The soap opera writers' discussion

[danfling]

Joseph Gallison appeared on Where the Heart Is after he had left One Life to Live.

 

I have also read that Where the Heart Is wanted Carol Roux to play a role on the show.    I suspect that the producers and writers wanted to pair them romantically again.   Ms. Roux declined the role, and she later returned as Missy, on Another World-Somerset this time.

[vetsoapfan]

Actually, Joseph Gallison appeared on WTHI in 1972, long after Carol Roux had worked on Somerset in 1970. She did not return to Somerset after Gallison was hired by WTHI.

[amybrickwallace]

As far as I can see, she never acted again (at least in TV or film) after she left Somerset. I would love to see her work as Missy on AW, which I'm sure was wiped long ago. I think the only show I've ever actually seen her in was Bonanza, when she did a guest spot in 1970.

Edited May 22, 2018 by amybrickwallace

[vetsoapfan]

 

A few years ago Roux did a short film that was available on youtube, but for the life of me I cannot recall the title.

 

You can see her as Missy in the 1968 wedding of Lenore and Walter, which is still up on YT.

 

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[amybrickwallace]

Carol Roux came from an interesting background. She grew up in foster homes, had a long-distance romance for a time with musician Rick Coonce of the Grass Roots, owned a cat she named Missy after her AW character, and married and divorced a professional dancer. 

 

I read in a "where are they now" column from 1978 that a fellow actor from Somerset (who was not mentioned by name) acknowledged that Ms. Roux was a good actress but caused trouble on the set, supposedly because she couldn't cope with the schedule. "Every day, Carol would come up with some real or imaginary illness and create problems." I wonder if she was bipolar. From reading her interviews, she seemed like a sweet girl who wouldn't set out to do things like hold up production out of malice. But who knows?

[danfling]

Did the character of Missy appear on the first episodes of Another World, or was she introduced in the early weeks or months after the show's premiere?

[slick jones]

 

 

According to the AWHP , Missy arrived on May 8, 1964.

 

[juniorz1]

Are we talking about writers in this topic or what?!?

[amybrickwallace]

I was watching a clip of GH's closing credits from 1983 or so. I was surprised to see Guza's and Pratt's names in the writing staff. I want to say Anne Howard Bailey was HW at that time, but don't hold me to it.

[danfling]

I watched the clips of Another World above.   I have some comments and questions:

 

Comment #1:  That was the first time that I had ever seen Audra Lindley as Liz Matthews and Barbara Rodell as Lee Randelph.

 

Comment #2:  I think that Barbara Rodell has grown prettier as she has gotten older.    I was not overwhelmed by her beauty here or when she was playing Jill #2 on Somerset.

 

Question #1:  Who was the actor playing the minister?   At first, I thought that he looked like Peter Brandon, but I knew that he was not.   I also think that it may have been actor William Daniels.

 

Question #2:  I did not see Jim Matthews there.  I may have missed him.   Was this between actors in the role of Jim?

 

Question #3:  Who gave away the bride?   I heard a man say that she was being given "by her mother and I," but I do not know who the man was.

 

Comment #3:   Wasn't Judith Barcroft a beautiful and graceful actress?   I saw her in the magazines during this time, but my first real time in seeing her was during the final weeks of A World Apart when she was announcing that she was coming to All My Children play Ann Tyler St. Cyr on commercials for All My Children).. 

 

Comment #4:  Who was writing the show when Walter was written off the show?  Was it Agnes Nixon, Robert Cenedella, or Harding Lemay?

 

Comment #5:  These episodes had so many performers who had previously appeared on The Edge of Night:  Constance Ford, Audra Lindley, Ann Wedgeworth, Val Dufour, and Sam Groom.

 

 

 

 

[amybrickwallace]

 

Actually, the minister was played by Judith Barcroft's father, who was an Episcopal minister in real life. At one point, he served at St. Thomas Episcopalian Church in NYC.

[danfling]

I remember reading that now.

 

 

[vetsoapfan]

Fred Douglas, an attorney who married Susan Matthews, gave away Lenore at this wedding.

 

http://www.anotherworldhomepage.com/1fred.html

 

Shepperd Strudwick was playing Jim Matthews in 1968, but was absent during the filming of this wedding. (Hugh Marlowe did not take over the role of the Matthews patriarch until 1969.)

 

http://www.anotherworldhomepage.com/1jim.html

 

As far as I know, Barbara Rodell never played Jill Grant # 2 on Somerset. There was only one actress to play Jill: Susan MacDonald.

 

Here is Rodell's American Talent Management resume:

 

http://resumes.breakdownexpress.com/146798-290557

 

Harding Lemay was writing AW when Walter Curtin was killed off. Lemay felt that Walter had been written into a corner, and as a murderer who had let his pregnant wife spent time in jail (during Christmas, no less), was no longer a viable romantic lead.

Edited May 26, 2018 by vetsoapfan

[danfling]

Of course, I meant to type Jill #2 on The Secret Storm - not Somerset.    And the only Jill on Somerset WAS Susan MacDonell (or however her name is correctly spelled.)

[vetsoapfan]

 

Yes, Rodell played Jill Stevens Clayborn on TSS, from 1969 to 1970. She was the third actress to play the role, following Irene Bundle in 1968 and Audrey Johnstone from 1968 to 1969.

 

And yes, Susan MacDonald (which is how her name is correctly spelled) was indeed the only actress to play Jill on Somerset.

 

If only more eps of these vintage soaps survived! TSS really deteriorated in its final years, and Somerset always varied in terms of quality (mainly thanks to who was writing it at the time), but I'd watch either one of these soaps over the dreck we are forced to endure today.