This went nowhere. Don't know why Lynda Hirsch was promoting it. Anyway, an interesting read...
THE JOURNAL NEWS, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 26, 1982
A sudsy idea tubes-bound By LYNDA HIRSCH
Lots of folks dream about writing a soap opera, finding a producer and getting the production on television. Unfortunately, that dream rarely comes true. But it has for two Clevelanders in their mid-20s, Scott Mehno and Anne Carey, whose soap "The Passion Barons” is being negotiated for by several syndication companies. Deeply interested in filmmaking, the duo hit on writing a soap not because they are avid fans, but because of a quote from the late German film genius R W Fassbinder. According to Mehno, Fassbinder once said many of his artful films were influenced by the American soap opera medium.
Mehno, who graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Art which Carey also attends, created a documentary entitled "Stealing Food” which received some help and attention from poet Allen Ginsberg. At the screening of the documentary was old-pro producer Bob Dolan, who liked what he saw and liked even more the conversation he had with Mehno and Carey about their soap idea. Not only did Dolan sign to produce the soap, but in his Cleveland location he has put together a studio with myriad sets that rival any of the soap sets we’ve seen. The soap is not your typical sudser, but more of a ‘ Mary Hartman’’-type satire.
The part of the show which we saw was well-crafted and did almost the impossible — it was able to set up longtime storylines and backgrounds in several easy-to-take scenes. The acting was excellent, headlined by David 0. Frazier playing businessman Paul Simpson and his twin brother. Frazier has toured internationally in "Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris” and has appeared in an amazing amount of stage productions. Also starring is Doran Parcane. As the title of the show suggests, the show deals with big business and love. The major character, a man wealthier than Wayne Newton, has a son who’s a hustler, a wife who’d rather get sloshed than make love, and an at-your-service waitress played by Celia Lapinsky who makes Alice look like a slouch. Frazier, who once shaved his head to portray the king in “The King and I” and decided daily shaving was more fun than weekly trims, is thrilled about the role of Paul Simpson. “I wanted to do a soap and never leave Cleveland, which provides you with a wonderful lifestyle as an actor and on a personal level. Best of all, I get to play two parts in the show, one with hair and one without, of course ’’
For those of you who mourned the loss of "Mary Hartman,” the camp of “Dark Shadows” and the lack of lusty scenes (this soap is Rrated), be sure and tune in the show when it rolls across national television screens early next year
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Paul Raven ·
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