ATWT: Rosemary Prinz on Irna Phillips: 'She Was The Meanest Bitch On The Planet'

[John]

http://www.welovesoaps.net/2013/11/rosemary-prinz-on-irna-phillips-she-was.html

[alphanguy74]

Great little interview! Changing the dialogue on a live show, I bet Irna's bloomers were on FIRE at that turn of events!

[P.J.]

Y'know...I've read about Irna and her iron control. I knew Prinz really rankled at it.

However, it's kind of sad that 40 years after the woman's death, Prinz still has to take a shot at her. I mean I get really loathing someone. But this isn't about Phillips at all. And as for Phillips not wanting it mentioned---well, this was a different time when the fictional tv world didn't cross over into reality too often.

What would be interesting is to see if any of the other serials of the day mentioned the assassination.

[allmc2008]

I found the actual NYT article a little condescending...

[DRW50]

NYT is always condescending and out of touch. There's a reason they're in a death spiral. I just liked seeing some of the actors talk about that day.

As for Rosemary, she was on ATWT for ten years and felt like Irna was out to get her, and has talked about how she used her salary to pay for therapy, etc. I guess that environment just made her very angry and sometimes that doesn't go away.

[juppiter]

It didn't seem condescending to me at all. I thought it was well-written because they try to put the reader back on that day.

[Gray Bunny]

I cannot for the life of me remember who told me this in person, but someone I knew once worked with Rosemary in a play (he knew she had been on a soap a long, long time ago) and he told me she is quite nutty. Some people just never let things go.

[alphanguy74]

Well, unfortunately about 80 percent of all actors and performers and totally out of their tree.

[Mr. Vixen]

That's offensive and untrue.

[Darn]

If someone was awful, whether yesterday or 50 years ago, saying so doesn't mean you're holding a grudge. It means you thought they were awful then and still think they're awful now.

[edgeofnik]

It's too bad that RP took the focus away from the real story, the way the media worked back then. I'll go ahead an date myself, but my mother was watching while she was pregnant with me. That was one of the most seminal moments in TV history - TV was relatively new and this type of break-in/news coverage was unusual. I'd rather have gotten more insight as to WHY IP decided not to incorporate it on the following episode. (I'm betting it had more to do with the fact that Oakdale was it's own universe, blah, blah, blah.) Regardless, not being a fan of the NYT, I'm glad they highlighted this important media moment.

[P.J.]

If you have to go out of your way to call her the "meanest bitch on the planet"---yeah, I think that's a grudge. It's not an interview about Phillips. Maybe it's just a reporter spicing up an interview on a subject that's been rehashed for the past fifty years, because it's just jarringly tangential to me.

[SFK]

That would be my guess. A reporter can choose what goes in his or her piece, regardless of what interviewees have to offer. RP's quote made for good "sound bite" and the reporter ran with it.

[DRW50]

It only takes the focus away if you let it take the focus away. Most people who read the article aren't going to give a rat's ass what she thinks about Irna Phillips.

[Gray Bunny]

I understand not addressing JFK in the story. It's escapism. We don't want to dwell in real-life drama, just like nobody flat-out mentioned 9/11.