Today in Soap Opera History (November 23)

On this date in...

1963: The original DOCTOR WHO series premiered on the BBC.

1964: On ANOTHER WORLD, Pat (Susan Trustman) sent a letter to the Baxter family which said she did not kill Tom.

1984: On DAYS OF OUR LIVES, Andre  (Thaao Penghlis) presumably died when he fell into quicksand following a fight with Tony (Thaao Penghlis).



1992: On GUIDING LIGHT, Blake (Elizabeth Keifer) asked Alan-Michael (Rick Hearst) for a loan.



1993: On THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS, the Abbotts were concerned about John (Jerry Douglas), and Paul (Doug Davidson) was worried about April.



1994: DAYS OF OUR LIVES theme co-composer Tommy Boyce died at age 55.

When songwriters Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart were first approached to write the theme to DAYS OF OUR LIVES, Ted and Betty Corday asked them to come up with something that sounded similar to "Sunrise, Sunset", a song which the Cordays had just seen performed in the Broadway play "Fiddler on the Roof."

Boyce and Hart's first two submissions to the Cordays were quickly rejected. Boyce was ready to call it quits, but Hart told Boyce he had one last idea before they abandoned the project. They went to a recording studio, and Hart played music on an organ that sounded like music he remembered hearing when his mother listened to various radio soap operas. Boyce gave some additional suggestions and they returned to the Cordays for their third and final attempt. This time, they were a success. Announcer Ed Prentiss spoke the following lines over the instrumental theme: "Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives. DAYS OF OUR LIVES, a new dramatic serial starring Macdonald Carey.

1994: On ALL MY CHILDREN, Dixie (Cady McClain) found out she was a kidney donor match with Del (Winsor Harmon).



1999: Heather Olson debuted as Jan Spears in DAYS OF OUR LIVES.

2006: Longtime daytime soap writer Anne Howard Bailey died at age 82.  Along with creating HOW TO SURVIVE A MARRIAGE, her writing credits included GENERAL HOSPITAL, DAYS OF OUR LIVES and SANTA BARBARA.

2009: On AS THE WORLD TURNS, Noah (Jake Silbermann) was released from the hospital.



2011: Prospect Park released a statement which said the efforts to create online versions of ONE LIFE TO LIVE and ALL MY CHILDREN were suspended and it was "now becoming clear that mounting issues make our ability to meet our deadlines to get OLTL on the air in a reasonable time period following its January 13, 2012 ABC finale impossible."  Read the statement here.

Celebrating a birthday today are:
Jerry verDorn (Clint, ONE LIFE TO LIVE; ex-Ross, GUIDING LIGHT) - 63
David Wallace (ex-Tom, GENERAL HOSPITAL; ex-Todd, DAYS OF OUR LIVES; ex-Minister, DAYS OF OUR LIVES) - 55
Maxwell Caulfield (Richard, DEVANITY, ex-Mark, EMMERDALE; ex-Jim, CASUALTY; ex-Pierce, ALL MY CHILDREN; ex-Miles, THE COLBYS/DYNASTY; ex-RYAN'S HOPE) - 53
Robin Roberts (Herself, NASHVILLE) - 52
Michael Brainard (ex-Joey, ALL MY CHILDREN; ex-Ted, SANTA BARBARA) - 47
Salli Richardson-Whitfield (Reed, THE SECRET LIVES OF WIVES; Allison, EUREKA) - 45
Page Kennedy (ex-Caleb, DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES) - 36
Sara Jane Henriques (ex-Tina, ALL MY CHILDREN)
Ricky Whittle (Charles, SINGLE LADIES; ex-Calvin, HOLLYOAKS; ex-Daniel, HOLBY CITY) - 31
Lucas Grabeel (Toby, SWITCHED AT BIRTH) - 28
Kelvin Cook (Brother Ray, ANACOSTIA)

EDITOR'S NOTE: If you would like to submit a piece of soap opera history for this daily column, please email it to [email protected].