5-4--3--2--1

HIDDEN HEROS

The following is a recreation of the Soap Center feature presented on
January 18th, 2002 on SoapNet as a tribute to OLTL's Behind the Scenes Heros.

Narrator: Actors aren't the only stars on the soaps. There are hundreds of talented people working hard to bring your shows to life. Here's a look at 3 of the hidden heros at One Life To Live.


Narrator: For the last 10 years, Stage Manager Alan Needleman
has been one of those indispensible behind the scenes
heros at One Life To Live.


Needles: Basically what happens is the director comes out and stages
the show on the floor. But then the director goes inside the control room and
we become the directors eyes and ears on the floor.

Narrator: That means moving some thirty actors through more than
20 scenes over a 12 hour day.


Erika Slezak: It's hard to talk about Needles without smiling.
He laughs about everything under the sun. He's the soul of that show upstairs.
He really is! When he's not there you can cut the tension with a knife.


Needles: I'm kind of a cross between Henny Youngman and Tony Soprano.
Because you know -- all work and no play --


Needles: You have to have fun. I couldn't do it if I was unable to have fun.


Mark Derwin: I've worked with a lot of good stage managers -- great ones --
but Needles takes the cake. I mean he is amazing! You know there are times
when he hasn't been here and you'll be like--"Do you feel that?" It's just a
different set, because he keeps it so relaxed.

Narrator: In 1970 Howie Zeidman's dad brought him to visit a
family friend working in the One Life To Live Studio.


He said "Sit over here and we'll take a picture of you sitting
on this set. I said..."But I really want to work the camera."


So he took a picture of me working on this Norelco camera
and from that day when those pictures were taken I said.
"I'd really like to do this for a living."


Larry: I've know him since the 7th grade. Since he was in 7th grade.
Howie: I used to come home and watch him on T.V.

Narrator: Because Needles and Howie work so closely with the actors
their feedback is important to the cast.


Robert Woods: They've seen it all, but if you do something that's really a heavy
heavy thing and when you finish everything is quiet, you say...
My God!...they were really really watching you know.


Hillary Bailey Smith: When he's moved by a scene he gives you the shot card and puts "S.O.D."
which is Scene of the Day. And if...He doesn't hand these out...but when you
get a Scene of the Day you feel pretty good because that means "he's watched."

Narrator: Even before the actors step on to the studio floor there is
another behind the scenes hero that everyone agrees is truly irreplaceable.


Ty Treadway: David is our Security Guard here. He's been here for
156,000 years and he knows the answer to everything!


I call him 411 -- 911. Anything you need to know about anything.
He knows. 911 because if anything goes wrong in the building he knows.


David: I'm here to protect life and limb...but that's not really what I do.
I make peoples lives easier. I know whose here, whose not here,
where people need to be.


They actually wanted to move him a long time ago -- maybe eight or ten years
because he's a security guard and works for ABC and they said "No No...we're
going to put him over in another building. There was a general revolt around here
and we all called. We called security and we called the producer and we said,
"You cannot do this, you cannot take David away from us."

Narrator: That's a feeling the entire cast shares about all
three of these behind the scenes heros.




Needles and Howie you just wonder...and Coleman...you say
"What would we do without them here? Those three guys are
definitely, definitely a big huge impact.


Page created by VtGrammy 1/19/02

1