Soap Opera Feuds

[MissLlanviewPA]

It is hilarious, though, because in 1981, when Carrie first came on the show (played by Andrea Barber--Kimmy from Full House), Mike was a grown man (although I think he was born in 1967) who had already lost his first wife (Margo) to leukemia. He was deSORASED enough later on though where pairing him with Carrie didn't look so weird.

And hey--I think he's kind of hot! But then again, I think men usually look better as they age.

This is kind of awkward, though:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oR--ZMniPM

[vetsoapfan]

I have a lot of sympathy for Ellen Holly and her battles at OLTL. She writes extensively in her book about the racism and unfair treatment she was subjected to. While I am the first to be appalled at how the network and certain producers (Paul Roach, cough, cough) treated her, she did exhibit a rather unfair attitude towards co-workers, which could have exacerbated the problem.

She (rightfully) complains about the low salary she was paid for many years, indicating that it was significantly less than what the white performers were getting. But even the white actors were nickel and dimed. Original cast member Doris Belack (ex-Anna Wolek Craig) quit over being paid peanuts, as did hearththrob Tom Berenger (ex-Tim Siegal) and even stars like Erika Slezak (Viki Lord Riley) endured poor compensation for her work during the 1970s (the period Holly mainly complained about). The only white actors who enjoyed a high salary at that time, thanks to the network which was desperate to get them to help boost the sagging ratings, were George Reinholt and Jacquie Courtney (ex-Tony Lord and Pat Kendall). At contract negotiation time, in the mid 1970s, Slezak's manager asked the network for a raise to bring  her salary closer to what what Reinholt and Courtney were getting, and was firmly turned down. She was told she'd have to continue with her meager pay or be shown the door. So it was not just a case of Holly been paid poorly because of her race. The network paid almost everyone badly.

Holly was also furious (and I don't blame her) when the network kicked her out of her own dressing room without notice, in order to give it to Jacquie Courtney. Even if ABC wanted to "roll out the red carpet" for their new actress, they could have arranged for the actresses to share, rather than have Holly dumped into the extras' dressing area.

Later, the show hired a dreadful, pompous actor to play Holly's new leading man, much to her agony. His incompetence showed on screen and he was eventually fired (thank God, watching his pomposity was unbearable), but while working with this co-star whom she couldn't stand, Holly criticized Jacquie Courtney's being given hair and make-up attention from the staff, during the period of Holly's on-screen wedding (when she wanted the extra help to look her best). While her ire may be understandable, it was beyond Courtney's powers to assign herself a dressing room and kick out the previous occupant, or command the hair and make-up people to attend only to her. Holly's snippy, condescending comments about Courtney's acting during this period were uncalled for, IMHO.

Annoyed at having to work with an "actor" who made her life miserable, Holly also become vexed when Courtney's original on-screen pairing (probably with Clint Ritchie) didn't work out, and the show "dumped" him "on someone else" (probably Erika Slezak).

Holly even admits to becoming so enraged backstage at one point, that she lunged at a crew member's throat.

What a mess the show must have been backstage at the time. While Holly laments the loss of a steady paycheck and job security when Paul Rauch fired her (after 17 years as Carla "Clara" Gray), getting out of a difficult, sometimes toxic working environment may have saved her mental health, if nothing else.

[DRW50]

That's pretty sobering stuff. I hadn't read her book so didn't know things had become so extreme.

It's a shame that those who built OLTL were never rewarded for it. In some ways it seems similar to Y&R, and both shows seemed to have toxic backstage atmospheres for some time.

[vetsoapfan]

Hi, Carl.In a letter from Agnes Nixon, which Holly quoted in her book, Nixon commented she was acquainted with Paul Rauch, and that nothing he did would surprise her.Rauch's reputation precedes him, and the stories of his behavior towards certain individuals are infamous.Lillian Hayman was a beloved original cast member of OLTL, playing the nurturing, stable Sadie Gray since the beginning, but one day after work, as she was in the parking lot heading for her car, Rauch dispatched an office messenger to run after her, and tell Hayman that she was being fired immediately; the day she had just worked would be her last. When Nixon tried to intervene, Rauch callously suggested that if he were to keep Hayman on, he'd only pay her a few hundred dollars a month for occasional bit appearances. She ended up leaving, of course, much to the show's detriment.But regardless of how Holly felt, I doubt it was a matter of racial bigotry. Paul Rauch, the network, and many daytime executives on all networks treated EVERYBODY badly. Even the beloved Jacquie Courtney, whom ABC had bent over backwards to get at a high salary in 1975, got unceremoniously dumped, without even a "goodbye" scene for her character, when Rauch was being hired to take over the show. And when he did become producer, Rauch hacked away at half the cast, black and white. He dismantled and crippled the show in many ways.

[vetsoapfan]

[DRW50]

The stories about Rauch are alwayas horrifying. I don't know if it sounds that happy in the 70's either. It sounds like the show had a lot of turmoil after Doris Quinlan was fired, although people seemed to respect Gordon Russell (can't remember who the producer was - wasn't he just the head writer?).

[John]

Gordon Russell was HW. Quinlan was replaced by Joe Stuart who slezak said didnt listen to actors then he was replaced in 83 by Jean Arley who Rauch replaced in 84. He was replaced by Gottlieb in 91

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Life_to_Live#Executive_producers_and_head_writers

[Sedrick]

I think it does a disservice to Miss Holly to just dismiss her claims of being the victim of racism so casually. When you experience the ugly treatment and nastiness of racism, it's unmistakable. And especially back in the days she was speaking of, it was not hidden, and equality, while achieved in the courts and law, did not just erase the horrors of racism instantly from society. Yes all the actors were paid poorly. BUT Holly was paid even less than the sorry going base rate. She was not the only person of color...it was happening in all sectors of society. So just to assume that she was mistaken or taking how she was treated too personally is disrespectful to both her and other people of color who were still fighting for equality. Before making such judgments, look into the true story and circumstances and don't be so quick to pooh pooh the real hurt and struggle that so many went through. It was real, and it should never be forgotten, nor repeated.

[vetsoapfan]

Of course, I didn't even remotely suggest that Holly *never* experienced racism. Nor did I ever "pooh pooh" the suffering (of any kind) that she and others endured. That conclusion comes from your imagination, not my actual commentary. My point was that I don't believe Paul Rauch targeted and fired her just because he was black. He targeted and fired countless performers and backstage personnel over the years, regardless of their color. Any racism she encountered in other circumstances, besides her dismissal from the show, is a separate area of concern.

[Sedrick]

But is it not easy to see that the treatment she received from TPTB BEFORE Rauch that she described was in her eyes racism, and she had done the research that proved she was receiving treatment different from her white co-stars. So it was the sum of all those experiences that I am speaking of, and Rauch continued the shallow tacky mistreatment that had been established, and took it to a cruel level. Not saying that he wasn't an !@#$%^&*] to many, but it the vast majority of stories of his terror behind the scenes always invariably begin with his handling of Hayman and Holly, who were treated and dismissed more in a much more public and nasty manner than anyone else. Maybe it is a sensitivity to the issue, but that is how people who know firsthand how it feels and the backlash that seems to come these days to anyone who dares call out racism ("they are playing the race card!") has led to an more intense defense of those who dare to speak what they feel has happened to them.

[vetsoapfan]

To reiterate once more, I have never denied that Holly experienced racism during her daytime career, although some of her proof (i.e. that she was being paid significantly less than white co stars who were allegedly compensated "in the millions") has been resoundingly refuted by others who KNEW what they were being paid. Holly also constructed passages of her book to make it look like Erika Slezak, by acknowledging that Rauch had gutted the show of racial diversity, somehow approved of the white-washing of Llanview. Admitting to what the show had become does not equate to Slezak's approving of, or wishing for, it. It's unfair to imply without any actual quotes or proof that Slezak approved of black actors being dismissed.

It's not true that Hayman and Holly were fired in a more public and nasty way than anyone else during Rauch's reign of terror on daytime TV. That dubious distinction would have to go to Virginia Dwyer and (particularly) Jacquie Courtney and George Reinholt, all of whom were fired and publicly vilified by Rauch and company from ANOTHER WORLD. He dumped Courtney while she was on vacation, and wrote Reinholt a dishonest letter about his possible, later "return to the show", even though Rauch and writer Harding Lemay had already made the decision to eliminate Reinholt permanently. Rauch and Lemay then went public, lambasting the actors in the press in all sorts of ways, something Rauch never did to Holly or Hayman. Both Rauch and Lemay continued to harp on the fired AW actors for the next few DECADES.

Holly's treatment at OLTL was atrocious, no question. Racism very probably played a part of much of it. But not everything comes back to anti-minority sentiment. Sometimes people who abuse others do so simply because they are vile human beings; bullies who think they can get away with it. Rauch demeaned many actors of various creeds and colors, just because.

[Khan]

Did Ellen Holly and Lillian Hayman encounter racism at ONE LIFE TO LIVE? No question. But was Paul Rauch's antipathy motivated solely by their ethnicity? Absolutely not. Rauch is a lot of things, but a racist, he ain't.

[DRW50]

I don't think he's a racist but I do wonder why all of his shows, aside from his last year at AW, were so lily-white.

[MissLlanviewPA]

Not to mention his last few months of OLTL (not that I'm TOO interested in watching the rap storyline because...well ).

Although Troy Nichols and Sheila Price were introduced the year before he left.

And the Broudreaux (sp?) family was introduced to GL shortly before he left, too.

[Paul Raven]

During Corinne Jacker's stint as headwriter of AW (with Rauch as EP) black characters-Quinn,Bob,Henrietta etc were given major stories.