Hidden Faces

[Paul Raven]

Soap Opera Expert Tells How to Put Over a New Series BY CAROL KRAMER NEW. YORK

 

At 52, Charles W. Fisher Is already responsible for producing more suffering and emotional pain for more women than the worst possible cad could cause in a lifetime. Fisher is s soap opera producer. . And he's been at it since those blissful radio days of Portia Faces Life and When a Girl Marries. His current assignment is to turn out the latest NBC-TV sudser, Hidden Faces, seen Monday thru Friday at 12:30 p. m. Chicago time.

 

When a soap opera debuts or any other show, for that matter network press agents try to make it sound like the latest thing, and Hidden Faces was touted last December as "a daytime drama featuring a new element adventure-mystery." What, exactly does that mean? The star, Conrad Fowkes, plays "Arthur Adams, a rugged lawyer in his midthirties who, because of his action-filled military background, is called upon to assist international police organizations," said the publicity. Does that mean midnight chases, exciting adventures with beautiful lady spies, intrigue? "No," producer Fisher told me In a recent interview. "Not at first, anyway. There's not that much difference, really, from other soap operas. We have to establish the Identity of the characters, so people can understand what makes them tick and so they can care what happens to them."

 

To be successful, a soaper must involve an audience in the lives of its characters, says Fisher, who should know. He produced Edge of Night for five years and As The World Turns for four. The latter, which is the No. 1 TV soap opera, is in the opposite time slot on CBS. Over on ABC is Monty Hall, who along with his Let's Make A Deal deserted NBC recently. But despite this powerful competition, Fisher is sure "Faces" can catch up. "It will take at least a year, but we can do it," he says. To help, Fisher hired Conrad Fowkes, a handsome, blond Charles Usher way and In several other soap operas, to be the hero. Writing "Faces" is Irving Vendig, who created Edge of Night. Vendig, who lives in Sarasota, Fla., mails in his scripts, and confers with Fisher by phone for any last minute changes. Vendig watches , the show "religiously," Fisher says, and writes to the characters' strong points. "Just this morning, I suggested to him on the phone that one of the characters should be used more," Fisher told me.

 

Audience reaction to a particular character can mean a bigger or smaller role for him. It all depends on whether he draws sympathy.' "That's why soap opera heroes are so often placed In Jeopardy," Fisher says. Does that mean Conrad Fowkes will be involved in some dangerous situation, perhaps a trial for his life? Fisher won't say. Even though Vendig has written an entire basic plot-line for the first year's shows. "There won't be Just one villain," Fisher promises, "but a villain behind the villain." So far. "Adams" has been hired by state Sen. Robert Jaffee to find out who is blackmailing him. That undercover Investigation has gotten him as far as a set made up to look like a typical hotel room. But it's conceivable that "Faces," to live up to its theme of high adventure, will go on location. Fowkes says, "as long as we have a sign painted to say Rome or Paris, we can go anywhere." Tho he won't say what's going to happen in Hidden Faces-he won't even tell his mother-in-law, who is a regular viewer- he will admit that, as to character Adams' romance with Katherine Logan played by Gretchen Walther, "something will come in to hinder their relationship." But then, doesn't that always happen on the morning agony hours? 

[Paul Raven]

 April 1969

He Thrives On Suspense

Irving Vendig can be considered to be the exception to the rule you can't have your cake and eat it, too. For Vendig has continued to enjoy success and a substantial income as , a writer, first in radio and now TV, while living in Sarasota, although it is estimated about 99 per cent of all regularly scheduled network TV programming originates from either New York or Hollywood locales. Yet Vendig, who has lived in Sarasota since 1938, refuses to leave his Florida home for the supposedly affluent addresses of the writing fraternity on both coasts. "I like it here in Sarasota," he says. "The air is clear and the society is different."

 

Vendig is creator and head writer of NBC-TV's new suspense series, "Hidden Faces," which is colorcast Mondays through Fridays. Though the serial originates from NBC's studios in New York, where the actors and production staff are based, Vendig writes the scripts in Florida. In today's world, the 1,100 miles that separate him from New York City present no handicap. "I am no further away than the telephone," he says. "But in a crisis or for major casting I will fly to New York, and it is easier and more relaxing to get to New York from Sarasota, than to travel to the city from Westport, Connecticut. I know because I used to live in Westport." While working on a serial such as "Hidden Faces," Vendig, who also created "Edge of Night," the first half-hour dramatic TV series in 1956, sits at his typewriter seven days a week. His day begins at 8:30 a.m.

 Born in Holly Springs, Miss., Vendig moved to Chicago at the age of two. "I took my parents with me," he chuckles. While working as a researcher for a Chicago advertising agency on the Little Orphan Annie" radio show, he decided he could write dramatic dialogue. In 1935, he began writing his first radio serial, "Judy and Jane," with which he was associated for 25 years.

 

As his career was beginning to prosper, daughter Laurie Ann was experiencing respiratory ailments. "When Laurie Ann was five, she had pneumonia twice during the same winter," he recalls. "Our physician informed us that she could not take another severe winter. We had to move to Florida. A friend suggested Sarasota, and we've never regretted the change." Despite the change in location, there has been no change in career except for the better. He created and wrote the "Houseboat Hannah" and "David Adams" radio shows. He was associated with Erie Stanley Gardner in his "Perry Mason" radio series for 14 years, but left when the show moved to Hollywood. "I would not leave Sarasota," he says, "even though I could have been involved with 'Perry Mason,' television shows and feature movies."

 

In 1951, Vendig assumed the writing responsibilities of TV's "Search for Tomorrow," then in its eighth week. During the more. than five years that he wrote the series, it climbed to the number one rating for daytime serials. He left it six months after he created and began writing "Edge of Night," which went on to become TV's top rated daytime show. Now he is striving to catapult his "Hidden Faces" into the lead in the rating race. After completing each script, he Xeroxes a copy and sends it air mail, special delivery to Charles Fisher, producer of "Hidden Faces," in New York. Fisher reads it and then discusses it with Vendig via telephone ("our phone bill is enormous") before turning it over to the serial's two production assistants for cast calls and set breakdowns.

[danfling]

This article about Irving Vendig fails to mention his contributions to Morning Star on CBS and Paradise Bay on NBC.

[te.]

I guess this might as well be bumped due to this:

 

 

Anyone who can provide context for the scene?

[Paul Raven]

Seems Wilbur (John Towey) has recently married young heroine Martha(Louise Shaffer in her first soap role) but devious Kelly (Mary Bracken Phillips)is trying to hold on to him by threatening to reveal their past .Wilbur's mother Grace (Ludi Claire) is the possessive type.

Martha's sister Kate (Gretchen Walther) is the other heroine involved with lead Arthur Adams (Conard Fowkes)

John Towey is still alive -83 years old and has along list of credits.

Ludi Claire had worked on Edge so Vendig was familiar with her.

NBC had Hidden Faces in development for a while but went ahead when they lost Let's Make A Deal. I'm sure it was intended as their answer to Edge of Night and would have been slotted later in the day but for the need for a show in the 1.30 timeslot.

From that scene and other pics the sets looked good and they used orchestral music rather than organ still being used on P&G soaps.

Edited February 18, 2023 by Paul Raven

[danfling]

Ms. Clair had not only played Mrs. McGrath on The Edge of Night, she was married to the male lead of The Edge of Night, Lawrence Hugo (Mike).

And Hidden Faces was owned by NBC - not Procter and Gamble.

[Paul Raven]

If you are referring to my comment about music, I did not mean to infer Hidden Faces was a P&G soap, rather that the P&G soaps were still using organ music at that time which seemed old fashioned compared to a new show like Hidden Faces.

[jam6242]

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[danfling]

The four CBS-owned soap operas were also using organ music (which, to me, does not seem at all old-fashioned).    Later in the 1970s, CBS hired Carey Gold to play a variety of instruments for both Love of Life and The Secret Storm.

[DRW50]

Thanks @jam6242 That Bil Keane comic is actually pretty clever.