BUFFALO COURIER-EXPRESS, Monday,March 28, 1971
Soap Operas Roll on With Devout Audience by Jack Allen
THE WORLD of the TV "soap opera'' is one dear to the hearts of millions of America's housewives. It is scorned by most men, treated with contempt as the lowest form of tearful melodrama by critics and intellectuals; and is the last bastion of "live" drama on television. Its fans are passionately devoted to the daytime drama. and for actors it represents a steady paycheck in a time of diminishing theater.
Despite their critics, daytime series also represent a thorough training ground for young actors, and a haven for older ones , competent performers capable of meeting the severe challenges of "live" TV.
RECENT CONVERSATIONS with participants in the davtime series convinced us that the skills required are not to be scoffed at. One such person is pretty, blonde Anne Jeffreys, who stars as Sylvia Bancroft on NBC-TV's ''Bright Promise." The series was recently bounced from Ch. 2 by a reshuffling of the daytime lineup that finds The Allen Show on at 1 p.m. and David Frost's Variety show moving to 3:30 p.m. Anne Jeffreys is a charming woman, who once showed ''bright promise'' herself as a budding opera star. She was a pretty big name in Hollywood as the star of 47 motion pictures, 28 pays and musicals, and 100 TV productions.
SO WHY IS SHE, now the wife of former actor Robert Sterling and mother of three , tackling the rigors of daytime television? "Our show is done live on tape," said Anne. "This means we must memorize thoroughly, for there are no stops or repeat run-throughs if lines are flubbed. '"Everything is timed to the second, which makes this work challenging and sometimes too much for the actor. For this reason, many veteran actors like MacDonald Carey and others are best at this sort of thing because they have the benefit of many years' training and discipline in the art. For me, as a busy mother, I appreciate being able to fill my role in just two days a week.
ANNE IS BEST known to viewers as star of the long-running '"Topper'' series, still seen in syndication in many markets. "I was also in a short running item called 'Love That Jill'," said Anne. "It was a sophisticated comedy for its time, but viewers didn't take to it, The series was superior to much of the psuedo-realistic things on the air now, and more intelligent than many present series. ''The same could be said for many of the old movies. I watch a lot of them on late-night TV. In fact, some of the sorrier ones I made come back to haunt me. The other night I saw my first starring film, "Riffraff," on TV.
"'MY BOYS - Tyler, 11; Robert, 12; and 16-year-old Jeffrey - love to tease me about that one. "But back to daytime drama. These real things are, of course, 'horror-a-minute' shows. The situations are wild, and I guess you could X-rate a few of the happenings. "But, through my acquaintances and fan mail I have discovered to my amazement the intensity that women viewers relate to these things. Mist wouldn't miss their favorite soaps even if the house was burning down. I guess it's a form of therapy to hate the villains, and sympathize with the and heroine, and live a vicarious life that is more hazardous and not as dull as one's own.
ANNE ADDED, Those who knock the daytime dramas, though, should be equally disappointed with the quality of most movies and stage plays today. The emphasis is on sex in a repellent way. In my movie days, shows could be sexy and cleverly sophisticated, but today they have been replaced by cliche filth."
So anne will stick with Bright Promise, which stars another highly capable actor of many years experience, Dana Andrews. It is one of the first serials to be centered on modern college life, with Andrews as a college president, a widower with a confused and erratic son.
Anne only lasted a few months in the role. And wasn't Dana Andrews gone by this point? I think the author just used an old press release without checking.
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Paul Raven ·
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