Previous Updates - 2007

October 29, 2007

• With American and Canadian currency at parity, all AWVL prices are equal as well. Also, anything $25, for example T-160s, are now $20.
• From Day Player Timothy Stuart:

  Eddie, as I wrote in my last email, I was a young actor/artist in the early 70's. I left my hometown in Virginia and went to NY the minute I turned 18. I wouldn't advise it now, but it was a much different world in 1968. I never went to NY with the intention of being an actor; I wanted to paint. Even then painting didn't put a roof over your head or food on the table, but I was fortunate enough to be tall, had a good build and the kind of look that was “in” at that time. I parlayed that into some modeling jobs to earn money. It was funny because I usually ended up in print ads for cigarettes and beer, and I wasn't a smoker or a drinker. I also made some good friends. One was an actor named Bobby LaTourneaux. He had some success with the play and film “The Boys in the Band”, which you might recognize. Bobby was the one who suggested I consider acting. Before the film and stage work, he had been regular on the soap opera "The Doctors". He put me in touch with some people at Channelex, the company that produced "The Doctors" for Colgate Palmolive, and I ended up working fairly regularly on that show as an extra/U5, most playing orderlies or interns. This was in 1969/70.

  I also met a casting director for Proctor and Gamble. I was up for extra work on "The Guiding Light", but "Another World" was the only P&G soap I did. I was actually a last minute substitute for another actor, and got two appearances out of it. They called me very early one morning and wanted to know if I could get out to the studio in half an hour. I did. I remember the production assistant didn't have my name and didn't even know why I was there, but it didn't stop them from letting me on camera! I was an extra during courtroom scenes. I believe the script identified us as "spectators". We would sit and look attentive and occasionally "whisper" without really saying anything. It was humorous because there were only five or six regular characters, the judge and bailiff, and then a couple of extras. Then the scene would fade and they'd add sound effects of the courtroom in chaos, and it would sound like there were 50 people in the room! The storyline was that the DA's wife was on trial for murder and unknown to everybody but the audience, the DA himself was guilty.

  The DA was played by Val Dufour, who was just the nicest man. Val actually stopped in the green room to say "hello" and during the course of small talk discovered we had a mutual acquaintance in common. We really hit it off and palled around between blocking and rehearsals. Val was originally from (I think) New Orleans. When I was on, it must have been around January or February because I recall that we talked a lot about the upcoming Mardi Gras. Val was getting ready to vacation there in a few weeks and was very excited. He was a true gentleman, and I thought it was classy of him to take the time to stop and get to know an extra he would probably never see again. He was also nervous about his position on the series. He had been on for some time and was one of the most popular players, but they had written his character into a corner. After I was on, I tuned in every now and then, and sure enough, within a year he had been killed off.

  Val’s “wife” on the show was played by a very elegant blonde. She was pregnant (on the show and in real life) and wasn't feeling well that day, but she was still charming and friendly to me. She was also getting ready to leave "Another World" as soon as the murder trial story was concluded. She was replaced by Susan Sullivan who of course has gone on to an extremely successful career.

  On one of the two days I was there, Constance Ford approached me in the studio. I was in awe of her and intimidated at first, but she quickly put me at ease. She was actually down to earth and a consummate professional. She had a lively intellect and was totally the opposite of what you would expect from a "Hollywood" actress. Much more serious and not at all empty headed. One clear memory I have was talking to her about the NY bombings.She had a little dog that she loved dearly, and the explosions drove the dog crazy. At that time there was a radical group called The Weathermen who went around blowing up buildings in protest of the war in Vietnam among other things. In Manhattan you could hear explosions going off in the distance all the time. Around the time I did “Another World” they even detonated a bomb in the Capitol. It was rather unsettling and kind of bizarre to live in such a chaotic society and then go into a quiet studio and be part of a fictional world that was so insular and untouched by reality. Connie also gave me advice that I always remembered. She told me to be prompt, know my lines, and hit my mark on cue and I'd go far! In those days no matter how small your part, you really had to have your act together so to speak. All soap operas were “live tape” which meant that they almost never stopped recording unless an actor cursed. On rare occasions some of the veterans on "The Doctors" would do just that to intentionally stop a scene that was going badly. Otherwise it was exactly like being on live television. On “Another World” even the music was live. There was a guy in a studio booth playing an organ while the scenes were taped which I found funny. I was used to "The Doctors" where all the music was orchestral. Nearly 40 years later when I'm in a church and hear an organ, it reminds me of being on "Another World". The format of the taping: You would do the first scene. It would end and then there would be a minute and a half break as a technician rolled in the titles and commercials and then you would start the next scene. The whole show went like that in order, stopping and waiting the length of the commercial break and starting again, for 28 minutes and 30 seconds. Then you weren't allowed to leave the studio until they checked the tape to make sure everything was ok.

  One impression I had of the studio was that it was enormous compared to the tiny one where we taped "The Doctors" at 30 Rock. "Another World" was taped way out in Brooklyn in its own building that I think had once been a movie studio. There was also another soap that taped in the same facility. The name of it escapes me, but you would constantly hear people being paged for both soaps over the studio squawk box. I recall that the only thing separating the two shows was a thick black curtain that split the studio in half with “Another World” on one side and the other soap on the other.

  About a year or so later, I was back at “Another World” auditioning for a contract role. Coincidentally, the character’s name was also “Tim”. I didn’t get that part or the one I auditioned for at “The Edge of Night”. Shortly after that I gave up acting entirely. I always felt guilty when I was getting paid to sit in courtrooms and push gurneys around when all I really wanted to do was throw paint on a canvas. I wasn’t an exceptional actor, and it seemed unfair to the thousands of really good, unemployed performers who honest to God loved their craft. My memories are all happy ones though. It was an exciting period of time to be young and living in NY. The world was as screwed up as it is today, but everyone was so passionate about what they were doing. People today seem apathetic, and the entertainment business has become a joke. I can tell you that back then everyone on soaps worked very, very hard. The budget was low and the output was backbreaking, but we all took it seriously and really tried to put out the best product we could. I didn’t keep up with the soaps, but when I heard “The Doctors” was going off the air and later “Another World”, I was a little bit sad. They were good shows, for us and for the audience.

  Thanks for the memories, Tim