Y&R: Old Articles

[FrenchFan]

Are these scripts donated available for the public ?

[mikelyons]

Only if you make the trek to UCLA. I've heard of folks getting scrips scanned and emailed to them from UCLA, but you might want to see what their policies are right now. Since I live in Los Angeles, it's easier to go to the archive when necessary. 

[Paul Raven]

According to Jason 47's site, Bill Bell's tenure as headwriter finished 6th May 1975, about 2 years after Y&R began.

Due to contract issues I believe he was obligated to continue at Days for those two years but Pat Falken Smith was de facto headwriter and continued on till 77. But the UCLA collection points to Bell still being involved  up till 78.

Very confusing!!

PF Smith didn't start at GH until 79, replacing Doug Marland.

[mikelyons]

That timeline seems accurate to me. Maybe Screen Gems/Corday didn't want him to leave DAYS & sweetened the pot for long term story projects.

This may not be appropriate for this thread, but I saw a letter from Bill Rega congratulating Bill on the first hour long episode of DAYS in autumn of 1974. Do we know if Bill wrote that for sure?

[Paul Raven]

When did Katherine come to being referred by that name?

My recollections are that Phillip always referred to her as Kay as did Jill for some time. She was always Duchess or Mother to Brock.

Liz called her Mrs Chancellor for years and then later  Katherine.

Did Derek call her Kay? What about other characters from the 70's? Would Lorie for example have called her Kay in her chats with Phillip?

I get the feeling that Victor and Nikki always used Katherine.

Was that change deliberate to redefine the character?

Or did one character decide to refer to her as Katherine and it just became commonplace?

 

Similarly, Liz Foster is always referred to that way but I don;t recall anyone addressing her that way on the show Katherine called her Elizabeth as did John Abbott. Did Stuart use Liz?

 

[will81]

Not sure, I get the feeling she was Mrs. Chancellor to almost everyone but someone on her status level or a romantic partner. So maybe Derek called her Kay and I would suggest Bill Foster would have, I think she would have insisted, she was trying to build a romance with him. I think Lorie would have referred to her as Mrs Chancellor or old lady Chancellor or Mrs C. but I doubt she used Kay or Katherine. I don't know why, but it seems odd she would call her Kay.

 

I think once Jill was married to John she sometimes called her Kay, sometimes Mrs. Chancellor. Once the divorce proceedings began and especially after they ended, I think Jill only called her Kay or Katherine.

[FrenchFan]

 

Lucky you. It's a bit far from France ahah. I wish I could spend days there to read it !

I read that some archives were scanned to be online. I hope in the future they will scan the Bill Bell archives. It would be a delight !

[yrfan1983]

Quick Nikki/Lorie promo from May ‘82 at 38:00 - haven’t seen this before

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Edit: a different source gives an exact date of 6/4/82

Edited May 22, 2020 by yrfan1983

[Legacy]

Interesting this was leading up to Lorie goodbye from GC, i never seen this either.

[will81]

On Jason47's site he has other credits for Bill Bell

 

Story By - May 7, 1975 - Aug 1977

Story Consultant - Aug 1977 - Apr 13, 1978

 

This covers all the scripts donated. I assume once he became story consultant, he wasn't doing much of anything on the show. The story by credit suggests he was a lot more involved during that period.

[Albert]

My recollection is Derek Thurston picked up on calling her Katherine. I believe it was mentioned in a Soap Opera digest issue in the late 70s.

[Chris B]

Seeing that Lorie/Nikki clip reminds me of how horrible her return was in 2001 or 2002. It’s insane to think writers who knew Lorie could write such a bad and forgettable story for such an important character. I remember she had this weird husband played by Sam Behrens and it was just so low stakes. After seeing her tear it up as Laura on DAYS it was confusing to watch, especially now knowing what a vivacious character Lorie was. 
 

I feel it would’ve been easy to use Lorie to bring back Brooks (the son) and through the two of them they couldve reintegrated that family into the show. It’s a shame considering that was our last real chance to have Lorie And the Brooks family back and they blew it. 

[Paul Raven]

Thanks for that I had that feeling also.

I imagine it was along the lines of Derek boosting her self esteem . 

 

Katherine - Derek. I am very much aware of how the world sees me.It's how I see myself- oh yes, Kay Chancellor - a drunk, a woman who has nothing so gives nothing. A shell.

 

Derek - No, that's not  what I see. I see a a beautiful lady with so much to give, if she would just give to herself. Gift yourself with light - a belief that under that damaged shell is another woman -yes, she's a little battered and bruised but ready to emerge from that shell  bursting with life force.

 

Katherine - Do you really believe that - believe in me?

 

Derek - I do and I want to be beside you on this journey. Not with Kay Chancellor - we'll leave her behind with her sorrows and regrets -but with...Katherine Chancellor!

 

Katherine - (hesitantly) ... Katherine Chancellor...Katherine..(hands fluttering she stared into the distance)

[Legacy]

Lorie brooks 2002 appearance wasn't as bad as her more recent appearance in 2018 with her sister leslie, I was mortified that they brang back 2 originals from the beginning to come back and argue with jill smh they definitely more then blew it

 

Im not saying the whole episode needed to be just about Lorie a d leslie but damn they could have had them interact with more cast members, they could have had them both show up at the hospital to check on victor or maybe bump into jack and meet his brother billy and son kyle. There was soo much opportunity but whatever lol

 

On Another note yes your right that random marriage she was involved with in 2002, it just all seemed like fuller material just to bring her back when they could have done that one better.

[Broderick]

 

Same here.  I credit Derek Thurston and Nikki Reed for it.   

 

Phillip always called her Kay.  She generally always referred to herself as Kay.  ("Yes, hello, this is Kay Chancellor.  I would like to speak with the manager, please.")  There's a scene from 1975 on You Tube where she refers to herself as "Katherine", but that was EXTREMELY rare.   It was when Phillip presented her with the divorce papers.  She said, "You come waltzing in here and say, 'Here, Katherine.  Sign these papers, Katherine."  She almost NEVER referred to herself as Katherine, just as Kay.  In fact, in the closing credits, she was referred to as "Kay Chancellor -- Jeanne Cooper", up until about 1983, except for a brief period in the late 1970s when she was referred to in the closing credits as "Kay Chancellor Thurston -- Jeanne Cooper".  That's why so many of us call her "Kay" to this day; that's all we knew her as for YEARS.  The other characters in her orbit (Liz Foster, Jill, Snapper, Greg) --- they all called her "Mrs. Chancellor".  

 

After Phillip died from the car crash, Jill of course began to hate Kay's guts.   That's when Brenda Dickson began referring to her as "Kay" rather than as "Mrs. Chancellor".   ("I hope that I never see you again, KAY!  You KILLED my husband!")

 

Derek Thurston started out calling her "Mrs. Chancellor" when he first began doing her hair.  But after she tricked him into marrying her (lol), he began calling her "Kay".  After a few months, he started alternating between "Kay" and "Katherine".  He was the first character that I can recall who consistently referred to her as "Katherine", although he threw in a "Kay" or two for every "Katherine". 

 

Then Nikki came along in about 1981, and she always referred to Kay as "Katherine".  I don't know if it was written in the script that way, or if that's just what Melody Thomas felt comfortable saying.  But Nikki always called her "Katherine".  

 

Deborah Adair's Jill Foster normally said "Kay".  When Brenda Dickson returned for her second run in 1983, she said whatever she felt like saying.  Sometimes she'd curl up her lips and say, "Kay."  Other times she would swivel her hips, stick out her bosoms, look haughtily towards the cue cards and say, "COTH-ER-YN".  This was when Brenda had begun transitioning herself into Alexis Carrington from Dynasty.  

 

Victor Newman called her "Mrs. Thurston" to her face, but when he spoke of her behind her back to Douglas Austin or Nikki Reed, he'd say, "I saw Kay Chancellor earlier today."  

 

The Abbott kids (Terry Lester's Jack and Eileen Davidson's Ashley) always referred to her as "Kay".  [Kay was Ashley's godmother.]  Dina Abbott Mergeron usually said "Kay".  John Abbott sometimes said "Kay" and other times said "Katherine".    

 

In about 1987, Jess Walton joined the show, and she ALWAYS said "Katherine".  And that's when it became pretty uniform throughout the cast.   Since Jess Walton and Melody Thomas were both doing it, seemed like everyone started doing it.   But even until Jeanne Cooper's death, we'd still occasionally hear Tracey Bregman's Lauren refer to her as "Kay", or Eileen Davidson's Ashley refer to her as "Kay", because both of those actresses had been around since the early 1980s, and they both knew that their characters were supposed to call her Kay.