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On producing soap operas Agnes Nixon (Soap Opera Creator/Writer) "Once we were plotting an episode, and I looked down and saw that it was the 6,000th episode of 'All My Children.' So I said to the group, 'Hey, let's knock off and I'll take you to lunch.' When I had come back, for the first time in my life, I had forgotten that I was to have a telephone interview. So I called the reporter...and apologized profusely and explained that we discovered it was our 6,000th episode we were writing. She did some figuring and said: 'Do you realize that if you'd been writing nighttime, you would have been for working 240 years!'"
On directing for live television Norman Felton (Director/Producer) "There was a scene in which the actress, a very young person, was in the living room of the house, in the summer. In the next scene, she was supposed to be outside the house in winter. Now, there was always a problem to make costume changes and we devised all sorts of ways of giving enough time for an actress to make a change. But this was a pretty tough one. But I solved it and the show went on. After the show was over, I got a call from Fred Coe, who was then the top producer in live television, and he said 'okay, how'd you do it?' I said, 'twins'....I got two girls who were twins and I dressed one in summer clothes and one in winter clothes &emdash; and the winter one was outside the door to the house and other one was in the living room. And I went from the living room &emdash; dissolved! Not cut! Dissolved to the same girl over here. Nobody knew."
On live dramas JP Miller (Writer) "One night, I happened on 'Philco Playhouse.' I don't remember what order, but the first week I tuned to Philco and there was a play by Horton [Foote]. I thought it was terrific. The next week I saw one by Paddy [Chayefsky]. The next one I saw was by Tad [Mosel]. And it goes on like this and I'm thinking: 'These people mean it. They're serious.' They're trying to do something good. And I said, boy, I wonder how you break into that group."
On make-up Dick Smith (Make-up) "This is one of the magical, wonderful things about make-up, which I learned from these early experiences. When your face is changed, you feel that character, you feel like you are that character. It gives you a different personality or a different reaction to things. It is the most wonderful boon for actors &emdash; to be in the face of the characters they want to play." |