One Life to Live Tribute Thread

[MissLlanviewPA]

Actually, I have to agree with you on that. I saw one scene with them on the phone that was actually kind of sweet. Now, of course, if AE had been Tina at the time, I would have resisted more, lol, but in this case it would take Luna away from Max.

I sometimes think that I really do need to watch more of Luna, even (or especially) with Max. I just remember reading in the OLTL book that everyone thought she was Max's true love and I'm like...no. Poor Gabrielle. Can't we just say he had two and move on?

I don't know, I was 12. It bugged . Old habits die hard, I guess. Based on what was written about her, though, they made it seem like her coming to Llanview in her parachute was the Second Coming and she was there to save all the poor citizens of Llanview from themselves. I dunno...

Edited December 8, 2011 by MissLlanviewPA

[DRW50]

She basically was written as a savior, knowing and wise, although she had some fun moments too. The biggest issue for me was Blair in relation to her - I didn't care about Blair/Max and didn't like the idea (with either Blair) of her being this tramp who couldn't compare to his true love.

In the long run I think Max and Luna would have been better as friends. Malone had no idea what to do with them when he finally married them, and giving them twins was especially baffling.

[MissLlanviewPA]

Same here about Max & Luna being friends. It would have been better that way.

I sometimes think that Luna & Blair were, in relation to Max, like the different sides to Gabrielle--the nicer, more innocent side (Luna) and the misunderstood, more passionate side (Blair). But of course, Max needed both at once, and Gabrielle was in prison! LOL That's how I like to look at it, at least .

I do think it will be cool to finally see Luna & Gabrielle onscreen together, though, if that happens. They've never done that before. I'd love to see a friendly argument over who was better for Max!

And Gabrielle & Blair would have made GREAT friends. Bonding over Max...they BOTH lost their virginity to him, after all!...and Tina...they feel VERY different about her .

[DRW50]

I put a short Fiona article in the GL thread.

[MissLlanviewPA]

Cool! Thanks. I've actually seen very little of her on GL. I did watch the show when I was 11-12, but this was after she left.

[rlj]

Luna was annoying, and HELL NAW she wasnt the love of Max's life, that honor goes to Gabrielle or Blair imo, but I did tolerate Luna opposite Cord, but they dropped it.

In the monorioty I am sure, but I never liked Cord and Tina.

[MissLlanviewPA]

Is it wrong that I LOVE this scene so much? It is? Oh well. Glorious.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=821p2H0dEn4

[DRW50]

May 1973 TV Land

[DRW50]

was brought on Quinn to give up the film. He has, as of this writing, acquiesced.

I asked Ellen if she continued this any kind of a victory. "No, not a victory - merely a question of avoiding an unfortunate situation. Lots of things happen to blacks that they don't know about - things that are done behind their backs. They should be alerted to these things before they happen. That was my job - to let the community know about the film and let them decide. Evidently, a lot of blacks felt the way I did.

"But I wouldn't call it a victory. I wasn't engaging in a personal vendetta against anyone. It's just that there are a lot of films these days depicting blacks as violent people - addicts, pushers, unpleasant characters. Here was a positive hero of the black race. It would be a pity to assign a role such as this to a white actor while black actors must play ugly, violent roles."

Ellen is currently appearing in Joseph Papp's all-black production of Chekov's The Cherry Orchard. Although the reviews have been mixed, Ellen's performance has been singled out for its excellence by nearly all the New York critics. "I love doing it. I'm working with some of the best actors in this country and it's a wonderful experience. It's also very personally rewarding to get back to the stage. I hadn't done any theater for the four years that I've been on One Life, and you begin to wonder if you're lost your touch."

Doing a classical Russian play like The Cherry Orchard with an all black cast may be interpreted by some of the same kind of thing Quinn was trying to do in the Christophe film, to cross racial barriers in the name of artistic freedom and thereby help to eradicate those barriers. I suggested this to Ellen, and she was quick to point up a number of factors which distinguished the two situations.

"First of all, the play is fictional. As all plays, it's merely a crucible in which the actors are given the opportunity to interpret a role and to express themselves. We are not pretending to be Russians - we're not doing the play in whiteface. We are clearly a black company doing our own interpretation of Chekov's play. If Quinn played Walter Lee in Raisin In The Sun, I'd think it would be marvelous. I don't care about his playing a black man. But that's a far cry from introducing one of the most important people in black history as a white man in blackface.

"Many white groups have done Chekov. It's a classic. But few people have been exposed to the life of Christophe. If Quinn were to do a later production, what harm would it do? But at least let our children first learn that he was a black man.

"A play comes and goes, but a film lasts forever, and will reach millions of people. People viewing a film identify the character with the actor portraying him. Why should one of our most important heroes be permanently associated with a white man?"

To Ellen, my attempt to draw a parallel between the Quinn film and the black production of Chekov's play was a simplistic and distorted white response to a complex and difficult black problem. "Everything we have to deal with in this country becomes distorted. Take The Cherry Orchard. Almost everybody reviewed it as a political, rather than an artistic endeavor. They even called it a 'new phase of the black revolution.' The whole business of theater is an exchange of ideas and experiences. There's a potential for a tremendous cultural interchange when one national or ethnic group gets involved wit ha work that has come out of a foreign culture. But, by many of the critics, the whole meaning and purpose of the thing was overlooked."

For years, Ellen has worked towards improving the lot of her fellow black performers and trying to achieve more meaningful communication between the races through the performing arts. But she is discouraged. "I've joined one committee after another over the years to try to do something about the hiring practices in all media, but there's been very little progress.

"It's to the advantage of the body politic to perpetuate the image of the black man as a violent animal instead of a human being. A film like Sounder, which depicted blacks as human beings, had a great deal of difficulty being made."

Ellen once had high aspirations as a writer, but she has not written anything since she completed her movie scripts a few years ago. "I used to feel that I had a great deal to get across, but I've lost my interest in writing. I've given up on communication. Those who believe as I do will understand what I'm saying, so there's no point in trying to convince them. Those who do not understand will refuse to believe it no matter how articulately it is put.

Ellen Holly has been fighting racial prejudice all her life. She is beginning to feel that she just can't fight any more. "Even in second grade I was fighting racial battles. After all these years I feel exhausted and hopeless. People say that the stresses are being alleviated, but they are not. We are still under incredible pressure, and things put under pressure eventually burst."

"They say that progress is being made, but I just don't see it. Malcolm X once said, 'You stick a knife in my back six inches and pull it out two inches and you call that progress.' But the wound is still there and the initial thrust has been so crippling."

But Malcolm X never gave in, he never allowed himself to become broken and discouraged. He died fighting for his cause. Despite what she says, Ellen Holly is not giving in either. The Quinn incident is proof of that. It was a highly controversial issue which many performers would have shied away from had Ellen not been there to rally them together. She's a fighter, whether she wants to be one or not, and black entertainers - and black people everywhere - are lucky to have her on their side. We're all the better for her concern.

See Ellen on ABC's All My Children.

[Khan]

Oops.

[soapfave06]

Thanks for posting the Ellen Holly interview. I really wish we could see Carla one more time. Or at least Ellen Holly acting again.

[Khan]

In a perfect world, Destiny would have been Carla's granddaughter or great-granddaughter, tying her and Matthew's kid to two important families in OLTL's long history.

Edited December 9, 2011 by Khan

[SFK]

Ellen Holly, stunning.

Look at her and then think of Robin Strasser's Rachel and Susan Lucci's Erica (and later Roya Megnot's Ava) and their own relationships with their single mothers and absentee fathers. I would love to ask Agnes Nixon if Carla shared some of that archetype's DNA.

[soapfave06]

I would love for Destiny to be Carla's granddaughter. Destiny has really grown on me in the recent months as I used to find her boring. Carla's also a judge, a former DA and a lawyer, it isn't that hard to fit her back into the ongoing story.

The same goes for Larry, whose a doctor, since it doesn't seem he is coming back either.

[DRW50]

I would have loved to have seen her again but I gave up on that a while back. A mention would be nice though.

I couldn't believe they said she was on AMC. I guess they just mixed the shows up.

I put this because the photos were of her on set, which I hadn't seen before (you usually just get some of the photos we've seen a million times of Carla). She looks stunning here.