Remembering Woodbridge: A History of the Late, Great 'Secret Storm' (Part 6)

Marla Adams as Belle Clemens, Nicolas Coster as Paul Britton, and
Jada Rowland as Amy Ames Britton.

Remembering Woodbridge: A History of the Late, Great 'Secret Storm'

The Soap Box
Vol. III No. 13 December 1978
by John Genovese

(continued from Part 5)

Charlie Clemens was becoming the Hitler of the journalistic world and came to resent the Ameses for their ownership of the Herald. He had a penchant for firing everyone who caught on to his power lust--people like Martha Novotny, Jerry's friend, who supported her brother, Ben Norris, and lost her husband Andy Warren in a fire. Another victim of the Clemens axe was a young competent reporter named Nick Kane.

Nick enjoyed his work at the paper, but his nagging wife, Joan, had bigger ideas for him. Joan was a money-hungry product of the struggling Borman family and tried to pressure Nick into joining the business owned by his wealthy father, Tom Kane. Tom knew better than to pressure his son and let well enough alone, but Joan grew blindly jealous over Nick's friendship with Valerie, who was fifteen years his senior! Once Joan struck up the alliance with fellow Ames-hater Belle, and Charlie sided with Belle against the Ameses, when they took over Jerry's advice and fired him, the battle lines were clearly drawn.

One night, Nick and Valerie were traveling when a storm developed, and they were given shelter by George and Cassie Peterson, an old farm couple. Joan's misfit brother, Archie, and his buddy, Stan Collins, were paid off by Charlie into bribing the Petersons to testify at the Kanes' divorce hearing that Nick and Valerie slept together. It was a dirty court battle which pitted Ames family lawyer Phineas Cook against Joan's smooth shyster, J. Laurence Fluellen. But Nick and Valerie were proven innocent of any indiscretion. Charlie Clemens, a ruined main, joined Arthur's not-so-beloved Clarion for a while, but fled to Arizona once all the evidence stacked up against his character. Nick obtained his divorce and fell for Amy, convincing her to divorce Paul who was enamored with Belle. Paul and Belle lived together before marrying in New York, while Karen Clemens, disgusted with Belle's antics, joined Charlie in Arizona. Jerry returned to Paris and made brother-in-law Frank publisher of the Herald.

Christina Crawford as Joan Borman Kane, Marla Adams
as Belle Clemens, Keith Charles as Nick Kane, Jada
Rowland as Amy Ames Britton, Nicolas Coster as Paul
Britton and Lori March as Valerie Ames.

The judge at the hearing was Sam Stevens, an old friend of Valerie's, whose strong-willed daughter-in-law, Jill, had known Amy for years and supported her decision to divorce Paul. Jill's husband, Ken Stevens, was down on his luck until country club president Alex Lockwood gave him a job tending bar at the club. Alex was in love with Nola Hollister, the alcoholic wife of club member Wilfred Hollister, and mother of a fragile teenaged girl named Laurie. Wilfred was a fearsome tyrant who wanted Laurie locked up for accidentally causing the death of her little brother many years earlier. Laurie, terrified of her father, struck up a friendship with Ken who understood her situation. When Ken and Laurie began writing songs together and performing them at the club, Nola was very pleased with her daughter's new happiness.

As expected, though, a jealous Jill and a disapproving Wilfred didn't share Nola's enthusiasm. Ken decided that he and Jill shouldn't live off his father any more and found an apartment on Cooley Street, which was not exactly Woodbridge's ultimate residence. A stubborn Jill refused to move to a slum and remained with her sympathetic but objective father-in-law, while Ken lived alone at the Cooley Street apartment--that is, until Laurie ran away, and Ken brought her back to live at his place. The living arrangement, however, was strictly above board and platonic. Even as Ken and Laurie grew closer and fell in love after Ken lost his job by beating up a drunk who heckled Laurie at the club, there was no physical relationship--yet!

As Nick Kane pursued Amy, Sam Stevens pursued Val--both in vain. Joan allied herself with Eleanor Gault, Sam's worshipful secretary, and tried to help plain-Jane Eleanor get her hooks into Sam and lure him away from Valerie. Eleanor backed down, but Sam accepted a Washington offer and was out of Valerie's life anyway. Joan then began to worm her way into the Hollister's lives, thinking good deeds would get her in on the Hollister family funds. Paul and Belle moved back to Woodbridge when Paul found he couldn't adjust as a jet-setter in New York.

***

It was now June of 1969. The show's ratings had continued to dip when Lou Scofield replaced John Hess as headwriter. But when Roy Winsor had replaced Scofield with Don Ettlinger, the audience began flocking back. Unfortunately, it wasn't good enough for CBS. The network leased both Love of Live and The Secret Storm outright from American Home Products and gained control of both shows, while the idealist genius of Roy Winsor was no longer called for. Roy Winsor was forced to close his office, and The Secret Storm was to endure countless different writing regimes before the real end came.

Or had it already come in June of 1969?

EDITOR'S NOTE: Check back on Saturday for Remembering Woodbridge: A History of the Late, Great 'Secret Storm' (Part 7), published in the January 1979 issue of The Soap Box.

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Remembering Woodbridge: A History of the Late, Great 'Secret Storm' (Part 5)

Judy Lewis as Susan Ames and Laurence Luckinbill as Frank Carver.

Remembering Woodbridge: A History of the Late, Great 'Secret Storm'

The Soap Box
Vol. III No. 13 December 1978
by John Genovese

(continued from Part 4)

1967-1969: The Late Winsor Years

With the Brittons in Wisconsin and the Porters newly settled in Woodbridge, the action once again shifted to Susan when another drastic change occurred in her life. Alan went into the Vietnam War and was declared Missing in Action. Susan took a long time to adjust to being a single mother for Petey, but two new admirers appeared in Alan's wake. One was Bob Hill, Val's attorney son, who had moved to town after divorcing his wife. The other was Frank Carver, an adventurous and good-natured Herald reporter. Frank's closest friend was Henry McGill, president of Woodbridge University, who was having a difficult time winning acceptance from his estranged son.

The Porter family structure fell apart at the seams when Kip Rysdale returned to Woodbridge and dated Wendy, arousing jealousy in Janet. The endless confrontations between Janet and Wendy led to a heart attack for Tony and a brief fling with Melissa Tyson, his English secretary. Wendy decided to ease the tension by moving into her own apartment, and it was there that she met and befriended a rather young neighbor. His name was Herbie Vail, and he displayed a violent temper, an unhealthy attachment to his late mother, and an obsessive hatred for his father, Henry McGill. Frank and Wendy reconciled father and son happily, Kip took a CIA job, and the Porters left Woodbridge.

Susan soon found herself unable to resist Frank Carver's winning personality and they fell in love. Once they became serious, however, Frank admitted he had an estranged southern-belle wife, Mary Lou, who was blackmailing him to remain her husband or otherwise let it be known that he killed a man in Mexico. Not long after his revelation, Mary Lou arrived to stir up unrest in Woodbridge. Following on her heels were her father, fat Texas millionaire Wes Glenway, and her menacing German paramour, Erik Fulda. Frank soon found himself accused of two more murders: that of his landlady, Mrs. Corinne Leland, and that of Mary Lou! Luckily, this mess was never brought to trial, for Frank's policeman buddy, Lt. Vince Firelli, was able to help him prove that it was Erik Fulda who was guilty on all three murder counts. Wes Glenway returned to his home deep in the heart of Texas, and Susan and Frank married. But an additional storm cloud had burst to rock Woodbridge: Peter Ames had died of a cerebral hemorrhage while on a Paris business trip!

Unbelievable but true: Peter Ames was suddenly a mere memory. Jerry returned for several months to ease matters at the Herald, leaving Hope in Paris. His neglect of Hope was understandable, for there was indeed a sorry and incredible state of affairs at the newspaper.

Peter had left his publishing position to his old friend, Charles ("Charlie") Clemens, who arrived in Woodbridge along with his young daughter Karen and his emotionally disturbed granddaughter Robin. Robin's mother was Charlie's elder daughter, Belle, an Acapulco jet-setter whom her upright father despised. Charlie, recognizing Karen's over-protectiveness of her niece, took Valerie up on her suggestion to place Robin at The Lenox Home, a home for such troubled children. Robin was placed in the care of Lenox employee Rose Latimer, an understanding spinster who also gave Robin piano lessons. Miss Latimer's neurotic sister, Lydia Reynolds, detested children and blamed Grace for the loss of her job at Tyrell's. Robin began to make real progress at the Lenox, despite Charlie's disapproval of the permissive methods employed by Miss Latimer, and a new development which Charlie feared would prove a setback for his granddaughter.

Returning in April 1968, Nicolas Coster as Paul Britton and
Jada Rowland as Amy Ames Britton.

In Acapulco, blonde bombshell Belle Clemens learned from her doctor that she didn't have long to live. Guilt-ridden over her neglect of her daughter, Belle dumped her boyfriend, Tony Coleman, and came to Woodbridge to make amends with the family. Befriended by Bob Hill and refused room and board by Charlie, Belle discovered she was not ill after all and planned marriage to Bob, but Bob left when it became evident that a marriage would never take place. Belle's real love was for her newfound friend, Paul Britton, who had returned to Woodbridge with Amy and Lisa. Belle certainly didn't appear the callous, selfish young woman her father had described. She became close to Robin and helped precipitate the child's recovery, and was adept at keeping her growing feelings for Paul under wraps. It wasn't until Amy took Robin out in a boat near the Ameses' summer home on Lake Morrison that Belle's devious true colors came through. Robin fell out of the boat and drowned, and Amy was unable to save her. A shattered Belle now set out to lure Paul away from Amy, and a menacing triumvirate formed against the Ames family.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The Secret Storm began broadcasting in color on Monday, September 11, 1967.

Continue reading Remembering Woodbridge: A History of the Late, Great 'Secret Storm' (Part 6)...

GENERAL HOSPITAL Classic Photo Of The Day (Barbara & Laura)

In honor of GENERAL HOSPITAL's upcoming 50th anniversary (GH50), We Love Soaps will be posting a "Classic Photo of the Day" for the rest of the month. Today's photo is of Barbara and Laura Vining, played by Judy Lewis and Stacey Baldwin. Genie Francis took over the role of Laura in 1976 and has played it on and off ever since.

Thanks to Rob Wargo for the photo.

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Judy Lewis Dead At 76; Starred in THE SECRET STORM & GENERAL HOSPITAL; Produced TEXAS; Wrote SEARCH FOR TOMORROW, Daughter of Loretta Young & Clark Gable

Judy Lewis, the daughter of Loretta Young and Clark Gable, died of cancer Friday, Nov. 25, at Waverly Heights, a retirement community in Gladwyne, according to Philly.com.

Her longest running soap opera role was Susan Ames on THE SECRET STORM from 1964-1971. She also played Barbara Vining on GENERAL HOSPITAL in the 1970s. Her first soap role was Molly Scharf on KITTY FOYLE.

Behind the camera, Lewis was a producer on TEXAS, and she won a Writer's Guild Award in 1985 for her work on SEARCH FOR TOMORROW.