A Day With All Her Harvard Children

While Angie and Jessie of ABC-TV's "All My Children" finally found their baby yesterday after weeks of searching, their creator spoke about television and social change at Harvard.

Agnes Nixon, the guest of the Harvard Foundation, talked at the Expository Writing Center, and after watching. "All My Children" during lunch at Quincy House, held a workshop on television writing in the Quincy Junior Common Room.

Foundation Director S. Allen Counter said he invited Nixon--a member of the Foundation's Board of Trustees--as part of an ongoing program of inviting individuals who are putting forth "images of minorities in America."

"Her shows have been instrumental in getting minorities into TV," said Richard C. Marius, director of Expository Writing. There are more Blacks on daytime television than during prime time, he noted.

Social issues including incest, child abuse and the trauma of Vietnam veterans have been central themes on Nixon's shows. She said that with sensitive scripts her shows perform a "tasteful public service."

At the Writing Cener, Nixon said the two main problems facing a soap opera writer are keeping the plot exciting but writing scripts simple enough for actors to memorize quickly.

At the afternoon seminar Nixon offered aspiring writers advice. New writers tend to overarticulate their characters rather than have them reveal themselves by action, she said. The old theater maxim "play it, don't say it," always applies, she added.

Many Harvard soap opera fans tore themselves away from their usual afternoon viewing schedules to meet the creator of some of their favorite shows.

Jodi C. Smith '84 said she and he roommate plan their classes around "All My Children." "We leave each AMC updates if one of us misses the show," she added.

"I feel bad scheduling Friday classes because that's the most important day on the soaps," Deborah T. Roth '84 said. She added that she and her seven roommates watch about three hours of soap every day. "I had a roommate who left a lecture in the middle to watch Laura's wedding."