NH Secrets Legends & Lore

Sunday, February 27, 2022

Ep 59 Richard "Dick" Backus: Actor, Writer, New Hampshire Icon

A Conversation with Actor, Writer and NH Icon Richard “Dick” Backus

If you saw a photograph of Dick Backus and you thought - "I know him!" it may be because you are of a certain age when you watched daytime soaps like Ryan's Hope or went to see Eugene O'Neill's "Ah Wilderness" at the Ogunquit Playhouse, or you even went to see "Butterflies are Free" on Broadway. These are just a few of the gems that Richard Backus, born, and still living, right here in New Hampshire, has to his credit. I caught up with Dick recently over Zoom and we chatted about his illustrious career.

Listen to the Podcast here:

https://feeds.podetize.com/ep/68Mazpx0JG/media

Back when I was a student at UNH in the 70's I spent a good deal of time at the Memorial Union Building where I was running the photo school for MUSO and eventually Photo Editor of the New Hampshire, our student newspaper.

I'll never forget one of the first times that I walked into the MUB at midday to find hundreds of students crowded around every available TV watching the day's episodes of their favorite soap opera. The General Hospital crowd was in one room and Guiding Light fans in another, etc.

I had no idea that so many of my fellow students were so invested in the day-to-day drama's of what were TV's hottest and most profitable productions in that era.

New Hampshire's roots in the acting and performing community run deep and Dick Backus has been an important part of that legacy over the years.

Though his first love has always been the stage, Dick is An Emmy-nominated soap actor ("Ryan's Hope"), he eventually went behind the scenes as a daytime serial writer. In fact He has been nominated for four Daytime Emmy Awards for writing and one for acting.

In 1972 he won the Theatre World and Clarence Derwent Awards for his multiple roles in the Broadway comedy "Promenade, All!".

He also understudied Keir Dullea on Broadway in the original "Butterflies Are Free" (1969) and eventually took over the role.

Richard Backus was born on March 28, 1945 in Goffstown, New Hampshire, USA. Where

His dad was a local physician.

He discovered his love for acting, the theatre and writing at a relatively early age and made his Broadway theatre debut at the Booth Theatre in the Theatre District of Manhattan in the original production of Butterflies Are Free. The production began in October 1969 with Backus cast as the understudy for Keir Dullea in the role of Don Baker. He was first appeared in the role, which we would later take over, in 1971.

Since then, he has appeared in several other Broadway productions, including Ah, Wilderness!, Camelot, and most recently You Never Can Tell.[5] Other venues at which Backus has appeared include the American Shakespeare Theatre, the Ensemble Studio Theatre, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music.[3]

Backus has also acted in film and television. In the seventies, Backus was in Deathdream a movie that today is considered a cult classic in the horror genre. He also portrayed scheming but well-meaning Jason Saxton on Lovers and Friends. Closer to home, he appeared in several episodes of Spencer for Hire with the late Robert Urich.

On the Soap Opera circuit He replaced Eric Roberts in the role of Ted Bancroft on Another World. From 1980 through 1981, and portrayed Barry Ryan on the soap opera Ryan's Hope, a performance for which he was nominated for the 1981 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Actor in a Supporting Role in a Daytime Drama Series

He married his wife Sharon Romeyko in 1985.

In 1989 he turned his talents toward screenwriting and has not looked back. Richard Backus has been a screenwriter since early 1989. He has worked on three television shows: As the World Turns, One Life to Live, and Days of Our Lives. As the World Turns and One Life to Live have each earned Backus two nominations for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series Writing Team.[2] The writing team behind One Life to Live was also nominated for the 2004 Writers Guild of America Award for Daytime Serials.[6]

Dead of Night (1974) ORIGINAL TRAILER [HD 1080p]

Dead Of Night/Deathdream (1974): Full Movie

From Wikipedia

Overview (2)

Born	March 28, 1945 in Goffstown, New Hampshire, USA
Height	6' 5" (1.96 m)

Mini Bio (1)

Richard Backus was born on March 28, 1945 in Goffstown, New Hampshire, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for As the World Turns (1956), One Life to Live (1968) and Ryan's Hope (1975). He has been married to Sharon Romeyko since January 27, 1985.

Family (1)

Spouse

Sharon Romeyko (27 January 1985 - present)

Trade Mark (1)

Towering height and menacing frame

Trivia (5)

Born at 5:40pm-EWT

An Emmy-nominated soap actor ("Ryan's Hope"), he eventually went behind the scenes as a daytime serial writer.

Won the Theatre World and Clarence Derwent Awards for his multiple roles in the Broadway comedy "Promenade, All!" in 1972.

Understudied Keir Dullea on Broadway in the original "Butterflies Are Free" (1969) and eventually took over the role.

(? - Present) is a writer for "One Life to Live"

Sunday, February 20, 2022

Plymouth State University and NH Electric Coop Launch Pilot Vehicle to Grid Project

Donald Kreis, Wayne King
Brian Callnan, Bill Johnstone

Plymouth State University and NH Electric Coop Launch Pilot Vehicle to Grid Project

Will Electric Vehicles form an important Component of Energy Storage in the Future?

Listen here:

https://feeds.podetize.com/ep/hBy3pDXDM/media

Hosts Wayne King and Don Kreis - NH Consumer Advocate before the Public Utilities Commission - speak with Bill Johnstone, business development executive, and Brian Callnan, VP of Power and Resources Access at the NH Electric Cooperative about a pilot project with big implications for energy storage and cost control with respect to electric rates.

In a recent conversation I had with musician and environmentalist Livingston Taylor when he was scheduled to perform at the Flying Monkey in Plymouth, Liv posited that his chief concern regarding our way to solving the climate crisis was the ability to store energy so that we could rely more sustainably on renewable sources of energy. The challenge, of course, being that most renewable sources of energy are what we call "intermittent" meaning that we can only count on them under certain conditions: For wind turbines to produce energy, the wind must be blowing. For solar, the sun must be shining, etc. Taylor was talking about improving upon ways to effectively store energy so that we can use it when we need it to accommodate the lives we lead.

Now I could have just said that my co-host on this podcast episode Don Kreis, NH's Consumer Advocate before the Public Utilities Commission, and I have discussed this because we have. But now when you think of the brilliant mind of Don Kreis, you'll also associate it with the humor and musical stylings of Livingston Taylor and that will make it all the sweeter.

When I spoke with Livingston about this at the time, he was advocating for a "Manhattan Project" for energy storage to bridge the gap but Don assures me that the "holy grail" of energy storage is - in fact - something that both the private sector and the civil society sector are both in hot pursuit of and doing quite nicely.

If you listen to the last two interviews that I did on the "Radical Centrist Podcast with Don Kreis you'll recall that Don spoke at length about interactive ways for private utility companies, cooperatives and consumers to be collaborating to minimize energy usage during peak times and shift it instead to times when energy rates could be more affordable.

Almost all of this comes under the rubric of the "Smart Grid" a term that refers to the interoperability of the nation's electric grid. The ability of the grid to interact with consumers and generators of power, especially as more and more consumers begin to serve the dual role of both consumers and generators of power.

The brilliant scientist Jeremy Rifkin coined a word for this. "ProSumer" Do you have solar panels on your home? Then you are both a consumer and a producer. Viola! A Prosumer.

Luckily for some of us who are served by the more responsive and responsible utility companies and cooperatives the majority of these companies in New Hampshire - with one notable exception - are seeking out ways to create avenues for consumers to actively participate in the process of creating more sustainable approaches to energy use, particularly electing to use energy in ways that reflect the need to reduce energy use during peak hours and participate as prosumers in the process of leveling out supply and demand.

Today's podcast features a new pilot project that is a collaboration between Plymouth State University and the NH Electric Cooperative. Utilizing electric vehicles in the University fleet as both users of energy from the grid and contributors of stored energy that is able to be called on by the grid during peak hours.

It is a small project but its implications are huge. The next time you drive by a massive parking lot at a university or high school or business, imagine all those vehicles as one giant battery that reduces the need for other sources of energy because the vehicles in that parking area are serving as both an energy source and a consumer.

Wednesday, January 19, 2022

Chasing Eden: A Book of Seekers by Howard Mansfield: A Radical Centrist Podcast

Howard Mansfield

Chasing Eden: A Book of Seekers

Listen here:

https://feeds.podetize.com/ep/7_4NUi8dQ/media

Howard Mansfield is a prolific and talented writer residing in Hancock, New Hampshire. Chasing Eden is a book about seekers. Those in search of that special brand of “happiness” of which Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence. The search can and does take many forms: religious, spiritual, economic, political. Mansfield leads us through an examination of believers in his chapters on the Shakers - a highly successful religious sect - as well as the man who helped them preserve their legacy for future generations, Bud Thompson, who also founded the Mount Kearsarge Indian Museum in Warner.

A reflection on the “White Mountain/Hudson River School of Painting serves as the canvas that draws the public interest into the beauty of the natural landscape of the White Mountains and spurs the building of the Mt Washington Auto road and a growing love of the landscape nationwide that would shape its future.

Hope in the wake of Civil War victory and emancipation followed by the heartbreak of the betrayal of Reconstruction’s promise and Andrew Johnson’s betrayal of Lincoln’s legacy, stealing land intended for freed slaves and returning it to slaveholders, reminds us that not every story has a happy ending.

Likewise Mansfield busts the myths about Thanksgiving and Native American people and leads readers through the betrayal, by or of seekers, testifying to the reality that for some their promised lands collide with the dreams of others or only come with great difficulty; and for some, they do not come at all.

Yet, in busting myths Mansfield gives new life to the seekers he features, whether it is new life in the opportunity for redemption based on truth and reconciliation; or new life in granting a more honest and sustainable future for all in the context of the nobility of the struggle itself.

Links:

Other Books by Howard Mansfield

www.HowardMansfield.com

Canterbury Shaker Village

https://www.shakers.org/

The Books He Never Wrote - Bud & Nancy Thompson

https://nhsecrets.blogspot.com/2019/03/the-books-they-never-wrote-bud-thompson.html

White Mountain Art

https://www.whitemountainart.com/