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About Time

Millie Perkins and Don Diamont play mother and son in The Young and the Restless.

Daytime Drama from page 43

writer Lynn Latham, who confirmed
that Kaplan was Jewish.
"I said, `This isn't what we typically
do here; we do baptisms and weddings
in front of the cross: And she [replied],
`We're going to change that."
The change means that Diamont will
play perhaps the only overtly Jewish
lead on daytime TV (see sidebar), which
is known for WASPy protagonists. He
is likely the first soap actor to star in
a story line about Nazi-looted art. It
doesn't hurt that pilfered art is currently
a hot news topic, that the tall-dark-
and-handsome Diamont would remain
popular if his character turned out to be
a Martian or that Restless has been the
top-rated soap for more than 17 years.
Latham says she had other reasons for
turning Carlton into Kaplan.
"I have always preferred to write for
an ethnically and racially mixed cast

46

August 3 • 2006

JN

that represents most religions:' she said.
"That's the world ... most of us live in."
Diamont (ne Bruce Feinberg) relates
to his "new" character because he, too,
has felt compelled to hide his.Jewishness
and has lost much of his family.
Between scenes on a CBS soundstage,
the actor comes off not so much as a sex
symbol (despite his tight black Calvin
Klein T-shirt) than as a thoughtful man
whose real-life story sounds as dramatic
as any soap's.
As a youth, he learned his mother's
cousin, who was Dutch, had been
injected with gasoline during medi-
cal experiments at Auschwitz. In high
school, several fellow jocks tormented
him with anti-Semitic slurs (and slugs)
for three years; the otherwise popular
teenager kept the abuse secret, even
from his parents, until he decided he
had had enough and repeatedly punched
one bully. Since he had been victimized
so long, his punishment was mild, just

The presence of Jews in soap operas
has been meager until now.

Curt Schieler
Special to the Jewish News

S

tephanie Sloane, editor of
Soap Opera Digest and a 16-
year veteran of the industry,

says the Young and the Restless
Carlton-Kaplan saga is a unique story
arc.
"Judaism is not often addressed
in daytime," she says. "There is only
one other prominent [Jewish] char-
acter in daytime [Nora Hanen on One
Life to Live], and the stories are not
about her being Jewish. We don't see
her celebrating the High Holidays.
Her religious affiliation is not often
addressed.
"I think [the Y&R story line] is
interesting. I think it opens the

door to a lot of potentially interest-
ing information for [viewers] who
may not have delved deeply into
the Holocaust and know little about
Judaism."
Sloane does not believe Y&R view-
ers will be turned off by this story
arc any more than Jewish viewers
are when weddings and funerals take
place in churches.
Lynn Latham, the show's head
writer, feels the same way. Rather,
she contends, "I think knowing this
dimension about Brad's character
will enhance the audience's enjoy-
ment of it."
Ironically, Latham was unaware she
was breaking new ground. She knew
there had been Jewish characters
in daytime but didn't realize there