FLASHBACK: You Are Cordially Invited to A (Soap) Wedding (Part 3 of 3)

EDITOR'S NOTE: We included all the original
photos and captions from when the article was first
published, including any errors.

You Are Cordially Invited to A (Soap) Wedding

The Soap Box
Vol. IV No. 2 February 1979
by Linda Susman

(continued from Part 2)

On Another World, Alice Gordon and Dan Shearer are planning their wedding, but chances are it won't be anything like her no-expense-spared wedding to Steven Frame that culminated a three-and-a-half year courtship. Alice wore a traditional gown by Ron LoVece/Piccione Bridal fashions, and passages from a wedding she had seen in France were incorporated into the ceremony. Viewers were charmed by the vows, and there were many requests for transcripts. Strangers were barred from the set the day of taping. "Guests" drank champagne (ginger ale) and the chocolate rum-filled wedding cake was baked by a nearby Brooklyn, N.Y. bakery. When Alice's older sister, Pat, married John Randolph several years before, actress Susan Trustman was dressed in the wedding gown worn in real life by Michael M. Ryan's (John) wife.

Mac Cory and Rachel Frame decided not to tell his daughter, Iris, that they were getting married. Since Mac has a townhouse in New York, he invited many of his business associates and friends to the wedding there. Actor Ralph Camargo, father of Vicky Wyndham (Rachel), performed the ceremony.

Some of the most bittersweet weddings have taken place in hospital rooms. Jenny Wolek, a nun, met young Tim Siegel on One Life to Live. It was a difficult decision for her to leave the Church, but she and Tim had fallen in love. Her cousin, Vince, believed Tim was interfering with the will of the Church, and shortly before the wedding, the two men argued. Timmy fell down the stairs and was badly hurt, but Jenny insisted on going through with the wedding anyway. Timmy died shortly thereafter.

On The Young and the Restless, Jill Foster married Phillip Chancellor on his death bed, so their child could have a legitimate father. Later, though, the marriage was ruled invalid, since Chancellor's divorce from his wife had been set aside. Earlier, Jill had married Chancellor's step-son, Brock Reynolds, in a do-it-yourself ceremony when it appeared Chancellor wouldn't be able to divorce his wife. Unlike Tara and Phil, Jill and Brock lived platonically.

Burt (William Russ) and Clarice McGowan (Gail
Brown) were two of society's underdogs who shared
wedded bliss--for awhile--on Another World. Now,
Burt's job finds him in Japan, while a disappointed
Clarice has returned to Bay City and begun to take
up with other men.

Amy Kaslo was several months pregnant when she agreed to marry Bruce Carson (Search for Tomorrow). His foster mother, Jo Vicente, was in the hospital at the time, and rather than wait until she was better, they got married in her room. The marriage started off shakily, but eventually the Carsons were happy together. On the same show, lawyers Kathy and Scott Phillips married each other twice, and actors Courtney Sherman and Peter Simon--who played the parts--divorced their respective mates and were married off-screen as well.

Crime cast a shadow over the wedding of Nicole and Adam Drake on Edge of Night. A warrant had been issued for Adam's arrest in the murder of Jake Berman, Nicole's jealous suitor. Although Adam's friend, Police Chief William Marceau, had no choice but to pick him up, he did wait until after the vows were exchanged. The newlyweds hoped to escape to a car parked behind Mike Karr's home, but Marceau was one step ahead of them.

When Paul Summers married young Stacy Wells on The Doctors, he did so because he knew a wife couldn't be forced to testify against her husband; Stacy knew Paul was a murderer. Appropriately, the bride and groom both wore black.

The wedding of Carla and Ed Hall and Wanda and Vince Wolek on OLTL were both a long time in coming. When the Halls were finally married, it was the first elaborately staged wedding between black characters on the show. A poem by the late black poet, Countee Cullen, was part of the ceremony, and pianist-singer Hazel Scott and a jazz combo entertained. Dr. Jim Craig (Nat Polen) joined the combo, which was playing in his living room where the wedding was taking place.

Wanda and Vince's plans had an element of realism with which many viewers could easily identify: Since both of them are working-class people, Wanda insisted that they save enough money to buy furniture before getting married. They waited a year for the big day. Then, unluckily, Vince contracted the measles and the wedding had to be postponed.

While soap "morals" have become somewhat looser over the past few years, it's still rare for a couple to love to live together without the benefit of marriage. Luckily, for viewers, it looks like there'll be many soap weddings to attend for years to come.