FLASHBACK: 'Sounds of the City' Black Radio Soap Opera (1974) - Updated

Byron Lewis saved UniWorld with branded entertainment, developing
the syndicated radio soap opera Sounds of the City for Quaker Oats in 1974.

SOUNDS OF CITY, Black Soap Opera, to Cut the Jive

By Barbara Campbell
New York Times
April 8, 1974

On May 1 the endless rhythm and blues, gospel and jazz recordings, the fast-paced hip chatter and the blaring commercials will be interrupted on 25 black radio stations in major cities across the country by the funereal rumble of organ music familiar to old time fans of Ma Perkins and Our Gal Sunday.

The music will signal the beginning of a five-day-a-week serial on the tragedies, triumphs and crises of the Taylors - a black family living somewhere in a large American city.

Ellen Holly, ONE LIFE TO LIVE, Racism & The Soap Opera, Part 4: “He Was So Close, His Spit Flew In My Face”

WE LOVE SOAPS TV recently spent an afternoon with legendary actress Ellen Holly, who played Carla on ONE LIFE TO LIVE from 1968 to 1985. We asked Ms. Holly to share her story with us; her early career, how she came to ONE LIFE, her experiences over the years, and what happened when she left. In part four of our series on the life and times of Ellen Holly, we explore the mystery and mistreatment surrounding her termination.

She returned to ONE LIFE TO LIVE more popular than ever, with fresh hope of a long, rewarding career and dreams of building a family. Before long, she found herself being spit on by then executive producer Paul Rauch; but the beginning of her final contract was surprisingly auspicious.

Ellen Holly, ONE LIFE TO LIVE, Racism & The Soap Opera, Part 3: “He Made it Clear That We Were Enemies. . . and I Was Made to Pay”

"People ask me, when I tell them all the problems I had on that show, and what I dealt with, 'Well why didn't you go out and get another job?'" confides Ellen Holly, daytime TV's first black star.  “Well, it took me 16 years to find the job on ONE LIFE TO LIVE. That was the first job I had ever had [on TV] that lasted more than a week.

“In fact, if you look me up on IMDB, you'll find only two jobs that lasted more than one week in my whole career. ONE LIFE TO LIVE, that employed me for 17 years, and after it was over, the two years I had playing Judge Collier on THE GUIDING LIGHT. Those are the only two jobs I ever had that lasted more than a week.”

WE LOVE SOAPS TV recently spent an afternoon with the legendary actress Ellen Holly, who played Carla on ONE LIFE TO LIVE from 1968 to 1985. We asked Ms. Holly to share her story with us; her early career, how she came to ONE LIFE, her experiences over the years, and what happened when she left. 

Ellen Holly, ONE LIFE TO LIVE, Racism & The Soap Opera, Part 1: Agnes Nixon & Bringing The Black Audience To ABC

Ellen Holly, daytime's groundbreaking first black leading lady, and Agnes Nixon, perhaps the greatest figure in the history of daytime television, have had a fascinating relationship. WE LOVE SOAPS TV recently spent an afternoon with the legendary Ms. Holly, who played Carla on Nixon's ONE LIFE TO LIVE starting in 1968 and leaving for good in 1985. We asked Ms. Holly to share her story with us.

In the first part of our special Black History Month series focusing on the life and times of Ellen Holly, we take a close look at the early, genial days of Nixon and Holly's occasionally rocky partnership. Join us as Ellen Holly herself takes us back to the late '60s, when cultural revolution, TV innovation, and two brilliant women came together to launch and popularize the one and only ONE LIFE TO LIVE. . .

FLASHBACK: White Market For Black Actors 1979

White market for black actors

By Jacqueline Trescott
Washington Post
September 17, 1979

NEW YORK -- In the anonymity of his dressing room, Al Freeman Jr. reads his fan mail.

Surrounded by the bottles of Guinness Stout, coffee beans and sheet music by Sergio Mendes and Stevie Wonder, he reads a letter from a woman in Canada. She is writing about his role as a policeman on the soap opera ONE LIFE TO LIVE. In contrast to the other characters, she says, "you are a gentleman."

FLASHBACK: Ellen Holly 1969, Part Two

Living a White Life -- for a While (Part Two)

By Ellen Holly
New York Times
August 10, 1969

Read Part One here

Finally, we got to the switch. In an ingenious script whose parallel cutting was almost as well done as Hitchcock's tennis game sequence in "Strangers on a Train," I met up with the black mother I had abandoned nine years before (a major character, who had already been well established in the story line long before I was, and played by Lillian Hayman of "Hallelujah, Baby" fame). People were genuinely surprised. Most found it absorbing. Others were fascinated by the way all the pieces fit. There were, of course, the inevitable ones who found it hard to take. Now that I was revealed to be black, in retrospect they found it O.K. that I had kissed the black doctor, but intolerable that I had kissed and been engaged to the white one.

FLASHBACK: Ellen Holly 1969, Part One

Living a White Life -- for a While (Part One)

By Ellen Holly
New York Times
August 10, 1969

In September of last year I was approached to try out for a part on a brand new ABC soap opera called ONE LIFE TO LIVE; the part was a black girl who passes for white. I didn't give it much thought. If you're black you don't get white parts either. But what most people don't realize is that even when there's a part for a "black who looks white," it never goes to a black person but to a white one. Follow? I know . . . I know . . . it's hard for me, too.

Black History Month: Blacks on White TV 1982

As part of our continuing celebration of Black History Month, here's a classic November 1982 episode of TONY BROWN'S JOURNAL that featured the subject "Blacks on White TV". The story talks about how the soaps were trying to target an African American female audience at the time. Prominent African American actors on soaps at the time are interviewd including ANOTHER WORLD's Michele Shay, EDGE OF NIGHT's Mariann Aalda, and ALL MY CHIDLREN's Darnell Williams.

In Honor of Black History Month

During the month of February, We Love Soaps will be celebrating Black History Month with special content highlighting top African-American stars who started on soaps.

Laurence Fishburne, Morgan Freeman, Lauryn Hill, Cicely Tyson, Blair Underwood, Shemar Moore and Billy Dee Williams all began their careers on daytime television and went on to much success in film, primetime and music. Williams recently won an Indie Soap Award for his latest project, DIARY OF A SINGLE MOM.

Victoria Rowell, Ellen Holly, Tamara Tunie, Peter Parros, Renee Goldsberry and many others made an impact on the soap world during their runs.

The stars of today, some of which have been shining for decades, include James Reynolds, Debbi Morgan, Darnell Williams, Kristoff St. John, Tonya Lee Williams, Renee Jones, Christel Khalil, Tika Sumpter, Sean Ringgold, Shenell Edmonds, Terrell Tilford, Daphne Duplaix, Texas Battle and more.

Look for classic articles, videos and features throughout the month to celebrate many of these wonderful actors.