From These Roots
Encyclopedia
From These Roots is an American soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...

 which ran from June 30, 1958 to December 29, 1961. It was created and written by Frank Provo http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1183865/ and John Pickard http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1180618/. The show was seen on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

, and was the first successful soap opera vehicle for Ann Flood
Ann Flood
Ann Flood is an American actress.She is most known for her work as journalist/author Nancy Pollock Karr on the soap opera The Edge of Night, a role she played from 1962 to 1984...

 who later became well known for, and spend the better part of two decades as, Nancy Karr
Nancy Pollock
Nancy Karr is a fictional character on the long-running daytime soap opera, The Edge of Night. For 22 years, the role was played by actress Ann Flood....

 on The Edge of Night
The Edge of Night
The Edge of Night is an American television mystery series/soap opera produced by Procter & Gamble. It debuted on CBS on April 2, 1956, and ran as a live broadcast on that network until November 28, 1975; the series then moved to ABC, where it aired from December 1, 1975, until December 28, 1984...

.

Storyline

Ms. Flood starred as Elizabeth "Liz" Fraser Allen, a successful writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

 who had returned to her New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...

 hometown of Strathfield to run her family's newspaper, the Strathfield Record. Her father, Ben Fraser, Sr. had suffered a heart attack, thus causing Liz, who had been living and working in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

 to come home, leaving her D.C. fiance, Bruce Crawford. Another former beau, from her earlier days in Strathfield, Dr. Buck Weaver, eventually married his secretary, Maggie Barker.

Her family included a brother Ben, Jr. who worked a family farm, was married to Italian Rose Corelli; had three children, including a son, named Dan, and didn't have much to do with the newspaper; and a sister Emily, who was married to Jim Benson and, after Jim's death, to Frank Teton.

Liz's first adversary was wealthy Enid Chambers, who was the first wife of the man she would eventually marry, David Allen. Her later adversary was alcoholic actress, Lynn Franklin, who, despite her own marriage to Tom Jennings, was very much in love with David and wanted him for herself.

Famous actors

Several actors featured on From These Roots found fame in later shows. These include Henderson Forsythe
Henderson Forsythe
Henderson Forsythe was an American actor. Forsythe was known for his role as Dr. David Stewart #2 on the soap opera As the World Turns, a role he played for 32 years, and for his work on the New York stage....

, who went on to fame as Dr. David Stewart on As the World Turns
As the World Turns
As the World Turns is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS from April 2, 1956 to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created As the World Turns as a sister show to her other soap opera Guiding Light...

; Charlotte Rae
Charlotte Rae
Charlotte Rae is a prolific American character actress of stage, comedienne, singer and dancer, who in her six decades of television is perhaps best known for her portrayal of Edna Garrett in the sitcoms Diff'rent Strokes and The Facts of Life...

, forever known as Edna Garrett on Diff'rent Strokes
Diff'rent Strokes
Diff'rent Strokes is an American television sitcom that aired on NBC from November 3, 1978 to May 4, 1985, and on ABC from September 27, 1985 to March 7, 1986...

and The Facts of Life
The Facts of Life (TV series)
The Facts of Life is an American sitcom that originally ran on the NBC television network from August 24, 1979 to May 7, 1988. A spin-off of the sitcom Diff'rent Strokes, the series' premise focused on Edna Garrett as she becomes a housemother at the fictional Eastland School, a prestigious...

; Vera Allen, later known as Grandma Matthews on Another World
Another World (TV series)
Another World is an American television soap opera that ran on NBC from May 4, 1964 to June 25, 1999. It ran for a total of 35 years. It was created by Irna Phillips along with William J...

; Billie Lou Watt
Billie Lou Watt
Billie Lou Watt was an actress in theater and television, including several voice acting roles for commercials and animated series...

 who played Stu Bergman
Stu Bergman
Stu Bergman was a fictional character in the now-cancelled American soap opera, Search for Tomorrow. The part was played for almost all of the show's 35 years by the late Larry Haines.- Jo's best friend :...

's second wife, Ellie Harper, on Search for Tomorrow
Search for Tomorrow
Search for Tomorrow is an American soap opera which premiered on September 3, 1951 on CBS. The show was moved from CBS to NBC on March 29, 1982. It continued on NBC until the final episode aired on December 26, 1986, a run of thirty-five years. At the time of its final broadcast it was the...

; Audra Lindley
Audra Lindley
Audra Marie Lindley was an American actress, most famous for her role as landlady Helen Roper on the sitcom Three's Company and its spin-off, The Ropers.-Career:...

, best known as the eternally frustrated (with her husband, mainly) landlady, Helen Roper
Helen Roper
Helen Roper is a character on the situation comedy series, Three's Company and its later spin-off series The Ropers. In both shows, she is played by Audra Lindley....

 from Three's Company
Three's Company
Three's Company is an American sitcom that aired from March 15, 1977, to September 18, 1984, on ABC. It is based on the British sitcom, Man About the House....

and its spin-off The Ropers
The Ropers
The Ropers is an American sitcom that ran from March 13, 1979 to May 22, 1980 on ABC. The series is a spinoff of Three's Company and based on the British sitcom George and Mildred...

; Millette Alexander
Millette Alexander
Millette Alexander is an American actress and concert pianist, best known for being the third and longest-running actress to portray the role of Dr. Sara McIntyre on the serial The Guiding Light. Alexander played the role from December 1968 until June 1983, playing the adoptive mother of Kevin...

 who went on to play Sarah Werner on Guiding Light
Guiding Light
Guiding Light is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest running drama in television and radio history, running from 1937 until 2009...

; Robert Mandan
Robert Mandan
Robert Mandan is an American actor, most famous for his portrayals of playwright David Allen on the NBC serial From These Roots from 1958–1961, businessman Sam Reynolds on the serial Search for Tomorrow from 1965 to 1970, and his subsequent satire of the genre playing Chester Tate on the sitcom...

 who later on played bumbling and semi-pompous charachers on Soap
Soap (TV series)
Soap is an American sitcom that originally ran on ABC from 1977 to 1981.The show was created as a parody of daytime soap operas, presented as a weekly half-hour prime time comedy. Similar to a soap opera, the show's story was presented in a serial format and included melodramatic plot elements such...

and the television adaptation of the movie, Private Benjamin
Private Benjamin
Private Benjamin is a 1980 American comedy film starring Goldie Hawn. The film was one of the biggest box office hits of 1980, and also spawned a short-lived television series. The film is ranked 82 on the American Film Institute's "100 Funniest Movies" poll, and 59 on Bravo's "100 Funniest...

; Barbara Berjer
Barbara Berjer
Barbara Berjer was a well-known American television actress born in Seattle, Washington.Among her many soap opera credits were her roles as alcoholic actress Lynn Franklin on From These Roots ; Claire English Lowell Cassen Shea #4 on As the World Turns ; Barbara Norris Thorpe #2 on Guiding Light...

 who continued soap work, most notably on As the World Turns
As the World Turns
As the World Turns is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS from April 2, 1956 to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created As the World Turns as a sister show to her other soap opera Guiding Light...

and Guiding Light
Guiding Light
Guiding Light is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest running drama in television and radio history, running from 1937 until 2009...

; Richard Thomas
Richard Thomas (actor)
Richard Earl Thomas is an American actor, best known for his role as budding author John-Boy Walton in the CBS drama The Waltons.- Early life :Thomas was born Richard Earl Thomas in New York,...

, well known as John-Boy Walton from The Waltons
The Waltons
The Waltons is an American television series created by Earl Hamner, Jr., based on his book Spencer's Mountain, and a 1963 film of the same name. The show centered on a family growing up in a rural Virginia community during the Great Depression and World War II. The series pilot was a television...

; Craig Huebing, later of General Hospital; Joseph Mascolo
Joseph Mascolo
Joseph Mascolo is an American musician and dramatic actor. During his long career, he has acted in numerous motion pictures and television series. He is best known for playing Stefano DiMera, a role he originated in 1982 on NBC's long running Days of our Lives.-Early life:Mascolo was born and...

, known for his roles as Stefano DiMera
Stefano DiMera
Stefano DiMera is a fictional character, a villain on the American soap opera Days of our Lives. Created by head writer Pat Falken Smith, he is portrayed by Joseph Mascolo...

 on Days of our Lives
Days of our Lives
Days of our Lives is a long running daytime soap opera broadcast on the NBC television network. It is one of the longest-running scripted television programs in the world, airing nearly every weekday in the United States since November 8, 1965. It has since been syndicated to many countries around...

and Massimo Marone
Massimo Marone
Massimo Marone IV was a fictional character on the CBS soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful. The character was played by veteran actor Joseph Mascolo from August 23, 2001 to July 7, 2006.-Character:...

 on The Bold and the Beautiful
The Bold and the Beautiful
The Bold and the Beautiful is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS Daytime. It premiered on March 23, 1987....

; John Karlen
John Karlen
John Karlen is a character actor best known for playing Willie Loomis, Carl Collins, William H. Loomis, Desmond Collins, and Kendrick Young on the ABC serial Dark Shadows, in various episodes between 206 and 1245, which aired from 1966-1971. In 1971 Karlen starred as the male lead in "Daughters...

, later known as Willie on Dark Shadows
Dark Shadows
Dark Shadows is a gothic soap opera that originally aired weekdays on the ABC television network, from June 27, 1966 to April 2, 1971. The show was created by Dan Curtis. The story bible, which was written by Art Wallace, does not mention any supernatural elements...

; and Harvey Lacey of Cagney and Lacey; and John Colenback who played Henderson Forsythe's son, Dan Stewart, on As the World Turns
As the World Turns
As the World Turns is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS from April 2, 1956 to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created As the World Turns as a sister show to her other soap opera Guiding Light...

.

The show was directed by Joseph Behar
Joseph Behar
Joseph Behar is a DGA award winning American television director, and is not to be confused with Joseph Behar who is the former husband of comedian/TV Personality Josephina Behar...

,and Don Wallace and Paul Lammers, who were producers as well, along with Eugene Barr. It was also known for a storyline dealing with the show-within-a-show performance of Madame Bovary
Madame Bovary
Madame Bovary is Gustave Flaubert's first published novel and is considered his masterpiece. The story focuses on a doctor's wife, Emma Bovary, who has adulterous affairs and lives beyond her means in order to escape the banalities and emptiness of provincial life...

, which heavily featured the show's villainess, Lynn Franklin.

Unfortunately, it was a dispute between Wallace and Lammers with actress Julie Bovasso
Julie Bovasso
Julie Bovasso was an American actress of stage, screen and television. She was born in Brooklyn, New York to an Italian-American family.-Career:Bovasso appeared in many films, including Saturday Night Fever and...

 which ended up getting the latter fired from the show. Bovasso, who played Rose Corelli, Ben Fraser, Jr.'s wife, had a disagreement with a specific line's meaning, and she walked off the set. A line producer stepped in for her and did her roles that day. Not surprisingly, Bovasso was later fired and actress Tresa Hughes
Tresa Hughes
Tresa Hughes was an American stage, film and television actress. Hughes was nominated for Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play in 1961 for her role in The Devil's Advocate...

took over as Rose until the show's end in 1961.

Cancellation

Unfortunately, despite the interesting Madame Bovary storyline, and how well written it was, the show was cancelled in 1961 because not many people felt at home with this kind of drama, which was admittedly unusual for soaps of that time. This soap was more literary than most that were on the air at that time.

As such, all the stories were wrapped up and ended happily. Ben, Sr. who had become Strathfield's mayor, had cleaned up the town of organized crime; Kass, the Fraser's lovable maid, had received a great big settlement from her late husband's estate; Lyddy Benson, (Liz's niece, her mother was Emily) had announced she was engaged; and Liz and her husband, David had achieved mutual success as writers.
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