Today in Soap Opera History (September 27)

1965: Four new daytime soap operas premiered: Morning 
Star and Paradise Bay on NBC, plus The Nurses and
Never Too Young on ABC..

"History cannot give us a program for the future, but it can give us a fuller understanding of ourselves, and of our common humanity, so that we can better face the future."
― Robert Penn Warren

"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...

1962: Primetime serial The Nurses premiered on CBS. The was titled was changed to The Doctors and The Nurses a year later.

1965: Two new Ted Corday daytime soap operas, Morning Star and Paradise Bay, premiered on NBC. Both shows lasted less than a year, with the final episodes airing on July 1, 1966. Watch an episode of each series below:





1965: The Nurses premiered on ABC. The show, set at Alden General Hospital, was a daytime continuation of a serialized primetime CBS drama The Doctors and The Nurses (see above). Mary Fickett starred as Liz Thorpe with Melinda Cordell as Gail Lucas. Other cast members included Claudia McNeil, Lee Patterson, Nicholas Pryor, Paul Stevens, Arthur Franz, and Lesley Woods. The series ran until March 31, 1967.

1965: Teen soap opera Never Too Young premiered on ABC. Dack Rambo and Leave it to Beaver's Tony Dow were among the show's stars. The series featured several musical guests, who performed at The High Dive, including: The Castaways, The Sunrays, Marvin Gaye, Johnny Rivers, Mel Carter, Freddie Cannon, and the Ramsey Lewis Trio.



1979: On As the World Turns, Chris, Nancy, Bob, Dana, Tom and Barbara arrived to see a Joffrey Ballet benefit performance in Oakdale with guest conductor Ian McFarland (Peter Simon). The scenes were shot on location at the Ed Sullivan Theater, current home to The Late Show with David Letterman. Backstage Ian told Dana (Deborah Hobart) he felt completely destroyed without her. During the performance, Ian collapsed. Joffrey dancers Starr Danias and Gregory Huffman are featured.



1984: On Santa Barbara, Mason (Lane Davies) warned Peter (Stephen Meadows) that he was involving himself in the private lives of a family he had not married into yet.



1985: On General Hospital, Frisco (Jack Wagner) wanted to go undercover so he could get close to Mr. Wu.



1988: On The Bold and the Beautiful, Stephanie Forrester (Susan Flannery) looked on in horror as she witnessed her son, Thorne (Clayton Norcross) shoot his brother, Ridge (Ronn Moss).



Thanks to FoxCrane for sending in the item above.

1989: On Days of our Lives, Robin (Derya Ruggles) left Salem and moved to New York with Jeremy. Ruggles made her final appearance as Robin Jacobs.



2004: On Passions, the face of Alistair Crane (David Bailey) was finally revealed. After five years of only hearing Alistair (voiced by Alan Oppenheimer) or seeing body movements (performed by Bill Dempsey), viewers finally got to see what Alistair looked like. Unfortunately, Bailey would die just two months after this first scene with Katherine Crane (Leigh Taylor-Young) aired. John Reilly would subsequently step in to play the role of Alistair.



Thanks to FoxCrane for sending in the item above.

2006: On The Young and the Restless, the doctors told the Winters family that they were going to run more tests on Devon (Bryton James) to make sure he did not have brain swelling. Drucilla (Victoria Rowell) started to pray for Devon, who suddenly went into cardiac arrest.

Celebrating a birthday today are:

Peter Simon

Peter Simon (ex-Ed, Guiding Light; ex-Scott, Search for Tomorrow; ex-Ian, As the World Turns) - 71
A Martinez (ex-Ray, One Life to Live; ex-Roy, General Hospital; ex-Cruz, Santa Barbara) - 66
Shaun Cassidy (ex-Dusty, General Hospital) - 56
Christopher Cousins (ex-Cain, One Life to Live; ex-Colin, As the World Turns; ex-Greg, Another World) - 54
Patrick Muldoon (ex-Austin, Days of our Lives; ex-Richard, Melrose Place) - 46
Gwyneth Paltrow (ex-Holly, Glee) - 42
Tom Casiello (Former Writer, WWE; The Young and the Restless; Days of our Lives; One Life to Live; As the World Turns; Another World)
Anna Camp (Caitlin, The Good Wife; ex-Sarah, True Blood) - 32
Derrell Whitt (Will, The Bay) - 26

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