Members Khan Posted July 5, 2018 Members Share Posted July 5, 2018 From We Love Soaps: https://www.welovesoaps.net/2018/07/Harding-Lemay-obituary.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoria foxton Posted July 5, 2018 Share Posted July 5, 2018 Please register in order to view this content Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Faulkner Posted July 5, 2018 Members Share Posted July 5, 2018 Wow, he died over a month ago. With Nixon and Labine gone, we have lost the masters of the form. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Khan Posted July 5, 2018 Author Members Share Posted July 5, 2018 I was thinking the same thing. The truest giants of this genre -- Lemay, Irna Phillips, Agnes Nixon, Bill Bell, Doug Marland, Henry Slesar, Claire Labine -- are all gone. No one remains, save for maybe Kay Alden, Nancy Curlee and Wisner Washam, to tell and show the younger ones how it SHOULD be done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members watson71 Posted July 5, 2018 Members Share Posted July 5, 2018 Absolutely- the giants of this genre are gone! Rest In Peace Mr. Lemay and thank you for all those years of great entertainment on Another World! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DRW50 Posted July 5, 2018 Members Share Posted July 5, 2018 Sad news. I've seen so little of his actual work, but his influence on AW and his interpretation of the soap genre are vital and always will be. And in spite of some issues I had with his AW book, it was still a great read. The most I've seen of his soap work is probably his brief 1988 return to AW, and that was damn good. If anyone knows where the scene of Rachel berating Liz after she accidentally told Matthew the truth about his conception is, I'd enjoy seeing it again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vee Posted July 5, 2018 Members Share Posted July 5, 2018 I'm very glad I backed up all his AW work from Eddie Drueding's site on an external hard drive. I wish it was readily available to the public in better quality. Like Doug Marland, Lemay's work - and his writing about his work in Eight Years in Another World - is endlessly instructive, educational and fascinating to explore, dissect and immerse oneself in. It's a how-to of textured soap opera, building sprawling worlds of character melded with cultural and artistic touchstones, themes and tones. Whether you agree with all his opinions and choices or not, it's undeniable how much of a massive superstructure and tapestry Lemay (and Marland, and Agnes Nixon and others) built through sheer force of will. I'm very familiar with many tenets of Agnes Nixon's brilliant work and how she built a show from the roots up - but when it comes to saving soap opera, more often I go back to Lemay or to Marland, in terms of the bold swaths that changed everything, sometimes overnight. I think I'll watch one of Lemay's AW episodes tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Faulkner Posted July 6, 2018 Members Share Posted July 6, 2018 I’m actually surprised I’m not reading more on social media (Twitter) about his passing. A search only brings up a few tributes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members soapfan770 Posted July 6, 2018 Members Share Posted July 6, 2018 Wow, another legend gone, and it's shame we're so limited on what of his AW is available at the moment. Truly one of kind in both the soap world and definitely in the Broadway/NYC theater world. Not to speak ill too much too soon, but there has always something both quixotic and divisive in nature about Lemay, and I think it between those two factors was why Lemay's legacy will always be "Eight Years in Another World" while other writers such as Labine, Marland, and the Dobsons made legacies at multiple shows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Faulkner Posted July 6, 2018 Members Share Posted July 6, 2018 I think 10 years ago, his passing would be a bigger deal, but with the waning of soaps, these writers recede further into the past. I know it’s Fourth of July week, and people are on vacations, but that usually never stops news from spreading. It’s just sad that, as longtime soap viewers age and pass on, these pioneers become more obscure and probably will be forgotten. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members watson71 Posted July 6, 2018 Members Share Posted July 6, 2018 When you think about it, the only "star" still living from AW's Golden Age is Victoria Wyndham (Rachel). Hugh Marlowe (Jim), Virginia Dwyer (Mary), Irene Dailey (Liz), Jacqueline Courtney (Alice), George Reinholt (Steve), Constance Ford (Ada), Douglass Watson (Mac), Beverlee McKinsey (Iris), producer Paul Rauch, and now writer Harding Lemay have all passed away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Faulkner Posted July 6, 2018 Members Share Posted July 6, 2018 Right, and with Marland gone, there aren’t a lot of big-name people to offer personal tributes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Faulkner Posted July 6, 2018 Members Share Posted July 6, 2018 A young Doris Kearns Goodwin interviews Lemay, Rauch, Susan Sullivan, and George Reinholt on Boston radio in 1972. Lemay discussing John Updike’s novel The Centaur on CBS radio back in 1964 when he worked in publishing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members vetsoapfan Posted July 6, 2018 Members Share Posted July 6, 2018 From the time Lemay was writing AW, Beverly Penberthy (Pat Matthews Randolph) is still with us. So is Susan Sullivan (Lenore Curtin). Robin Strasser (Rachel Davis). Nicholas Coster (Robert Delaney). I remember Lemay's years on the show as if they were yesterday. How tragic to think about all the AW players we have lost since then. Please register in order to view this content Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members soapfan770 Posted July 6, 2018 Members Share Posted July 6, 2018 I do agree. Shoot I remember being quite surprised Jacqueline Courtney's passing made the front cover of SOD with a retouched up photo of Steve and Alive in 2010. Someone mentioned Susan Sullivan, I remember she was one of Lemay's favorite actresses on the show in an online radio interview he gave back in 2006. I wonder if she and of course Wyndham and even Robin Strasser have heard of his passing as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.