The soap opera writers' discussion

[danfling]

I have a question about Roy Winsor (creator of Search for Tomorrow, Love of Life, The Secret Storm, Ben Jarrod Attorney at Law, and Another Life and writer of Somerset).Gu

I have read that he was involved with Have Gun Will Travel.    I am not certain if this was on radio or on television.   I can find no reference of Mr. Winsor when I have read about this series.   Can anyone clarify what his role was with this program?

[danfling]

I have a question about Roy Winsor (creator of Search for Tomorrow, Love of Life, The Secret Storm, Ben Jarrod Attorney at Law, and Another Life and writer of Somerset).Gu

I have read that he was involved with Have Gun Will Travel.    I am not certain if this was on radio or on television.   I can find no reference of Mr. Winsor when I have read about this series.   Can anyone clarify what his role was with this program?

Here is the obituary for actor/writer/creator Frank Provo from the New York Times from November 22, 1975.

 

Frank Provo, a radio and television writer, who in collaboration with John Pickard developed such television serials as “From These Roots” and “Concerning Miss Marlowe,” died Thursday night of cancer at his home in Great. Barrington, Mass. He was 62 Years old.

Mr. Provo and Mr. Pickard, a writing team since 1945, also contributed to the “Dick Powell Show” and Ringling Brothers Circus spectaculars. Their radio serials included “Young Dr. Malone,” “My Son and I” and “Wendy Warren and the News.”

They were the authors of the play “Dagmar” and the novel “The Education of Emily Adams.”

In 1969 the writing team joined the faculty of Simon's Rock College, Great Barrington, and taught dramatic writing, and the following year took over the dramatic arts program.

 

 

Mr. Provo graduated from the Pasadena (Calif.) Community Playhouse School of Theate Arts and acted with the NBC network through 1946.

 

 

 

 

I had thought that he (or he and John Pickard) had once written Love of Life.

 

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[Paul Raven]

Yes they wrote for love of Life in the mid 60's.

There is a documentary about them 'The Bachelors of Broken Hill' 

The true life soap opera of Frank Provo and John Pickard. Actors, writers and gentlemen farmers, their greatest success would not be found on the boards of Broadway or the hills of Hollywood but in a closeted relationship 40 years. This is their love story.

[danfling]

There seems to be a lot of connections between writers Rick Edlestein and Margaret DePriest!

 

He was producing The Edge of Night when she was an actress on the show, playing Abby Cameron #1.    She later became one of the writers of that show.      (She then collaborated with the late Lou Schofield on the creation and writing of Where the Heart Is for CBS).

 

If I am not mistaken, she had a second soap opera role on NBC's The Doctors on which she played a social worker.  Mr. Edlestein was writing the show, and she later became a writer of the show.

 

He became a writer on How to Survive a Marriage.   Later, he departed that job, and she became the new headwriter.  

 

Please correct me if any of that is incorrect!

 

 

[danfling]

I learned last week that an actress with soap opera connections was one of the writers of the CBS serial Capitol.

The late K. C. Ligon was born into a family of the theatre.  Her biography from IMDb reads: "Born into a theatrical family (her mother was actress and dialect coach Nora Dunfee and her father was veteran Broadway and film actor David Clarke), she made her Broadway debut in "Under Milk Wood" at the age of eight, and subsequently appeared with her parents in the National Tour of "The Visit" with Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne. She attended the Professional Children's School from the first grade through high school, and was a member of the first graduating class of what is now the Graduate Acting Program, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University. Her stage credits include "Subject to Fits" at the New York Public Theater; "Hamlet", "The Importance of Being Earnest" and "Travesties" at the Mark Taper Forum; "Merton of the Movies" at the Ahmanson, and "Crowbar" at the Victory Theater in New York. K.C. Ligon is a dialect coach on Broadway and does extensive private coaching of prominent performers for theatre and film."

 

She is the daughter of actor David Clarke (Tiso Novotny on Ryan's Hope).

Her husband, Tom Ligon, has appeared on a number of soap operas (The Best Everything of Everything, All My Children, Another World, Loving).

 

 

I had never watched Capitol, although I had known that Lois Kibbee (The Edge of Night, Somerset, One Life to Live) was one of its writers.

 

Other performers who were writers on that show include:

James Lipton (The Guiding Light)

Nancy Franklin (A Flame in the Wind, Where the Heart Is, The Doctors and One Life to Live)

Ellen Weston (The Guiding Light, Another World)

 

Elizabeth Levin, wife of actor Michael Levin (Ryan's Hope, All My Children, As the World Turns) was also one of the writers.

 

[RavenWhitney]

Lois Kibbee wrote six trial scripts of Capitol during Henry Slesar's time as HW but she was not offered a contract.  Henry had three script writers on the show (that he inherited) from Peggy O'Shea:  Nancy Franklin, L. Virginia Brown and Bettina Bradbury.  I think Conboy controlled the writing staff decisions.  Henry was interviewed at the time and mentioned that he had two breakdown writers, Carlson and Sloane, unlike on Edge where he wrote all five break downs each week and three scripts.  On Capitol, I believe he wrote 2 or 3 breakdowns a week and 1 script a month or so.  It's a shame because Henry never found groove on Capitol which should have been a great fit for him.  I suspect Conboy interfered. 

Edited January 10, 2023 by RavenWhitney

[NothinButAttitude]

 

Do you all think that Slesar's niche for murder, mystery, and mayhem could've possibly worked on Capitol? I'd imagine it would've given how corrupt Capitol Hill is. 

[Soaplovers]

From what I have read at the time, his stint was highly regarded..and there were some strong crime stories during that time as well.

[danfling]

 

I am not sure if this 2021 obituary of Ethel Brez has been shared or not.   I ran across it this morning and wanted to share.   Forgive me if it has already appeared here.:

 

BREZ--Ethel "Eddy" Manuelian, passed away on August 25, 2021 at the age of 84 from melanoma. She was the beloved wife of Melvin Brez, her husband of 61 years prior to his passing late last year. They were forever together, in work, family, love, and life. She was also the incredible and loving mother to Alexandra Brez and Zachary Brez, the wonderful mother-in-law of Matthew Wickware and Jen Kangas, and the very best grandmother to Evan and Scarlett Brez, and William Wickware. She is survived by her dear siblings, Ann Porfilio, Daniel Manuelian, and Alice Sangermano. In addition to her husband, she was predeceased by her parents, Sooren and Baitzar Manuelian. Eddy was a working mother before that was even a recognized term, predominantly as half of a writing team with her husband, Mel. They wrote many TV films, including the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Scandal, The Miracle of Kathy Miller, and Goldie and the Boxer. They also worked as writers on many soap operas, winning numerous Writers Guild awards and a pair of Daytime Emmys. Eddy was also the author of a novel, Those Dark Eyes (as E.M. Brez), a thriller based in the New York City Armenian community. She was raised in Astoria Queens by parents who had escaped the Armenian Genocide as children. She had a perfect attendance record in grade school, then went on to Bryant High School and Queens College where she met Mel when she was reviewing a play he had written. They both worked as actors in New York and in Summerstock before spending a year in Paris on a Fulbright scholarship. Lifelong New Yorkers, Eddy and Mel later in life owned homes in Litchfield County, CT where they spent their weekends gardening. When in the city, Eddy loved to walk in Central Park and watch the local birds. She loved to learn and took classes in French until the very end. She was a loyal friend, keeping up relationships for fifty plus years with her friends. She loved classic literature and poetry, quoting Shakespeare and Dickinson even in her final days. She knew a song for every bit of dialogue, every name mentioned. Her grandchildren always thought she was making up the lyrics, but rather she just had a great inventory in her mind. She was fun, she was clever, she was loving. And she herself said she had lived a remarkable life.

Published by New York Times on Sep. 3, 2021.

[wonderwoman1951]

wasn’t sure where to post this, but here seems as good a place as any. on this day, 31 january, what’s considered the first television soap opera, irna phillips’ ‘these are my children,’ premiered on nbc and ran until 4 march.

[Paul Raven]

In April 1970 CBS announced the appointment of Joseph hardy to oversee a writers development program for daytime serials. Hardy had previously worked on Love of Life, Love Is A Many Splendored Thing.

He was also a respected Broadway producer.

A syllabus was to be developed, outlining the processes for writing weekly outlines and scripting.

The idea was to recruit and train novelists, writers from movies, theater, and primetime etc

Although at the time there was a record number of serials on air, it was noted that majority of writers had been in the business for years, pointing out that ABC's new serials involved Agnes Nixon, Irna Phillips and James Lipton and that the average age of writers in the medium was higher than writers in other forms.

With younger writers the hope was for new ideas for the genre.

Don't know what came of this. Can't think of many new writers who began at CBS around this time.

 

[j swift]

Is this the same Joseph Hardy who later produced the disastrous period of General Hospital from 1989-1991 before the second return of Gloria Monty?

Edited February 3, 2023 by j swift

[Paul Raven]

Yes, he also worked at Ryan's Hope in the 80's.

It makes you wonder how people who worked in daytime for years could still strike out. Guess like anything, there is an element of luck and good timing involved.

I think it was Felicia Minei Behr who said something along the lines of 'if there was a surefire way of producing a hit soap, everyone would do it'

I guess it goes back to the 1970 CBS program for finding good writers. Even the best producer can't work miracles.

[danfling]

Could Gillian Houghton be one of the writers that CBS hired?   She had written screenplays for movies prior to writing The Secret Storm and Love of Life.

 

Here is her IMDb biography:

 

"Gabrielle Upton, Canada, 1922, was a screenwriter for various motion pictures and daytime serials and an actress. Ms. Upton was head writer and thrice nominated for Writer's Guild of America Outstanding Writing Achievement Awards for the daytime serials Love of Life (under pseudonym Gillian Houghton) and the Secret Storm. She has over forty prime-time TV scripts to her credit as well. Ms. Upton specialized in medical, legal and suspense shows. Her first major motion picture solo writer's credit was for the initial "Gidget" movie with Sandra Dee in 1959. This movie was followed by several more including Escape From East Berlin in 1962 and The Beach Boys: An American Band in 1985."

 

I also know that Ann Marcus and Jean Rouverol were writing soap operas for CBS during the 1970s.  Eventually, John and Joyce Carrington wrote Search for Tomorrow.   Ms. Marcus had written a lot of prime time television, and Ms. Rouverol had written other things before she was blacklisted.   She wrote for the soap operas after her blacklisting was over.

Eugenie Hunt had been co-headwriter for The Guiding Light (from 1969 - 1973) and, later for As the World Turns.  She had written a Broadway play (A Roomful of Roses) and screenplays (The Best of Everything, This Property Is Condemned).  

 

Robert J. Shaw had written a whole lot for prime time television (including the serial Peyton Place).   He had written for Valiant Lady in the 1950s, but, later was writing Bright Promise, Somerset (for NBC) and Search for Tomorrow (on CBS).

[dc11786]

I think there was a writer for "Love of Life" from that period (Loring Mandel/Christopher Bell) who would have more than likely come through that program. 

Hardy went from "Ryan's Hope" to "Loving" to "General Hospital" in the 1980s. I think his claim to fame was that he had guided some pivotal years of "Love of Life" with writer Don Ettlinger before co-creating "Flame in the Wind" and later working on "Love is a Many Splendored Thing."