Thoughts on "The Young and Restless Life of William J. Bell" Part 2

Here are my thoughts and summary of the William J. Bell biography, "The Young and Restless Life of William J. Bell Creator of The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful" by Michael Maloney with Lee Phillip Bell (Bill's widow). This entry will cover chapters four through eight of twenty-one.


Chapter Four - Irna

This chapter goes into detail about Bill Bell's mentor and boss the legendary Irna Phillips. There are some excerpts from Irna's unpublished biography, most humorously she felt that Bill wasn't "crazy enough" to be a serial writer. References to her method like having "long-term outlines and characterizations, my 'square' system of outlines and other techniques of the craft." Irna's notes explain how she had consulted with Aggie (aka Agnes Nixon) about how she'd like Bill to write for the 30-minute As the World Turns. Agnes agreed and took over duties at The Guiding Light. Agnes and Irna were working long distance, while Bill was in Irna's apartment working on ATWT. When Bill started with Irna, he was getting paid $75 a week, ten years later he was making $1000. There is another story about Rosemary Prinz and how Penny was was a widow on ATWT, and Irna wasn't happy that Rosemary appeared on an interview show in a good mood. The start of Another World was also mentioned as Bill and Irna were in charge of the show originally. Then James Lipton (from Inside the Actors Studio took over, which was supposedly not good, and then Agnes Nixon started writing.) A schism happened when Bill Bell went over to Days of Our Lives (another show that Irna had helped co-create as Irna wished Bill to stay under her employ, and they lost contact. Irna died in 1973.) If someone is interested in P&G soaps back in the 60s, this chapter is a must.

Chapter Five: The Lee Phillip Bell Show

This chapter goes into detail about Lee's career and history in Chicago television. There is discussion of all the social issues and memorable guests she had over the years. She stopped her career in 1986, so Bill could move the family to Los Angeles. He started being more hands-on with Y&R. And then they began what became "The Bold & the Beautiful." Lee received an honorary Daytime Emmy in 2007, and some detail about what we didn't see as it wasn't an aired award was also shared along with Bill's loving speech to his wife in 1998 at the Bells' annual Daytime Emmy press luncheon.

Chapter Six: "Like Sands Through the Hourglass"

This chapter is all about Bill's time writing for Days of Our Lives. Irna expected the show to not survive, but Bill thrived in his new position. Bill had a history with the Cordays (Ted and Betty) as Ted was a director at ATWT and Betty worked in casting. Since Lee was so successful with her television talk show, Bill could take the chance. By this point, Ted had already passed away and Betty needed help with her show. Irna saw Days as a "stepchild" even if she had help co-create it. Her babies obviously were ATWT, AW and GL.

Bill's the person who brought in Susan Flannery as Laura, Denise Alexander as Susan and Julie was recast with Susan Seaforth (Hayes). Bill has an employee for Corday Productions had issues that Irna didn't with her shows. Bill's stories for Days had to be approved by NBC. The story that Bill almost walked for was the Mickey, Bill and Laura plot. If NBC hadn't let him write it, he would have left Days. Bill used the people already on canvas and didn't purge the cast when he had the job. Per Bill's belief Laura did want to sleep with Bill, and it was consensual, though some saw it otherwise. In 1971, Days claimed the top spot from ATWT. Betty having friends at ATWT from the years she and Ted worked there wasn't as happy about it as some others.

There is also talk about Doug (Bill Hayes) and Julie, both about the characters and Bill and Susan's real life relationship and friendship with the Bells. The other story that was mentioned was how Tommy Horton came back to Salem with a new face and amnesia. A monkey from Africa was the first to recognize him. While Bill was allowed to start The Young & The Restless, he also worked for Days consulting with the show for a few more years in the 1970s.

Chapter Seven: "Young and Restless" Years, Part 1

This chapter discusses the start of Y&R. It also goes into some of Bill's career highlights before then. For example, at GL it went to number one (from number two) and had an 11.4 rating in 1956. At ATWT from 1958-1966, he wrote more than 2500 episodes, the best rating was in 1963-64, where it was 15.4. At Days he wrote more than 3000 episodes alone. ABC said no as they were committed to Nixon's All My Children, NBC had enough other program and said no as well. CBS said yes, they had twelve shows, and decided to cancel Where The Heart Is to air Bill's show. Lee and Bill had a relationship going back years with the network as WBBM-TV, was a CBS affiliate in Chicago. Fred Silverman is quoted about this, though to most television fans he is known for primetime television he got his start at CBS Daytime.

The original characters were mentioned along with their ages, and also a description of the first episode was given, which aired on March 26, 1973. ABC saw the show and knew they were in trouble. The show had provocative sex scenes for the era, and also social issues stories were told. Bill admitted that he was worried about Y&R as it is hard to get people to sample a new soap, as back then there were 14 programs to choose from (wish we still had that problem.) Also people were loyal to the ones some had watched since the 1950s.

John Conboy did the day-to-day producing for Y&R in LA, while Bill remained in Chicago writing the program. Then, there are references to the show's second year in which Kay (Jeanne Cooper) was brought in and Kay Alden was writing a thesis. Kay Alden ended up not finishing up her thesis and became Bill's protege.

The expansion of soaps from 30 minutes to an hour was also discussed. People like Agnes and Bill preferred the shorter format. In 1970, there were 19 soaps, by 1981 there were 13. Since the shows were longer, there could not be as many. New characters had to be created for Y&R when the show was forced by CBS to expand to an hour. These characters included Paul and Victor. What is crazy is that Y&R lost 4 share points during this time, and it took three years to get them back.

Chapter Eight: "Young and Restless" Years, Part 2

This chapter begins with the news that Jaime Lyn Bauer (Lorie) decided to leave Y&R. Bill decided to jettison the Brooks family as he couldn't see bringing in a recast of Lorie. Jaime Lyn Bauer only found out about this years later, that her departure cost the loss of jobs of other actors.

Since the Brooks family was gone, the decision was made to give a family to Paul Williams (Doug Davidson) and Jack (Terry Lester), who were both on the show already, but were mainly "island characters." This proved to be successful. For people to care about Jack's father John (Jerry Douglas), they linked him romantically with Jill.

After Conboy left to start Capitol, Wes Kenney took over, though he left in the mid-80s to go to Gneral Hospital. Ed Scott became the producer after that. Mentions of the climb to getting Y&R to number one in the ratings were mentioned. There were references to how they recast the roles of Jill, Ashley and Jack unlike what happened with Lorie. Then they share the story of what happened with Victor and how he ended up in Kansas with Hope. Sally Sussman Morina, who had been one of Bill's writers is also mentioned. She left Y&R to start Generations, and it is mentioned that Sally Spectra from B&B was named after her.

There is also a summary of the George Rawlins murder mystery as that was one of his favorite stories. In 1992, Bill turned the reins of B&B to his son Brad. The chapter ends with a discussion of a roast to Bill that happened that year. I wish we could see a video of that, as it sounds amusing. Other tributes took place that year. Bill started working in soaps in 1956, and didn't seem to want to slow down in his chosen career.

That's my summary and thoughts of chapters four through eight of the Bill Bell biography. Hopefully if you haven't bought the book yet, this will give you the nudge to pick it up from your local bookseller.