BUFFALO COURIER-EXPRESS, Sunday, June 18. 1971
Buffalonian Doing Well As Soaper’ Producer By JACK ALLEN
ERWIN “NICK” Nicholson, a native of Buffalo and longtime producer of shows derogatorily referred to as “soap operas.” can build a good case for the oft-despised daytime television dramas. The Buffalo State College graduate is a former public-school teacher here. He left to find fame and fortune in New Ycrk City, some 18 years ago, and has achieved some degree of both in TV. Scorned as they are, the daytime “soaps” form the bread and butter of the CBS schedule, fulfill the daydreams of a multitude of American women, and most important, provide jobs and training for a host of promising young actors in a city shorn by Hollywood of most of its TV production.
IN THE SO-CALLED “golden days” of live TV drama, New York City was a hotbed of pretty good production, better than most of the slick videotaped output of the California studios of today. And a fellow like Nicholson has had a good part of the action in his 17 years in New York television. With CBS-TV, he held various production jobs—as production assistant, stage manager. associate director and director — with the “Lamp Unto My Feet” religious series, “Ford Star Jubilee” specials and the original live presentation of “Cinderella,” with Julie Andrews.Miss Andrews, incidentally, is shooting a new series for next fall's prime-time hours, and a former Buffalonian named Nick Vanoff is running the show.
NICK WAS A floorman at WKBW-TV studies not too many years ago, along with his brother Boris. Nick moved on to Hollywood, became a hit producer with the old “Hollywood Palace" Saturday nights on ABCTV. His show bailed out Jerry Lewis after his flop on the network, and its success as a classic variety show recovered a lot of ABC money spent on refurbishing the old Palace Theater in Los Angeles.
But this story belongs to the other Nick from Buffalo—Nicholson. He has been associated with many of the CBS daytime dramas, and joined “The Edge of Night” some six years ago. This soaper,seen at 3:30 p.m. locally on Channels 4 and 6 weekdays, is in its 17th year on CBS-TV. Nick is its producer, and the series Is shot “live” in a converted theater in Gotham.
HE IS NOT at all apologetic about it, as we found out during a visit with Nick and his people recently. “We feel very strongly about the live aspect of our show,” he said. “Just think, we do 260 halfhour live shows a year. How many Hollywood prime-time shows, with their big budgets and supposedly hot-shot performers, could stand the gaff of such a production schedule? Heads nodding in agreement belonged to Ann Flood and Teri Keane, two of the longtime and highly capable “soap” actresses, and Henry Slesar, currently head writer of the show.
“THE EDGE OF NIGHT” airs out of a studio on Sixth Ave. where “Omnibus” and “Armstrong Circle Theater” were shot. Miss Flood, who has been on “Edge” since 1962. said the crew is really on edge each day. When you shoot live on a tight time schedule there are no retakes and no videotape to be easily trimmed. “This series has never paled for me.” said the gracious lady of the daytime dramas. “I find it a daily challenge as a working actor. The rigid time schedule and the discipline make for good performers, in a training school tougher than any Hollywood can offer its newcomers. For an actor, it is a great environment.”
ANN PLAYS Nancy Karr, the pivotal character, in the suspense melodrama about criminal attorney Mike Karr and Adam Drake in the fictional Midwest city of Monticello. Actually. the opening bit shows the skyline of Cincinnati, Ohio. Donald May. who plays Adam Drake, said, “Live TV can be dangerous, but for that reason it is exciting. Sometimes we choke on a drink, or walk out of a living-room set right into a clothes closet. But viewers know it is live, and these obvious fluffs only add to the scene.” Slesar, the writer who pumps these episodes out on a hot typewriter, said, “Our time slot makes us the caboose of the daytime shows, but we’re ’way ahead on track time. Our story is planned a year in advance, like a big, complex mystery novel.
INDIVIDUAL scripts are written about three weeks ahead. There must be a strong continuity and a character memory, for daytime drama is a continuing life. “For our viewers, it is a vicarious life of great importance to them, and they take the problems of ail the characters very seriously.*’ “They sure do,” chimed in Nick. “My mother, who still lives on Kenmore Ave. in Buffalo, is my greatest critic. She and some other relatives have a regular fan club for ’Edge of Night,’ and they let me know by phone when something goes wrong.”
PROCTOR & GAMBLE owns “The Edge of Night.” as well as “Search for Tomorrow” and “Guiding Light.” The product and the housewife viewer earned the daytime dramas the “soap opera” label. How good are the actors? “We work,” said May. “We rehearse the night before an episode. Once I had a 22-minute charge to a jury, and it was a toughie. But I have few memory problems, and memorize the scripts from day to day.” Nick said, “We get from 300 to 500 letters a week. When two characters on the show celebrated a wedding anniversary-, we received 32,000 letters of congratulation for them. Five daily magazines are now devoted to daytime TV, and they boast one-half million subscribers each.” “We also have fan clubs, one prominent one in Jackson, Miss. A woman by the name of Frances Noonenhocker— that’s a real name, not a soap character*— has a newsletter about us.
“ONE TIME WE had a spy story which didn't appeal to the audience, and it was taken off in two weeks. Our time slot is a pretty good one. Why do you think President Nixon often takes the 3:30 p.m. spot for a nationwide address?” Do the sudsy- shows have to be exceptionally clean, in comparison to theater movies? “We do have censorship problems,” admitted Nick, “but perhaps not as rough as those of the prime-time people. We once lifted a line from ‘Othello,” but the P&G men said the word ‘whore’ might be all right for Shakespeare but too strong for the show. We had a battle on that line, but the soaps are becoming more frank, along with all the media. There is really no subject that is taboo today, as long as it is handled with some taste and discretion.”
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Paul Raven ·
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