Today in Soap Opera History (May 17)

1933: One Man's Family expanded to a national audience.
1979: Delia loaned Johnny money on Ryan's Hope. 1988: ATWT's
Hal and Barbara celebrated on the night before their wedding.
1994: GH's Felicia learned Maxie would get B.J.'s heart.

"The whole past is the procession of the present."
- Thomas Carlyle

"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...

1933: Radio soap opera One Man's Family expanded from being broadcast on the west coast only to the full nationwide NBC network. Created by Carlton E. Morse, the popular series ran until 1959.

1967: On Days of our Lives, Susan (Denise Alexander) continued to blame David for Dickie's accident.

1976: NBC aired the 3,000th episode of Another World.

1979: On Ryan's Hope, Delia (Randall Edwards) agreed to give Johnny (Bernard Barrow) a loan for $83,000 to save the bar. Meanwhile, Delia shocked Rae (Louise Shaffer) when she requested $83,000 in exchange for a letter to the Chancery.



Thanks to Jennifer for sending in the item above.

1979: At the 6th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards, Ryan's Hope won for Drama Series, Writing and Directing. The acting winners were Irene Dailey (Another World) and Al Freeman, Jr. (One Life to Live), with Suzanne Rogers (Days of our Lives) and Peter Hansen (General Hospital) winning the first-ever supporting actor awards at the Daytime Emmys.

1986: Actor John Gibson died at age 37. His soap roles included Cash Cashman on The Young and the Restless and Joe Hawk in One Life to Live.

1988: On As the World Turns, the bachelorette and bachelor parties for Barbara (Colleen Zenk) and Hal (Benjamin Hendrickson) came together on the night before their wedding. Lila (Anne Sward) dedicated her performance of "Wind Beneath My Wings" to the soon-to-be-married couple.



1994: On General Hospital, Tony (Brad Maule) told Monica (Leslie Charleson) about B.J.'s accident and how B.J. was a match for a dying Maxie's heart transplant. After also being told by Tony, Lucy (Lynn Herring) accidentally revealed to Felicia that it was B.J.'s heart that would be given to Maxie.



Thanks to Enrique for sending in the item above.

2000: The final episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 series aired on FOX.



2001: Actor Robert Knapp, who played Ben Olson during the first year of Days of our Lives, died at age 77.

2002: At the 29th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards, winners included One Life to Live (Drama Series), Susan Flannery, Peter Bergman, Crystal Chappell, Josh Duhamel, Jennifer Finnigan and Jacob Young.

In the clip below, As the World Turns' winning writer Hogan Sheffer mistakenly thanks ABC (not CBS) before being corrected. "Man, I'm going to pay for that," Sheffer says as the crowd laughs.



Celebrating a birthday today are:
Don Dolan (ex-Guy, General Hospital) - 78
Grace Zabriskie (ex-Theda, Santa Barbara) - 73
Jerry Lanning (ex-Justin, Texas; ex-Nick, Search for Tomorrow; ex-Anthony/Russ, Another World; ex-Cain, Guiding Light) - 71
Tom Todoroff (ex-Doug, All My Children) - 57
Fiona Hutchison ( ex-Gabrielle, One Life to Live; ex-Jenna, Guiding Light; ex-Celia, As the World Turns) - 54
Paige Turco (Abby, The 100; ex-Dinah, Guiding Light; ex-Lanie, All My Children) - 49
Cameron Bancroft (Will, Cedar Cove; ex-Lee, 24; ex-Joe, Beverly Hills, 90210; ex-Ray, General Hospital) - 47
Alicia Arden (ex-Theresa, General Hospital) - 45
Sendhil Ramamurthy (ex-Lloyd, Guiding Light) - 40
Nikki Reed (ex-Sadie, The O.C.) - 26
Leven Rambin (ex-Lily/Ava, All My Children) - 24