Hey! I actually know the guy who wrote that article (I think)! He's what we Philolexians (of "The Philolexian Society," Columbia's oldest literary society) call the Avatar, since he was the one who spearheaded the club's revival while he was an undergrad.

Good article! Thanks for sharing, Carl!

But I DO take umbrage with Sam Ford's comment. There ARE scenes in a soap opera that can be considered "pivotal."

For a while I was very confused and thought that quote was from Sam Hall.

For a while I was very confused and thought that quote was from Sam Hall.

Wait a minute---that is a quote from Sam Hall. Rereading it, I could see where that's maybe an explanation from his book about soaps in general. And in a quantitative way, I get what he's saying, especially back then when soaps moved at a snail's pace. But just because a scene isn't pivotal, doesn't mean it's unimportant.

From the A.V. Club's "Random Roles" Q&A with Mary McDonnell:

As The World Turns (1980)—“Claudia Colfax”

MM: Oh, my God! Okay, here it is: I’m going to try to do word association. I’m standing in front of a wall, a piece of a wall, with a pay phone on every episode I played, putting a dime or a quarter or something into the phone and calling the character who was the lead in the show about her baby, who I was secretly raising. But I had a boyfriend who was beating me up, so I was always in tears or, like, bruised. That’s what I remember. The other thing I remember about it was being jubilant, because I was making money, and I could actually take my boyfriend at the time out to dinner. [Laughs.]

AVC: Being that was your first on-camera role, how did you find your way onto the show?

MM: I took a class in on-camera acting… and believe me, it took me a long time to get there, because I was not a really successful acting-class girl. Not until I found the right teacher. So I would go running from acting classes after the second session. When a friend of mine tried to get me to take an on-camera class, that to me was just the worst thing. But, anyway, I did it, and the teacher was a terrific guy, still is, and he was a casting director for As The World Turns. So he recognized that I had something going on there. First he got me a day-player job for a couple of days, and then he got me the audition for this guest-star role. And that’s how it happened!

Edited November 26, 201312 yr by Vee

So, was that the woman who Barbara gave Paul to? Cool.

There's a clip of her at WLS. Or there was. I'm not sure there is now, but here's a link to a Vimeo clip.

http://vimeo.com/64524301

So funny watching these..besides the Bennet story everything they talked about was so real and naturalistic. Wedding Showers, Nancy baking for Christmas..I can see why with GH doing weird stuff and being "action," all the time this seemed weird and "old." but its kind of nice. It wasnt until Marland came back that the show was able to balance all the OTT with, Nancy looking for a serving spoon, kind of stuff and James back from the dead, etc.

Was Marland planning on writing Dana out too? All this talk of a wedding is typical Marland, "some [!@#$%^&*] is going to hit the fan soon." She got written out at Christmas. Also, it does seem as if it was Marland who was bringing back Joyce with Nancy and Chris and San Fran. Were the chem testing Kim and Grant. Dont see it happening chem wise but an interesting story for Lisa to come back and her best friends was dating her ex who she was still in love with. The wedding dream reminds me of Dark Shadows and the Josette wedding with her veil inveiling her rotted face.

There was an article - I think I might have posted it a few years ago - showing Eileen go through all the preparations in the makeup chair to play the decayed face.

I don't know how known he was for being on the show but, Tony Musante (Joe D'Angelo), passed away on Tuesday.

Short Obituary - http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/latimes/obituary.aspx?n=Tony-Musante&pid=168213616

Edited November 28, 201312 yr by Bright Eyes

He was Rose's adoptive father. He popped up mostly in 2000 and 2001. At one time they also hinted about him with Nancy, but that went nowhere.

I really liked him on Oz - that's where I most remember him from. And he had one of the grisliest deaths (he was fed bits of glass, day by day).

Sorry to hear about Tony Musante.

It's interesting and gratifying to see how pivotal Kim still was during this era, notwithstanding Dan Stewart's passing only a few months ago.

Pat Bruder cut her hair here!

It's also interesting to see Betsy interacting with the very young Andy. However, by Marland's 2nd stint I don't believe a whole lot was made between these 2 characters. What Marland did, and he did so very well, was to build the sibling relationship between Andy and Frannie. I'm not as familiar with Dobson's tenure and how much Andy was featured, except that Betsy became the heroine of the show.

Andy was still just a kid for their run and up to early Marland.

Marland seemed to deemphasize the close bond between Betsy and Kim in his second run.

Andy was still just a kid for their run and up to early Marland.

Marland seemed to deemphasize the close bond between Betsy and Kim in his second run.

I think there was a closeness still present between Kim and Betsey but their onscreen time together was definitely minimal

Yes, Lindsay Frost still has scenes with Kim and they were still close (remember the infamous, "Serving Spoon," scene someone posted earlier.) I think Marland said when he came on the show it was the "Betsy and Steve," show, and he was right. They had done everything with those two so he made them part of the ensemble not the STARS of the show which pissed of Runyeon and he left (one of the happiest soap days when he left the show...) Marland was also transitioning Kim and Bob to be new center of the show so she no longer was just "Betsy's Mom," but her own character and mom to about everyone who wasnt a Snyder.

Love the John and Kim scene. It looks like Marland was on his way to reforming John a bit...and the Dobson's kind of put him back to square one. The convo he had with Kim about Andy being too young to hold a grudge was a good lead in to his relationship with Dee, that she was so young and naive that she looked at him as a good guy and not an ass like everyone else in town. I wonder if the D's used that and not just the "Oh, my first sex experience my partner died and now I am all screwed up."

LOL at the John line..."I would be glad to talk to you about anything...even Lisa!"

Edited November 29, 201312 yr by Mitch