Saturday, September 29, 2012

Today in Soap Opera History (September 29)

On this date in...

1947: Radio soap opera CLAUDIA premiered.  Due in large part to the success of the two Claudia movies, the D'Arcy advertising agency decided to bring the characters to radio in a five-a-week quarter-hour serial on behalf of its client, Coca-Cola. Kathryn Bard was cast as Claudia and Paul Crabtree as David, with Joe King announcing.

1969: BRIGHT PROMISE premiered on NBC. The daytime soap opera ran at 3:30 p.m. ET until March 31, 1972. The show revolved around students and faculty at the fictional Bancroft College and was created by Frank and Doris Hursley. The show starred Dana Andrews, and Anthony Geary would later join the cast. BRIGHT PROMISE actress Gail Kobe would become the executive producer of its replacement show, RETURN TO PEYTON PLACE.

1978: NBC aired the final episode of FOR RICHER, FOR POORER, a daytime soap opera originally titled LOVERS AND FRIENDS. The characters of Amy and Austin Cushing arrived on the network's top-rated soaper, ANOTHER WORLD, in advance of the FOR RICHER, FOR POORER debut in the hope of attracting that audience. AW's Rachel Cory and then Mac Cory also appeared on the show. Ultimately it wouldn't help.  Read this classic article for more.

1989: Terry Lester debuted on SANTA BARBARA as Mason Capwell. Lester had let his contract with THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS expire on August 17th, a show he had starred on since 1980. Lester ran into SANTA BARBARA's head writer, Chuck Pratt, an an L.A. function where Pratt commented, "Boy, would I like to write for you," which Lester found very flattering. Two weeks later, New World Television president Jon Feltheimer called Lester at home and emphasized that his company had many other production arms other than SANTA BARBARA and that if he joined the cast of the soap, they would help him find the other vehicles he was interested in.  Lester moved to SANTA BARBARA and the role of Mason Capwell.  Peter Bergman joined Y&R as a Jack recast.

Celebrating a birthday today are:
Robert Gentry (ex-Ed, GUIDING LIGHT; ex-Ross, ALL MY CHILDREN; ex-Philip, ANOTHER WORLD; ex-Giles, ONE LIFE TO LIVE; ex-Jordan, GENERATIONS; ex-Richard, DAYS OF OUR LIVES; ex-Elliott, THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL) - 72
Ian McShane (ex-Don, DALLAS) - 70
Drake Hogestyn (John, DAYS OF OUR LIVES) - 59
Roger Bart (Barry, POLITICAL ANIMALS; Mason, REVENGE; ex-George, DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES) - 50
Andrea Pearson (ex-Gia, GENERAL HOSPITAL) - 36

EDITOR'S NOTE: If you would like to submit a piece of soap opera history for this daily column, please email it to [email protected].

1 comment:

  1. With my sadly sadistic self, I would love to see the deathbed love scene with Ian & Dee--Tee, Hee!

    Brian :-)

    ReplyDelete