Peter Straub On His Love for Soap Operas

David Gerlach: This is Blank on Blank.  I’m David Gerlach, and thank you for listening as we build this archive of lost American interviews. Some months back I sat down with Peter Straub. He’s a novelist that works in some of the darkest, bloodiest realms of horror fiction. He’s sold millions of books. And after I pressed record, I thought we’d get into his secrets to co-writing two books with Stephen King. Or maybe how he comes up with his stories in the first place. But instead he dropped a detail of a guilty pleasure. A key to his writing ritual that ends with him playing a retired, blind cop.

Peter Straub: I’ll get to my desk at like 11 o’clock. I’ll do email and work until about 1:30, 2:00 because at 2:00 is the holy hour when I must watch “One Life to Live.”

CLIP: “One Life to Live”

Peter Straub: My soap.

CLIP: “One Life to Live” Theme Song 1985

Peter Straub: I started watching soap operas, because my daughter who watched “All My Children” went to camp and she asked me if I would watch “All My Children” for her and then tell her what happened. So I sat there. I didn’t know who anybody was, so I just made stuff up. I knew there was a character named Erica Kane, so I described Erica Kane going into a jewelry store and killing the clerk and stashing his body behind the counter.

CLIP: “All My Children”

Peter Straub: But after about three or four weeks I knew everybody on the program and I was hooked. So then I just wrote a long serious analysis of what was going, descriptions of what was happening on “All My Children.” When she came back from camp she said, “Daddy you’re crazy.” But then we watched it together.

[MUSIC:  Actress - “Maze”]

Peter Straub: Years went by. I began falling asleep in the middle of “All My Children” and waking up in the middle of “One Life to Live.” Eventually I realized that to me anyhow “One Life to Live” at that time was a much more interesting program. So I stopped watching “All My Children” and I started watching “One Life.”

David Gerlach: Now that was in the 1980s and nearly 20 years later, hundreds, probably thousands of episodes later, Straub’s wife surprised him for his 60th birthday with an exclusive, behind-the-scenes tour of the “One Life To Live” set. Straub was thrilled. During the tour he handed out some signed copies of his books that he brought along. And he struck up a conversation with a huge fan of his work: Lt. John McBain. In real life, actor Michael Easton. They soon became good friends and one night they got to talking about another well-known writer who also loved “One Life” and who even appeared on the show as an extra. But thing was he wouldn’t say any lines.

Peter Straub: So I said to Michael: “I would say lines.” He looked at me in astonishment and inquired whether or not I was really serious about being willing to be on this program. I said: “Of course I’m willing. I’d love to be on your program.”

CLIP of Straub on “One Life to Live”

Peter Straub: His name is Pete Braust.

CLIP of Straub on “One Life to Live” Continues

Peter Straub: Pete Braust is a retired, blind cop. We learned he’s blind in the middle of the scene, when he stands up and we discover he is holding a white cane. The whole point is: I’m blind so I hear extremely well; I hear nuances, so I can tell what John is really saying when he’s not saying it.

CLIP of Straub on “One Life to Live”

David Gerlach: Was it difficult playing a blind man? Had you experienced that before?

Peter Straub: No. But it’s not too hard to figure out. There’s one thing I do that no real blind person ever does: when I tap my cane, I look at the cane. (Laughs) Real blind guys have their heads pointed up when they tap.

David Gerlach: Do people see you now? Does anyone notice you from the show?

Peter Straub: Not a single blessed person as ever come up to me and said: “You’re that guy from ‘One Life to Live.’” But it’s still fun to think that in this kind of silly way I reach millions more people than I will ever reach through writing books. I don’t do much once I have them in front of me. But they’re sitting there watching anyhow.

CLIP: “One Life to Live” Theme Song

David Gerlach: That’s horror novelist Peter Straub talking about how he became addicted to the long-running soap opera “One Life to Live.” Now ABC is set to end the show’s run in early 2012 after decades. Though it is expected to find a new life online. Thanks to Eric Mennel and Dave McGuire for producing this interview. Jeffrey Alan Jones brought us our sound logo. And check out BlankonBlank.org for more lost interviews you can’t hear anywhere else. I’m David Gerlach. Keep listening.