FIFTH PART: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH FRANK SALISBURY (SB SCRIPTWRITER FROM 1984 TO 1990)

Today I’m presenting to you the fifth and last part of the interview that Frank Salisbury has granted exclusively to "Santa Barbara Blog". If you missed the previous parts, you can read it by clicking here (part one - part two - part three – part four). To conclude the interview, I chose this day because today is Frank Salisbury' Birthday . So, Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday, Frank. This is my gift-tribute for you. Unfortunately this is a gift you can't recycle. I’m joking. Today we'll find out something more about a very interesting chat between Mr. Salisbury and Nicolas Coster (Lionel Lockridge), a little comparisonbetween SB and some other soap operas, we’ll discover how to write a character, we’ll try to understand if there were some frictions between SB’ writers, we also discover who was the SB actor who wanted Phyllis Frelich in the role of Sister Sarah, we’ll find out what Mr. Salisbury is doing today and much more ... Have a nice Reading!

Sometimes in this world we meet others and just have soul connections with them. Did it happen to you on SB?

It  certainly did.  I was so lucky with the SB cast.  There was so much mutual love and respect.

Nick Coster told in a recent interview that: “The second thing they allowed me to do later in that same series of shows, when he and Augusta reunited, was to recite a poem. Frank Salisbury was the writer that day, and in those days we could communicate with the writers, especially those of us with some literary sense.  I called Frank and said, “This is an E.E. Cummings poem, don’t you think it’s a little acerbic for this moment?” He said, “Yes, I agree, what do you have in mind?” I said, “One of the romantics.”  He said, “Which one?” I said, “A poet from the first World War.” He said, “Who, Owens?” I said, “No, Brooks.”  He asked, “Which poem?” and I quoted him a poem.  He said, “Right!” You can quote that totally if you would.  How many daytime actors get to have that kind of literary conversation with a writer?”. Do you remember it?

I remember having a conversation with Nick that involved poetry.  It probably went as he said.  He and I shared a love of poetry, I know.  The Dobsons knew it, too.  They called me a number of times and had me suggest a fragment of something they could use.  It always made me feel very proud and humble.

Knowing what you know now, what would you have done differently on SANTA BARBARA?

I know I would have had a different agent.  At the outset he asked for two scripts per week, which they said they couldn't do.  He never asked for one and a half, which they later gave to Gary Tomlin.  I've also been told that my per script salary was below that of Gary's and someone else.  I bore it in silence, but I'd certainly negotiate differently if I had another chance, and with someone else.  Other than that, there isn't too much I would have done differently.  I think it all went off pretty well, until the end.

Nowhere on daytime now do you see the intellectual complexities and subtle nuances in dialogue that were written on SANTA BARBARA in the '80s.  What do you think happened? Some people theorize there has been dumbing down of our culture in general.

I don't think so.  I can't remember all that much subtlety or nuance on any of the daytime shows that preceded them.  I wrote for most of them and they never convinced me.  Santa Barbara came along like water in the desert.  Not since Edge of Night had I had such leeway.  Not only to be allowed to write humor but to have it appreciated!  In my latter days on DAYS OF OUR LIVES, I had one actress complain that my humor was getting in the way of the drama. I should have been annoyed but it seemed like such a compliment that I felt very good about it.  I was grateful for anything I could do to get in the way of their drama.

Which are the differences you found between working on SB and on other soaps?

A lot of it, of course, has to do with the people who staff these shows.  I remember once, when I had quoted Dorothy Parker on SB, some staffer from the show called me and wanted to know if Dorothy Parker had been a character on the show and, if so, how long she had lasted? I did a script for Dynasty but ran afoul of the Schapiros, or at least one of them.  I'd been given the assignment by the headwriters Robert and Mike (nee Elaine.  She was Robert’s wife.) Pollack, whom I had written for when they were headwriters on General Hospital.  And they'd read a play of mine, and liked it.  So I was very much in favor going in.  But when I finished the first draft Esther Schapiro attacked it violently.  We were in the same room.  "Too much talking about talking," she said, and "We never use exclamation marks on Dynasty!"  I answered, meekly, "But Dynasty is one big exclamation mark isn't it?"  And that was it for me.  I didn't even have to do the rewrite they were entitled to.  Seems hard to believe that an exclamation mark could end a career, on one show at least.

How many times did you say NO on Santa Barbara?

To my uncertain knowledge, I never said "No" to a character or situation.  I remember that I was shocked at the pidgeon-pie episode, but not willing to  martyr myself over it.

When you wrote a character, did you feel inspired by real people?

I very seldom related characters to anyone living or dead.  The characters have their own backstory and I found it easier to live through them.  That's not to say that some small daily incident might not arise that I felt it reasonable to cannibalize.  But as a general practice, no.  Possibly other writers would disagree with me, but that's between them and their Gods.

There were frictions between the writers?

This is an area I'd rather not go into.  Too many people are still alive (and around) today.

No one has ever copied your ideas?

No, I've never been copied by anyone on SB.  There was a time when I was writing breakdowns that people would take whole sections of suggested dialog into their scripts but it was rare, and it wasn't copying, per se, but only using available material.  Nevertheless, we soon put a stop to it.

I read somewhere that the character of Sister Sarah (the deaf-mute nun played by Phyllis Frelich in 1988) was strongly desired by Nancy Lee Grahn. Ms. Grahn proved to be the conduit between Phyllis and the show. The two met at a celebrity benefit, A Night at the Movies, and hit it off marvelously. By coincidence, a few days later, SB's executive producer, Jill Farren Phelps, weary from the effects of the writers' strike, half-jokingly announced to the cast, "I'll pay ten bucks to anyone who comes up with a good storyline". "And I'll do anything for ten bucks," cracked Grahn. She immediately went to work devising a plot line that would heavily feature her and Frelich. Nancy's idea was nixed (though production staffers who read it insist that it was superior to the one the show ultimately settled on) but Phyllis got cast anyway. That is, after a degree of deliberation. Reports Grahn, "They were hesitant about it. They worried that the audience wouldn't like a deaf character or that a story line with a deaf character would be boring or that it would be difficult to communicate the plot points. All the typical things that someone who's never worked with deaf performers might think. But I just didn't let up on them. It got to the point that when Jill saw me coming down the hall, she'd lock her door, moaning, 'Shaddup, already. I don't want to hear about it any more." The determined actress even made her pitch to Brian Frons, NBC's vice-president of daytime programming. Once victorious, Grahn applauded the decision. "Hooray for them for trying it. I didn't think it was risky, but for them, it was. That's the one thing about SANTA BARBARA, it takes risks. I was so confident that they would love Phyllis - and they did. When she does her scenes ,everybody comes down to the studio floor to watch her work.” Do you remember anything about it?

This obviously happened during a Writers Strike because I don't have any memory of it at all.  There was a very long one in the 80's and I used it to go to New Orleans and have a play performed...THAT was an adventure that I wouldn't care to repeat. I'm glad about Nancy Grahn though.  She was a fine person and a good actress.  I had no idea that she was interested in story, however. 

It has never happened that, as a result of strong public reactions, they changed the script?

No.  There was the usual crabbing about story lines from the public (the most famous one being in regard to the multiple-personality one), but nothing ever changed as a result.

Which soaps did you work on after SB?

After I left SB I worked on DAYS OF OUR LIVES for a little while and GENERAL HOSPITAL for a little while longer.  GH was a return trip for me and nicely capped off some twenty-two-odd years of writing soaps.

What  are you doing today?

After that, I decided to sell my house and went back east where I visited friends in New England, New Hampshire, Boston, New York and down in Louisville, Ky and Atlanta, Ga.  After several months in Atlanta I came home to concentrate on three plays I had written, two of which were being done in Europe:  THE ICE CREAM SUNDAY and  BALANCING ACT.  That finished off the 90's.  Five years later I moved to Vancouver with my partner and I've lived here ever since.  I had my interview for citizenship today, in fact, and hope to be a full-fledged Canadian within two months.  Of course I'll keep my U.S. citizenship, as well. I'm currently at work on a novella, called RELIVING IN EXILE, and I expect that will occupy me until I shuffle off these mortal coils.  On the other hand, if I really get to work on it, it may not last that long.  Then I'll have to shuffle off with something else.

What would you say to all those who still love Santa Barbara?

And to all those wonderful people out there in the dark who still love Santa Barbara, I'd say:  Our immortality is in your hands. “Grazie”.

Thank you, Mr. Salisbury. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for having contributed to making Santa Barbara the masterpiece that it is. Thank you for sharing your memories with us with great generosity.

The interview has been great fun, Pier.  I've loved it.  Stay well.