As The World Turns Discussion Thread

[SoapDope]

Yes. Demond Wilson from Sanford & Son also had one. It was a classic look for many years.

Not too long ago I saw a 1971 McDonald's ad on youtube with Richard Roundtree and Marion Ramsey (from the Police Academy films). That had to be right before he did Shaft. 

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[Franko]

Intentionally bad, sleazy, or cheesy hair is one of my least favorite comedy tropes. I need to revisit American Hustle, but I recall the running gag about Bradley Cooper's perm, culminating with him at home in curlers.

[Mona Kane Croft]

He earlier played a role on Love of Life -- a more likable character and a good guy.  I think he was a doctor.  The actor was quite good in that role, so maybe he was just miscast as sullen pouty Brad.  

[SoapDope]

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[Paul Raven]

This might have been posted before, but with over  a thousand pages ...

Chicago Tribune Sun June 20 1971

From Soap to 'Lenny' Takes More Than Costume Change By Carol. Kramer

The first thing you notice about Jane House, who plays the stripper wife of Lenny Bruce in the Broadway play "Lenny," is that she is wearing only pasties and a G-string. Then, if you are familiar with television soap operas, the second thing you think is "My God, that's Liz Stewart up there!" Liz Stewart, the sweet English girl who invaded the small community of Oakdale two and a half years ago, got pregnant by one young man, married his brother, and just recently had a miscarriage, a nervous breakdown, and then, two days, after opening in "Lenny,' lost her steady, lucrative television job. That's As the World Turns, folks.

Jane, who got good reviews for "Lenny," probably won't go hungry because the producers of As the World Turns decided to end her contract. The official explanation, Jane says, was that they were having a story conference and wanted to let the character of Liz go for a while. That's all she knows. "Maybe they had some misgivings," she said in her dressing room recently. "What this play says is very different from what a soap opera says." As a matter of fact, "Lenny" and his bring-it-all-out-in-the-open attitude Is light years away from As the World Turns.

And there is Jane's image to consider. With her long, strawberry blonde hair, blue-gray eyes, and country girl freckles, she epitomized sweetness, motherhood - even if it was her brother in law's baby. She suffered from pangs of guilt constantly and gentility. Rusty, the character she portrays in "Lenny," is not like that. Her language is almost as uninhibited as Lenny's, she takes drugs, and she is far from virginal. And even though stripper should be wearing a G-string and pasties, what would the fans of Liz Stewart think?

Once, when Jane was being considered for a role in "Coming Apart," she told a fan magazine that she would appear in the nude in the film., "I got some very negative letters. ' People out there respond very negatively to nudity. I don't know what they do at night." No matter what they do at night; they won't be watching Jane in the afternoons any more. Liz was taken away to an institution in another city, according' to the story line. 

Jane has mixed feelings about leaving the soap. The money was, she admits, "fantastic," and she may have to give up her apartment because the difference in salary is enormous. But she loves the role of Rusty and says, "The play has really gotten to me. I love it." But things seem to get to 25-year-old Jane very easily. "I got too much into Liz," she says; "I was really close to her for awhile.There were a lot of things about her that I understand, like her guilt. And I also have felt her kind of craziness.

But I didn't associate well to her hose-wifeliness. I'm not really a homebody." But she disapproved of some of the things Liz did. For instance, Liz and Paul Stewart lived together for months without going to bed together. Paul was very accepting instead of having a talk with his wife about it. "I guess people do things like that but I don't want that to be real for myself." There's a lot of unreality in soap operas, Jane thinks.

"They're so restricted in what they can suggest because they're afraid of shocking people. Everything's glossed over." Nothing is glossed over in "Lenny." And the hardest scene for Jane is a very intimate love-making scene between Jane and Cliff Gorman, who plays Lenny Bruce. First of all, it's because of what she's wearing. "Sometimes I've felt a lot of terror being nude up there." Then, in the middle of the scene, Gorman talks to the audience, leaving Jane just lying there. "I feel very rejected then," she says.

' But "it's the kind of role I've been working towards." Jane majored in speech and drama at Stanford University. She worked a short time in off-off-Broadway plays before landing her As the World Turns job. She got that because Irna Phillips, creator of the soap, wanted an English girl on the show, Jane says. Jane has lived in this country since 1956. Her father is a member of the British Foreign Service.

Jane's parents met in New York, were married in Mexico, and Jane was born in Panama. When she was 2, the family moved to Bulgaria, then to Africa and, Switzerland. For a time Jane studied in a convent in Switzerland and wanted to be a nun. Now she wants to be in the movies. I can't resist -that's how the world turns..

Edited August 7, 2024 by Paul Raven

[DRW50]

It's funny you mention Ferrell and Sudeikis as Lorne Michaels, or maybe NBC, have some kind of policy about male cast members not being allowed to have mustaches or beards. The last who did were Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd. One reason may be all the wigs and makeup, but I would guess a big reason is down to the question of sleaze.

When mustaches made something of a comeback in recent years, the line was they were now for hipsters. 

One of the only politicians I've seen of late sporting one is a Republican running for the Senate in Wisconsin. On him, it's a porn look, although I guess fascist porn is a kink for many. 

When it comes to ATWT, other than Brad, I mostly associate mustaches with:

- characters who were mostly off the show by that point (Duke in his last return, and Cal Stricklyn while he was dating Susan) 

- John, who probably got away with it because he was out of the romantic leading men stage (even if he had some very strong stories at that time)

- and of course, above all else, this absolute beauty:

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[SoapDope]

LOL that is a doozy. I saw a young guy with one recently grown out thick and oversized to look like a walrus. Hipsters, douchebags, and comedians have ruined a lot of trends trying to be ironic. Some guys have a face made for a mustache (Sam Elliott, Tom Selleck, John Beck, Burt Reynolds, Eric Braeden etc...It can take faces that are a 2 to a 10. 

Re: Jane House 1971 article. It seems she doesn't have many credits at the IMDb. They stop around 1979. She may have continued doing stage work after her TV/film work. She say's that she was making good money doing ATWT. II wonder in the end did she feel she made the right decision in taking the play sacrificing a steady gig ? Irna killed the character off anyway after she fired House. 

I was looking online at a site that sells ATWT episodes and in their index they listed having an episode from 1970. Has that episode ever made it online ?  The other pre-1979 shows listed in the index are on youtube. I would LOVE to see a color episode from 1968-1973 show up. 

 

[Khan]

My dad (God rest his soul) had a 'stache when I was an infant and toddler; and let me tell you, that baby was as rich as Corinthian leather, lol.

[DRW50]

I've never seen it but others may have. The closest I've seen is one from about 1972, which was in B&W due to the condition of the tape.

Edited August 7, 2024 by DRW50

[Reverend Ruthledge]

I googled her and found out she's a theater professor in, I believe NYC. 

If you're talking about the PanicDiscoStarr website, I'm curious if anybody's ever gotten anything from there. I've contacted them several times with no response. Makes me question the validity of the site. I did hear someone (on SON, I think) say that they thought they were a legitimate business yet I've never heard from anybody actually getting a DVD from them. I'm curious if that 1970 episode exists as well. I will say that it may be just an audio recording of an episode if that matters to you. I know they list some GL episodes which are only audio recordings but they don't list them as audio recordings. That seems a bit dishonest to me. That, plus the lack of responses, makes me really question the site. Plus, they're asking for an exorbitant amount of money for material that is 90% out there in the public anyway for people to download on their own. 

Edited August 7, 2024 by Reverend Ruthledge

[SoapDope]

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I saw those 1972 episodes too. They appear to be a B&W kinescope or recorded on a early video recorder. Obsolete Video talks about early home video formats and has those machines in his studio. I bet he is sitting on some great soap material. UCLA lists early 70's ATWT & AW episodes in their catalog, but state they do not have the equipment to view them. Someone needs to point them in the direction of this guy to digitize them before they turn to dust.

Thanks for the info. I wonder if she has any copies of her ATWT work ? The website is https://www.soapdvds.com/product-page/as-the-world-turns-the-digital-collection The episode is listed as October 9, 1970. 

[wonderwoman1951]

jane house’s website 

[Franko]

Is that Anthony Holland? I remember him best as the composer in All That Jazz.

[DRW50]

I don't think so but I am not totally sure.

If she's still active I wish someone could interview her. I would like to know whether it's true that she quit or if she was fired.

And thanks for the article @Paul Raven 

I know Obsolete Video uploaded a 1978 episode. I do wonder how much else they aren't uploading.

[DRW50]

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This is so grim, much more than I had expected it to be based on the recaps. The final shot is somewhat haunting.  I don't understand who decided this was what the ATWT audience wanted to see. And all for a story that was almost immediately forgotten and a character never mentioned again. 

At least they were able to shoot it on location, which wouldn't be the case as the years passed.