Thursday, December 10, 2015

Today in Soap Opera History (December 10)

1979: The Edge of Night's Deborah continued to be poisoned.
1981: Milton Berle guest-starred on General Hospital.
1991: Days of our Lives' Carly and Bo exchanged vows in Mexico.
2001: One Life to Live's Blair was reunited with her baby.
"The present contains nothing more than the past, and what is found in the effect is already in the cause."
― Henri Louis Bergson

"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...

1957: On The Edge of Night, Willy (Edward Holmes) informed Mike (John Larkin) that Ed was the staff member who talked to Dalton.

1975: On Another World, Michael Randolph (Lionel Johnston) tried to convince his twin sister, Marianne (Ariane Muenker, now known as Ariana Chase), that Chris Pierson (Stephen Yates) was never coming back.

1979: On The Edge of Night, Deborah Saxon (Frances Fisher) ate "Mrs Corey's" spiked soup.



1981: On General Hospital, Tiffany Hill's agent, Mickey Miller (guest star Milton Berle), told Laura Spencer that he was looking to cast a beautiful woman to represent Star Cosmetics and become Miss Star Eyes.



1990: On The Young and the Restless, Nicholas Newman wanted his mother, Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott), to invite his father, Victor (Eric Braeden), to his Christmas program. Meanwhile, Sheila Carter (Kimberlin Brown) acted like the victim when Scott Grainger (Peter Barton) arrived during her latest argument with Lauren Fenmore (Tracey Bregman).



Thanks to Enrique for sending in the clip above.

1991: On The Young and the Restless, Lauren Fenmore (Tracey E. Bregman) seduced Paul Williams (Doug Davidson).

1991: On Days of our Lives, Bo Brady (Peter Reckell) and Carly Manning (Crystal Chappell) exchanged vows in a beautiful Mayan ceremony atop El Castillo in Mexico.



1996: On Another World, Gregory Hudson (Christopher Marquette) became upset when his parents, John and Sharlene, told him that he would be living at Felicia Gallant's apartment.



2001: On One Life to Live, after their wedding, Todd Manning (Roger Howarth) reunited Blair Cramer (Kassie DePaiva) with their baby. Meanwhile, Alex Olanov (Tonja Walker) came face to face with Asa Buchanan (Philip Carey) on St. Blaze's Island despite Nigel's best attempts to keep them apart.



2003: Former Days of our Lives head writer Elizabeth Harrower, who also acted in shows such as The Young and the Restless and Dennis the Menace, died at age 85. She was the mother of Days star Susan Seaforth Hayes.

2007: Variety confirmed that DirecTV had decided not to renew Passions for another year, but ordered 52 additional episodes to be taped through March 2008.

Paul Rauch
2012: Network executive turned daytime soap opera producer Paul Rauch died at age 78. Rauch served as vice president of CBS daytime programming in the early 1970s before leaving to take over as executive producer of Another World (1971-1983). His partnership with head writer Harding Lemay (1972-1979) produced what is considered by many to be some of the best daytime soap opera in history. In our 2009 inteview with Lemay, he described Rauch as "one of the best producers, probably the best producer I have ever worked with."

He went on to produce One Life to Live (1983 to 1991), Santa Barbara (1991-1993) and Guiding Light (1996-2002). His most recent work was as executive producer for THE The Young and the Restless from 2008 to 2011.

Rauch also created Another World spin-off Texas (1980) and Lovers and Friends (1977), which was later retooled into new soap For Richer, For Poorer.

Celebrating a birthday today are:
Agnes Nixon
Agnes Nixon (Creator, All My Children; One Life to Live; Loving; Writer, As the World Turns; Guiding Light; Another World) - 93
Gloria Loring (ex-Liz, Days of our Lives; Herself, Another World) - 69
Susan Dey (ex-Celia, Emerald Point N.A.S.) - 63
John J. York (Mac, General Hospital; ex-Mac, General HospitalL Night Shift; ex-Mac, Port Charles; ex-Mac, All My Children) - 57
Nia Peeples (Pam, Pretty Little Liars; ex-Karen, The Young and the Restless; ex-Carla, General Hospital; ex-Mallory, Days of our Lives) - 54
Mark Gantt (ex-Jeffrey, The Inn) - 47
Gavin Houston (Jeffrey, The Haves and the Have Nots; ex-Tony, The Bay; ex-Remy, Guiding Light; ex-Sly, General Hospital) - 38

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

4 comments:

  1. There appears to be some confusion about Agnes Nixon's birthdate. Wikipedia lists it as Dec. 10, 1927. IMDB and History.com list it as Dec. 27, 1927.

    Whichever date is correct, it would make Agnes 88 this year, not 93. Of course, people have been known to shave a few years off their age . . .

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    1. You can't trust either site on their own, so I always try to verify questionable dates. Northwestern says Ms. Nixon graduated in 1944 which leads me to believe the 1922 date published in other places is the correct one.

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    2. Thanks for the explanation. I understand your reasoning, but saying Agnes graduated at age 22 and extrapolating from that is a BIG assumption. In many states, high school ended in the 11th grade in the 1930s (a 12th grade wasn't the standard until the 1940s). Agnes may have skipped a year or two in school somewhere along the line (a very common practice for advanced students in the first half of the century), could have graduated college in two or three years. Any number of possibilities, which could make her born in 1924, 1925 or even 1927.

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  2. I really miss All My Children & One Life To Live. We can't get any network to.make it a weekly soap. We'd come back to view....

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