Irna Phillips Question

[allmc2008]

I was reading about Lisa's "Phantom" Fetus and wondering what that was. Also, I read on an old thread about head writers but bad stories and someone mentioned that Irna was probably Deliberately sabotaging ATWT last run. Can someone elaborate on that? Why was Irna so particular with her shows? I know she did not want GL to be in color and she didn't want ATWT to be taped. Was she against GL expanding to 30 minutes?

[danfling]

Agnes Nixon also was opposed to the expansion of All My Children to a full hour. Most of the cast was also against it, and two actress (Francesca James and Judith Barcroft) left the show.

[danfling]

Also, it was mentioned by Mary Stuart in her autobiography that only The Edge of Night and Search for Tomorrow were owned by Proctor and Gamble but not created by her. She was constantly trying to have the company cancel Search for Tomorrow because she was wanting to expand The Guiding Light. Search for Tomorrow was under constant pressure to keep up the ratings for that reason.

[allmc2008]

I was talking about the expansion from 15 minutes to 30 minutes. Also, why did you say that EON and SFT were the only PNG soaps? GL and ATWT were PNG owned.

[saynotoursoap]

Irna’s soaps were the top-rated daytime dramas, and she was responsible for many of the conventions utilized on soap operas to this day. Naturally, she assumed a proprietary position toward programs (and a genre) she virtually owned. I believe this accounts for her success, as well as the success of her protégés Agnes Nixon and Bill Bell. If contemporary creators, producers, writers, etc. were more particular about their soaps and less willing to relinquish their rights to production-by-committee…perhaps daytime would not be the unmitigated disaster it is in 2012.

As for Irna, I was not aware that she did not wish for GL to switch to color. In the 1950s, CBS experimented with new color technology on selected series. GL and ATWT were two of the soaps chosen. Irna reminded the network who was in control by featuring hospital scenes in those color telecasts, meaning white walls, white uniforms, white sheets, etc. Her reason for resisting tape was related to playing the shows close to the vest. She did not want a great deal of lead time between scripts, taping, and air so that she could expeditiously change anything she felt was not working. Bill Bell utilized the same approach in his work, too.

I commented previously on these boards that I really did not enjoy ATWT (or GL) until circa 1972. In my opinion, Irna did not intentionally sabotage World Turns in her final stint as writer. She was an unusual, complicated woman who held strong convictions regarding story and characterization. If she was guilty of anything, it was changing story too quickly, which did not sit well with many viewers of that era. You should understand that in those days, the cast was extremely small. World Turns had approximately ten to fifteen contract cast members. Five to seven actors were used per episode. There were generally only three or so storylines running concurrently. Therefore, the smallest of changes reverberated for the audience.

Irna possessed a somewhat fuzzy morality. When she returned for the last time, the show had instigated a storyline she abhorred. Liz Talbot was in love with two brothers: Dan and Paul Stewart. Irna had an enormous problem with that plot, and she wrapped it up in a matter of a couple of months by having Paul die from a brain tumor, Liz die from a ruptured spleen, Dan leave for England, and Dan’s ex-wife Susan annul her days-old marriage and leave town, too. Irna wrote what she felt had to in order to restore a sense of order and morality to storyline., but losing so many core characters in quick succession upset many viewers and resulted in wild swings in the Nielsen ratings. Ironically, she devised a quite similar storyline in which Bob Hughes was torn between sisters Jennifer and Kim. This is what I meant by fuzzy morality. In Irna’s world, men possessed stronger baser instincts, thus it was acceptable for a man like Bob to love two women. However, only an immoral slut like Liz Talbot has sex with two brothers.

The Phantom Fetus plot: Bob Hughes learned that his former friend Chuck Ryan was dying from a terminal illness. Chuck’s son Rick was an intern at Memorial and clashed with Bob. Chuck made Bob keep his illness a secret to protect his family. When Chuck died and Bob became involved with Chuck’s widow Jennifer, Rick vowed to keep them apart. At that point in the story, Nancy Hughes retained a rather interfering nature. She viewed Jennifer as perfect companion for Don Hughes and began to matchmake. But, Jennifer and Bob were clearly attracted to one another. Don developed a jealous resentment against Bob when Jennifer grew closer to him. On the rebound, Don pursued a relationship with Bob’s ex-wife Lisa. Soon Lisa developed pregnancy symptoms. It was intimated that Don and Lisa had never made love, because Lisa could not figure out how she became pregnant! She consulted with Dr. Eric Lonsberry, who was played Doug Marland before he turned his career to writing. Rick saw Lisa consulting with Lonsberry about her pregnancy and to carry out his promise to keep his mother and Bob apart, he lied to Jennifer that Lisa had been impregnated by Bob. Eventually, Lisa’s “pregnancy” was diagnosed as an ovarian cyst, whose symptoms mimicked pregnancy.

[saynotoursoap]

Danfling meant that EON and SFT were the only two soaps owned by P&G that were not created by Phillips.

[DRW50]

What were the B or C-plots during her last stint? I know there was the Amy-Linn story, and Carol and Tom. I think you mentioned the story with Lisa and the mogul (Jerry Lacy), or a priest, but I can't remember when those were from, specifically.

[Paul Raven]

December 72 Almost a year into Irna's return.

When surgery patient Maria died of an embolism, her brother policeman Joe Fernandez, in shock, shot Dan. Dan recovered but he broke his arm when he fell and surgeons could not be sure if Dan would regain the use of his arm. Dan decided not to prosecute Joe. Kim, recovering from the same operation, subtly made a play for Bob whenever Jennifer was not present.

Susan tried to convincer her new husband to let her bring Emily to their home during Dan’s hospitalization but he refused. Susan was convinced she could find a way to convince himand Don ordered Tom to make a full investigation of Bruce’s background in preparation for the permanent custody hearing. David told Dan of Paul’s death from brain tumor. Ellen and David agreed that Liz should be free to be with Dan and helped him through this traumatic period. Ellen pressed Liz to tell Dan the truth about Betsy. Paul had left his money to Betsy and Emily.

Tom and Carol argued about marriage roles. Tom felt Carol should not be involved in his career decisions while she was adamant that she was entitled to an opinion. Nancy and Chris were overjoyed to receive a Christmas cable from Penny explaining she had gone to Switzerland to think out the problems she and Anton were having.

Don aksed Lisa to marry him. She realized she didn’t love him but would like to be a full member of the Hughes family again. He gave her a ring but she refused to wear it yet. She was in love with Wally but he told her he couldn’t ask her to marry him. Unkown to Lisa, Wally carried the guilt of having placed his enfant son out for adoption when his wife died in childbirth twenty years ago. He had tried in vain to locate his son. Don also ordered an investigation on Wally. Carol and Tom tried to help their friend Peter Burton to locate his biological parents. They introduced him to Wally but Peter couldn’t relate to Wally’s beliefs and disliked him depite all of Wally’s efforts to reach him.

Jan 73

Lisa hadn’t answered Don’s proposal of marriage. She hoped Wally would ask her to marry him. Wally felt guilty about his past and wasn’t sure he wanted to commit himself to marriage and to Lisa. Dr. Winslow visited Wally and told him Peter Burton was the son he gave up for adoption twenty years ago and asked Wally to try to be Peter’s father without Peter knowing the truth. Peter told Wally he and his adoptive mother have a much closer relationship.

Encouraged by David and Ellen, Liz went to Dan and told him she had always loved him and didn’t want to wait any longer. Dan realized she was more important to him even than his career and asked her to marry him. They married a few days later at Dan’s home. Wally performed the ceremony. When Dr. Dixon learned they were married, he was sure his theory that Liz was the woman in Dan’s past is correct.

Susan, sure that Dan’s next wife would be Emily’s baby nurge, Peggy Regan, resented Peggy’s place in Emily’s life. Susan’s husband was trying to convince her they should accept positions offered them by a New York medical center. She visited Liz and told her she would soon have Emily out of Dan’s house. After seeing her daughter, Susan left the baby gate on Emily’s door open and when Liz saw Emily at the top of the stairs, she ran to her and fell. She was rushed to the hospital with interal injuries where Dr. Burke performed surgery on her ruptured liver. Liz finally regained consciousness and told Dan Susan left the gate open. She ten told him that Betsy was is child, unaware that he had known this for some time. Susan later learned the overlooked gate was the cause of Liz’ injury but said nothing. Dan’s cast was removed and his X-rays indicated further surgery necessary on his arm. He refused to consider it, however, until Liz is definitely out of danger.

Bob and Jennifer argued over Rick’s refusal to visit her at their home. Kim continued to take advantage of Jen’s long work hours to subtly flirt with Bob at home. Fully recovered, she was still staying with them.

Tom reported to Don that the investigation of Susan’s husband showed nothing out of the ordinary. He and Don fought when he admitted he didn’t investigate Wally’s past and would not do so. Carol was very ipset when Tom wouldn’t tell her why he was refusing to work for Don any more. Lisa was puzzled too.

[DRW50]

Thanks.

[EricMontreal22]

Great post! I just wanted to say that to be fair, in the current network tv climate, you simply can't write a show, especially a brand like a soap (or produce, etc) and not relinquish your rights to production-by-committee. It's one reason so many writers prefer working on cable (sure in primetime you have more control--but if the network wants to keep the show and fire you they will, or else they'll just cancel it).

[allmc2008]

What is production by commitee?

[DRW50]

A bunch of people making decisions.

[allmc2008]

duh! Sorry for being captain obvious!

[danfling]

Susan's husband was named Bruce Baxter.

I remember that Lisa Cameron, a lovely actress who had played Susan Matthews on Another World, played the baby nurse Peggy. Her mother was played by Anna Minot, who had previously played Martha Wilson (mother of Sandy) on the show.

Was Maria the role that was played by Laurie Hinemann before she won an Emmy award for her role on Another World?

Who played Joe?

Ms. Phillips had introduced Carol and Professor Demming before she had left the show. Carol had been dropped by later writers who had paired Tom with Merideth Halliday, ward of Simon Gilbey. They were dropped. There was also Ellie, a relative of Tom's landlady. Swoozie Kurtz played the role. Ellie had a terrific crush on Tom.

When Ms. Phillips returned to the show, she brought Carol Demming back onto the storyline canvas.

[Paul Raven]

Irna returned in Jan 72 and did bring back Carol.

By June,Tom and Carol were married.It seemed the previous writers were moving towards a Tom and Barbara romance but Irna quickly dropped that and wrote out Barbara.

Michael Lombard played Joe.

Laurie Heineman played Marion Burton (Peter's sister?)