Succes of SANTA BARBARA is up to DANE WITHERSPOON

- Miami News_ September 1, 1984 - 

If the new NBC soaper “Santa Barbara” catches on, credit the kids. The majestic Dame Judith Anderson may give the afternoon drama veneer, but her presence is fleeting. So far, her major contribution to the area is a homegrown avocado with the Anderson profile implanted on the skin. No, those gangly California kids, raised in the sun, lurching about, guided by emotion since their brains remain untrained, epitomize life in the elegant California beach town, the jewel of the West. Happy-go-lucky Ted Capwell, running off to savor Hollywood and girls, ought to attract Midwestern kids with his friendly puppy dog manner and good looks. That’s what they grow on California beaches, by the hundreds. One to be taken seriously is Joe Perkins, the oil rigger’s son, the ex-con accused of murdering an offspring of the powerful Capwell tribe. Even Joe’s dad walks out of the house when son comes home to find the real culprit. At the outset, Joe Perkins carries the soaper, the sneered-upon hero, the good guy who must prove himself. If Joe brings yawns, SB sinks.

So the burden is upon Dane (Joe) Witherspoon, the Texas boy, raised in the oil business, an All-American type always on the high school podium gathering in the awards. But Dane sounds like one of the show’s characters, rejecting the oil business for the actor’s life in San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theater (ACT). Soon Dane is in L.A. playng the nice, earnest youth on “The Waltons” and “Eight is Enough”. 

Instead of growing soft, enjoying the attention, Dane felt dissatisfied and pulled out of town, returning to join Dad back in Michigan exploring oil and gas sites. “I travelled around with my Dad checking out oil leases in courthouses and libraries,” Dane recalls. “It was mostly time by myself, something I needed.”

Soon Dane was back in New York, making the acting rounds, auditioning and failing, a man who had found his calling and would continue regardless of the rebuffs.

In Los Angeles, Whiterspoon and a friend decided to make and sell costume jewelry to survive. After the business took off, along came the role of Joe Perkins. Just in time. Witherspoon is a fan of rock musician Bruce Springsteen. His hero is coming to town to give one of his lifechanging, heart-stopping four-hour concerts. And those tickets cost money. Will Dane have to work late on opening night? Witherspoon laughs: “I’ll get there somehow.” He has his priorities straight.