Harding Lemay
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Harding Lemay (born 1922 in Bombay, New York) is a well-known American soap opera writer. Sometimes credited as Pete Lemay, he is best known for his Daytime Emmy Award-winning stint as head writer of Another World, from 1971 to 1979.
One of his reasons for leaving was that, first and foremost, writing a serial that aired five times a week proved to be too taxing on his mind and body.
Another reason for his exit was that the sponsor of the show, Procter & Gamble, refused to allow Lemay to write any controversial storylines. In the late 1970s, Lemay asked the sponsor for clearance on a storyline he was writing, in which the teenage son of a very prominent character was to come out to his sister as a homosexual. According to Lemay, he had already written the story, ostensibly with the sponsor's support, until he was asked to pull the story at the very last minute. To this day, Lemay has not revealed who the intended character was, although speculation abounded that it was to be Michael Randolph, son of Pat Matthews Randolph (played by Beverly Penberthy).
After Lemay's departure, Paul Rauch remained as Another World's executive producer. Without Lemay's guidance, Paul Rauch made choices that arguably caused Another World's 1999 cancellation. The show's brief expansion to 90-minute telecasts caused it to lose much of its audience, which was never regained.
His animosity toward Procter & Gamble softened, and he was even asked to return as Head Writer of Another World in 1988. The plan was for Lemay to begin writing the show again after the end of the Writers' strike of 1988. The strike lasted from March to September and the entire time Donna Swajeski was responsible for the storytelling. Swajeski had previously worked for the programming division at NBC, the network that aired Another World in the United States, but after writing the show for six months, she fancied herself a writer.
When the strike finally ended and Lemay began work as planned, Swajeski and Lemay clashed over Another World's direction and Lemay abruptly quit after writing Another World for only a few weeks. His storyline choices, however, such as the glamorous wedding of Felicia Gallant (Linda Dano) to Mitch Blake (William Gray Espy), and the return of Mac Cory's daughter Iris (Carmen Duncan) set the stage for engrossing story in the years to come.
With Lemay completely gone from AW, Swajeski became Head Writer, a position she held until 1992. It has been argued that much of her critically acclaimed storylines came from ideas written in Lemay's story bibles.
Coming off his creative zenith in the 1970s, Lemay also created the soaps Lovers and Friends and For Richer, For Poorer.
External link
- 1997 Interview with Soap Opera Digest (http://iriswheeler.tripod.com/sodonline1997.html)