Organization: Arizona State University
Date: Friday, 18 Dec 1992 13:08:54 MST
From: <IDSWB@ASUACAD.BITNET>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv.soaps
Subject:    DOOL: Save SSH Letter - part 1

OK, as promised I have incorporated alot of info I received on the net,
including some of the letters sent.  I really hope it makes a difference.
Because I don't have a tab in the posting area, I'm gonna have the header
look a little funny.  Bear with me..... Part 2 will also be posted today
hopefully.  In about another hour.  PS.  It's the best part!

To: James Reilly, Head writer DOOL, Ken Corday, Producer DOOL, Tom Langan,
    Producer DOOL, Susan Lee, Head Daytime Programming.

From: Sue Wainscott-Bachus, Fan since 1965 Premiere.

Date: November 18, 1992

Subject: Discussion on Days of OUr Lives from Premiere to Present.

I remember in 1965 when my parents were excited because their favorite actor,
McDonald Carey, was going to premiere in a soap opera.  The anxiety rose becaus
e they had never watched a soap opera in their lives.  My mother had just put
her youngest child in kindergarten and my father worked nights.  The noon/
lunch hour was the quality family time we spent together.

I vividly remember the premiere with Tom, Alice, and Julie as the main
characters.  For years, when I got home from school, my parents were watching
Days of Our Lives.  Forever etched in my mind will be the Horton family dining
room table where Tom and Alice talked with their children and grandchild.

I recently stumbled across an article by Robert La Guardia entitled "Soap
World".  I found this article very interesting because it discussed the roots
of Days of Our Lives.  It explained how the concept of the hourglass was
developed and mentioned how hard Ted Corday worked to develop the show and how
he was the main creative force behind it.  It goes on to say "Ted Corday was
very much the authoritarian male, which is probably why Days of Our Lives had
a One Man's family feel about it and why Dr. Tom Horton was his most important
character."  It went on to say "Ted cast the other parts and conducted the
first rehearsals with characteristic meticulousness and an obsessive love for
realism."

"Less than a year after the premiere, not knowing if the program would succeed,
 Ted Corday died.  He left behind him not only the legacy of DOOL but one of
the most brilliant careers in broadcasting.  His widow, Betty, had to take
over as executive producer of the show while caring for their two sons.  In
1967, Betty Corday hired William Bell as the new head writer.  The problem with
DOOL, when Bill first became head writer, may have been that it was too mild at
the time when audiences were discovering sex and bizarre psychology in other
media.  What William Bell did was to bring the sexual rage of the novels and
movies of the time to Ted Corday's new Oakdale of the sixties, then include
special fantasies of his own.  Bell's own version of DOOL was exactly right.
The new show went high in the Nielsens and stayed there for the next eight
years."

During this time the introduction of the Horton children, Bill, Laura, Mickey,
Addie, Tommie, and Marie were added.  The ideal of Ted Corday having a "One
Man's Family feel about it" came to life.  This show was exciting and enjoyable
 to watch.  Ted Corday's hard work had really proven itself to be valuable and
the Nielsen ratings showed it!

In the years to follow the character of Julie was recast and Susan Seaforth
Hayes played the part.  In addition, Doug Williams (Bill Hayes) had made his
debut on the show.  On January 22, 1976 Susan and Bill shocked the world by
being the first and only soap opera actors that have ever appeared on the
cover of Time magazine.  In the inside story, "Sex and suffering in the
Afternoon", they called DOOL the best soap.  In that article, Susan Seaforth
Hayes was compared to Sarah Bernhart.  In addition, they were the first married
couple to appear as a married couple on a soap opera.

In the Spring of 1983 Susan Seaforth Hayes received an award for achievement in
 daytime television.  She gave a speech in which she said "I practically grew
up with you," as she addressed the members of Days of Our Lives, with tears
streaming down her face.  "You were there during the most important moments of
my life.  Mac and Frances, you were like my second mother and father.  I fell
in love with my leading man.  Wes Kennedy, our producer, came to my wedding.
You beautiful people - you are my family!"

Robert La Guardia (1983) comments on that speech by saying "It was an emotional
moment as Susan summed up what Days of Our Lives has always been for the core
cast:  a place to call home, a family.  Countless viewers felt the same way
about the show and could also burst into tears at the very thought of it,
especially the way it was during the successful years, the late sixties and
early seventies."

That statement is so true to me as a viewer.  I remember when I found out that
I was pregnant with my first child.  When Julie had David's child on the
program, I was recovering in the hospital from having my son as well.  I also
remember when David died.  I was going through divorce at the time and the
storyline and Susan's acting really helped me get through my terrible trans-
ition of becoming a single mother.

The writers up until the 1970's had an obsession for realism that all viewers
could relate to.  This was Ted Corday's dream and it was coming true even
after his death.  In fact, every person who I spoke to who watched Days of
Our Lives felt bonded to at least one character on this show if not more.
The talented way the writers wrote the storylines were completely accurate.
In combination with the Directors and Producers an excellent show was given
to the viewing fans everywhere!  They did their homework and each characters
lines and storylines stayed within character.  Very few, if any, details or
lines were amiss.
                     *MORE TO COME*

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