As The World Turns Discussion Thread

[SoapDope]

I was looking at some ATWT history and one thing that I never knew about Susan. In the late 60's it said when she was pregnant with her and Dan's baby, the doctor told her that she had to stay still in bed and not walk around to prevent a miscarriage. As soon as the doctor left the room, she threw back the covers and got up bringing the miscarriage on. WOW ! It said this made viewers despise Susan. Susan thought more of her career than being a mother. 

 

Did Marie Master play the part when they did this story ?  Marie started playing Susan in 1968. 

[P.J.]

I don't find any reference to that in the ATWT book. My synopsis says Susan got pregnant to keep her marriage together in the wake of Dan's attraction to Liz. Liz (pregnant by Dan) married Paul. Dan was so upset, he got into an argument with Susan, and she fell down a flight of stairs, miscarrying. Emily seems to be born in 1971 or so.  

 

[Paul Raven]

The party would have been held April/May 81.

 

Helen would have left by then?

 

I don't believe Judge Lowell was seen any later than 1979.

 

Did Tudi Wiggins appear on ATWT?

 

[DRW50]

I wondered that about Tudi as well.

[Paul Raven]

Emily was born April 72.

That was a long time after Dan and Susan were married.late 67 or early 68.

Susan was busy in 72.She divorced Dan, gave birth to Emmily and married Bruce Baxter.

[P.J.]

 

I also forget there were other Susans. MM is the only Susan I remember.

 

Frannie and Sabrina were born Christmas Eve, 1972, correct?

[Paul Raven]

Actually Xmas 1973.

 

Jennifer and Bob were married Summer 72. I think this was after Tom and Carol who wed July 72.

[SoapDope]

I kind of wonder if the Susan miscarriage storyline is true ? Someone could have gotten confused by a storyline on another soap and wrote it as Susan. ATWT history in the late 60's and early 70's seems to be sketchy when written about in synopsis. In some places it is written Carol came on in 1970, but viewers remember her appearing in 1969.

 

There has been no footage surface from the 1968-1971 time period on the net. I would love to see the infamous Dr. Shea. My mom who was 14/15 at the time always remembers him and his son Chucky with Lisa  

[Mitch]

I wish Marland would have brought back "Chucky" (with a changed name) instead of boring Scott..as he originally intended to. That would have been great to bring back Dr.Shea too, alive and well and brought the kid up to hate his mother.

 

Wagner was gone by the time of the 25th anniversary..I think her contract ran out a week before.  Judge Lowell never appeared during the Dobsons time.

 

It was weird they didn't have Bob and Kim having an attraction to each other when she was married to Nick, who was dick.  She could have turned to her easy going friend and they could have John stirring up the past to make Nick jealous until he bites the big one. And then Kim would feel quilty and push Bob away, etc.

[vetsoapfan]

 

I have no recollection of Tudi appearing on ATWT, and her name is not listed among the show's cast members in any of the history books I have. ATWT is not listed on her imdb page, either, so I wonder if the magazine made a mistake when referring to Wiggins as a former player on the program.

[DRW50]

 

Maybe they meant she was a former CBS actress.

[SoapDope]

I went back and watched Eileen Fulton's Archives American Television interview again. I crack up at all the backstage stories from those early years of doing the show under Irna's writing. The funniest was the story of Barbara Berjer. Eileen said she was standing in the control room and Barbara was looking gorgeous. They guys were talking and said " Do you realize she's a great grandmother ? Well, we have just got to kill her. The following week she was hit by a truck. Eileen said to herself, that is not going to happen to me and she had the grandma clause in her contract. Irna tried to play the upper hand and told her she would make her a grandmother if she wanted and Eileen had the contract on her desk and would not sign if she didn't do the clause. Irna gave in.

 

Irna was a pip. She gave all her actors a hard time, especially Rosemary Prinz and Eileen. Kathryn Hays (Kim) said Irna was eccentric and the first time she met her, Irna got upset that she was doing a play. She expected KH do be Kim at all times. 

[Khan]

God knows that, by all accounts, Irna was a real character to work for, or work with.  However, I wonder whether at least some of her more bizarre behaviors wasn't a put-on.  After all, Irna might have been the "Queen of the Soaps," but she was still working in an industry dominated by men.  Ergo, maybe she saw being aggressive and eccentric as her way of ensuring that she wouldn't be second-guessed or taken advantage of by the higher-ups at the networks and the sponsors.

Edited June 14, 2018 by Khan

[amybrickwallace]

 

I don't know, but according to several ATWT cast lists, Jada Rowland played Susan while on a break from TSS. She's listed as playing the role from 1967-68, then Leslie Perkins in 1968, and finally Marie Masters in 1968. Sorry I don't have more definitive dates.

[SoapDope]

Thanks for the research. I wish we could see those years but they were tape wiped. Somebody posted 2 weeks ago on an early 1960's ATWT youtube episode that they claimed to know a CBS executive who told them that they had a entire run of vintage episodes they planned to release on DVD. I just bet.