What would you like to see in a Ken Burns-style documentary about soaps?

[Faulkner]

Ken Burns has done several multi-part documentaries on American history and culture, his latest, “Country Music,” premiering tonight on PBS. If he ever attempted to do such a series on daytime soaps, what would you like to see? Who would you like him to talk to? I’d of course love to see the old never-seen-before footage.

[Khan]

I'd like to see anyone who's still alive.  No lie.

[All My Shadows]

I set my DVR for this earlier and absolutely started thinking of how nice it would be to have a similar documentary for soaps.

At this point, I want to hear from any and everyone who was around from the genre's inception until the 1980s. I'd be most interested in hearing more about the earliest days of radio soaps, when/how they became what we know them as (like, when did they become associated with grandmothers, when did fans begin to obsess over characters and couples, etc), and what day-to-day life as a soap star was like when they were huge in the 60s and 70s. Thankfully, we have so many of those articles posted here to get a glimpse of the latter, but I highly doubt there are any people left who could speak about the glory days of radio soaps.

Honestly, even if I learned nothing new from it, I'd just appreciate the fact that our shows got that kind of treatment. At the very least, I'd want them to make it a point to showcase clips from shows that we have no or next to no video footage of like Young Dr. Malone, From These Roots, Our Five Daughters, Where the Heart Is, Hidden Faces, and Return to Peyton Place.

[Faulkner]

That’s a dwindling list, right? Of the BTS legends still alive from before 1980, there’s who, Kay Alden? The Dobsons? I’m sure they are some unsung BTS folks still with us who could provide insights on the creative process.

 

We luckily have quite a few legendary actors (Helen Gallagher, Elizabeth Hubbard, Eileen Fulton, Don Hastings, Leslie Charleson, Lucci, Slezak, Wyndham, Flannery, the Hayeses, et al).

Yeah, it’s sad that soaps so quickly lost any cultural relevance in the past 20 years and did such a poor job of preserving its history. But the genre’s DNA is all over TV, so that could be a great way of positioning the project. It would be so cool to see what someone of Burns’s ilk could dig up from early soaps, and I’m sure there are some academics who could talk about the radio days.

[Franko]

I agree. I'm not interested in a six-part series if five installments are going to be from 1980 onward (as would no doubt happen if it was a CNN production).

 

Assuming Katherine Phillips is alive and lucid, she should represent Irna. Cathy Chicos could speak for Agnes.

[Paul Raven]

I think Katherine Phillips has passed away.

 

Teri Keane played in radio soaps and is still living.

[Contessa Donatella]

     Yes, Katherine Phillips has died. She was alive when they were working on GL & she came to the set/studio & talked to them. But, she has since died. She told them at GL that she thought her mother would like the new production model and the new storylines. They were delighted, of course.

     However, her brother Tom is alive & has been in touch with Roger Newcomb at WLS about passing on Irna's unfinished memoir. I know someone who has read it & they don't speak highly of it. Maybe Newcomb could get someone in position to work on it.

     Ken Burns: history of soaps, radio soaps, Irna, Aggie, Bill Bell, Roy Winsor, Hummerts, philosophy of soaps, samples of soaps, video clips, various academics, images of writers, images of stars, etc.

     P&G, Compton Advertising, Screen Gems/Sony, ABC, CBS, NBC, SOAPnet, etc.

[Contessa Donatella]

My BFF's doctoral dissertation in Sociology was

"A Voice in the Room:  The Evolution of Economic and Aesthetic Legitimacies for Daytime Soap Operas in the United States, 1930-2009."

 

It explored how daytime dramas evolved from local 10 minute radio programs to the most popular and profitable mass media form in the world. It examined how soaps attained economic legitimacy (widely seen as viable business models) but not aesthetic legitimacy (not generally considered works of art.)

 

I was her proofreader and copy editor and I learned from that experience just how vast the scope is of the US daytime drama in history and number, etc. There was also a very interesting time period when certain academics tried to convince society in general that soaps made women hysterical. Studying the body of articles in mainstream press it's also interesting how much use of the pejorative there is to apply to soaps. Unfortunately we have to live with that.

 

She also published:

"Accidental Activists: Fan Activism in the Soap Opera Community" which was about Another World fans.

"You Just Don't Understand: Institutional Logics of Producers and Consumers in the Soap Opera Industry"

"High Art, No Art: The Economic and Aesthetic Legitimacy of U. S. Soap Operas"

[Contessa Donatella]

 

https://variety.com/2009/tv/news/katherine-phillips-hughes-dies-1118004778/

May 12, 2009

[DramatistDreamer]

I've been saying/requesting/prayingfor this for years.  I even posted about this awhile back in some thread (maybe ATWT).

 

The daytime drama genre going back to Irna Phillips is certainly worthy but these projects take years of research and writing to put together-- it really should've been done a full decade ago (at least).  We've already lost so many important people in the industry.  If someone/people started right now, it would be a case of better late then never.

 

A producer/director or Burns'  stature would be likely to pull in a plethora of talent (writers, directors, actors, producers, etc.) Oscar to Emmy winners.