Members Paul Raven Posted August 12, 2022 Members Share Posted August 12, 2022 (edited) Thanks for finding and posting new stuff. Valiant Lady had a respectful run but for whatever reason was nowhere near as successful as the shows that followed it on the schedule - Love of Life, Search for Tomorrow and The Guiding Light. Kind of odd that the lead in show rated lower than the follow ups. Here's a 1955 article where the producer talks of plans for the show. interesting that the writer of the article isn't convinced. Feels soaps should stick to what they do best. yet decades later producers/networks were still trtying to undermine what worked. Tuesday, November 1, 1955 St. Pefersburg Times RADIO AND TELEVISION Livened Up Soap Operas May Backfire By KlT CRAIG TV soap operas had better liven up, according to producer Leonard Blair. If they want to maintain the womens' interest he says, they'll have to be livened up, with more plot and bigger names. Blair, who produces "Valiant Lady," seen locally on WTVT, is proceeding to do just that to his show, according to an article in Variety, he's planning to tell his stories from just one viewpoint (this means no more life as seen by father, mother, the couple in love, the doctor, with each view taking at least one episode, and the story stretching out over months), and he's going to introduce big name stars for one-shot appearances. He also plans to film lots of footage on location and have fair-sized stars in for guest apperances. Time was when you could tune in to a day of "Soaps" and count on at least one murder, one missing person, at least one trial and several cases of amnesia and incurable illness. Blair says he's going to do away with that sort of "sensationalism" as well at least, with the crime and gangsterism. INTERESTED IV LOVE Women, he says, are more interested in the love and family element in the shows than they are in the sensationalism, and if the stories are presented right and not dragged out, there's no need to drag in a crime to keep them glued to their sets. Blair plans to grab stars as they come into New York and says it's good business for them to be seen on the show and write them into his script. Signe Hasso has already been seen, according to the story, and Dane Clark and Shelley Winters are among those signed for upcoming episodes. Is this revolution a good idea? NBC-TV has started Matinee Theatre, with evening-caliber shows telecast in color every day. That may be what has Blair, whose show is seen on CBS-TV, intent on revamping it. However, soap operas have always had their own peculiar function, and if Blair deviates too much from standard format, his plan may backfire JUST PLAIN FOLKS Heroines of soap operas have always been billed as "just plain ole folks." Even if they're nurses or Hollywood designers, the script writers have worked hard to make Nora Drake and Ma Perkins relatable. While Blair seems to think it's a good idea to inject big names into his scripts, it seems to me the sudden appearance of Clark Gable or Peter Lorre might bring the slightest little note of unreality into the proceedings. And about ditching sensationalism - when I was little and listened to soap operas on the radio, I just loved sensationalism. And someone I know's father used to rush home from work every night to listen to "Just Plain Bill" That was when they had the story about the boy who was in love with his sister, only he didn't know it was his sister, and then it finally turned out she really wasn't his sister at all. And what would soap operas do without courtroom scenes and innocent heroines charged with murder? LOST 50 PER CENT If Blair intends to speed up his story lines, he's going to lose about 50 per cent of the narcotic effect soap operas have. If you know a new story is going to begin in a week, you don't let yourself get involved with the one on this week. Why, if you had to be out shopping for a couple of days, you'd miss the whole gist of the plot! The joy of soap operas, to me, has always been that, once you'd established a certain rapport with the character, you needed only to take one day off twice a year to find out how everybody on the soap operas was doing. Blair, with his fast-moving story lines, would ruin that. However, soap operas on television have several drawbacks never encountered by their sob sisters on radio. While listening to the radio "soaps," you could always be listening while you were doing something else. Besides, while listening to a radio saga, you could build beautiful pictures in your mind. To me (on a cursory viewing), settings for television soap operas always seem just a little squalid. The idea of top-flight drama during the day, for women, is excellent. However, if Blair and his ilk are' trying to hold viewers to their soap operas, I suggest they abandon this mad idea of big stars and rapid-fire story lines. For my money, they should either jump on the bandwagon and present top-flight one-shot dramas, or leave the "soaps" to bubble in the same old way. They're trying to corrupt a grand old American form. Edited August 12, 2022 by Paul Raven 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members danfling Posted August 12, 2022 Members Share Posted August 12, 2022 Above are two pictures of the cast of Valiant Lady. One shows Nancy Coleman (as Helen) and, also in the picture, is Lydia Reed as Kim. I had, until now, not realized that Lydia Reed (who played Hassie McCoy on the situation comedy The Read McCoys) had been a child actress or had appeared in any soap opera. The Valiant Lady listings on the IMDb reveal that Ms. Reed played Kim #1. Then, in the second picture found above (marked as the two year anniversary of Valiant Lady), Flora Campbell is playing Helen. I know that this is an assumption, but there is a little girl in the picture, and I assume that she is playing the role of Kim. Can anyone identify who played Kim #2 (if that is indeed Kim, as I suspect)? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members slick jones Posted August 12, 2022 Members Share Posted August 12, 2022 If it is Kim, it is Bonnie Sawyer. Here's the list that @Paul Raven and I have amassed for Valiant Lady's cast. VALIANT LADY October 12, 1953-August 17, 1957 CBS Middlebury Dane Clark Dane Clark 1955 Martin Cook... Victor Thorley 1954-56? promoter Tom Davis Yale Wexler 1956 Joanne Dru Joanne Dru 1955 Frank Emerson ... Jerrome Cowan 1953-57 Kim Emerson ... Lydia Reed ... 1953-54 ... Bonnie Sawyer 1954-57 Mickey Emerson ..... Jimmy Kirkwood, Jr. 1953-57 Jinx Falkenberg ... Jinx Falkenberg 1955 Margot Finchley ... Katherine Anderson 1953 Bill Fraser .... Marc Kramer Madame Garstel Lilia Skala 1957 Fay Gillen ... ???? Joey Gordon ... Martin Balsam 1955 (+Diane) Elsa Harley ????? jealous of Helen, spinster, loved Bill Fraser Gertrude Harper .... Katherine Squire 1956-57 Ivy Harper ... Doro Merande 1956-57 Signe Hasso Signe Hasso 1955 Charlton Heston ... Charlton Heston 1955 Jim Hunter ... Robert Carroll 1956 John Ireland John Ireland 1955 Captain Chris Kendall ... Lawrence Weber ... 1954-55 David Kendall ... Johnny Coleman 1955 Linda Kendall ... Frances Helm 1955 Ginger Lambert... Freida Larson 1956 Jane Lynch ... Helen Wagner 1953-54 Lieutenant Maxwell Andrew Duggan 1953 Elliott Norris ... Terry O'Sullivan 1955 Sam Perkins ... Bert Freed 1956 boss, (JW) Whitlow Preston... ??? boss Diane Joe Salinas ..... Angel Rosado Mrs. Sayre ... Margaret Hamilton 1955 Diane Emerson Soames ... Anne Pearson 1953-54 .... Dolores Sutton 1954-55 Mariann (Sue) Randall 1955-56 ...Leila Martin 1956-57 Hal Soames ... Earl Hammond 1954-55 Peggy Norris Thurston ... Pat Peardon 1955-56 ... Flora Campbell ... 1954-57 Governor Lawrence Walker... John Graham 1956-57 Marion Walker Joan Tompkins ... 1957 Lewis Wilcox Royal Beall ... Malcolm Beggs Roberta Wilcox .... Betty Oakes (?Cakes) 1956 Jackson Winters ... Barry Kroeger 1956 Shelley Winters ... Shelley Winters 1955 Bonnie Withers ... Shirley Egleston 1955 ... Joan Loring 1954-55 Roy Withers ... ?Don Dubbins?? Fran Ann Thomas Thomas ... William Zuckert Pilot ... Allan Melvin 1955 Announcer .... William Elliott ????? Ronald Dawson Eda Heinemann 9 months 1959 ? Joy Hodges 1957 Harry Holcombe Robin Keil 5/1958 ? Abby Lewis Anne Louise Gerald Price Robert Webber 1957 Lionel Wilson David Winters 1955 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Paul Raven Posted September 18, 2022 Members Share Posted September 18, 2022 James Kirkwood (Mickey) Betty Oaks (Roberta Wilcox) assuming this photo was taken on set. If so the set looks quite lavish. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DRW50 Posted July 4, 2023 Author Members Share Posted July 4, 2023 A reupload of the 1953 episode that used to be on Youtube, in superior quality this time. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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