FLASHBACK: Location Shooting...A Soap Could Visit Your Home Town (Part 5 of 5)

When Love of Life featured a prison scene, this set was built at the
CBS studio.

Location Shooting...A Soap Could Visit Your Home Town

The Soap Box
Vol. IV No. 3 March 1979
by Linda Susman

(continued from Part 4)

Search for Tomorrow: In the past two years, Search has been on move, up and down the East Coast. The exteriors in the Wade Collins kidnapping in August 1977 were shot in Stony Brook, Eastern Long Island. Associate producer Robert Getz found the remote dirt road and old shed that Gail Starkey says had "ambience that reminded us of Henderson." The interiors were shot at the studio.

Stephanie Collins worked her wiles on John Wyatt in the magnificent ski resort setting of Woodstock, Vermont, not far from a home owned by executive producer Mary Ellis Bunim. The show used the Barnard, VT ski area and Sonnenberg Lodge during the week when the lodge was generally closed. Local skiers were rounded up for the background sequences in the shoot that lasted three days, from 6 a.m. to dusk. Starkey says only Stacy Moran (Suzie) knew how to ski beforehand. Lisa Peluso (Wendy), Maree Cheatham (Stephanie) and Val Dufour (John) all took lessons before going on location. Since then, Maree's become an enthusiast.

Today in Soap Opera History (May 5)

1965: As the World Turns spin-off Our Private World premiered.
1985: Days or our Lives' John rescued Marlena.  1992: Another
World's Donna and John shared a kiss.  2004: The Young
and the Restless' Kevin flatlined.

"The whole past is the procession of the present."
- Thomas Carlyle

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1948: On This is Nora Drake, Bob had disappeared from the hospital, and Nora knew that she was the cause of Bob's unhappiness. Peggy found him in the park, took him to his room and got him a prescription.

1948: On Claudia, Claudia (Patricia Ryan) and David (Richard Kollmar) waited for their new maid to arrive.

1965: Our Private World, a primetime spinoff of As the World Turns created by Irna Phillips and William J. Bell, premiered on CBS. Eileen Fulton's Lisa Hughes, one of lead characters in top-rated As the World Turns, left her home town of Oakdale and went to Chicago to forget all her sorrow and problems.

Our Private World stars Geraldine Fitzgerald & Eileen Fulton are
in the foreground. Also pictured:  Robert Drivas, Julienne Marie,
Nicolas Coster, David O'Brien and Sam Groom.

The twice-a-week series was the first attempt by a competing network to capture some of the popularity of Peyton Place, a primetime soap opera on ABC which was itself an attempt to copy the success of another show, the UK's Coronation Street.

The premiere of Our Private World received a Nielsen rating of 15.1, a 25 share of the audience. The second episode, which aired two nights later, only drew an 11.9 rating and 21 share. For that week, As the World Turns had an 11.1 rating.

1982: On General Hospital, Alan (Stuart Damon) accused Monica (Leslie Charleson) of trying to make him jealous after she got dressed up for her dinner date with Phillipe.

Maree Cheatham To Appear In HART OF DIXIE

After nearly 50 years on TV, Maree Cheatham continues to shine.  Left:
DAYS (1968) Photo: Paul W. Bailey. Right: 2011 Photo: Joe Lambie

Fan favorite actress Maree Cheatham has been cast to play the grandmother of Jaime King's Lemon Breeland in an upcoming episode of HART OF DIXIE, according to E!

Grandma Bettie Breeland "ends up paying her granddaughter a visit to help preserve the Breeland name."

Daytime soap opera fans know Cheatham for her roles as Marie Horton in DAYS OF OUR LIVES, Stephanie Wyatt on SEARCH FOR TOMORROW and Charlene Simpson in GENERAL HOSPITAL. She also appeared in PASSIONS and PORT CHARLES. Fans of primetime serials will remember her appearances in KNOTS LANDING, GCB, DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES and THE WEST WING.

Daytime or primetime, comedy or drama, Cheatham always entertains.  She is currently starring as Nona in Nickelodeon's SAM & CAT.

Today in Soap Opera History (May 5)

On this date in...

1948: On radio soap opera CLAUDIA, Claudia and David got a new maid.

Geraldine Fitzgerald & Eileen Fulton are in the foreground. Also shown are
Robert Drivas, Julienne Marie, Nicolas Coster, David O'Brien and Sam Groom.

1965: OUR PRIVATE WORLD, the primetime AS THE WORLD TURNS spinoff, debuted on CBS. AS THE WORLD TURNS contributed one of its leading characters, Lisa Hughes (Eileen Fulton), as the nucleus of OUR PRIVATE WORLD. In overlapping story lines, Lisa left her home town of Oakdale, the setting of the daytime show, and went to Chicago, setting of the evening serial, to forget all her sorrow and problems. The twice-a-week series was the first attempt by a competing network to capture some of the popularity of PEYTON PLACE, a primetime soap opera on ABC which was itself an attempt to copy the success of another show, the UK's CORONATION STREET.