Concerning relations between residents of an integrated community, the series was to be developed under the supervision of Watts Writers Workshop founder and frequent Julia scripter Harry Dolan.
[20] The film itself, which concerns a seemingly happily married housewife—portrayed by Shirley Jones—who is quickly revealed to be in the throes of gambling addiction (a crisis which, like that undergone by Kennedy's character in Tragedy, stresses the protagonist's marriage to the breaking point[21][22]), was well received,[23] although director Paul Bogart later described the effect of rewrites made at the network's insistence to Ledner's original script—which had attracted him to the project in the first place—as "disastrous".
[25] In the March of that year, the WGA West Newsletter reported that the book's publisher, St Martin's Press, had already initiated discussions with Ledner regarding a possible sequel.
Meanwhile, plans to make a TV movie entitled Mary White—based on newspaper editor William Allen White's famous recounting of his late daughter's tragically abbreviated life—were afoot as early as May 1974, when producer Robert Radnitz's intention to make the film—facilitated by the favorable impression his prior work had made on one particularly influential White family friend, U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas—was first reported by Hollywood columnist James Bacon.
Aside from a raft of glowing press clippings,[31] Mary White eventually earned Ledner both a Christopher Award for "Distinguished Achievement in TV" and an Emmy for Outstanding Writing in a Special Program - Drama or Comedy - Adaptation.
"[38] Moreover, the funeral announcement published in the same day's Los Angeles Times, while maintaining the stance of official non-disclosure, does inform readers that, "In lieu of flowers, family prefers donations to Multiple Sclerosis or the American Cancer Society."