OLTL's Ellen Holly's Open Letter to Fans and Historians

[Khan]

First of all, any money is better than no money. More importantly, I think she felt she owed it to her AA colleagues (in daytime, and elsewhere) to stay in that fight, so to speak. The longer Carla and Sadie remained at least somewhat visible on OLTL's canvas, the more TPTB's prejudices and misconceptions about what most viewers will and won't accept on their shows would be worn down. At least, that was the hope. And I think, too, EH and LH would have stayed and put up with Paul Rauch's b.s. had he ultimately not tossed them out with the garbage.

[Daphne]

I barely remember Jazz. Weren't he and Amy a couple? Was Jazz a part of a gang like "Kong" was (but could read)?

[John]

Fine but their firing is on Rauch and ABC/Capcities at that point. Throwing Agnes under a bus makes no sense to me.,

[Khan]

It does, though, when you realize it was someone from Agnes' own company, Creative Horizons, who drew up that demeaning first contract.

Now, I'm not saying you're wrong, John, about EH's attitude these days toward AN. OTOH, she makes a fair point that AN and/or Creative Horizons could have handled her situation better. If nothing else, after the first year, Agnes and/or Creative Horizons should have reviewed EH's contract and said, "You know what, because of how much her storyline has done for ONE LIFE, let's see if we can't come up with a better deal for Ms. Holly that more accurately reflects her value to this show."

[John]

AN & CH were out of it after 73. ABC took over. EH stayed but still said racism. If it was that bad, why did she keep renewing her contract.Where is Ellen's Responsibility in all this? Why keep placing blame on Agnes. She may be Consultant but we know what consulatant meant to ABC, Nada. Agnes had no Power really at this point

[tune_in_tomorrow]

I'm not going to get into the specifics of Ms. Holly's claims but what I find more fascinating is how the presence of African-American characters in the early to mid 80s did not springboard them into greater prominence, but rather in the opposite direction. I remember reading articles at that time about how African-American audiences was a significant chunk of the audience and that most soaps had casts that reflected that. AMC had Jesse & Angie as a supercouple. AW had Quinn Harding, Thomasina, Lily Mason, Grant & Carter Todd, and later, Zach Edwards and his sister Julie Ann. DAYS featured Abe Carver and his brother Theo and, to a lesser extent, Nikki Wade and Danny Grant. Say what you will about Nathan, Amy, Jazz & Tyrone on Y&R, but they were there and prominent for a time. Maybe most of these characters were poorly-written for but there was a presence, and I find it surprising and disappointing that this presence didn't increase visibility, or led to "islanding" of characters in self-contained stories particularly considering the audience (assuming the racial make-up of the audience parallels what it was then).

[Kendall]

Lets not forget that EH has sung Ms. Nixon praises but always spoke her mind. I've watch OLTL since July 68 and Ms Holly came two months later. For a while I thought she was a white woman portraying a black woman lol.

EH carried that damm show for almost a decade and most of her episodes don't even exist.

EH made it clear in the letter how scarce and few jobs were and despite the mistreatment she was doing something she loved, something that she started, that was historical why would she just walk out as the first, it's almost like a leader who first steps in to do a job abandoning the important job because they got a dollar, sometimes there are more important things than a dollar, she has story to tell and she has a history that she started as the first AA actress in American daytime how could that have been so easy for her just to decide to leave. It's almost like being in an abusive situation with literally no way out, you have a non-negotiable contract, you are the first, you have a devoted following, etc. EH had an obligation to those who came after as the first to maybe at some point make some leeway through her talent if she couldn't be treated fairly and get the compensation she deserved, atleast she was still doing something that she loved and paving the way for others. I don't think that EH is trying to blame anyone, she's just telling her story and yes she was naive someone who hadn't had much experience in broadcast television, but she plays a vital and important role in OLTL's history and doesn't even have a legacy, even if her character is gone that's really sad because these were popular characters as I understand.

[Kendall]

Agnes sold the show in 73 but she still had power and influence with the network until the early 90s. So basically her role was bigger than what it is now. Ellen's responsibility was keeping her job..If you never experienced racism on a job you can't relate.

[Chris B]

Tell that to Hattie McDaniel...Mamie was a very important supporting character and when Veronica Redd took over the role she got some good stuff to work with. My point in mentioning the 80s characters was to show that Bill Bell did try throughout that decade and most of the black actors he cast were kept on for many years. Nathan Purdee was the most successful of the lot, actually making the transition into the 90s and into a major frontburner character.

This was in a response to your which is incorrect.

[Khan]

Apparently, the Brad/Jenny/Karen/Larry/Marco story was a bad thing for the Black contingent on OLTL. Once those four took off, it was only a matter of time before EH, LH and Al Freeman, Jr. would be taken off.

[SFK]

Was Courtney the only other love interest Ed had besides Carla?

[Khan]

I am not talking about that p.o.s. movie, "Gone with the Wind," that glorified the hell out of the "old South." I am talking about Y&R -- and at best, Mamie Johnson was a supporting character, which is NOT the same thing as major or lead.

As the maid. And as soon as it looked as if the maid would hook up with Massa John Abbott, too, Y&R sent the maid on an indefinite cruise, never to be seen again. (Peter Bergman might have been okay with that decision, but I sure-as-hell wasn't.)

Listen, I love old-school Y&R (today's Y&R is a joke), but I will not pretend they ever did "us" a favor. Yes, we've been on there since the '80's. However, before Drucilla -- who, it should be noted, was portrayed as being illiterate and uncouth before that Uncle Tom, Neil Winters, cleaned her up -- the only AA characters on Y&R portrayed even somewhat positively were milquetoast Nathan and Amy. Otherwise, it was just Mammy, excuse me, Mamie; Tyrone, whose "White Like Me" routine wouldn't have fooled even Stevie Wonder; and that street trash saddled with the redonkulous nickname "Jazz." In my opinion, at least, bad representation is just as bad as no representation at all.

[SFK]

Khan, you crack me up.

Jazz, Kong, Sugar Hill, Bobby Blue, Mookie... any more?

[Khan]

Tyrone, Donna's pimp on AMC.

You know, the one Frank karate-chopped at the end?

[R Sinclair]

Still can't get over... naming a black maid "Mamie."

They didn't even try.