Friday, September 18, 2015

FLASHBACK: 'Another World' The Story of Steven, Rachel & Alice (Part 21)

Victoria Wyndham as Rachel Davis Matthews
Clark Frame on Another World.
ANOTHER WORLD: The Story of Steven, Rachel & Alice

The Soap Box
Vol. IV No. 8 August 1979
by Bryna Laub

(continued from Part 20)

In maximum security, Steven had no business privileges so he gave Alice power of attorney. He didn't realize her condition had deteriorated so badly that Tim, seeing a chance to further his own aims, concealed it from Steven. And as Alice continued to draw away from reality in an attempt to shut out the horrors of where Steven was, Tim managed to slip a transfer of the power of attorney into the routine papers she signed for him, putting him in complete control of Steven's personal stock holdings.

Ignoring Steven's explicit orders that she forget about the house, Rachel walked in on a deeply distraught Alice and informed her Steve had agreed she and Jamie should move back into the house. Rachel further wounded Alice by reminding her she and Steve were happy in this house where Steve had his only child with him. Alice, in growing horror, hysterically threw Rachel out.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The scene below aired on July 16, 1974.



But when Russ arrived for his daily check on Alice a few hours later, he found her in a withdrawn, near-catatonic state, huddled in a corner of the staircase. Russ immediately took her to Claremont Sanitarium and placed her in the care of his friend, psychiatrist Richard Gavin.

At Claremont, Dr. Gavin held intensive therapy sessions with Alice and finally, with his help, she was able to see that she was again running away, only this time in her mind instead of with her person. He also showed her that she had a destructive tendency to deny herself what she wanted most rather than run the risk of losing it. If she turned away from Steven, she couldn't lose him to Rachel or to Jamie or to anyone or anything. But, he pointed out, this was punishing Steven and everyone who cared about her, as well as herself.

Learning Alice had been institutionalized with a nervous breakdown, Rachel decided to take full advantage of the opportunity and move herself and Jamie into the house. But ironically, Rachel's own intercession on Steven's behalf with the prison authorities--she explained Gerald's vendetta against Steven--returned his privileges and he was released on compassionate leave to visit his wife. Discovering Rachel's intentions, he foiled her once again by having the house put under police protection.

Several of Steven's trusted employees were suspicious of Tim's total control in light of Alice's illness and alerted Steven whose prison leave extended into an early parole. But, by the time Steven could terminate the power of attorney, Tim had surreptitiously converted most of Steven's personal stock holdings into cash, deposited the money in a Swiss numbered account and had flown to South America. In disbelief, Steven discovered he was virtually wiped out. Mac Cory came to his rescue by loaning him money to repurchase enough stock to regain control of his corporation. But with this loan over his head, Steven was no longer the independent multimillionaire he had been.

Alice finally agreed to let Steven visit her at Claremont. Steven was horrified to find she still believed he had agreed to let Rachel have the house. Her reasoning was that Rachel had given him a son while she, Alice, had only brought him unhappiness, disgrace and prison. She insisted he had to forget her.

Rachel, meanwhile, had been helping John rebuild his life. She explained they both felt the power of Steven's wrath and this created a bond between them. Ironically, Pat resented Rachel helping John. Having contributed to John's destruction by blaming him originally, Pat now chose to overlook the fact that Rachel was helping John regain his self-respect and a reason for living. At Pat's suggestion that she help him instead, a now-wiser and more self-aware John told her she represented his inadequacies right now and it would take time before he felt man enough to meet her halfway. Through Rachel, however, John obtained Iris and Mac Cory as clients and, as his law practice thrived once again, he was on the road to recovery and soon returned to Pat as a husband.

Alice had reached the end of treatment at Claremont and went home to the Matthews' house but was still living a cloistered life, seeing few people and showing little interest in anything. Wondering if a hidden medical condition could have any part in her attitude, Russ insisted upon a full examination. To his dismay, tests proved that Alice would be unable to have another child. Painfully, he broke the news to her and, to his surprise, she tearfully told him she had known it deep inside herself herself ever since she lost her baby. She made him promise never to tell Steven as this was why she told Steven to forget her. He desperately wanted more children and she had decided to step out of his life and let him find his happiness with someone would could make it complete.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Stay tuned for Part 22 of Another World - The Story of Steven, Rachel & Alice.

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