Just wanted to share some info from a nearly 25 year old soap magazine in my collection. This issue has stories about people who are still known by viewers today and a poll a reader's poll for the year 1985-1986. The poll results are slanted towards Days of Our Lives. I'll share the winners and runners-up, along with some other details written about in this issue.
This particular magazine is 8.5 x 11 and other than the cover is in black and white. Unfortunately, I cannot figure out when this publication was printed, but it references "upcoming events" that will take place in the summer. At the time there was 13 soaps to focus upon: All My Children, Another World, As the World Turns, Capitol, Days of Our Lives, General Hospital, Guiding Light, Loving, One Life to Live, Ryan's Hope, Santa Barbara, Search for Tomorrow, and Young & the Restless. From here on out, I will refer to the programs with the initials to save space.
Here are the poll results...
Best Soap Opera
Days of our Lives
General Hospital
Santa Barbara
Best Couple
Bo & Hope (Days)
Shane & Kim (Days)
Frisco & Felicia (GH)
Best Actor
Peter Reckell (Bo from Days)
Charles Shaughnessy (Shane from Days)
A Martinez (Cruz from SB)
Best Actress
Kristian Alfonso (Hope from Days)
Patsy Pease (Kim from Days)
Deidre Hall (Marlena from Days)
Best Villain
Quinn Redeker (Alex from Days)
Steve Bond (Jimmy Lee from GH)
John Reilly (Sean from GH)
Best Villainess
Leann Hunley (Anna from Days)
Robin Strasser (Dorian from OLTL)
Shannon Tweed (Savannah from Days)
Best Performer in a Senior Role (Male)
Macdonald Carey (Tom from Days)
David Lewis (Edward from GH)
Douglass Watson (Mac from AW)
Best Performer in a Senior Role (Female)
Frances Reid (Alice from Days)
Anna Lee (Lila from GH)
Constance Ford (Ada from AW)
Best Teen Performer
Lisa Trusel (Melissa from Days)
Brian Bloom (Dusty from ATWT)
David Mendenhall (Mike from GH)
The lead cover story is entitled "Soap's Sexy Ladies LEARNING TO LOVE ... AGAIN" and features five interviews with the following performers, Melody Thomas Scott, Marcy Walker, Jackie Zeman, Patsy Pease and Ellen Wheeler. Each is about a page long and includes photos. They also have intimate interviews with Josh Taylor, Andrea Evans, Jean LeClerc, Kristina Malandro (now Wagner), Brad Maule, Lisby Larson, Stephen Nichols, Cheryl-Ann Wilson and John Martin.
Unlike the soap magazines of today, which focus more on story related issues, this is about the performers, their relationships, their lives and careers. The only story article is about GL's Simon and Jesse. Within the gossip section, there was another GL related tidbit from Joe Willmore (who had just became the executive producer of that program in that time frame. He was quoted that to make a soap successful is to "look at it from the audience's point of view. They're pretty sentimental, and I have to admit that I am, too," he says. Joe wants to "add dimension to the characters," and he feels that one way of doing this is to give them "more of a sense of humor. If the audience is going to spend an hour with us, we want them to enjoy themselves. We want them to feel good about what they're watching."
There are sections called Hollywood Happenings and Bites from the Big Apple. Obviously those portions have the gossip and photos for the actors living on either coast. Like with Days: They write about how Kristian Alfonso got a red Corvette and a new home, Ken Corday (now Days executive producer) got married, Frances Reid talked about planting petunias for the 4th of July, and they mentioned how Michael Weiss went to UCLA with Ally Sheedy and Eric Stoltz. They talk about fan events, and which performers attended. It is interesting because it is a mishmash of things, on facing pages they have a picture of Erika Slezak and her kids at the circus with clowns and a photo of Don MacLaughlin (ATWT's Chris Hughes) who according to the magazine passed away this past May. Added Attractions was the section that had a list of soap performers in other roles like television movies, theatrical movies, and plays like yes that is really Meg Ryan (Betsy from ATWT in Top Gun). A section called fan club file that had addresses to join fan clubs for particular performers. The last regular section seems to be "Foto Funnies" with real and character photos with quotes underneath them.
The Showstoppers section had a section on each show, with a cast list, and random tidbits about the actors. In the Y&R section they have one about Tracey Bregman being involved with Adopt a Real Friend, which was an organization that provides shelter for stray and abandoned animals, which runs from dogs to geese. The GH page has about Jack Wagner's singing gigs, a short summary about Leslie Charleson's time on Love is a Many Splendored Thing, in which her character was blind, pregnant and terminally ill (there is also a two page photo gallery of a charity for Cystic Fibrosis that she sponsored), and David Lewis (Edward) talking about how soaps reminded him of the studio system and its stable of stars. "The public sees them all the time. There's nothing that builds an audience like a soap." The Capitol section has a blurb about Constance Towers and her husband who opened their house up to the Red Cross. They did this to show people in California how to prepare for an earthquake, as there had been a huge one in Mexico in that time frame. The ATWT section had about Brian Bloom and Martha Byrne's tour of high schools to increase viewership of the program in the summer, how Mark Pinter is a good golfer, and how at that time Lindsay Frost (who was Betsy) was dating the actor who played Nick. Ryan's Hope, Loving and Search for Tomorrow shared one page, and Santa Barbara got half a page, with most of it the cast list. The AMC page, had a note about Susan Lucci, how she signed a two-year contract that gives her the freedom to do other projects and her salary was in the 7-figures. Julia Barr's daughter Allison who at the age of two was to be a flower girl, but got scared and didn't walk down the aisle. Gl's page had about Michael Wilding going to a tribute about his mom Elizabeth Taylor, Krista Tesreau in a musical about street performers (that she based her character on Beth not Mindy) and Mark Lewis who played Kurt Corday volunteering along with Kim Zimmer, Scott Bryce, Sharon Gabet and Jon Hensley. It was a dish washing contest for charity. AW and OLTL shared a page, and it had about Linda Dano being on a miniseries that would air the next season and how Erika Slezak felt right at home in Vienna as her father and grandfather were from there. The Days page has about Macdonald Carey in a movie called Island of the Alien, and how he was in over 50 motion pictures in his career, Charles Shaughnessy being in a play called Treats that would be performed in Burbank over the summer, Leann Hunley being in Indianapolis, and Joe Gallison (Neil) having a bar called Re$iduals.
The letter box was the viewer mail section of the magazine. The subheading is "Griping or Piping in Praise We Look Forward to your Candid Comments." There is one viewer who loves Days and was glad for the show as it comforted her after her father's death, another one is praising OLTL and the touching scenes in which Viki told Clint she was pregnant, a Ryan's Hope fan talking about SORAS and how Ryan is old enough to get her diploma instead of her driver's license and how they wished to know what school they went to, and how seeing Mary's spirit made them cry. There was a letter praising GL for hiring Larkin Malloy. There were two letters talking about ridiculous stories.. The first one shows what show the person is a fan was and how many soaps they watched. Like how Y&R Lauren had a terrible ordeal with Shawn to only lose her baby and have Paul divorce her, Nikki was made to look like a villain for coming between her husband and his lover (it says his lover, so Nikki had a husband who was gay?). The death of Tod on Days was senseless and cruel, Pete became a jackass. Jenny shot a US Senator on Capitol and didn't even spend a second behind bars. And people actually criticize GL, some things in this world are just impossible to understand. The second one came from a GH fan who thought it was so bizarre that Anna Devane became co-Police chief, but it could only happen on a soap. This writer doesn't understand why everyone takes it so seriously. The other letters are about hot men, and one viewers love of Shane and Kim from Days. There was another mail section just about Days and it was funny (at least to me) that some fans were rooting for Patch and Hope.
Hopefully this flash from the past wasn't too random and weird, but I just enjoy sharing things that are part of my soap opera collection. I have various publications from the 70s on, which I find fun to read.
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