DAYS: Behind the Scenes, Articles/Photos

[jam6242]

I believe it was Maree who was spelling her name "Marie" during that time. I think the spelling change was fairly recent.

[teplin]

What a treat it would be to see Susan Flannery and Denise Alexander for the 50th anniversary! I don't remember Heather North at all. Odds are they'd use Pamela Roylance -- if they were to give a second thought to bringing that character back, though I can't imagine they would.

Although it's been 23 years between appearances for Eve Donovan, so never say never!

Edited January 26, 2014 by teplin

[cassadine1991]

I can't believe I didn't realize the connection Heather North had to Days, I remember her from voicing Daphne in Scooby-Doo

I'm surprised Sandy, even Tommy haven't been mentioned at all, I know John Lupton died many years ago. Same goes for the other Hortons

[DRW50]

[JAS0N47]

ALLAN CHASE: THE FACTS REVEALED ABOUT THE THIRD "DAYS" CREATOR

In all my years of research, I could never connect a novelist named Allan Chase, who donated his papers to a library in Illinois, to be THE Allan Chase who helped create "Days of Our Lives." Although the library catalogue lists many books and even TV projects worked on by Chase, nothing is mentioned about "Days" in that catalogue. Thanks to a re-filing of a lawsuit filed by the executors of co-creator Irna Phillips' estate after her death, the identity of Chase became even more mysterious, when the lawsuit stated his whereabouts were no longer known as of 1976. But, now, after all these years, the 1964 "Days" proposal mentions that Chase was the novelist I had thought him to be (but could never prove).

Allan Chase led quite an interesting life. He was born in New York City on April 19, 1913. He began his career as a newspaper reporter in the early 1930's. In the 1940's, he started writing novels. Several of the books he wrote, including "Falange: The Axis Secret Army in the Americas" and "The Five Arrows", made U.S. authorities think he was a Communist, and he was brought in for official questioning on the matter on July 2, 1953, appearing before Joseph McCarthy, the famous senator who tried to out many people in the entertainment industry and elsewhere as being Communists.

In Chase's testimony, which was unsealed and released to the public 50 years after the fact in 2003, we learn a few facts about the man himself. Chase's full name is Allan Chase (he had no middle name); he was born in, as he states, "the city of New York, borough of Manhattan" and resided at the time at 725 West End Avenue in New York City. Chase was then questioned directly by Dr. J.B. Matthews: "Mr. Chase, do you believe that the FBI fakes evidence against people?" Chase replied: "No, sir." Chase then confirmed that he was a secretary of the American Committee for Spanish Freedom and stated that the organization was cited as a Communist front by the attorney general after he left the organization. He then stated he knew that he left that organization by September 12, 1945, because that was the date his daughter (Deborah) was born. Chase then admitted he was a Communist for a mere two weeks in 1934. He said "I felt like the Rabbi who wandered into a house of burlesque in Boston without knowing what he had wandered into. I saw and heard and by the time I realized what I had gotten into, I picked up my hat and feet and ran." Chase went on to state that in 1934, he was 20 years old, the US had 20 million unemployed, and he was vitally concerned with one issue at that time: the Spanish War. After Chase told the committee that he was writing an anti-Communist book, and that if he were called to testify in public session that it would ruin the book, the committee decided to not call Chase to testify publicly, and even told Chase that the testimony he gave today will not be made public. That promise, of course, was held for 50 years, until these documents (as with many government documents) were released 50 years after the fact.

After Chase's committee questioning, he became involved in the television and motion picture business and worked off-and-on in the industry from around 1953-1965. Some sources list him as the creator of the CBS soap "Valiant Lady" (which ran from 1953-1957, and in which Ted Corday directed; however other sources state that Adrian Spies was the show's creator). IMDB also lists Chase as writing episodes of "77 Sunset Strip" in 1960 and "The Defenders" in 1964. After he was named as one of the creators of "Days" in the show's proposal in late 1964, Chase seems to have then left the entertainment industry behind and went on to his next love: researching and writing books about medicine.

In his later years, Chase became focused on researching and writing about medicine. He reported and commented about medicine and public health for "Medical Tribune" from 1976-1981. He also wrote three books dealing with the subject: "The Legacy of Malthus", about scientific racism, in 1977; "Magic Shots", a history of vaccines, in 1982; and "The Truth About STD", about sexually transmitted diseases, in 1983. He was also a visiting lecturer at the University of Illinois in 1979. Near the end of his life, Chase was working on books about the history of nutrition, tuberculosis, AIDS and the legalization of drugs, and was also writing his memoir (called "The Summer of 1941"), but he passed away on June 22, 1993 before having a chance to publish any of those books. Chase was married for many years to his wife, Martha.

As Maureen Russell's 1995 book, "Days of Our Lives: A Complete History of the Long-Running Soap Opera", stated: "Allan Chase worked with Ted Corday on a number of projects in New York. He was credited in the early years of the show because he had been in on the initial planning. His input was minimal, and he is no longer credited with the show's creation." However minimal Chase's input was, it's nice to finally confirm who he was and to finally have some facts for "Days" fans to learn about this no-longer mysterious figure in "Days" history!

[DRW50]

Thanks. This is fascinating. You forget sometimes just how far and wide McCarthy's tentacles reached.

I'm sorry he never got to be interviewed about his involvement at DAYS.

[DRW50]

October 1977 Soap Opera Serials.

[teplin]

Thanks for the article. As a kid, I loved Wesley Eure and Patty Weaver -- they seemed like the root-for couple to me, I hated that the show moved them both on to other partners. You can certainly tell from the storyline recap that Bill Bell loved to delve into the psychosexual.

I had to laugh at the sentence, "Out of their mutual need, Trish and David turned to each other ..." I had a friend who used to joke that every DAYS character in the '70s used the phrase "mutual need" to explain any out-of-wedlock sexual encounter. She also used to say that, for all the audience knew, the entire DAYS cast could have been performing in wheelchairs because all we ever saw was massive closeups of faces. That's not true, of course, but I have to say I've never seen a show before or since that relied so much on screen-filling closeups. But the show was blessed with great beauties – notably Susan Hayes, Patty Weaver, Mary Frann, Deidre Hall, Suzanne Rogers – all of whom were wonderful "face actors."

[jam6242]

I enjoyed the article too. I thought this was a good group of younger characters.

Bell used to incorporate impotence a lot (in his Days stories anyway). Besides Mike, Doug was impotent with Julie after she was raped and Bob was also impotent with Julie. She was such a sensual being too. She really was frustrated when she was married to Bob! And then of course Susan Martin had the problem of being "frigid."

[DRW50]

So was he able to have sex with Linda but when he got together with Trish, not able to have sex with her? Or was this before Linda?

I end up feeling sorry for Brooke, who lost Trish's friendship because of that heat of the moment comment to Mike.

Mike being so enraged - was that unusual for him? I'm not used to reading about so much violence with the character.

At least poor Valerie got to leave with her integrity, but I wish she'd stayed.

[dc11786]

Thanks for posting this. It was an interesting read. I did like how they pointed out Trish was a bit clueless to wait five months to confirm the pregnancy.

[teplin]

IIRC, Mike eventually tried to have sex with Trish, some time after Trish & David's baby was born. Mike couldn't perform and afterward he cried on Linda's shoulder -- I can't remember why he went to the apartment of his father's mistress. Mike was doubting his masculinity -- the script danced around his fear that he might be homosexual -- and Linda took him to bed to prove he was a "real man." I can't remember the fallout -- whether Mike developed feelings for Linda, for example, or ran right back to Trish.

I don't remember Mike being angry all the time, but he certainly had his moments, especially when he found out Mickey was not his biological father. W

[DRW50]

Thanks. I think Mike and Linda were a couple at Julie and Doug's wedding, so there might have been something going on.

Had the story about his thinking he might be gay already finished by the time this story began airing (the one about the baby)?

[JackPeyton]

I wish I could see more of Brooke, Trish, Val, David and Mike. That whole set and era are so interesting to me.

[jam6242]

In recognition of Valentine's Day (I think this is from 1973):

Edited February 14, 2014 by jam6242