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Love in the afternoon: How soap opera characters shaped a nation · Cultural Wars | America Out Loud News

• 0:12
  It is my honor to have a very special guest with us today.
• 0:19
  The wonderful talented.
• 0:21
  He'll tell many how many Emmy nominations he has had.
• 0:25
  Mr.
• 0:25
  Kin Schreiner, ladies and gentlemen.
• 0:28
  Welcome to Burn Unscripted, Ken.
• 0:31
  Welcome.
• 0:32
  Thank you for being having me on the unscripted show, which is my favorite thing.
• 0:36
  Anything unscripted.
• 0:38
  Tell me about it.
• 0:39
  I worked with you.
• 0:40
  I know.
• 0:40
  I you know, it's the fact that we're doing this kind of with no cameras, and it's just the audio.
• 0:47
  You know, we were speaking earlier about the beginnings of soap operas, and you were talking about your your family and your parents.
• 0:55
  I wanted to hear, I know I I've known you a long time, but I think there's so much more to learn.
• 1:01
  And just tell me a little bit more about your parents' background in radio, because that's where it all started.
• 1:07
  Yes, but the father started in radio in the 40s.
• 1:11
  Um, in those days, the famous show was the shadow knows.
• 1:18
  Uh who knows the shadow knows.
• 1:21
  But yes, uh radio was the thing.
• 1:23
  People gathered around their radios, and their their favorite radio shows came on and they listened and enjoyed before the television set arrived in the early 50s, late 40s, early 50s.
• 1:36
  But my father was in radio, and he made the the jump to um television.
• 1:45
  So you know, uh it's like when I was in silent movies.
• 1:52
  What shows were were your father's in the radio?
• 1:54
  Like what the show, what were the shows that he did in his radio days?
• 1:59
  Well, I don't know exactly what they were called in those days.
• 2:03
  I know that when he jumped to television, he had his own show on called Too for the Money, which is why he uh when he had me and my brother twins, he really got to for the money.
• 2:15
  So that was kind of a we were wheeled out on TV in the 953 because uh uh he had the show.
• 2:24
  And but before that, you know, in those days, comedians and humorists and stuff, they they they had radio spots.
• 2:31
  I don't I'm not quite sure uh, you know, they were busy.
• 2:37
  They were busy, both of your parents.
• 2:40
  Yes, my mother was a dancer, she was a uh kind of a uh what do you call it back in the day, an acrobatic dance.
• 2:47
  So they had acrobatic acts, you know, uh where you know, please welcome, you know, Trixie and Dixie to the stage, and then they do uh, you know uh, you know, flips and all that stuff.
• 2:59
  Yeah, that kind of dance.
• 3:00
  Is that where you get your your dance moves from?
• 3:02
  You're I I got absolutely no dance moves from anything because but I did get you know, my um my uh uh athletic love of athlete, uh athletic activities, you know, clear, you know, and love basketball and all the sports that came with being somewhat athletic or coming from an athletic mother who was doing you know, could do the cartwheels and the and all of that stuff.
• 3:28
  It's amazing.
• 3:28
  You you talked, I I mean, we've so had so many conversations, but I think one of you know, your my favorite memories that you have that you've shared with me is when you were in school and you were driving around and the celebrities and like the children of the celebrities.
• 3:44
  Can you just talk a little bit about some of the some of your people that you went to school with and like the world that you grew up in a bit in Hollywood?
• 3:54
  I mean, it's old Hollywood, the the the Hollywood that people still are nostalgic for and and still talk about to this day.
• 4:02
  You told me a little bit about when you were in grammar school and who you who you were hanging around with, and can you share a little bit of that that?
• 4:08
  Sure, Martha.
• 4:10
  I was in grade school in um uh Beverly Hills Catholic school on Charlieville, and in my class was uh Ricky Martin, Dean Martin's son, uh Katie Walston, Ray Walston's daughter, uh Dino was in the grade ahead of me.
• 4:35
  Uh little uh John Provost that played Timmy and Lassie.
• 4:40
  I had a fist fight with him in third grade over him only he only came to school once in a while because he was busy filming Lassie.
• 4:49
  And so yeah, there was a lot of uh it was all show business deal.
• 4:55
  It was everything was centered around a little town called Beverly Hills that was you know kind of a hometown for where everybody lived.
• 5:05
  And what was it like with your parents?
• 5:07
  Like when was it were they recognizable?
• 5:10
  Like what were they uh star level, like when they walk in, could they get the best table at the best restaurant in the in the city?
• 5:15
  Like what was their what was your day-to-day like with with your parents, you know, as far as their how famous they were, and like your your your perspective on that as a child.
• 5:26
  Well, I think all kids had no uh my parents didn't go to one basketball game, uh, nor did Dean Martin go to one of any of his basket.
• 5:35
  I mean, the the parents in in Hollywood were busy working, so you had no, you know, it wasn't like they're over on the sidelines cheering that that that don't that didn't really exist until you know later on into the 80s or 90s when 90s maybe when you know soccer moms came around and it was all a big ordeal, I guess.
• 6:04
  It's well also it also was no that became a thing.
• 6:08
  It became a thing in the in the you know, in in the industry for actors to show up at their kids, you know, that almost like the it became cool, you know, like to be to be able to do it all.
• 6:22
  You could be an actor and you can be a full-time mom and you can juggle everything, and the the reality was, you know, we knew actors on Azural Turns that you know grew up in that early genre, and like you didn't have children.
• 6:35
  Like that was something that was either you were a mom or you were an actor.
• 6:39
  It was very hard to be accepted to do both, obviously.
• 6:43
  You know, but your the talent of your parents, you know, obviously you it's inherited in your family, and you you're you you you you still stayed in the industry.
• 6:52
  You never left the industry.
• 6:54
  So I know can you talk a little bit about like how your trajectory and why you decided to stay in the industry when you were a teenager?
• 7:03
  I know you had such a great, you know, such a unique experience with the studio system, which people don't even know what that is now, what the studio system is.
• 7:11
  Right.
• 7:11
  Can you talk about that?
• 7:13
  Yes, I could talk about uh the I uh chose an acting career, like I said, when I was I was you know basically born on television, uh, and I came out and saw those cameras and I said, Well, that's for me, and I've kind of stuck to it that in fourth grade.
• 7:35
  I told my parents, you know, there is no school for me.
• 7:40
  I'm I'd like to get into a professional acting class and go from there.
• 7:44
  And my father, of course, said, Why don't you try playing the part of a good student for a while instead of the part of something else?
• 7:52
  So it wasn't, it was not you had to really fight to be an actor, as you know, you were a kid actor.
• 8:00
  I mean, you know, it's a it's a in it, you're in it.
• 8:04
  You you've already forgot about school and said, no, no, I'm hustling to get it, you know, the acting job, the next job.
• 8:10
  Still hustling.
• 8:11
  What was a big what was the big first break that you had as a young man in the do you feel like in your perspective now?
• 8:18
  You go, well, what that was the one job that put me into a different level.
• 8:23
  Well, there was when I was like I said in third grade, I was at a uh an acting school on in Beverly Hills, and they were auditioning for a uh uh a kid to play Jesus as a boy, and they went through so many kids, and they ended up giving me the part, and but my father wouldn't let me do it because it it was interfering, it was too much it he was in show business and didn't think it was a good way to go.
• 8:50
  Like I said, he wanted me to focus on my schooling.
• 8:54
  So it's not that that gave me any um real incentive, it's just that you know, it was kind of what I really wanted to do.
• 9:02
  And so when I was able to come back from Florida going to high school back to LA is in my at 20, I was dead set on you know going after it then, and I guess getting uh working your way up from little parts to little parts to to you know eventually you get that guest star on eight is enough or some show in the in the in the 70s that's you know you you you you work your way around, you try and get a contract at the studio, you try and get a better agent, you know.
• 9:39
  Right.
• 9:40
  There's just it's all the it's it's um but there was a there was actually a path, but there was there was actually a path back in those days to be successful, like you said.
• 9:51
  If you get the guest spot on the eight is enough or whatever show you're talking about, you're just one step away from being a regular series regular.
• 9:59
  You do enough of those.
• 10:00
  Guest spots for the same production company, eventually they're gonna cast you in one of their shows.
• 10:05
  Like that's kind of what it was always that way.
• 10:09
  It isn't that way anymore, obviously.
• 10:11
  But so when what was the biggest?
• 10:14
  So what did you you did a bunch of guest spots?
• 10:16
  And then how did uh General Hospital come about?
• 10:20
  What was that process?
• 10:22
  Uh my acting coach at the time, Lillian Chauvin had been had done the young and the restless, and she was very familiar with the daytime world and knew what how important it was for an actor to have that sort of training and doing it, and uh somehow I ended up getting a meeting with Tom Donovan, who was producing General Hospital, and he said, Yeah, we we we we're we're interested, we're gonna you know introduce a new character kid to uh the show.
• 10:56
  And I said, uh I'd love to, and so I did a couple of shows, and then they decided to put me under contract and it went from there, basically.
• 11:06
  Who was your first uh who was your first character that you worked with when you first started on the show?
• 11:13
  Who was like Brown, Susan Brown the best, the best, yes, and of course back then it was all sort of live live on tape, as they call it, because uh back in you know when they were really live, I don't know when that ended.
• 11:29
  That would have ended maybe in the late 60s when they chose to do it.
• 11:35
  Uh wasn't as the world turns out.
• 11:38
  Yeah, they were live.
• 11:39
  They were live, yeah.
• 11:40
  They they were they would they were alive into the 70s, I thought.
• 11:43
  And and Larry Brigman and all those actors, Don Hastings, they they all did it the show live.
• 11:49
  And Elizabeth Hubbard did the doctor's live.
• 11:51
  I mean, this is could you imagine?
• 11:53
  I mean, you know, it's yes, it's theater, but it's on at least in theater, if it's live, it's one and done.
• 12:00
  It's like you're doing it on television, it's going out to the millions of people, and if you make a mistake, then everybody's gonna see it, you know, not like a Broadway show where you the next night you could just not do that.
• 12:12
  But you never did a show live.
• 12:14
  Did General Hospital ever do like a special live show or anything like that?
• 12:18
  Well, but they they did I don't know if they they did uh try one live, but I don't think it was a part of it.
• 12:23
  But I'm saying as though when I started it was live on tape, every actor was already in their sets, so they date they they wanted to get the show, they'd shut start taping at two, and it was 45 minutes, and so they okay, and commercial two minutes now act one coming up, and then they would move a camera to the second scene, and the other cameras would join and they'd go, they had it down to a science.
• 12:51
  Yeah, so there was the only time that they would ever have to uh redo it is if if a set fell over or somebody you know collapsed, they'd have to go back to the to the top of the act, and so I think they had uh I I don't know how much time they had before it had to go out there, yeah.
• 13:12
  But you know, you you knew that you were in the process of doing something a live broadcast because you know, you you just didn't uh and if you did goof up, either the other actor picked it up or covered or right, you know, you you didn't just stand there going, ah I'm up, I'm up, I'm up, I'm up.
• 13:32
  Line, line, line.
• 13:35
  That's that's like uh I went to see all my children taped once, and I thought this is so interesting.
• 13:40
  They're moving from set to set to set, and as well turns, we weren't doing we we never did that when since I was on the show, it was always by the set, and you were done, which is you know, great for the actor because you don't have to stick around all day and you don't have to, it's much more uh cost effective because you can shoot a couple of episodes in a day, and then we had you know who came in and really 45 episodes in one day.
• 14:04
  But uh like what do you see the evolution of that?
• 14:07
  Like, did you like that that they were live like that, or did you like how it evolved into what it is now, which is kind of you know, set by set?
• 14:16
  I I think that when when Gloria Monty took the show over after Tom Donovan, there was I was there for maybe the one year with Tom Donovan, where it was sort of live like that, and then when Gloria came in and brought on, you know, uh uh she decided to do a hurricane that swept through the town.
• 14:36
  She got rid of everybody she didn't like and brought on um, you know, all the the big shots, you know, the Leslie Charlson's uh Tony Geary's Stuart Damons and all of these new actors, and uh decided that it was you know and brought on the great Doug Marlin as a writer, and then decided that they needed to make it as good as possible, and they decided to they moved it to an hour, and they had like you said, the leeway to basically block and tape and do the those scenes that were done in that set at one time and keep and move on.
• 15:16
  How many takes did you think was an average back back in the early 80s?
• 15:20
  Like when you were when they started doing that, how many takes do you think you would do per scene at General Hospital?
• 15:27
  Well, I know for a fact because uh when Wes Kenny took over the show, he would keep coming out, all right, let's let it rip one more time, and you would look at him and go, Wes, we have already done it seven times.
• 15:42
  So there was um overly done, and then there was you know Gloria who would keep would do it until she was pleased.
• 15:54
  But it was so it wasn't it was an actors going, you know, can we do it again?
• 16:00
  There was that.
• 16:01
  Right.
• 16:02
  But no, don't give actors any control over that because you know that could go on for days.
• 16:07
  I like to do another one.
• 16:08
  Well, too bad.
• 16:09
  Well, I do think that some actors, yeah.
• 16:11
  I think some actors have tried to still say that even to this day.
• 16:15
  I think some tried, can we get one more make another pass at that?
• 16:18
  And it no, we're moving on.
• 16:19
  Exactly.
• 16:20
  So exactly.
• 16:20
  It's it's no go anymore, but it it had its it's it did what there was a time.
• 16:25
  There was upon a time.
• 16:26
  Once upon a time, and it was also a um uh, you know, when we're making money, when the network's making money, we had million dollar flowers and million dollar clothes and million dollars.
• 16:38
  I mean, there was the money was just going everywhere, and so you know, doing it one more time, so you go to a meal break and it's another million dollars.
• 16:45
  It didn't matter because the money was so coming in like crazy, you know, they're making so much money, the soaps, you know, back in then, and then you know, it's like someone the analogy was you know, with networks and budgets, it's like even if you don't need the extra pencil, use the extra pencil, or else they're gonna cut you that pencil the next time you ask for for money, and soaps ended up doing that too.
• 17:09
  But you know, obviously.
• 17:10
  Um, but so take me back to a little bit of, and I know this is because I'm so fascinated by this too, and and we've touched on this a bit, about your first encounter.
• 17:21
  I mean, obviously, Gloria kept you, which is great, you know, that you you survived the flood.
• 17:24
  Congratulations, the hurricane.
• 17:26
  Hurricane, yes, yes, I did.
• 17:28
  We were in a storm shed, Jeannie and I, and we had no idea what was going on in outside, but that was the end of it.
• 17:35
  And you survived and you survived.
• 17:37
  Thank God.
• 17:38
  We survived, yes.
• 17:39
  Thank God.
• 17:40
  So, what was the initial?
• 17:42
  So Tony came in.
• 17:43
  Who brought was it Douglas Marlin that brought Tony in that character, or was it Gloria who wanted Tony's character to come in?
• 17:50
  How did that happen?
• 17:51
  Well, well, there's you know, there's there's many many versions of the same story, but the story was that uh they wanted uh Bobby Spencer of Jackie Zeman, uh was trying to dis trying to steal Scotty from Laura and needed the help of her criminal brother, Luke, who was brought came to town for a couple of shows, and Gloria had known him from a soap he had done in New York, I believe, at the time, and also knew him from you know, he was already kind of an established actor, he had already done you know, all in the family, and he he'd been around, so he was an actor that was already, you know, uh, and so that's how he got introduced to the show.
• 18:52
  I don't know they never had the Luke and Laura.
• 18:58
  That was never really uh it wasn't like we're gonna create a whole Luke and Laura storyline.
• 19:03
  That that was never on in the in the in the works.
• 19:07
  Right.
• 19:07
  That happened.
• 19:09
  That happened, and it's similar to I brought John Hensley on that character on As the World Turns.
• 19:16
  We those characters were never supposed to be in a real romantic relationship.
• 19:20
  Uh I was like the introduct the welcome wagon, I like to call it.
• 19:24
  I was always and then they would bring these guys on, and then they would put them with someone else, and and that was the same with John Hensley because I was only 16 or 17.
• 19:35
  Or fit of 16, he was you know, 20.
• 19:39
  And Doug, you know, how Doug was like, wait a minute, I see some there's there's chemistry here, and I need to write that.
• 19:45
  I mean, that was how great Doug was.
• 19:47
  He would see something on screen and just write the storyline.
• 19:49
  So do you know what what can you share about what was supposed to happen with let's say Scotty and Laura?
• 20:00
  Like had you ever been told any long-term storyline when like when you know when I when when a producer calls you in and says, okay, there's gonna be a hurricane, and you're like, uh oh.
• 20:11
  Am I gonna make my mortgage?
• 20:12
  Am I gonna show should I bought that property?
• 20:15
  Um, and says, No, no, no, you're good.
• 20:16
  No, no, no, you're good.
• 20:18
  You have a whole storyline coming up.
• 20:20
  What do you do you remember like what that was like, like what what you thought was gonna happen with your characters, you and and Jeannie.
• 20:28
  Uh well, no, what what happened was the way it went down is that uh we uh uh Bobby didn't break us up.
• 20:40
  Scotty and Laura got married.
• 20:42
  Scotty uh trying to work his way through law school, uh, allowed his wife to work in a discotheque.
• 20:52
  Uh, which was a mistake, but obviously.
• 20:56
  Uh then.
• 21:01
  Oh, this is this is so soap opera because you uh you keep cutting out, which is fantastic.
• 21:05
  Your your connection keeps cutting out, so it's almost like I'm like stay tuned for next week on General Hospital.
• 21:13
  So your connection's not great.
• 21:15
  Your connection's not great, so I will there you are.
• 21:18
  He's back.
• 21:18
  He's out on the seawall somewhere in the middle of Florida.
• 21:22
  Stay with her.
• 21:23
  There you are.
• 21:26
  I could just as easily change chairs.
• 21:29
  Oh, look at that.
• 21:31
  Tell me when it gets better.
• 21:33
  Oh, that sounds better.
• 21:34
  Much better.
• 21:35
  Hello, are you there?
• 21:36
  Uh-uh.
• 21:37
  Oh, this is this is kind of what it's like working with you sometimes.
• 21:40
  You just never know what's going to come next, which is what I love about you.
• 21:44
  And maybe we're gonna lose Ken for a moment.
• 21:46
  So until he comes back, I'm gonna tell you what I remember about that time and what I saw in uh and the show, the soap.
• 21:56
  I was so I remember how much I loved Jeannie, and I loved them working together and Ken.
• 22:05
  And I remember Ken, and I remember Susan Brown who played his mother, who was fantastic.
• 22:10
  What an incredible actress and you know, she was one of those actresses that you turned on the television, you turned on the show, and you were just sucked into this their life.
• 22:23
  It felt real.
• 22:24
  Before we wrap up our first part here, you were talking about how you know what the trajectory was that you believed when Tony came on for a few episodes, and it also sounds like it's very common in soaps.
• 22:38
  Larry Brigman on Azure World Turns also only was supposed to be gone for a couple of episodes and ended up being on for 50 years or so.
• 22:45
  So where were you just to tease everybody?
• 22:48
  Like what was it things were looking like when Tony first came on and why why you believe it kind of went a different direction?
• 22:56
  Well, it went a different direction for numerous reasons.
• 23:00
  One uh my contract was coming up, my my three-year contract, and I I got this offer to go to New York and do a show called Texas.
• 23:16
  And um, I kind of jumped at debt, which changed the entire uh story because uh Gloria had taken me to lunch to give me what the story was going to be.
• 23:32
  And when I broke the news to her that I was leaving to go to New York, uh, she wasn't very happy.
• 23:40
  Um and then I had to drive her home.
• 23:42
  So she didn't take the wheel out of your hands and run you off the cliff.
• 23:48
  No, I think she spit out her martini at lunch, and then said, Oh, dear, I have we have so much story involving, you know, how we were gonna resolve the the the um the the the you know the seduction, the raid, the whole thing.
• 24:06
  But so I uh there was a big monkey wrench, and then there was another actor who was on the show uh that played Roy DeLuca that was uh his name was Azure Braunner, and he got a nighttime series that they had to kill him, and then they kept Tony.
• 24:27
  So there was no uh that that all happened that just happened.
• 24:35
  It just happened, it just happened.
• 24:37
  And you you so was Gloria there when I was just saying that I did a series called the Hamptons, and and Gloria was the executive producer, and I worked with her really around that time and General Hospital, she was doing both.
• 24:51
  So before we got where was that Hampton show?
• 24:55
  Did you audition for that?
• 24:56
  It was in the Hamptons.
• 24:57
  We filmed it in the Hamptons.
• 24:58
  It was a six-week uh summer series, uh, six episodes.
• 25:02
  It was really ahead of its time.
• 25:04
  It was like the short series, uh, one hour each, and uh Lee Taylor Young played my mother, and I mean the budget must have been in the multi-multi multi-millions, not my salary, but the whole, you know, where we filmed and everything, and you know the what just before we wrap up this first part, just when did Gloria was she there when you came back?
• 25:28
  Did she bring you back?
• 25:29
  Who got you back to General Hospital?
• 25:31
  That's what I want to know.
• 25:32
  Uh Jackie Smith or Josie Ammerick and uh Gloria, she was there for of course she was there for when I came back and crashed the wedding.
• 25:44
  There you go.
• 25:44
  So that that she was still there, but when was this Hamptons thing?
• 25:49
  82.
• 25:50
  Oh, so you know, Gloria was she also was working, did that the the she was working on another spinoff that was gonna be shot in an insane asylum up in uh Oregon, and that's what introduced uh Tony Geary as Bill Eckard and the Eckert family to General Hospital that was supposed to go right off into a new but it it didn't it didn't work so they jumped shipped on that ship on that, but uh I don't I vaguely remember the Hamptons and it being some sort of a show that was sort of like what they were all doing, like when I did that nighttime show with Gene Colombo who worked with Doug Marlin, rituals, you know, it was a nighttime soap.
• 26:36
  They they I think there was a lot of interest in these soap going shows at the time.
• 26:42
  No kidding.
• 26:43
  Well, let's talk a little bit after we take a break for a bit minute, and we'll be right back to talk about more.
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• 30:02
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• 30:06
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• 30:17
  Now that we're back and we're talking about the jumps from Primetime, the reason why soaps jumped from to Primetime and actors was because it was so popular, right?
• 30:25
  And actors were able to do primetime shows.
• 30:29
  And but tell me about when you went back what that was like and what how General Hospital, where was it in the in the ratings?
• 30:40
  I mean, I know obviously Luke and Laura, you know, that became this iconic story, and the ratings were insane.
• 30:47
  But when you went back, what year did you go back to GH?
• 30:53
  I left GH in 1980 and came back in 81.
• 30:58
  So General Hospital was already getting you know 12 million viewers, and that you know, it was as they say with a bullet.
• 31:09
  So it was, you know, climbing to eventually, you know, 15 million viewers because uh it was pop culture, and it was everybody like with every show that's ever gets pop culture, everybody wants to be on it.
• 31:22
  Thus, you know, you got Liz Taylor, Milton Burrell, Sammy Davis, and the list goes on.
• 31:27
  So GH was a show that everybody wanted to jump on.
• 31:33
  Right.
• 31:33
  So you had all those great guest stars too.
• 31:35
  I was talking about Elizabeth Taylor coming coming on the show, and that was crazy.
• 31:40
  I mean, that was everywhere.
• 31:41
  Every the media went bananas, the fans went bananas.
• 31:45
  Do you know any any behind the scenes about how that even came to be?
• 31:50
  Any any any good stories to talk about that?
• 31:53
  Because that's pretty incredible.
• 31:55
  Well, you know, she they shot her out.
• 31:59
  So she was really never at the wedding, even though she seemed to be at the wedding, uh, the big Luke and Laura wedding.
• 32:06
  But I understand that, you know, there was she Gloria gave her office to her as her dressing room, and there was a lot of perks that needed to come, like, you know, goldfish and champagne and chocolate.
• 32:24
  And I really, to tell you the truth, not quite sure how that all went down because that was the year that was leading up to the year that I was in New York doing Texas.
• 32:37
  Yeah, and in midway, didn't you film that in Brooklyn?
• 32:41
  Yes.
• 32:41
  The studio that we met, we worked in in Brooklyn.
• 32:44
  Yes, that's the same plays with no elevators, yes.
• 32:48
  No elevators, no, it's that old.
• 32:53
  That dingy dingy dark studio that's just I'm sure it's still functioning somewhere.
• 32:58
  No, I think it was I think it was bulldozed two years ago.
• 33:03
  Yes.
• 33:04
  But but the were you ever you were you on another world as well?
• 33:09
  No, another world spun off Texas.
• 33:11
  So I was on the Texas stage was where the as the world turns became.
• 33:16
  So I was I did time on both stages, but the other the far stage, no, the as the world turns used both stages, but back when I was doing Texas, another world was functioning next door on the set on that stage.
• 33:28
  So here's my question.
• 33:29
  So that was 80, 1980, 81.
• 33:32
  Yes, it was 80.
• 33:33
  So who was the big star?
• 33:35
  You know, we obviously we know that studio, and and people who are listening, like it's not that big.
• 33:40
  Like everybody is sharing the same facilities, basically, the same green rooms, the same everything.
• 33:46
  So who was the superstar on another world that was roaming the hallways back in the day that you can you can I mean we don't get into the dirty stuff because you know what?
• 33:57
  We don't care right now because no, forget it.
• 33:59
  But who was like one of the most I don't know, biggest stars on another world when you were roaming those hallways back in that day.
• 34:07
  Well, at the time it was Beverly McKinsey who was being the best.
• 34:11
  She was the spin-off, and then the other people, but you know, as far as the the guys go, you know, I I have a very, you know, because I became friends with everybody.
• 34:22
  We were in the same studio.
• 34:24
  Ray Leoda was a you know, to me, was a a big star, you know, and he was he was you know, would hitting on every girl that came was on Texas, and uh that's what I'm that's what I'm saying.
• 34:36
  Like that to have two shows under the same roof must have been the shenanigans must have been off the charts.
• 34:44
  Uh yeah, there was a lot of shenanigans going on because it was um but not so much because Brooklyn was so you had to get back into the damn city to have any fun.
• 34:56
  So you went your separate ways.
• 34:59
  Yeah, no, well, not really, because everybody lived in this city.
• 35:02
  I was living at 68th and Columbus uh of Central Park West.
• 35:06
  So I was in the heart of the action.
• 35:08
  And wow and everybody else was there too.
• 35:11
  So let me wait with it.
• 35:13
  So let me get this straight.
• 35:13
  So when you were on Azure World Turns and you rented that up, that was in the same exact location that you were living when you were on Texas then, because that your apartment was also in the same spot when you were on Azure World Turns, right?
• 35:25
  And that's no wonder you rented there.
• 35:26
  You were like, wait a minute, all the good restaurants are close by I can walk to.
• 35:30
  That's right.
• 35:31
  It was all Columbus Circles.
• 35:32
  I was at 68th Street, now I was down at you know, 60, whatever it was, Columbus Circle there.
• 35:37
  And so yeah, who didn't want to be on the upper west side at the time?
• 35:40
  I that east side, I never knew anything about the east side except when I would, you know, um uh be drive home with with um uh some of those other actors that were dropped off there.
• 35:53
  So I'm here, I'm here, I'm listening, I'm listening.
• 35:56
  Um with um uh uh what uh you uh the the woman that played your mother, I just forgot her name.
• 36:02
  Oh, Elizabeth Hubbard, Elizabeth Hubbard.
• 36:04
  You shared Hubbard.
• 36:06
  You shared a car with her, yes.
• 36:09
  How was that?
• 36:09
  How was that?
• 36:10
  Well, she always she always kind of was very highbrow about it, and she always, you know, but she's very you know, I would quiz her about so what do you what do you what do you got on?
• 36:19
  Well, we're going to the theater tonight, then we're doing this.
• 36:21
  And uh she was very much uh that New York actress, you know.
• 36:26
  I think oh yes.
• 36:28
  Well, you know, I mean, I I think that I I don't think she ever uh uh you know I I she sort of always I think saw me as a bit of a nuisance, you know, quizzing her, quizzing her and asking her questions.
• 36:42
  I love that.
• 36:42
  I would have loved to have been in a car to hear that conversation.
• 36:45
  That must have been something.
• 36:47
  Well no, no, but I had all those scenes where they're I know it was always you know, she was very professional and fun, but I always sense that you know, I think like I'm bugging her, but you know you're not alone.
• 37:00
  A lot of people probably may be like, you know, it's she she she was you know uh let's put it this way.
• 37:07
  You always kind of knew where your boundaries were with Liz, but yet you have to cross them because she'd she would respect you more if you crossed them and and tried as opposed to not attempted to have a conversation with her, you know, because she would always she always wanted to have conversations about something, learn something.
• 37:24
  I mean she always wanted information, but you know, she hated that that drive from, you know, it probably wasn't you, it was the it was the ride from Brooklyn to home, which she hated who didn't, you know, obviously, but she particularly from going from could you imagine?
• 37:39
  We used to work on 57th Street, like 20 blocks from her house, and now she's got to go to Brooklyn in a in an apex car.
• 37:47
  That's a big difference.
• 37:50
  So I can only imagine how she felt kind of you know having to carpool with it.
• 37:54
  Sometimes at least you didn't have to take the van.
• 37:57
  Did you have to ever have to take the van to tell you when it was I took it all?
• 38:02
  I I got out there by hooker by Kirk, but the thing that always made me laugh was that most of these guys were coming off an all-night shift of driving people around, and they were done.
• 38:13
  And right, they they were like throwing us around in the back of the car, like whoa!
• 38:20
  And it's like, you know, hey, hey, you know, driver, we're not in that big of a hurry to get to Brooklyn, you know, we'll take it easy.
• 38:27
  We're not we're gonna be all right.
• 38:28
  So it was very crazy in those because you know that they were done for the night.
• 38:33
  This was their last ride at six in the morning, and they they could care less because they just had to you know finish their shift.
• 38:39
  I'm I'm yeah, I had the guy that was in the in the front seat.
• 38:42
  I think he was uh selling um stolen cell phones, and he was making deals while he was on the phone with me on the way back to the city, and I'm like, this doesn't seem legal, but what uh you know those apex drivers, but but by the time they got to as a world turns, they had done how many soap operas they could write a series.
• 39:02
  I'm sure they could write some shows about what they experienced driving all kinds of actors back and forth from Brooklyn to New York in the last and in the generations of of actors, you know, sneaking off to God knows where with God knows who.
• 39:15
  But um, that's a whole other show.
• 39:18
  Yes, and they also, you know, but you you either had actors that you know were still trying to get some sleep or actors that were desperately trying to learn their lines or actors that were just jabbering away.
• 39:29
  I mean, it was yeah, it was it was quite a quite a quite a time working your way to the pickup spot at you know five in the morning, walking through Manhattan to get to these two pickup spots on the west side and east side.
• 39:45
  Yeah, I remember that.
• 39:46
  So I didn't have to do that.
• 39:47
  I had to drive from home, and you know, it was that was a whole other story.
• 39:52
  But you know, when I worked with you, I well, first of all, I I'm gotten off track, but it's it's so interesting because it does.
• 40:00
  It is aligned in that what was going on in General Hospital as far as the fanatical uh once in a lifetime experience.
• 40:09
  I mean, you you were part of that, and I was part of that at Azure World Turns.
• 40:13
  And because of what you did on General Hospital with Luke and Laura and Doug Marlin being the writer and seeing the success of what he wrote to come to our show.
• 40:21
  It was like, oh when we how how lucky were we to get to get Doug to come over to our show.
• 40:28
  I can't believe he didn't steal you back then to come to Azworld Turns.
• 40:32
  But where were you in like 85?
• 40:34
  Were you what was what show were you on?
• 40:36
  How long did you stay on GH when you went back in in 81?
• 40:39
  When was the next time you left?
• 40:41
  I uh Doug Marlin and I I still went out to Doug's house when I went where I went to New York.
• 40:46
  Doug had told me, Kim, you have an open ticket to come on guiding life whenever you want.
• 40:51
  Uh so he was always uh very very uh, you know, was always uh uh trying to you know see if I was wanted to do it or whatever, but I don't I never maybe that year I did in New York was enough for me on Texas, you know.
• 41:08
  I see.
• 41:08
  Oh, maybe you were like, okay, I I'm I'm a California guy.
• 41:10
  I mean, you're you're love your your love-hate relationship with California is is is uh legendary, by the way.
• 41:18
  Um and I say that from someone who has been there when you when you have to fly back to California and then you waiting for your next flight home, but then coming back going, I kind of like it here, and and but no, I need to go back, and then so and you've been on how many you you have the record, I believe, of the most amount of soap operas for an actor.
• 41:40
  Am I correct on that that I've been on?
• 41:43
  I did like nine, I think.
• 41:45
  So yeah, maybe I don't I don't know.
• 41:48
  Nine uh if anybody, yeah, well, you know, you like to change it up.
• 41:53
  Jump and ship, ship jumper.
• 41:55
  You were yeah, your ship jumper.
• 41:57
  You called um, I remember when I was as a world turns, you the people that would come on like that, you'd call interlopers.
• 42:05
  Um because you were technically in your own words, an interloper on as a world turns, and we would love to have you.
• 42:13
  You were one of the best additions to our show, our show, meaning your show, our show, that I mean my personal experience had.
• 42:22
  So, but you were funny.
• 42:23
  It's like pop because then it was that it was like everybody was jumping around.
• 42:26
  You were the original, you were like the OG jumper, ship jumper.
• 42:30
  I was, and I was and I remember coming on your show at the time and you know, jumping over there to and Eldo the makeup guy said, Well, you know, you're here to save the show.
• 42:40
  And I go, Well, well, well, well, Eldo, what are you talking about?
• 42:42
  I'm here to I'm not here to save anything.
• 42:44
  What do you mean?
• 42:46
  I don't want that responsibility.
• 42:48
  I'm not here to like you know, as far as I know, I was only there for a couple of months playing Sarah Brown's brother.
• 42:54
  I had no, I didn't know that they were gonna throw me your way.
• 42:57
  So, you know, I it was a lucky, a lucky move for me, you know.
• 43:01
  Lucky move for me.
• 43:03
  Lucky we were all lucky.
• 43:04
  We're all lucky.
• 43:05
  We had a lot of a lot of fun, a lot of laughs.
• 43:08
  And I say you're you're I have to say, like in in the in the daytime world, you have more friends who love and adore you in than anybody else that I know.
• 43:19
  I mean the and I feel like I know I mean, I didn't know Jackie.
• 43:26
  I didn't know Jackie, but I knew through her through you and how much she adored you and how you know you're close and you and Jeannie and the respect that they have and love for they have for you.
• 43:36
  And that says a lot about you, because in this business, everything is short term, everybody's always looking to get and and that's not you or the relationships you have with the people you worked with, and it's hard for people to understand what kind of the family life that you have within your with your co-workers.
• 43:57
  And did you find that I mean, especially as a world turns, we really did feel like a family.
• 44:02
  I mean, did you feel the same kind of feeling and like when it was hot, everybody was just amped up?
• 44:09
  I mean, when Azar World Turns was hot, like in 2000, 2001, there was no stopping us.
• 44:15
  I mean, is that what you felt when that this insanity of of fan craziness was all around you?
• 44:24
  And I think if you could talk a little bit about the fan experience when you would go do events, uh what that was like, because that's not something that really happens so much anymore.
• 44:35
  Um, and what it was like just to be a part of something so iconic uh in that time.
• 44:43
  Well, but it was you know, yes, everybody, you know, uh when you have a an RTD bus in LA follow you home with a bus full of people going, Hey Scotty, why don't you hear what's going on tomorrow?
• 44:55
  You go wow, this show is pretty popular, and you know, so you could feel yeah, it it with any show in the heyday, you know, and everybody's watching, it's it's it would be equivalent to being on a show today, but I don't I don't know what show would you be on?
• 45:16
  Landman that a lot of who nobody sees these kind of numbers anymore in television because there's so much stations.
• 45:23
  So when you're getting 15 million people watching you on any show that's a hit, you know, you're gonna you're gonna feel that wherever you go, especially you know, when it comes to a restaurant.
• 45:34
  I'm sure some of the some okay, just give me I know there's a lot of perks, obviously, when you're when you're in that position, because tell me the best perk.
• 45:44
  I know I know you get upgrades on flights, all that.
• 45:47
  That's always great, but what was the best perk you ever got in your career, especially at the time when GH was so popular?
• 45:59
  Uh other than the girl, the ladies' attention, I get that.
• 46:02
  But I'm talking about like I don't I think that the biggest perk that I got that I didn't even know I got it was I was asked and called to be the voice of the green arrow in this new comic uh show on that they were spinning it at night time, the Justice League unlimited, and I I arrived, you know, to to do what we're doing, basically read it like a radio play because it's was animated, and there I'm sitting there with the you know, Batman and Superman and all the other characters, and we're all and I'm like the new guy, the the green arrow is here, and it's like how did I and all these voiceover actors would say boy, you started right at the top, and I go, what does that mean?
• 46:50
  He goes, Well, you know how hard it is to get voiceover work.
• 46:53
  I go, well, no, and I never really attempted it.
• 46:57
  So I really think that that was a perk that came my way because I I just got the call.
• 47:02
  That's great.
• 47:03
  That that so next thing I know, you know, I I got three seasons of being this this comic book guy where you know it's still kind of kids that today that are grown up, they all watched it.
• 47:17
  It was kind of like another uh it was their full house.
• 47:22
  This show was very popular with all of these kids, and you know, with the the whole but when before Marvel really got going.
• 47:31
  Did you did you have you done Comic Con?
• 47:34
  Have you done those events where you go and sign pictures for your character for that?
• 47:40
  No, but I'm very good friends with the woman Wonder Woman that you know, Susan Eisenberg, but she does a lot of them, and I keep saying, you know, how do I get in on those?
• 47:49
  But it it's just very specific, and it's uh uh I would like to do the and maybe one day I will do a couple of them, but I just still think that uh I was doing it when we were working, I was doing episodes of the Green Arrow, and uh I remember um I was trying to get up town to this recording booth, and I thought, how am I gonna get there?
• 48:15
  And this rickshaw went by, and I said, Hey, uh I thought, look at this.
• 48:20
  I'm I'm just a guy in a rickshaw that's going to voice the green arrow.
• 48:24
  And I thought, well, this doesn't get better than this.
• 48:27
  Oh, I mean, what does that's the visual of that alone for me is what's gonna get me through Christmas?
• 48:33
  Well, I don't know.
• 48:34
  So you're gonna I'm not, you know, I'm not really a true New Yorker that knows those subways, so no, you don't.
• 48:39
  Uh I was very flummoxed, but I thought of Rickshaw, you know, when uh you know, I might as well just foot the bill, 100 rickshaw ride, you know.
• 48:46
  Well, didn't you get lost?
• 48:47
  Didn't you end up in a subway um yes?
• 48:51
  I got lost a couple of times where I was told better get off that train and uh, you know, where this next stop is, I go, no, where?
• 48:58
  You know, it was like nothing you no, you should not go there, basically, the person said, right?
• 49:03
  Well, it was like, you know, next stop Rikers Island or somewhere.
• 49:07
  Yes, that's right.
• 49:08
  And they someone was kind enough to say, get off right now because you're not I think they were kind enough to wake me up and say get off.
• 49:15
  Uh that's even nicer in New York.
• 49:17
  They must have recognized you.
• 49:18
  See, that's a perk.
• 49:19
  If you think about it that way, some of the perks of that, you know, that that you're that someone would wake you up on a subway of New York, you must have really been they must have known who you were, because that does not happen here at all, ever.
• 49:36
  They don't care where you end up, as long as they get to where they need to go, as you know, in Brooklyn.
• 49:41
  Uh and anywhere.
• 49:42
  No, no, the lady called me by my name and said Scotty.
• 49:45
  That's what I thought.
• 49:46
  Yeah.
• 49:47
  Told ya.
• 49:48
  Oh, yeah.
• 49:49
  That's a good perk.
• 49:50
  That's one.
• 49:51
  But yeah, that might be.
• 49:52
  I mean, God knows what could have happened to you if they dropped you at Rikers.
• 49:56
  Yeah.
• 49:58
  That would have been.
• 50:00
  I mean, another great story, but not one you would never need to tell.
• 50:04
  Um but you know, this the reason why I was doing this today too is that that how I started this whole episode was about how actors and shows have impacted people's lives, you know, how our shows have are make people happy in entertainment, you know, escapeism from reality and the creative side that we wanted that we get to do ends up entertaining so many people.
• 50:32
  And I don't I was thinking about you and like seeing when when Jackie passed and Tristan passed and now and Tony passed.
• 50:40
  I was like, you know, you the they left an impact on me from when I first started watching them with you that I feel is so unique to your show.
• 50:54
  It it it's it crosses every to everybody.
• 51:00
  If you grew up in the 80s, you impacted people's lives on a personal level.
• 51:06
  And first of all, I want to thank you for that because I was so fortunate to get to work with you even from watching you on the show.
• 51:12
  But I I feel like I remember Elizabeth Hubbard before she passed, she's like, no one no one knows no one's reaching out to me, or you know, she felt very alone, and I thought that's so sad to me because she touched so many people's lives, you know, and we're telling st we're still telling stories about her, but you know, I just thought what a great time to to reflect on and talk about how the the positive the joy.
• 51:38
  I mean, I will never forget that nurses station on General Hospital.
• 51:42
  I mean, that was I loved that whole hub.
• 51:46
  It was the best place, like Doug Marlin loved to write that where there's a hub or a restaurant or something where everybody can interact, you know.
• 51:54
  Um and I really got lost in the show.
• 51:58
  And you helped a lot of people, and you and your your uh contribution to the industry was is immeasurable.
• 52:06
  And um well, I think that these characters were so listen.
• 52:11
  I was there the day the first day that Tony Geary came on and he was supposed to, you know, mess with my car and screw me up, and he had opened the hood up and pull the buyers, and that was his scene.
• 52:22
  And he he decided to play that scene whistling, and I'm looking at him, I go, well, he's now Luke Spencer.
• 52:31
  He created a character in one scene.
• 52:34
  And you know, you gotta, you know, that's kind of how it all goes down.
• 52:40
  That the the the when you've got the flexibility to say, you know, I'm gonna whistle my way through the today.
• 52:47
  They'd say, What's this whistling?
• 52:49
  You know, I know they would stop it in its tracks.
• 52:52
  Yes, they would not, and you know, as actors, when you were like, well, I'd like to have the Robert Redford peacoat.
• 52:59
  And so you're you're that they're allowing you to build a guy, whip your guy up through Wardrobe.
• 53:05
  And I think Tony Tony was very much into all of those kinds of things, but I you know, he he he created his character right on the spot, and I saw it, and uh I uh you know was fascinated and became friends with him and you know, and he he uh and once I got to know him, I realized that a lot of his came from both of our love of old comedy and mold movies, you know, WC Fields and all of these character guys that that you know I still watch on TCM and Tony still I know was watching uh in Amsterdam.
• 53:42
  He still loved the you know, his love of old movies and these old things.
• 53:45
  So yeah, that that was the uh the fun part of uh being in that world where it was such a free world to roam around.
• 53:55
  And think about I hear I sometimes a fan will post a clip or something of Elizabeth Hubbard or a scene, and just like you said, I mean, every moment was filled with something, some business, you know.
• 54:08
  What what's the business?
• 54:09
  What what how what's the shot?
• 54:11
  She would say, what's the shot, you know, and and and wanted to know what what what the camera was looking at.
• 54:17
  And then, you know, you'd have a director like Maria Wagner who says, just do it, I'll cover it.
• 54:21
  You don't that that will never happen today.
• 54:23
  It just doesn't.
• 54:24
  There's no time, there's no there's none of that, the nuance.
• 54:26
  But that's the reason why these characters have stuck in people's hearts and minds for decades because of the what you're talking about the whistling, you know, Liz Hubbard would, you know, take her shoes off in a scene and and make it a point, you know, make it something uh a moment of you know, and people remember, I mean, people for still to this day remember scenes from the 80s, you know, 85, you know, specifics about the scenes.
• 54:49
  Um, and that's a testimony to the work that you've done and and hopefully I've done a little bit, but you know, especially people who are these iconic characters that you know created it.
• 54:59
  Like Larry Brigman going on as a world turns for a couple of episodes and being there for 50 years, you gotta believe that the first time he was on camera, he did something that resonated with the writers, or somebody went, wait a minute, this guy's really he's he's there's something about this guy and similar to Tony, you know, that the quality of actors.
• 55:19
  But I you know, I kind of heard it from the horse's mouth when I was at my going away party, Jack Lemon came to the party.
• 55:25
  He was friends with an actor that I'd been working with and said, I know Ken loves Jack Lemon, and there I was in the kitchen with Jack Lemon, and he was telling me, and I was an actor, you always remembered by your business.
• 55:37
  And I said, Wow, that's right, Mr.
• 55:39
  Lemon.
• 55:40
  I completely agree with you.
• 55:41
  It's you know, that's it's it's a little business that makes that sets you from somebody else.
• 55:46
  And uh you certainly did that.
• 55:48
  You certainly did that.
• 55:49
  Well, everybody, the people that that knew the business to have the business, you know, i will be the ones that you know are on top of it.
• 55:57
  You better believe it.
• 55:59
  Well, um we could talk for hours and we'll talk more.
• 56:02
  Uh I'm gonna see you soon.
• 56:04
  We yeah, I'm gonna be visiting you in Florida, so and we're gonna see each other.
• 56:09
  So maybe we should continue this, do something else together.
• 56:12
  Yes, we should write some sort of a book on the pop culture of daytime television and how it affected everybody and where it is today and uh what went wrong or what's going wrong or what well uh let's put this way I'll bring my uh I'll bring my microphone and my computer and we can talk about it and over uh look at over the seawall, how's that sound?
• 56:31
  Yes, yes, yes, words out that you're coming to Florida for a while, you know, that's uh it's gone through the chamber of commerce, it's a big big deal for coming down.
• 56:38
  Oh, right.
• 56:39
  Well, I adore you.
• 56:41
  You have a great day.
• 56:42
  Thank you for spending some time with with with us and uh Yes, yes, yes.
• 56:46
  Hello to all your fans out there in Radio Land that are listening.
• 56:50
  Uh I will see you soon.
• 56:51
  Take care.
• 56:52
  Okay, Martha.
• 56:53
  Thanks again.
• 56:54
  Goodbye.
• 56:55
  Bye bye.