From: sasse@netcom.com (Ellen Sasse)
Subject: Re: AW: Earn big bucks:-)
Date: Sat, 26 Sep 92 21:34:18 GMT
Organization: Netcom

22302LMK@MSU writes: 

> Dean's acting has improved some, I still don't like him. But Alla Korot appears
> to be a bitch on/off the camera. Good writing won't help her, but maybe a
                   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> good ass-kicking will:-)

Heh heh.

Has Alla Korot been on any talk shows or done any interviews? I have been
curious to hear quotes/interviews/appearances about her, but haven't heard
any. Does anyone have any good quotes from her or gossip? (or about anyone
on the AW cast)

AW gossip: I read in an old magazine that the guy who plays Dennis and
Alicia Coppola are an item offscreen. There was also a blurb some time
ago saying how Jensen Buchanan got married, but I still think she's
blowing the producer to get all that airtime without all that talent;-) ;-)

And, in a tangentially-related theme, TV Guide had what I found to be a
VERY heartening page about Beverlee McKinsey, who I believe was the original
Iris.  From TVGuide 9/26/92, p. 25, reprinted w/o permission:

SOAPS   By Michael Logan
Why McKinsey took a hike [sic]

Beverlee McKinsey-the legendary Guiding Light diva widely considered to
be the best actress in daytime-has quit her role as Alexandra Spaulding.
At best, the loss is devastating. At worst, it's immeasurable. But so
was the shock on the faces of the GL execs when, without warning,
McKinsey took advantage of a contract clause they didn't even know she
had-a clause that allowed the queen bee to abdicate on only eight weeks'
notice, no matter how crucial she was to the plot.

"It's not *my* job to tell 'em what's in their contracts-and it's not my
fault they're surprised," shrugs McKinsey, who joined GL in 1984 and
(with the blessing of the soap's owner, Procter & Gamble) added the
unheard-of clause two years later. "The show has been working me way too
hard, and the day finally came when I needed to exercise that clause.
*That*, after all, is what it's there for. I no longer want to get up
every morning at 4:45 and sit in a studio every night until 10. I want
my life back." Rumors that she was miffed with the queen-of-mean turn
her character had taken are not unfounded. "What they've done with
Alexandra during the last six months is close to assassination, but it
was not the straw that broke this camel's back," says the veteran of 22
years in the soaps. "I'm burnt out, and the only solution to that is to
stop-and stop *immediately*.

But it's *how* McKinsey stopped that has tongues wagging: determined to
avoid negotiation attempts and soupy farewells, she told no one of her
plans and, instead, simply taped the Aug. 18 episode, bid adieu to a
stunned cast and crew, and took off on an accrued vacation that used up
the eight weeks of the clause. Laughs McKinsey: "I didn't want weeks and
weeks of people running through my dressing room and crying, "Beverlee,
why, why, WHY are you doing this-oh, and by the way, could I have your
shoes?"

For the record, she did try to notify executive producer Jill Farren Phelps
personally, but Phelps was on vacation and her staff (unaware McKinsey was
about to drop an H-bomb) refused to disturb her. Reportedly, the producer-not
to mention the poobahs at Procter&Gamble-feel they've been sucker-punched.
But in a way, they're just getting a taste of their own medicine: soap
contracts are designed only to protect the shows from losing their
actors. The actors-McKinsey included-technically can be fired every 13
to 26 weeks.

"And it happens to us all the time without warning," drawls the Oklahoma
belle. "So if they're bent out of shape, it's because, for once,
somebody beat 'em at their own game."
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv.soaps