I think they do skim over the early years a little. I mostly remember how bright the colors seemed. Gorgeous Tina and Cord in their tight bathing suits, saving the world.

I have found Lemay's book in several libraries over the years, although rarely on sale. I love reading his thoughts about Irna Phillips and about AW fans, learning to appreciate fans, becoming hooked on writing a soap then finding it a grind. His comments on talent or lack thereof of some actors don't do a lot for me.

It was so confusing going over these many years and there was so much to learn, and yet so much you would never really understand because it was just words on a page. There were also a few occasions where characters would no longer be mentioned and I would read over and over trying to figure out where they went. For years I thought Leslie Brooks' last appearance on Y&R was stepping out of a shower, pregnant, with Lorie shocked.

Yeah, that's definitely a problem with them...

Were there ever any errors in the AMC book? I remember some said the DAYS book had errors.

Hm, I'm not sure but I think it's about time I give both books another read. I bet so many more storylines and names on the page would really pop now given our time spent in online soap communities and with the clips that have become available on YouTube. There are some really great early pics which look like press/archive stills. The OLTL one has one of Gillian Spencer Niki in her red wig having lunch with Vinny I believe.

I think there migth be a small handfull of errors in both books but, of course, I can't remember any specifics now... The way they retell the stories can be confusing too as they'll often tell a story all the way through and not show how they overlap (which would be hard to do).

I did recently go through both books, and it's true now that I know more and have seen more clips, the books are more relevent. ANd gotta love the oh so 90s glam shots of the cast with facts like the actors weight at the end (of the "current" cast).

The bios of everyone, that actually manage to make you care about each actor. That was nice. It also made me feel horrible for the actors who were fired around the time the book was published (I think Ingrid Rogers was one of them).

I also love all the backstage stories. I think the AMC book was where Julia Barr talked about the guy who played Dan Kenicott moaning backstage about how boring his character was and putting rouge on his cheeks and saying he was a puppet. He sounds like he would have been more at home on the DAYS or Y&R set...

Though no one mentions how infamously cocaine heavy the AMC set in particular was in the early 80s...

Yeah I love the random stories, etc, too--and I remember at the time feeling bad as well that a number of the actors prfiled weren't loing for the soap...

That would have been a nice memory.

Susan: We had such a wonderful day on the yacht! The sun was setting, a calm breeze kissed our faces, and <name redacted> sliced up <name redacted> with a razor blade.

I'm surprised there haven't been more gossipy soap books. I know there was Soap Opera Confidential but I never read it--and heard it was pretty unbiased. A few years back a great book devoted to the history of A Chorus Line came out and it actually devotes a chapter to their probs with cocaine behind the scenes around the same time (the Actors Guild actually ahd to come in and change some of their rules to ebb use of it before and during shows) so I think it was of course common but particularly in the New York theatre/tv scene. (How anyoen could act, let alone DANCE, on cocaine is beyond me).

I think that the soap world has a different culture, either that or someone assumes people wouldn't be interested in reading a tell-all about daytime. I've heard gossip at this board and other boards over the years, and I know that gets quite heated, but that's not from the industry itself.

I remember how surprised I was at just how detailed the Backstage History of SNL book, the one from 1985, was about the heavy cocaine use, anorexia, drinking, and out of control atmosphere was at SNL in the 70s. That book told so many tales. I never read the one that was written about 20 years later, as it said some things about cast members I really enjoyed and couldn't feel objective towards the way I did the first group (for instance, I don't want to read about Jan Hooks/Nora Dunn/Victoria Jackson hating each other, it's bad enough seeing Victoria Jackson make a fool of herself in the last 15 years and running around with a cardboard cutout of Pat Robertson).

Edited January 11, 201114 yr by CarlD2

I believe the AMC book (with GH's not long after) was the first coffee table book for a soap--and within five years I think they all got one (well not Loving/The City of course I prob woulda been the only person to buy a copy of that.)

Yeah, it was the first, and it made the NY Times Bestsellers list. I believe it cracked the top 20-25, maybe even higher.

Were there ever any errors in the AMC book? I remember some said the DAYS book had errors.

I remember a spelling error in the first edition, first printing, but it was fixed in later editions. Content wise, I'm not aware.

Yeah, like Eric, I can't remember specifics but I remember two or three grammatical errors more than content errors (what a bear of a book to proofread!), maybe referring to a character by the wrong name or a fragmented sentence once or twice.

A certain NY soap actor has spoken about her colleagues being on the ski team back in the early '80s. She shared this bad little habit and quit post haste when she received a fan letter saying something to the effect of, "Whatever you're doing lately, stop. You're becoming dead behind the eyes." Thank the Lord for that fan, sometimes that's just what we need in Life.

From the July/August 1991 Episodes. What did you think of Charles Van Eman? SOD seemed very positive about Eman as well as Michael Brainard, who were both fired not long after.

That article looks like a Playgirl spread.

I really didn't think much about him. I remember the day when he (re-)met Erica, they were at the gym and she was in spandex on one of the bikes. He was kinda flirting and giving her tips. Of course he's remembered for the Erica romance and allegedly not getting on with SL, but in my head the Charlies before and after him are more memoroable (the Julie/Nico/Cecily days and Masters of the Universe, the SORASed Secretariat P.I. version).