The Courier-News from Bridgewater, New Jersey • Page 25

THE COURIER-NEWSSaturday, February 13. 1982 B-3 'Love in the Afternoon' requires a full day's work The cast and the crew combined work almost around the clock to bring 'One Life to Live' to daytime fans Xf i 1 I I A -''v 4 -T iniiinmmirr tit itl f- it The cast of 'One Life To Live' Includes (left to right): Michael Storm as the handsome Dr. Larry Wolek; Mary Gordon Murray, who also stars In Broadway's 'Little as country singer Becky Abbott; and Kristen Meadows as Larry's Jilted fiancee, Mimi King. Continued from the cover The art, the linens, the tableware, the drapes are all top quality. The sets not being used that day were over in a darkened corner, including the show's largest the majestic Lord library where Dorian Lord, the town's wealthiest resident, welcomes her visitors like a spider invites flies.

A prop man explained the sets that aren't being used the next day will be knocked down after the day's taping and new ones will be erected. The stage crew starts work at around 7 p.m. after the actors leave. Some sets, like the Lord library, are too large to move so they remain in place. After the new sets are in place, around 3 a.m., hundreds of lights hanging from the rafters are adjusted according to the director's instructions.

The actors and actresses arrive about 7 a.m. to begin blocking their scenes standing on the sets while props, lights and camera angles are checked out. By 10:15 a.m., they are ready to go through the script for the first time. Kristen Meadows plays the beautiful Mimi King who was groomed by her mother to be the wife of a rich man but fell in love with Larry Wolek, a mere doctor. Meadows said most actors learn their lines oh the morning of the taping.

"Otherwise you get confused," she said. "Many of the scripts are alike." She and the others on the show average a 12- to 13-hour day but sometimes they work only two or three days a week. Meadows said the work schedule depends on the script. If you have a scene, you work. If not, it's a day off.

Lunch is around 12:30 p.m. Most of the cast runs to a local deli and brings back salads or sandwiches or walks down the street to one of several restaurants in the area. Then it's time for a dress rehearsal. The actual taping takes place between 4 and 5 p.m. The scenes in "One Life" are done in sequence.

The actors wait on their sets for their turns. If you visualized the director sitting on (what else?) a director's chair with a megaphone in hand, forget it. He remains the voice which continues to boom from the ceiling. The director and technicians sit in a control booth watching several TV screens, seeing the show as the fans will. Several story lines run concurrently, with one usually being most important.

The day I visited, the characters of Mimi and Larry Wolek were emphasized. Those who follow the show will know Mimi started out as a dumb-blonde-type, a "It's Larry's alter ego that's my interpretation anyway," Storm said. "He doesn't care, he's pulling off repressions, he can bypass all guilt. "This past week has been more fun than all the years here," the actor said of his first week playing the new Larry. Storm has seen soap writers sometimes get into corners with story lines they can't get out of.

"There have been times when we've had to tread water but I have the greatest respect for the writers," he said. "They have to write dialogue at a TV pace for five shows a week." You would think with all the work involved with a soap opera, there wouldn't be time for any other ventures. Wrong. Mary Gordon Murray, who plays country singer Becky Lee Abbott on the show, is starring in Broadway's "Little Me." How is she handling both jobs? "I'm managing," she said with a laugh. "I took a two-hour nap today but I love it! It was Murray's first day back on the set since "Little Me" opened on Jan.

21. Several cast members who had already seen the show greeted her with kisses and congratulations. On days when she's working on "One Life," Murray will have just enough time for dinner and then it's off to Broadway. On her days off from the show, she's still busy. "We taped a commercial for the show yesterday," she said.

Murray grew up in Fair Lawn, where her parents still live, and graduated from Immaculate Heart Academy in Washington Township. "An all-girls school," she pointed out. Judith Light grew up in Trenton. Light has won two Emmys for her portrayal of the constantly troubled and depressed Karen. Will Karen ever find happiness? "I hope so!" Light said, her huge brown eyes sparkling.

"I love playing Karen." Does it take more preparation to play someone like Karen than maybe another character? "I find acting easy, but you do have to prepare yourself to play a dramatic part." Each actor is responsible for finding the time to get to the make-up room and get shampooed and made up. There is no special time set aside for this, so it's either between scenes or during lunch. The same goes for wardrobe. Don Sheffield, the head designer, and Can Garnett, his assistant, are respon- pretty companion for the Buchanan men. Then she met Larry and started standing up for herself, speaking her own mind, realizing she was a person in her own right.

"She's more multi-dimensional," Meadows said. "It's easier now (playing the character). She's not a caricature." Mimi and Larry were supposed to have wed, but Larry left her standing at the altar. The day's taping involved Mimi's visit to Larry's apartment to find out what happened. "I can draw on my own experiences although nothing of that magnitude has ever happened to me.

But I think of breaking up with a boyfriend and expand on it." Meadows explained. Mimi has a Southern accent. Meadows does not. "I got that from two former roommates from North Carolina," she said. On her days off, Meadows spends time with her friends and keeps in shape.

"I'm a fitness nut," she said. "I even teach an exercise class for the cast during lunch. I give a rough class!" Like most of the cast members, Meadows lives in Manhattan. "I used to live in Connecticut, but the commute was too much," she said. "I wish I could afford both, but contrary to what many people believe, soap opera people don't make that much." Larry is played by tall, blond Michael Storm who has been with the show since it's beginning in 1969.

Again, for the those who don't tune in, Larry left Mimi at the altar because Ivan Kipling implanted something in his brain that changed his personality. Kipling, played by Jack Be Us, is a villian in the show. He was a well-known physician when he arrived in Llanview several years ago but Karen remembered him from her days as a lady of the evening. He was a customer who had some kinky habits he did not want disclosed. He tried to kill Karen but failed and left town.

Now he's back for revenge. Storm on Larry: "He's Catholic, divorced if you can combine those two. Was raised by his sister Anne. His brother Vinnie was recently killed. He's had a tremendous weight on his shoulders for years." Now with the implant in his brain, Larry has become a completely different person.

Judith Light has won two Emmy Awards for her portrayal of Karen Wolek, a good-hearted soul who can 't seem to find happiness. sible for everything the actors and actresses wear. While Sheffield was helping one of the actresses with her dress, Garnett explained some of the planning that goes into their work. "You have to coordinate colors. You can't have everyone wearing the same shade of blue, for instance.

Or, if the sofa is a certain color, whoever is sitting on it has to wear a color which will stand out." Sheffield and Garnett get a cast list and a set list from the director. It tells who will be with whom and where. "It's usually the evening of one day, and the morning of the next," Garnett said. "So you must coordinate the costumes and not have someone wearing the same thing two days in a row." The clothes are owned by ABC and bought at major department stores in New York. "They have the personnel to deal with us," Garnett said.

The cast members do not take clothes home. After "One Life" is finished with the outfits, they are returned to ABC. "I think they give them to charity as a tax write-off," Garnett said. So, with the costume and makeup people, the writers and prop men, and the actors and actresses, "Love in the Afternoon," is a 24-hour-a-day affair..