welcome to the net, do you have much time to explore online?

JOE BREEN: Never done it.

jackguest_288d32911 asks: Joe, how did you train to be an actor?

JOE BREEN: Well, I started out with music and went to the Julliard school of music where I was a voice major. Then I went to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Then I got married... and that's when I really learned how to act. LOL

Maria13guest_22b932778 asks: Why did you leave Loving? I really liked you!!

JOE BREEN: I left Loving because they had written Paul into a wheelchair and they weren't going to have a miracle cure for him. Although it was my favorite of the three shows, and where I had done my best work, Doug Marland had written the role of Scott Eldridge for me over at ATWT and so I jumped over there at the end of my contract.

The_Dutch_Pooh asks: Who was your favorite co-actor/actress on ATWT?

JOE BREEN: It was not Elizabeth Hubbard [Lucinda]. I liked Allyson Rice-Taylor [ex-Connor] who was a lot of fun to work with and I liked working with Mary Kay Adams [ex-Neal].

Leighann88 asks: How do you feel about daytime t.v. in general?

JOE BREEN: Well, when I was working on daytime television, I guess I had a little bit of attitude about the work because of my training and felt that I should be doing much more dramatic serious "art." But looking back in retrospect I think daytime is a great medium for actors who want to have a steady income and fairly normal lives.

Maikeb asks: Are you still acting?

JOE BREEN: I'm not married ;-)

Mickpub asks: Hi Joe! I'd like to know what your favorite plot lines have been on each of the soaps on which you starred.

JOE BREEN: Killing Josh, trying to kill Josh... the relationship/conflict between Paul and Louie on Loving and I guess the triangle on ATWT between Scott/Tom and Lisa, which was interesting.

Jillybean848 asks: Joe... you are much missed by the ATWT viewers... any chance of a return to Oakdale?

JOE BREEN: I don't know. I'm gonna go there in the next couple of weeks and get some tape from ATWT because I'm putting together a tape of my stuff. I've had GL stuff for a while, and never thought I'd need a tape of myself to get work again. I don't want to shoot myself in the foot, but ATWT was the least favorite of the shows I did. The scenes on ATWT were very short and the actors weren't able to explore very much... the other shows took more time in the scenes and gave the actors more material to work with... but I don't know what the next step is going to be for me.

JefHamlin asks: Does Joe have a book coming out and when?

JOE BREEN: Yes he does. I haven't gotten a publisher for it yet. I haven't even sent it to agents yet. I'm working on the editing process with my sister and she's in Ireland so it takes a lot of work and phone calls. The book keeps getting bigger and bigger and needs an editor to cut it down. I think the title will change because I've seen a book in print that uses the same title, so I don't know yet.

Rclove73 asks: after coming out and saying you were positive what kind of feedback did you get and do you talk to any of your old costars anymore?

JOE BREEN: Well, I just talked to Lisa [Peluso, ex-Ava, Loving; now Lila on AW]. Show business for me, show business is very funny that way... people get close when they're working together but you don't spend a lot of time outside work socializing together. The reception you get from people when they learn you have a illness like AIDS and cancer, you get a lot of empathy but you also get a lot of pitying, sorrowful "you poor person" type of looks, which was one of the reasons I didn't want to come out in the first place. People's fears about the disease and their initial response to separate themselves.

Jillybean848 asks: Joe...there are some ATWT fans who are unable to come to the chat, and asked me to tell you how much you are an inspiration to them.

JOE BREEN: Well that's very wonderful to hear. When I was on ATWT and my illness had been disclosed, I got some very very heartfelt wonderful cards and letters from people who helped me get through some wonderful days. I wrote about some of that stuff in my book. One of the reasons I'm pursuing daytime again is to show those fans that I'm not dead and that there is life for people with AIDS and not to be so afraid of it.

Mickpub asks: Joe, do you still watch any of the soap operas you used to act on... with the obvious exception of "Loving." :.)

JOE BREEN: Well.... I've been watching a little bit of AMC because I'm in contact with Jeannie Burke who's going to be the new EP down there and was my producer at Loving and is a good friend. I did watch ATWT while I was in Maryland to see Anthony Herrera [ex-Dane; now James on ATWT] who's a good friend, from Loving... but I don't have a lot of time for TV with all the other stuff that I do.

Spunky88_88 asks: Hi Joe, what has been your proudest acting moment?"

JOE BREEN: Actually when I was trying to track down the scenes from Loving they sent me the synopses from the show. And I was looking and looking and looking for one particular scene where I'm in the hospital with my father and he tells me that I'm paralyzed... and he tells me of the ice cream I liked as a kid. It was a very emotional scene between a father and a son. I was stunned watching it. It was almost as though I didn't know the person doing the scene and I was the person doing it.

Jillybean848 asks: Joe, will we be able to see you in any show or movie soon?

JOE BREEN: Yeah, the one I'm writing in my mind.

jackguest_288d32911 asks: Do you agree with the notion that stage experience is the best training for acting, and will enable you do other media, such as TV or film?

JOE BREEN: Absolutely. The thing about working on stage is you're working in front of a live audience and it's a different audience every night so you get different reactions every night. It teaches you about timing. It teaches you to improvise if you drop a line. You are live and there is no comparison. It is by far the best way to learn how to act.

Atwtglfan asks: Do you regret not notifying TPTB at ATWT about your HIV status sooner?

JOE BREEN: If I could do it all over again, of course I would do it differently. But I was frightened by the media's reaction to AIDS and everybody's phobia about AIDS. I have three daughters and I needed, wanted to keep my job and I didn't trust what people's reactions to my situation would have been. When I read about people who have been in my situation like Arthur Ashe and Elizabeth Glazer... all these people who have been in my situation... and aware of how much we give other people power over our lives. As difficult as it was, when that article came out it took a great weight off my shoulders.

Jillybean848 asks: Joe... did you encounter more animosity from your fellow ATWT actors than you expected when the news of your HIV status was made public?

JOE BREEN: It was very interesting because when I went into Laurie Caso's office (EP at the time) and he closed the door and made it like a hush hush conversation, I knew something had gone wrong. Then he told me about the article that was going to be printed in The Enquirer. He didn't know I had the disease at the time... but when I went back and talked to my doctors and my lawyer I realized the only thing to do was to come out and say I had the HIV virus. The whole ATWT cast and crew got together -- ironically they had an HIV story playing at the time -- and I stood up and told them I had it. Of course, everyone was very empathetic, but they don't know what they're being empathetic about. People were really upset, particularly Ellen Dolan [Margo] who was playing that storyline at the time. I feel bad for the way things turned out at ATWT but it's another day, you pick up you learn you move forward...

Marina1_98 asks: How do you feel now? Here in the Netherlands all the fans are curious

JOE BREEN: Well, today I saw my doctor and I've had an undetectable viral load for over a year now... and my health is great. I'm a little on the porky side... 188 lbs, I can't stand it! I look like the Michelin Man. But my life is great, I'm very grateful for all the gifts in my life. I want to dance in the street!

Maikeb asks: How old are your children?

JOE BREEN: Caitlin is 16, Meghan is 14 and Devon is 10.

Romy_Spice108 asks: Joe......how did you get your "big" break?

JOE BREEN: I guess my "big break" was when I did a concert at the Tisch school of the arts with some other Broadway performers. Arthur Lawrence was one of the people who had been teaching these students who were graduating and he came up and asked, "Do you know who I am?" And I said, "No." And he said, "My show La Cage is on Broadway and I want you to be in the national show"... and 6 months later I was cast in La Cage that played Los Angeles. I guess that's when things went to a different level.

JefHamlin asks: Do you have any memories of Doug Marland you would like to share?

JOE BREEN: Doug Marland was a character out of a movie. He lived like a king in New Canaan, CT... and his home was beyond beautiful, very opulent with incredible antiques. He would invite me over and I'd ride up on my motorcycle or whatever I was driving and we'd have this wonderful dinner his servants would bring in. He'd smoke his Marlboros and drink his scotch and spin these wonderful tales of what he was doing. He was a very special man, a very generous man and obviously a very talented man.

Atwtglfan asks: I take it you wouldn't consider returning to ATWT if they offered you a job?

JOE BREEN: I couldn't say that. I couldn't honestly say that. I remember when I took the ATWT job. I was at a press conference at CBS with Eileen Fulton [Lisa] and Scott Holmes [Tom] and I remember saying then like an idiot that this would be my last soap opera... like I was doing them a favor... an absurd egomaniacal statement. So I can't say that. I don't know where things are with Eileen and Scott, but if I were to go back I'd like to be a bad guy. I don't want to paint ATWT as a black time in my life, because it was not. I just had a conflict with the way it was written and the ways for the actors to get into their scenes. They had huge party scenes and all these talented performers who had only one line... and going through all that for one line really wastes the muse. And if I haven't stepped in enough s--t already, just keep me talking

Never_Sad asks: Joe, where are you from?

JOE BREEN: I was born and raised in Katonah, NY in Westchester county. I used to say I was born and raised upstate because when I was growing up everyone put their nose in the air about Westchester because that's where all the rich folks lived. It was a charmed place to grow up... we grew up in a beautiful house with a huge yard and a pool and tennis courts. It would be impossible to give kids that kind of environment to grow up in unless you had a million dollars today...

Sassy_KY asks: Scott, do you get paid anything to do these chat sessions?

JOE BREEN: Yes, actually, they're putting my 3 daughters through college and they're buying me a new BMW motorcycle which I can't wait to get home and drive. And they're getting me a new apartment in Trump Plaza! No, these are done for the shows and the performers to promote shows and daytime and because the girls that work here are really cute.

Mickpub asks: What role have you never played that you would most want to play?

JOE BREEN: It's very challenging for an actor to play against his type. I could play a very good whacko... most of the people who know me would agree with that, certainly women in my life would agree with that. Dracula roles, I've heard [other people say I'd be good at.] Every actor knows that every character that exists they're capable of playing, since every character has a piece of everyone in them. When I was playing Paul S and he became paralyzed it was very important to me because my roommate had become a quadriplegic. It was important to me to portray these people with as much humanity and honesty and integrity as possible. Because you're portraying these people who are living with these illnesses, and you want to do them justice. I don't think I could portray someone who's living with AIDS because the perception is of someone who's tired and thin... sometimes you have to paint a very broad portrait of people. They did that in Amadeus where they made him a whacko... which made him human. I guess is the challenge of every actor, to play the role as the human being. So I guess it's Hamlet that I'm meant to play.

Lily625 asks: Not really a question, but a comment. Your work on Loving was terrific.

JOE BREEN: Thank you.

Atwtglfan asks: On GL you played such an interesting character. Many fans today view Sonni/Solita as one of GL's best stories, a story which you were part of (if memory serves me correctly). Could you share something about Will with us.

JOE BREEN: That was a very interesting time for me. It was great fun. Michelle Forbes [ex-Sonni/Solita] is still a great friend of mine, and a great actress. She and I were like the new kids on the block, with Robert [Newman, Josh] and Kim [Zimmer, Reva] and everyone else being the old guard. I think what made the S/S story work was it was in the middle of the writers strike. It was a very strange thing to go in and audition for a character who you have no idea what he's dog and then come back in 5 months and say, by the way you were studying to be a priest and then by the way you're Venezuelan... and I'm about as Irish Catholic as they come. Then to have scenes with my parents who were about half my size, it was pretty weird. I think it would be cool to go back to GL as Will's twin and kill Josh once and for all. Michelle had a real hard time playing these two characters. The directors really don't have a lot of time with the actors they're concentrating on how the scenes look and trying to get the show in the bag so people can go home, so the actors are really left to their own. There aren't really a lot of acting notes like on a Broadway show. Most of the acting is of their own inspiration so when you're doing two roles like Michelle was it's difficult, especially when you're there and it's 11 at night and your 15th cup of coffee isn't working and you just want to go home and walk your dog. It's very difficult to do. That was my first experience... and I think that if I hadn't said something stupid in an interview and pissed off the head writer, I think Will wouldn't have been killed off as quickly... but... she killed me.

Atwtglfan asks: Do you think daytime is more challenging than theater?

JOE BREEN: In some ways, daytime is the most challenging thing I've done, because sometimes it's fly by the seat of your pants stuff. When I did La Cage for over a year and a half and it's hard to bring something fresh to something you play that long. That's when the audience really begins to play a part in the play... whereas on daytime the audience is just watching. Daytime you learn your lines and fly by the seat of their pants and you want actors who can do that too.. not people who are saying "you didn't do that last time"... That's what makes a great ensemble. To answer the question finally in a roundabout way, yes, daytime is more challenging than theater.

Jillybean848 asks: What role did you play in LaCage?

JOE BREEN: I played Gean Michel, who was the son who comes home to tell his father George and Albin that Albin has to hit the road because Anne is coming over with her parents.

DebiNorton asks: A Comment: You are a wonderful actor and an inspiration to your fans.

JOE BREEN: Well thank you very much. Is that my daughter Meghan?

Sassy_KY asks: Joe...Are you an avid computer user or were you instructed before you began the session?

JOE BREEN: Well, I'm not typing right now... the wee people and the fairies do my typing for me.

PuppysGirl asks: Where do you plan to go with your career?

JOE BREEN: I don't know. I'm really trying to live my life one day at a time right now. My health is no longer and issue thank God. I'm strong and healthy and can look forward to what's coming down the road... because I'm living with an illness like AIDS, that will come with me, so if the daytime industry can understand it, and the Broadway people can stop being fearful of the disease, I don't know where it will go. I look forward to getting my book published, I'm working on some screenplays, my voice is developing and I'm just looking to see what is my calling and what God wants me to do. Just showing up everyday and walking around in the rain.

Maikeb asks: Do your children want to go into acting?

JOE BREEN: Oh boy! On Saturday night, I was in Norwalk HS watching my 16yr old and 14yr old perform in Bye Bye Birdie... and last year Caitlin was a hot box girl in Guys & Dolls... Devon has the bug too. Their mother does voice overs and is an actress, and they have me as their father. So they've got the bug... it's not something you want to encourage or discourage your children to do, you like to encourage them to have something to fall back on, but you want them to find bliss and do something that makes their soul sing.

Mickpub asks: Are there any other specific soaps you'd like to act on besides the ones you've already starred on in the past?

JOE BREEN: I would rather not go to California because my kids are here in Connecticut and I choose not to be separated from them. I do have very fond memories of ABC from Loving although I'm not crazy about the way they shoot the whole show... whereas P&G shoots scenes. But since I live on 57th street and ABC's right around the corner, I wouldn't have any problems you know? There seem to be a lot of good male characters on AMC, so I don't know if they'd have room for another I'm sure my daughters would like me to go on DAYS because that's what they like to watch.

Atwtglfan asks: Douglas Marland had servants?! There goes my imagine of a down-to-earth Snyder type of guy!

JOE BREEN: Oh God no... Down to Earth Snyder kind of guy with a Rolls Royce in his garage? No, he had servants.. You cannot live in the home he had in New Canaan which was out of Gone with the Wind... this palatial estate with gardens and the whole 9 yards, you don't run that yourself.

JefHamlin asks: What did you say that pissed off the GL writer, Joe?

JOE BREEN: I'd have to call Michelle. I was standing downstairs being complemented about scenes with Michelle and Pam Long was standing behind us. And I made some sort of derogatory comment about the quality of the material, even though I was being complemented. And she overheard and said, "Gee, I'm sorry you feel that way about it, Joe," and then they shot me off a cliff and found the body! Geez

Maria13guest_22b932778 asks: Do you hang with any of the Loving/The City cast??

JOE BREEN: I met Catherine Hickland [ex-Tess Wilder]. She and I did a benefit for the Cardinal Cook Hospital for children with disabilities that Pat Sellers from Soap Opera Weekly put on. She had met me at the Healing Works benefit. And I walked into all these people from soap opera world who weren't supposed to be there and they're looking at me like I'm supposed to be dead. And Pat came up with her flaming red bouffant and asked for an interview. She put out a nice interview on me and called me for payback. I sang at the benefit and met Catherine who rolled into Loving after I rolled out. I made a new friend... didn't know she was married to Michael Knight... and she's a talented performer. With the personalities of daytime people, it's difficult enough getting along with them at work, let along socializing with them outside.

SODhost: Thank you, Joe, for chatting with us today!

JOE BREEN: I'd like to thank you all for sitting in for this lovely chat. I want to thank you for your wonderful support and encouragement and your letters and your wishes for my good health which must be working so keep them up. And until we meet again, may God hold you in the hollow of his hand.

Edited May 8, 201213 yr by soapfan770

I doubt his comments had anything to do with his end on GL. The character was always on borrowed time.

The_Dutch_Pooh asks: Who was your favorite co-actor/actress on ATWT?

JOE BREEN: It was not Elizabeth Hubbard [Lucinda]. I liked Allyson Rice-Taylor [ex-Connor] who was a lot of fun to work with and I liked working with Mary Kay Adams [ex-Neal].

Not too subtle dig there. Supposedly she was very upset about playing out romantic scenes with him and not being told that he had HIV.

Does anyone remember the ATWT location shoot at the Museum of Natural History in NYC in the early 1980s? An actor was asking me about that recently and I scanned around and couldn't find those.

Does anyone remember the ATWT location shoot at the Museum of Natural History in NYC in the early 1980s? An actor was asking me about that recently and I scanned around and couldn't find those.

That had to be during the summer of 79 or 80? where Barbara is about to marry James and his brother's inlaws are tyring to prevent it from happening. One of them chases Babs through the desterted museum (doubling for a museum that James' money had started in Oakdale) Hope that helps.

That had to be during the summer of 79 or 80? where Barbara is about to marry James and his brother's inlaws are tyring to prevent it from happening. One of them chases Babs through the desterted museum (doubling for a museum that James' money had started in Oakdale) Hope that helps.

Thanks, Mitch. James came on in Feb. 1980 and they got married around August. Your info helps!

Re: Ed Kemmer (District Attorney Dick Martin)

I had the pleasure of speaking with Fran Sharon Kemmer, the widow of Ed Kemmer. The two, as you may know, met when they were both on 'The Edge of Night.' They were married on the show, but Malcolm was cheating on Cookie with Eve Morris (Constance Ford -- just before she joined Another World). When Malcolm told Eve that he was ending their affair and going back to Cookie, Eve stabbed him in the back, killing him. Cookie was tried for his murder. In real life, Fran and Ed were married in June of 1969. I remember buying a baby book and sending it to Fran when she was expecting her first baby.

Well, I had the pleasure of speaking with Fran Kemmer on the phone this morning. I had sent her the transcript of my chapter in 'Survival of Soap Opera: Transformations for a New Media Era,' in which I share my memories of 'The Edge of Night.' I mentioned in my chapter the sheer volume of dialogue that a soap actor must memorize on a daily basis, compared to a movie star who may take an entire day's worth of shooting just to film two or three pages of dialogue. Well, Fran said that she had a story that would perfectly fit into what I was referring to. Fran told me that when she was expecting her third baby, she and Ed were in a cab rushing to the hospital, but mother nature had other ideas, and it fell upon the former Buzz Corry of 'Space Patrol' to deliver his third bundle of joy in the middle of Fifth Avenue. After dropping off mother and baby to the hospital, Ed then went immediately to the ATWT studio to do a then LIVE broadcast in which he had to memorize and deliver some 32 pages of dialogue. Later on, Fran asked Ed how he could possibly do so given the circumstances. He responded by saying that he was on a 'natural high' and he gave a flawless performance as District Attorney Dick Martin that day.

Edited May 10, 201213 yr by edgeofnight

Lovely story. Thanks for sharing.

Bob and Miranda 's wedding. She was wife #4.

Thanks, Paul. I was just watching the episodes where everyone flew to Sweden and Miranda was released from prison.

According to my email there is a new ATWT streaming episode up from SoapClassics. What is the episode date?

According to my email there is a new ATWT streaming episode up from SoapClassics. What is the episode date?

March 31, 1986 I believe. I chose it because I couldn't pick which mother to feature for Mother's Day so this one has them all. Lucinda finds out Iva is Lily's birth mother.

Can anyone confirm if Peter Reckell's first scenes as Eric were at the hospital moments after Eric and Doug's father died?

June 1996 Digest