Please visit this merchant

Burning Bridges

April 20, 2007
by Brent Kellogg

If you were thinking it's only a matter of time before someone comes along to say they've found the body of Dru Winters, don't. It ain't gonna happen. It's a Malfunction Winters re-run of sorts. Before getting into the details, note that nowhere near the amount of money was spent on finding Dru that was spent on finding Malfunction. Victor Newman did not order that no expense be spared as the great man authorized the use of helicopters and search crews in Africa to join the search for Malfunction. For all the moaning Neil Winters is doing, when he had the chance, when Victor mumbled something about feeling Neil's pain, he didn't ask Victor, he didn't ask anyone, to take heroic action to find Dru.

In a published interview, Dru's portrayer, Victoria Rowell, says, "Dru will probably be hanging off the side of that cliff for the next 30 years. We don't know whether Dru lives or succumbs to the fall. It could be an Amelia Earhart situation. I leave that to the powers that be to decide."

So while Rowell sounds as though she's not happy with how Dru's life ended, she has nothing but praise for the hatchet woman who turned Dru into a nut job; Lynn Marie Latham.

"I loved everything that Lynn Marie Latham gave me. It was seamless from Jack Smith, and I felt she held the integrity of the late Bill Bell's writing for my character. She breathed life into Dru. This is the strongest story line they've given me in a long time, so kudos to Lynn Marie Latham."

Note too the triple-word score. It can't be Lynn Latham, or Lynn Marie, it's got to be Lynn Marie Latham.

And while Dru's convoluted bout with mental illness lasted all of two days, get a load of Rowell's spin. "She [LML] gave me a tremendous charge to play the very serious issue of mental health. It's an especially sensitive topic with women of color, who are not running to a therapist. [...] You do not air your dirty laundry. That's just a cultural issue around the world with women of color. It's a sensitive issue, so I gave it all I had. The audience definitely reacted to it and I am pleased by the feedback."

What the hell audience and feedback is Rowell speaking of? The Kool-Aid-drinking sheep who believe whatever they're told? The lambs to the slaughter who accept that Cane Ashby, born an American citizen, is still running from the INS? That rich women like Katherine Sterling can merely pick up the phone and make Cane's problems go away and yet these same rich women can't get the Press off their collective ass? The soap opera bulletin boards where negative comments about the characters of Genoa City are not allowed because there is no distinction between fact and fiction?

How strange then that when Rowell says women suffering from mental problems don't air their dirty laundry, that it's the culture, Rowell herself wrote a book which does just that.

As for whether Rowell's mother's mental illness affected her performance as Dru, Rowell says, "Oh, most definitely." She adds that when she told LML and others at CBS, about her mother, they had no idea! Rowell said too that Bill Bell had no idea she had a ballet history when he wanted the Dru character to dance.

When it was reported recently that Rowell cashed in her chips because her greatness was not appreciated, in that she didn't get so much as an Emmy nomination, she admits it was "one of the catalysts." Rowell says what the GCN has said for years; there is something wrong with the Emmy voting process. That the ballot box is stuffed was all but confirmed when Rowell said the process must change "so that apathy and jealousy don't dictate who gets on the pre-nomination ballot. It should not be a popularity contest. It should be about the merit of an actor's work."

That there is ballot stuffing seems apparent. From 1991-1994 Rowell did not receive an Emmy, but she did get 11 NAACP Image Awards for best actress.

"So yes, that is a catalyst for helping me move on. I made a responsible decision for myself, so I hope my fans will follow me to the bookstores!"

The average, intelligent person reading so far might have missed it. The racial overtone. Rowell complains that at one time there was as many as 16 black actors on Y&R. Today, she says, there are three. Okay, let's count them.

Dru Winters
Neil Winters
Lily Winters Romalotti
Devon Hamilton
Olivia Winters

Sure, it's only five at this point in time, but if Rowell wants to whine, why not mention the lack of Hispanics or Native Americans?

"That's my statement," Rowell says, and she's sticking to it. While she spit-shines LML's boots, she grumbles that she wasn't allowed to write for Y&R. "I wasn't allowed the opportunity. It's obvious that if we diversified as a show, we'd be a stronger show. [...] That being said, I wish them well. Even iron bends."

Ouch!

Please visit this merchant

The Women Who Raised Me
Victoria Rowell's book is available at Amazon.