As The World Turns Discussion Thread

[LoyaltoAMC]

Thanks for that article, Carl. It's obvious that Fulton was their "Susan Lucci" back in the day. Love how she's the only one who gets multiple pics. I didn't even recognize Marie Masters. Looks nothing like how most of us probably remember her. Barbara Berjer looks so regal. Huge difference from her look as Bridget on AW.

[Mitch]

She was VERY boring. She came in during the writers strike and at very weird time for ATWT, the Dobson's had started gutting the Hughes family, obscuring Lisa, etc, Wagner left, and then the Dobons's either got fired or left, their was a writers strike and then they didnt come back but some really bad ones did. That summer there were tons of new faces without connections to anyone at all, and a "drug," storyline. The Dobsons came back, got rid of the new faces and killed boring Connie off. Connie by the way was killed by one of Mr. Big's henchmen.

[Mitch]

That was back in Lisa's "hey day," when she was the conflicted bad girl, who finally (as Irna was wont do to) "punished," by being blackmailed into marriage by a man even worse then her..(to of course, save her own son.) I think was the turning point of Lisa from villainess to a sometimes bitchy but loving woman who began to learn from her mistakes.

John Colenbeck was hot, and speaking of Michael Shea, I wonder what happened to the actor and why they never had him "return from the dead," to terrorize all and sundry. He was the Roger/John/James of his day.

Wow, Rosemary Prinz seemed a bit full of herself. I guess this was back in the day that an offhanded "nazi," comment didnt bring out the wrath in people like it should.

[DRW50]

1967 Who's Who in Daytime TV.

[DRW50]

I don't know some of the people in the last 2. Do you?

[tune_in_tomorrow]

I didn't watch ATWT during this era but after researching a bit, I wondered the same thing. It seemed to be a revolving door of actresses for roles that could have set the foundation for the next generation. I didn't follow the comings and goings of the executives and maybe it was just a matter of who they liked, but surely they could have found stability with somebody. No reason why the Stewarts couldn't have been a viable core family well into the future.

I'm sure this has been discussed before in this thread, but the Stewart family never made sense to me during the time I watched the show in the late '80s. Annie and Dee were gone, but Betsy was still there played by Lindsay Frost. I was 20 years old and I figured Betsy would have been close to 30. Ellen appeared to be early 50s. You'd look at them and think "mother and daughter." I was quite surprised when I learned Ellen was supposed to be Betsy's grandmother! Susan wasn't on the show during that time and I didn't know Betsy's history. That was my first introduction to the fast and loose aging on soaps.

[jam6242]

Yes, I've been enjoying your scans! You have posted some of my favorites already, Judith McConnell, Rita McLaughlin, Eileen Fulton, etc. I appreciate anything you put up. I always seemed to favor the Stewart family. Some of my other favorites are James Douglas & Barbara Rodell (Grant & Lisa Coleman), Lisa Brown (Iva Snyder), Renee Props (Ellie Snyder), Kate McNeil (Karen Haines), and Judith Blazer (Ariel Aldrin).

[DRW50]

OK - when I find any of that I'll scan it for you.

[Paul Raven]

So in 67 Paul O'Keefe was playing Tom who should have been 6 years old and John Colenbeck was Dan who should have been 9. But by 69 Peter lLnk was Tom and the actor was 24!! Irna loved her SORAS but it did damage the show long term. I guess they wanted characters in their 20's ties to the core, as by 67 or so the original young characters-Bob,Ellen and Penny were now 10 years older and had been through a lot of story,but to SORAS the children put everything off kilter.

This is an issue every soap faces after the first decade or so.ATWT had previously brought in the character of Judy English,Claire's niece from England to provide a new young character (and capitalize on the British Invasion fad) but the character went nowhere.

Secret Storm did the right thing by having Amy be only 6 or so in the beginning so she would be a teen when the original younger characters had aged a bit.

Maybe the Hughes and Lowells needed some younger siblings to come of age in the mid 60's...

[DRW50]

So Paul O'Keefe was playing Tom? Did they hire him because he'd been on the Patty Duke Show? That's kind of rare for someone from a popular sitcom to then be almost immediately given a fairly major role in the nation's most popular soap. I guess he didn't last long?

Who was the younger boy? Was that Chucky? Or one of Paul or Dan?

I never knew that there was a Judy English. They should have kept her instead of aging Annie and Dee. AW had the same problem with short-lived Diana Frame. What stories did Judy have?

Do you know who Ethel Everett, Stephen Mines, Anna Minot, and Martin Rudy played? Was Jada the first Susan Stewart? I can't remember.

[Paul Raven]

Stephen Mines was Paul,Anna Minot and Martin Rudy were Martha and Carl Wilson,Sandy's parents.Jada was the third Susan. Not sure about Ethel Everett.

Paul O'Keefe also played Dan earlier on.

Alice and Debbie Whipple,Donald Hughes' stepdaughters were also SORASed and brought on in the mid 60's to boost the teen set for a while.Leslie Charleson played Alice in 66.

[DRW50]

Thanks. So O'Keefe was on the show twice? Did he ever do anything as the characters or were they just filler?

I didn't know Sandy's parents were on the show (I guess they were gone by the time Barbara Rucker played the role).

I remember Leslie Charleson saying she quit almost immediately because they wanted her to sign a long contract. I guess the Whipples were the girls who were out of control (or one was anyway) and Nancy didn't like the mother, right? Janice, I think.

[Paul Raven]

Sandy's parents were around until about 1970.I imagine they were recurring players.

Alice and Debbie were first seen in 1962,Debbie was played by June Harding and Kimetha Laura and Alice by Jean McClintock.This coincided with Janice Turner Whipple returning to Oakdale,now a widow. She had departed in 1957 and in 5 years SORAS had given her two teenage daughters.Alice developed a crush on Don,while Debbie was the party girl who resented Don.Debbie was sent away to boarding school.

Nancy was cool to Janice and a rift developed between her and Don,so he and Janice married and moved to Arizona.Richard Holland had played Don through all of this and was replaced in 62 by James Noble,who later played the governor in Benson.

Janice,who was played by Joyce van Patten earlier was now played by Virginia Dwyer,who went on to play Mary Matthews on AW. Janice was always older than Don.

In late 65/66 Don returned recently widowed returned and pursued Ellen again (he had romanced her in the 50's).Ellen was at this stage,close to David. This was when Alice was on again. I guess she was sent off to live with Janice's mom and never mentioned again. I think this was a waste of good story opportunity as Alice and Debbie could have become an integral part of the Hughes family.

Don,now Peter Brandon,would stay until 72 and get involved with Sara Fuller and her daughter Amanda.Sara would die in 67. Don doesn't seem to have much to do until an involvement with Lisa in the early 70's.

As for Paul O'Keefe,i guess Tom would have a bit to do as Tom had to deal with a stepmother in Sandyand his mom marrying Michael Shea and having a son.

[DRW50]

Thanks for all the extra information. I guess O'Keefe was after the boy in the episode where Tommy talks to Grandpa Hughes and then Bob. I thought he was a good little actor. Perhaps they should have kept him around. That ATWT tribute book last year interviewed Don Hastings about all the Toms. I'll have to read that part again.

They should have had Don return as a widower and pursue Ellen in the early 90s.

Why do you think Don never really clicked as a character?

[Michael]

When did Don last appear? When was he last mentioned on the show? They must have at least mentioned him when Teddy/Ryder showed up in the mid-90s, right?