From: riddle@brahms.udel.edu (Tammy Riddle)
Subject: SB:  SB Tackles Child Molestation, SOW article
Organization: University of Delaware
Distribution: world 
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1992 19:27:59 GMT

Gee, how welcome I feel!! :-)  I got quite a few mail responses to post the
SB article from SOW so here goes.  It is a direct take from the article
because it would be too hard to paraphrase.  Without further ado.....

The Grapevine by Dorothy Vine

SB TACKLES CHILD MOLESTATION

Although films and prime-time television have dealt with child molestation,
undoubtedly one of the most reprehensible crimes against a human being,
daytime TV has mostly avoided it -- until now.  SANTA BARBARA, however is
addressing the subject and its effects on people's lives, and it has cast
an unlikely actor to tackle the important but unpleasant role.

Nicholas Walker, known to soap viewers as elegant cultured and
sophisticated, usually plays characters closer to his own upper-class,
well-educated background (i.e., THE DOCTORS, and Trey Clegg on CAPITOL).
On SB Walker plays police officer Frank Goodman.

Frank, a soft-spoken, seemingly kind and gentle man, is a trusted friend of
the Walker family.  He is called Uncle Frank by the two Walker teen-agers,
B.J. (Sydney Penny) and Sawyer (Eric Close).  He is also a child molester.
Unbeknownst to her parents, Jodie (Kim Zimmer) and Reese (Forry Smith), he
has been sexually abusing his godchild, B.J., since she was 10.

It's not the first time Walker has broken out of the soap mold in which he
seemed to be typecast (he played con artist Jimmy O'Herlihy on GENERAL
HOSPITAL, and was rough-hewn Max Holden on OLTL), but Frank is definitely
riskier.

"In repertory theater work, I have proven I can play blue-collar and
low-class characters," Walker explains.  "I've altered my diction, my
speech patterns and appearance.  Still, Frank is different from any other
character I've every played."

"I find the crime repugnant," admits Walker, "but I'm an actor and work is
work.  I'm very much of the 'Michael Caine school of acting':  I find it a
challenge to play as many different characters as possible.  I want to get
past the personal repulsiveness I feel for the man and find the humanity in
him.  The devastating thing he has done is an area I can explore and
hopefully express to the audience the many aspects of a man who has done
such hurtful things to a child."

"I think it's important that people learn that a molester is not a
mustache-twirling evil man, but usually an ordinary, likeable person who is
riddled with his own fear and confusion, who has himself been molested as a
child and is passing it along to another generation," Walker says.

Penny is grateful to be playing such a difficult storyline with Walker.
"It's wonderful to work with Nick," she says.  "He is insightful,
understanding and a wonderful actor who is sensitive to the situation."

Penny says she did not do any formal research for the story.  "I have
personally known people who have been in this situation," she says, " and
it seems I was always aware it existed.  As an actress, I welcomed the
story and the character as a wonderful challenge and an acting opportunity
I've never had before.  This is a crime so many people suffer and are never
able to discuss because they feel ashamed.  I think one of the things we're
trying to say is, 'This is nothing to be ashamed of; it's not your fault
and you shouldn't carry the guilt.'"

"I think we've gone about this storyline very responsibly," she continues.
"we all -- producers, writers, actors -- have tried to be truthful and
honest about the story and not sensationalize it.  And as slimy as Frank
sometimes seems, and as vulnerable and incapable of movement and decision
as B.J. seems, the story and characters are true to form and representative
of what happens between the sexually abused child and the abuser.  I think
the story will prove therapeutic; I think we're doing some good for people
and that makes me feel good!"

This storyline has re-enforced Walker's and Zimmer's fears and increased
their vigilance as parents.  "Because of all the news reports about the
subject, you now tend to be a little more cautious and careful about the
people who are teaching and caring for your children," Zimmer says.  "I
trust the instincts of my two older children (Rachel, 10, and Max, 5)
enough to think they would tell me if they thought anyone was doing
anything to them that didn't seem right.  But you can never really be sure,
because we also know the child victims are usually threatened into silence.

"I do think what SB is doing is a true representation, that Reese and Jodie
knew nothing about what was happening to their child," Zimmer continues.
"Jodie has dealt with physical violence and abuse in her work, day after
day after day, and I think the fact that she saw no signs of this in her
own family will create a constant struggle for her once she learns it.  I'm
hoping the storyline will open the eyes of both parents and children --
particularly parents -- to make them more aware of what could happen to
their children in the care of teachers and nannies."

Walker adds, "You find yourself walking around worrying, 'Is anybody abusing,
or going to abuse, my children?'  I have a really close relationship with
my two young children (Ian Anthony, 3, and Olivia Constance, 3 months).  I
bathe them every day, talk to them and spend as much time as I can with
them.  I can only hope if anything weird ever happens to either one of
them, they will tell me and their mother about it.  I do think I would have
to restrain myself from killing anyone who abused them!"

He is glad the show is confronting the issue.  "We're being more than frank
and candid in this story -- we're busting the disease wide open.  I hope it
arouses the consciousness of the nationwide audience, and teaches that any
child who has been abused must go to any adult with whom he feels safe and
whom he trusts and disclose the event.  And the adult must take what the
child reports seriously.  It's important to confront the problem without
denial; to bring it out into the open and deal with it.  I'm proud this
show is doing just that."



There you have it.  I think that the people of SANTA BARBARA should be
honored for doing such great work on this sensitive subject matter!!

--Tammy

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