As The World Turns Discussion Thread

[DramatistDreamer]

There is a name drop of As The World Turns in this article but I cannot figure out whether it’s a positive or negative reference.

Truman Capote Cashed In on His Friends’ Secrets. It Cost Him Everything.

[soapfan770]

Is there a recording of this song out there somewhere? 

[Contessa Donatella]

Jeff & Penny on ATWT and Doug & Julie on DAYS are two couples who are retroactively called "supercouples". The term wasn't coined until the 80s & GH's Luke & Laura craze. 

[Contessa Donatella]

The NYT paywall defeats me & will only let me read a few paragraphs. Can anyone take pity & tell us what is said? 

[Mona Kane Croft]

Wasn't the term used in Time magazine in the article about soap operas that featured Bill and Susan Hayes on the cover?  That was around 1975-76. And if so, that wasn't likely even its first use.  I always thought the term was first used by fans of NBC daytime when Steve/Alice and Doug/Julie were at their height of popularity.  If I'm correct about that, that would have been pre-1975.  

We all need to be careful about claiming "firsts".  As I always say, just because I don't remember something before 19-whatever, doesn't mean what I remember was really the first.   

 

Edited January 27, 2024 by Mona Kane Croft

[Contessa Donatella]

I thought it was in the TIME article which is January 1976, BTW. Last week I re-read every word & it isn't. The TIME archive is well organized & very accessible. There are 3 articles. Doug & Julie on DAYS & sex & suffering in the afternoon. An overview of all soaps at that time, 2-3 sentences per show. And, an article in general about daytime. So, I went looking. And the best I could find (you know how I love research) was that it entered mainstream media in the 80s as a result of the popularity of Luke & Laura. The very next sentence talked about Jeff & Penny and Doug & Julie, and their being retroactively thus. I fully realize that many AW fans are sure that it applied to Steve & Alice but I cannot find any documentation of that. All I can find is how famous the triangle was & that in creating it Agnes saved the show. (It's so interesting to me that 2 of Irna's shows were in danger of early cancelation & both of her proteges, each saved one of them. Agnes, AW & Bill, DAYS.)

And as to firsts I just repeated what I read which said Doug on DAYS was the first live singing & of course, there's Jo on SFT before that! 

 

[wonderwoman1951]

capote link

here you go

[Contessa Donatella]

Bless you!

[danfling]

Don Scardino sang on Love Is a Many Splendored Thing.

Nancy Barrett sang on Dark Shadows.

Millette Alexander sang on The Edge of Night.

Larry Keith (and later Candice Earley) sang on All My Children.

[Contessa Donatella]

Lance Jackson who is a personal friend of Rosemary Prinz's and who has a YouTube channel of soap opera organ music found this for me. 

Please register in order to view this content

Every moment of every day is endless when you're away

Penny, Penny, I need you here

Days don't begin until you appear

Have I told you when I hold you even heaven seems near

If I lost you Penny what would I do where would I go life would be cruel

Penny hear me always be near me

Penny my world is you

Penny my world is you

Edited January 28, 2024 by Donna L. Bridges
more

[Mona Kane Croft]

The class and poignancy of As The World Turns during this era always amazes me.  The way the organ slowly joins the piano. The acting, of course. Every single thing is perfect.  

In those days, TPTB didn't worry about "chemistry" (whatever that means).  They just wrote a love story for two actors, and expected them to play it.  If two actors have chemistry, it is icing on the cake.  But if the acting is good enough, chemistry is not necessary to play out a successful love story.   

Edited January 29, 2024 by Mona Kane Croft

[Contessa Donatella]

Truly a very special time in soaps & ATWT was where it was going on. I am just so thankful that a clip like this exists on YouTube! 

[Mona Kane Croft]

Donna, have you seen the ATWT Christmas episode from the early 1960s?  The entire half-hour is just the Hughes family sitting around talking. Grandpa Hughes is featured, of course.  I don't believe the plot is furthered at all in the entire 30-minutes. Both the music and the conversation are tender.  Perhaps one of the best soap opera Christmas episodes we have available to watch, even though nothing important happens.     

[Contessa Donatella]

No! I will definitely look for it. Thanks for the heads up! Patrick Mulcahey said one of the best things about soaps is just being able to eavesdrop on people sitting talking to each other. I concur. 

[Broderick]

It couldn't be much more negative.  

Truman Capote, in his heyday, was the very "literary" author of Other Voices Other Rooms, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and In Cold Blood.  Late in his career, shortly before his death, for reasons no one really understands, he penned a volume of gossipy trash with zero literary value; it concerned the scandals of the Paley family, Gloria Vanderbilt Cooper, and other of his well-heeled Upper East Side friends.  When he published a "preview chapter" of his book in Esquire magazine in 1975, he was snubbed forevermore by all of his friends.  

The article basically says, "Capote threw away his friends and his career for a piece of garbage that had no more literary value than an As the World Turns plot summary."