Y&R: Old Articles

[Paul Raven]

I find it hard to believe that Bill would not have a say in casting. Imagine envisioning a character and then seeing them onscreen for the first time.

Either they had a crack casting director or Bill simply accepted the practice and adjusted his writing to suit the qualities he saw onscreen

[YRfan23]

Haha no problem

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 I rewatched Jeanne’s interview and her saying that gave me a laugh! Lol

[Broderick]

I expect Bill either flew out to Los Angeles (or they sent the tapes to Lake Shore Drive) when they were auditioning a character who was slated to last for years (such as Jaime Lyn Bauer, who was cast after 9 months or so as Lorie Brooks).  But Victor Newman and Kay Chancellor were initially slated for pretty short-term roles, and I doubt Bell was jumping up & down wanting to see all the applicants.  (Ditto for the boy who played Scott Adams.) 

Just my guess.   

Some of those early names from the production crew are forever stuck in my head (such as John Conboy, of course), the main director (Bill Dunlap), the set decorator (Brock Broughton), that weird trio of writers ("Eric L. Roberts", lol), the hair stylist (India Sparhawk), but when it comes to Patricia Wenig -- I never get that one right.    

[YRfan23]

Haha that’s the first I heard of Brock Broughton, I wonder if that’s how they got “Brock Reynolds” 

 

 

[Broderick]

I expect so.  I believe Brock Broughton was working on those (pretty) sets from Day One.  If not, he was there from Day Two, lol.  

[SoapDope]

Brock Broughton went on to do the sets for Dynasty in the 80's. I remember they said when they were designing the Brooks home, Broughton heard about a Victorian house being torn down and he purchased the doors, windows, staircase etc....and had it all hauled to Television City. Supposedly Kay Chancellor's home was the most expensive set at that time. 

Sandy DVore who had created many opening titles/closing credits (most famously the Partridge Family) did the Y&R opening sketches and later the Y&R logo. When he retired in 1987, they switched to live shots. I remember seeing him interviewed and they were showing his portfolio. A few pages in they showed the sketches of Snapper, Leslie, Chris etc...

Wasn't there some talk about Bill Bell having some sort live feed where he could view things in the control booth ? I want to say David Hasselhoff was discussing his Y&R days and said Bell was telling him to turn to the side, now move around etc...during his audition from his home in Chicago. 

[Broderick]

The Snapper auditions would've been something Bell definitely observed, as that was a character he intended to use for the long haul.   

[Paul Raven]

Even though Kay and Victor were short term they were very important characters and I'm sure Bill would have input -at least seeing audition tapes and having a say.

Re Victor - Eric had been working in primetime guest shots for over a decade. Were the roles becoming fewer as aged out of his 30's and there wasn't much around? 

Did his agent get a hold of the Y&R casting and suggest a few months in daytime would build the bank balance. I wonder if Eric wanted a regular nightime role? Did he have any failed pilots under his belt?

[asafi]

https://pierin26santabarbara.blogspot.com/2023/11/remembering-terry-lester-ex-mason.html?fbclid=IwAR2CI_D_AIlq7X1Wdrzp6XwK0OBcXfS4JoUeKhn9RKENX2m3k5AeipiMsgI

Remembering Terry Lester (ex Mason Capwell on "Santa Barbara") on the 20th anniversary of his passing

 

 

 

[Broderick]

If you've seen The Feud: Joan & Bette, there's a funny scene where Bette Davis, who's pretty well washed-up at that point, goes on a diatribe about how she won't do this, she won't do that, "because no one would ask Marlon Brando to do it, for God's sake".  Joan Crawford pointedly reminds her, "Brando isn't begging for a recurring role on Wagon Train, either!"  

I believe Hans was pretty much "begging for a recurring role on Wagon Train" by the time the Y&R offer came along.  In the past several years, he'd done a few sporadic guest spots here and there, and he'd been in a (terrible) "Herbie the Love Bug" movie.  He had a wife and a son by then, and I expect a few weeks of solid work sounded appealing to him.  

Ditto for Miss Cooper when John Conboy (and that female producer whose name I can never remember) called her for Kay Chancellor.  She'd had a small recurring role on Bracken's World in like 1969-1970, and  then a few sporadic guest spots, and a few solid weeks of work was probably hard to pass up! 

[SoapDope]

I wonder what technology Bell would have had in the 1970's if he was able to view what was going on in L.A. ? 

I remember Kay Alden saying she and Bell would watch the show during lunch at his home taking a break from writing. After, if there was something he did not like, he would pick up the phone and call Conboy in the control booth at CBS and blast him. 

Speaking of Alden, I loved that interview where she talked about how she met Bell when she came to interview him. She said she told him how she always would love to write a soap. He gave her some storyline worksheets/templates and told her to do those and then send them back. She said she did and a few weeks later a check showed up in her mailbox along with more worksheets. She said after a few months of back and forth of checks/worksheets being sent to her, she dropped the last batch off at his home. She was getting ready to graduate with her degree and he asked her if she was serious about writing. She said yes and he offered her a job. She said she was going to go on vacation after graduation and he shook his head and said, NO....that's not going to work. I need you here on Monday to get started. She then showed up on Monday and the typewriter was already set up ready to go.

[Broderick]

I dunno.  They didn't seem to have much in the way of technology.  Miss Alden said from about 1975 to 1979, she and Bill would write the show at his dining room table and then send it by "overnight air mail" to Los Angeles.  You'd think if they could "view" what was going on in Hollywood (aside from on the TV), they could've found a more expeditious way to ship the scripts!  

[fivethej]

What's the air date for the very first time Hope & Nikki meet?

[YRfan23]

I think it’s 10/5/93 which we don’t have yet. 

[SoapDope]

That's what I thought. Hasselhoff just said something about Bell having him move around, talk etc... while watching his audition for Snapper from his home in Chicago while talking to Conboy. I wish I could find that interview just to confirm that. 

To be honest, I think they should have kept looking at actors......LOL

I seem to remember reading Terry Lester auditioned for the role of Snapper after Espy left. Of course he was not right for the part, but they remembered him when they created Jack Abbott in 1980.

The Foster/Brooks recasts were terrible for the most part.