Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Today in Soap Opera History (August 18)

1980: Edge of Night's Draper saw himself in the newspaper.
1980: General Hospital's Monica goaded Lesley into a slap.
1981: Guiding Light's Morgan and Kelly married at Laurel Falls.
1988: As the World Turns' Hank came out to Iva.
"History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again."
― Maya Angelou

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1899: Actress and writer Bess Flynn was born. She was on the writing team of Irna Phillips' Painted Dreams, the first ever daytime soap opera in 1930. Both Flynn and Phillips played the role of Mother Moynihan. Flynn went on to wrote for three other soaps: We The Abbotts, Bachelor's Children and Martha Webster (she also played the title role).

1978: On One Life to Live, Richard (David Reilly) and Becky (Jill Voight) were trapped at the lake during a storm.



1980: On General Hospital, Rick (Chris Robinson) told Lesley (Denise Alexander) he was going to marry Monica (Leslie Charleson), Alan (Stuart Damon) announced he was the father of Monica's baby, and Lesley slapped Monica.



1980: On The Edge of Night, "Kirk" (Tony Craig) saw a newspaper with a picture of himself and realized he was Draper Scott, and April was his wife.



1981: On Guiding Light, Kelly Nelson (John Wesley Shipp) married Morgan Richards (Kristen Vigard). Meanwhile, Nola Reardon (Lisa Brown) could not go through with her wedding to Floyd Parker (Tom Nielsen).



1988: On As the World Turns, Hank Elliot (Brian Starcher) revealed to Iva Snyder (Lisa Brown) that he was gay.  There were other gay characters in daytime before Hank, but he was the first male character in daytime soap opera history to come out of the closet and live openly.



1989: On Another World, Rachel Cory (Victoria Wyndham) received flowers from her husband, Mac, on their anniversary even though he had recently passed away.



1997: On General Hospital, Alan (Stuart Damon) and Monica (Leslie Charleson) celebrated their wedding anniversary. "I haven't tried to kill you in 15 years," joked Alan. "That's cause for celebration."



2004: On The Bold and the Beautiful, Rick Forrester (Justin Torkildsen) arrived home to find a cold and wet Caitlin Ramirez (Kayla Ewell) waiting for him in the dark. They shared a kiss and he carried her upstairs. Meanwhile, Thomas Forrester (Drew Tyler Bell) arrived to see Hector Ramirez (Lorenzo Lamas) to reveal the truth about Caitlin and Rick's relationship.



2010: The Paley Center in New York presented a "Farewell to As the World Turns." Ron Simon moderated a panel that included executive producer Christopher Goutman; head writer Jean Passanante; and cast members Van Hansis (Luke Snyder), Trent Dawson (Henry Coleman), Terri Colombino (Katie Peretti), Colleen Zenk (Barbara Ryan), Kathryn Hays (Kim Hughes), Don Hastings (Bob Hughes), and Eileen Fulton (Lisa Grimaldi).

Celebrating a birthday today are:
Maureen Garrett
Martin Mull (ex-Barth/Garth, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman) - 72
Maureen Garrett (ex-Holly, Guiding Light; ex-EJ, Ryan's Hope) - 67
Candice Earley (ex-Donna, All My Children) - 65
Taylor Miller (ex-Nina, All My Children; ex-Sally, Another World) - 61
Madeleine Stowe (Victoria, Revenge) - 57
John Viscardi (ex-Tony, One Life to Live) - 55
Craig Bierko (ex-Andy, Leap Year; ex-Greg, The Young and the Restless) - 51
Christian Slater (Mr. Robot, Mr. Robot; Slater, Archer; ex-Jack, The West Wing; ex-DJ, Ryan's Hope) - 46
Daphnee Duplaix (ex-Rachel, One Life to Live; ex-Valerie, Passions) - 39
Brian Presley (ex-Jack, Port Charles) - 38
Josh Folan (ex-Josh, All My Children) - 34
Maia Mitchell (Callie, The Fosters) - 22
Max Charles (ex-Hunter, True Blood) - 12

EDITOR'S NOTE: If you would like to submit a soap history entry for this date or a future date, email [email protected].

3 comments:

  1. This 1981 Guiding Light wedding had to have been followed by the strangest honeymoon for the fictional Kelly Nelson because the next time we saw him, he had a new wife! Kristin Vigard was fired right after these wedding episodes to be replaced by Jennifer Cook.

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  2. Does anyone have the video of Jennifer Cook's debut as Morgan?

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  3. Check out Justin Torkildsen's (aka Rick) Facebook fan page! https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=727188654008632&tsid=0.5497753082308918&source=typeahead

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