Mona Kane Croft

23 minutes ago, danfling said:

Wasn't Pat Ashley paired with Adam Brewster?

Yes, but that was in the late-1970s, I believe.  

56 minutes ago, Paul Raven said:

Seeing Bo & Pat in that clip brings up memories of that coupling.

Obviously the plan was for them to be a major couple. They got the Paris remote etc but things changed.

How long were they together? Why did they break up?

Did Pat have any other love interests? I can't recall offhand until they brought back Tony and married them off.

Did Jacquie lose her leading lady status post Bo?

I believe two things impacted the situation.  First, Robert Woods reportedly always complained, when his romantic coupling was his own age.  He always preferred a younger love interest.  And he particularly disliked working with Jacquie.  Years later, he even disliked working with Hillary Bailey Smith, because of her age.  He openly said Bo was the kind of character who would date younger women.   

And perhaps more important -- ABC had decided to hire Paul Rauch as Executive Producer of OLTL.  Since Rauch and Courtney had a very negative history at Another World, TPTB did not renew Courtney's contract, just a few months before Rauch took over the reigns at OLTL.   

8 hours ago, Neil Johnson said:

I don't think Sally was the cause of Eileen's white slavery drama.  But there might have been a connection, because didn't Phil Higley (the cult leader) trade Eileen to the human trafficking people?  I can't remember the details, but the writing for Sally was terrible during this period.  The writers couldn't decide if Sally was a "good girl" or a "bad girl." This ambiguity lasted through a couple of recasts, until Mary Page Keller took over the role, and finally played Sally as an ingenue -- which Sally should have been from the beginning.  

2 hours ago, AbcNbc247 said:

 

I think this was it. 

Sally came back to town with Phil Higley and they schemed to break up Joey and Eileen. Sally then got Joey drunk and got into bed with him for Eileen to see. So then Eileen got closer to Phil and he eventually raped her. Eileen then ran away to NY, I think and that’s when she got kidnapped by the white slavers.  

I believe your account is more-or-less correct.   But to take the topic further -- I thought it was strange, back in 1979, that they used the term "white-slavery" so often.  It seemed, even then, to be an antiquated term.   Wasn't Eileen really sold into a human-trafficking network?  Why not use the more accurate term, human-trafficking?    Was "white-slavery" still the common term in 1979?    

54 minutes ago, Beetle Bailey said:

Am I misremembering things or when Julie Philips played Sally Frame in the early 80's, didn't she try to have Eileen Simpson sold into a white slavery ring because she wanted Joey Perrini for herself?

I don't think Sally was the cause of Eileen's white slavery drama.  But there might have been a connection, because didn't Phil Higley (the cult leader) trade Eileen to the human trafficking people?  I can't remember the details, but the writing for Sally was terrible during this period.  The writers couldn't decide if Sally was a "good girl" or a "bad girl." This ambiguity lasted through a couple of recasts, until Mary Page Keller took over the role, and finally played Sally as an ingenue -- which Sally should have been from the beginning.  

46 minutes ago, danfling said:

I am not attempting to begin an argument, but that this show is the first soap opera to be set in a real city is false.

ABC's The Best of Everything was set in New York City.

CBS's Love Is a Many Splendored Thing was set in San Francisco.

1954's Woman with a Past was set in Manhatten.

Danfling is correct.  Ryan's Hope often gets credited as being the first soap opera set in a real city.  But there were several television soaps previous to 1975 that had been set in real cities.  Not to mention a number of radio soaps were also set in real cities.    

1 hour ago, Donna L. Bridges said:

(During 1978-79) "NBC was the only network to cancel a soap, "For Richer, For Poorer," and it expanded one of its hour-long daytime dramas to 90 minutes. It appears the expansion of "Another World," hasn't set a trend. CBS and ABC aren't planning to convert any of their current soaps to 90-minute marathons. The NBC experiment was looked upon as a failure by the two competing networks and they could be right. "Another World" wasn't leading its time period in the ratings as an hour show, so the move to 90 minutes was implemented with the hope of building an audience that would stay for the whole hour and a half. It did not work out that way. In any event, NBC has been toying with the idea of turning "Days of our Lives" into a 90-minute entry." 

Steven H. Scheuer. (1979). Daytime Programs. TV: The Television Annual 1978-79. Collier Macmillan Publishers. p. 124.

Days of Our Lives would have been a better choice to transition to the 90-minute format.  DOOL always had stronger (not necessarily better) plots than AW.  And DOOL still had a healthy strong core-family that centered the show.  

In my opinion, a 90-minute soap would need strong identifiable plots to keep the audience interested.  Lemay's nearly plotless writing style on AW worked well at both 30 and 60-minutes, but became boring during the 90-minute era.  Also, AW's core-family (the Matthews), while still on the show, had been pushed to the side, and was weakening quickly. AW was in transition, and had lost any real identity by the late-1970s. A 90-minute show needs a clear focus, and DOOL's Horton family could have provided that.   

I'm not suggesting DOOL would have been successful at 90-minutes, but it certainly stood a better chance of survival than AW.   

23 minutes ago, Donna L. Bridges said:

You've got a hilarious typo. "went from number nine in the ratings to number nine"  

Not a typo.  Just the truth. Ratings for that era are easy to look up. Try it sometime.    

The Felicia, Cass, Cecile, and Walingford comedy hijinks of the mid-1980s certainly increased the ratings substantially.  I mean, AW went from number nine in the ratings to number nine. Just within that period.   

18 hours ago, Xanthe said:

I know that some people disliked it, but they used Sam Groom, who had previously played Russ, as the officiant at Cass and Lila's wedding. If they could not think of a way to use Iris well they might have been able to come up with a way for Beverlee and/or Carmen to play some other part that would deliver fan service and acknowledge the performers. (On the other hand although I had liked both John Aprea and Alice Barrett and I don't object in theory to actors playing different roles I wasn't thrilled with Alexander Nikos or Anne O'Donnell, so maybe it would not have worked.)

I love the fact they flew Sam Groom all the way from California to be on the final episode.  But I hated that he played the minister.  Groom should have played Russ Matthews.  Russ was Josie's father and Rachel's first husband. Russ could have reconnected with Josie, and could have reminisced with Rachel  for a few minutes.  Why not give the audience one old legacy character in the final week?  Oh, I forgot -- Goutman okayed the Gorilla, but said no to Russ Matthews.  Jeeze-Louise.   

What's the point of yesterday's mention of Pine Valley, just after a scene featuring Martin?  Anyone think Martin is going to actually be Tad from AMC?  I hate that idea, but something must be afoot.   Any speculation???

Is today's Dimera mansion supposed to be the original mansion Stefano bought and moved into back in 1983?  Or is it a different place all together?  I don't recall Stefano ever moving to a new house, but perhaps he did.  If my memory is correct, Stefano's original mansion was very near a lake, and had a tunnel that led to the basement of Doug's Place night club.   

3 minutes ago, AbcNbc247 said:

Too bad their scenes aren’t available to see. 

Isn't their scene in which Robert destroys the bust of Mac and then slashes Iris's portrait  available somewhere online?  Or maybe its just the audio.  I can't remember.   

8 hours ago, AbcNbc247 said:

And the rumor was that Nic Coster didn’t bother learning his lines and just relied on Beverlee to get him through their scenes.

It was a lot more complicated than that.  It had more to do with the two actors having differing acting and rehearsal styles.  He didn't appreciate her style, and she didn't appreciate his.  Coster explains their difficult relationship in his memoir (released about a year ago).   Both McKenzie and Coster were/are powerful actors, but they didn't make a good pairing.   

15 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

Pictures of iris' house were featured in the The Soap Opera Book by Manuela Soares in a section on sets.

Tt shows a tufted sofa with two patterned chairs either side in front of a fireplace with a portrait of Iris above, bookcases either side. The walls have decorative moldings and there is a recess with a desk off to one side. All in all it looks like an attractive set for the time, more so than her later penthouse.

The terrace had wrought iron furniture. The whole look was kind of sophistiatced French.

Did AW have better sets than other shows?

One interesting feature about the two mansions on Another World during Lemay's time at the show (1971 to 1979) -- neither Iris's mansion or Mac and Rachel's mansion ever showed the front door or a staircase until long after Lemay was gone.  If my memory is correct, we first saw the front door and foyer of the Cory mansion around 1980, and first saw the staircase during the Alma Rudder storyline.  We first saw the foyer and front door of Iris's mansion around 1982, when back-from-the-dead Steve Frame lived there.  

1 hour ago, Xanthe said:

What about Robert's relationship with Clarice? Was it convincing? Were we supposed to think Robert was truly romantically attached to Clarice or was he merely taking advantage of her?

No, I don't believe Robert was truly attracted to Clarice or had any feelings for her.  If my memory is correct, they had only a one night stand which resulted in Clarice's pregnancy.  And even if it was more than a one night thing, it was certainly a very short affair.  Robert was grieving over Lenore's leaving him, and turned to Clarice out of convenience. He may have even been drunk.  And I believe this was just days before his romance with Iris began.   

2 hours ago, j swift said:

This is why I appreciate the expertise of the members of this board!  Now that you mention it, I recall some scenes of Jamie and Dennis at the pool when they were pre-teens.

If I may stretch my luck with an associated question, I was thinking about Robert and Iris (two of my favorite characters, not my favorite coupling for either) and it made me wonder about Iris's relationship with Lenore.  Were they close?  I don't recall any memorable scenes or stories that they shared, despite their shared romantic interests.

Iris and Lenore were not close, although Lenore often attended Iris's parties, and later parties hosted by Mac Cory.  Lenore and Mac became somewhat close, but were never romantically involved (although Harding Lemay did consider a romance between Lenore and Mac).  Iris did not get involved with Robert until Lenore had left town and the couple had divorced.  So the two women were never on-screen romantic rivals.   

I too was never a fan of the Iris/Robert romance.  It seemed as if Harding Lemay just threw the two together and sort of forced a romantic pairing.  Robert and Lenore had a long and tortured romance that went on for several years.  The couple were also very popular with the audience.  When Susan Sullivan left the show (with Lenore leaving Robert and Bay City behind), that left Robert (a very important character) dangling without much to do.  Iris had, by that time, gone through several men on the show -- Elliot Carrington, Kurt Landis, Russ Matthews, and Dave Gilchrist, but was now also single.  I believe this is when Iris hired Robert to design a guest-house for her estate, and they began a romance.   I never thought Iris was the type of woman Robert would find appealing -- especially after spending years romancing the fairly level-headed Lenore.  Robert didn't seem the type who would tolerate a drama queen like Iris.   

I really think Harding Lemay's goal was to create a major rivalry/hatred between Iris and Clarice, which I believe was quite successful.  And he did that by using Robert -- even though it seemed a bit out of character for Robert, in my opinion.

On 6/19/2023 at 11:02 PM, j swift said:

When I think of Iris's home, before she left for Texas, I picture her penthouse with a sunken living room and a terrace.  I also recall her dining room where she would take breakfast, and Mac would often stop by on his way to the office.

Then I was reading this May 1978 recap from the great work of @FrenchFan in the thread "Look into the past 1975" which included the following information:

Millicent suggested Iris call Elena to find out what was going on. Iris was upset that Brian sold her house to Elena so quickly, even though she left such orders.

Which left me to wonder how many homes Iris had before she left Bay City for Houston (I was less concerned about where she lived once she returned)?  Did she live in a home with Brian and then purchased the penthouse after their divorce in 1978?

The AWHP lists only one apartment : Iris, 1978 - 1986 (Vivien, Brian, Cecile, Sandy, Cass, Felicia) - I assume they mean that when Iris left in 1980 Cecile, Sandy, Cass, and Felicia lived there afterward, sequentially, not together

So, how many homes/apartments do others recall Iris living in from 1972-1980?  I don't recall her ever living in the Cory Mansion in Bay City.

 

Before living in the penthouse, Iris lived in a mansion she had built soon after she moved to Bay City.  That mansion had a swimming pool and large patio, and it also had a guest-house.  The mansion was built around 1973-74 and was designed by Robert Delany, long before Robert and Iris got romantically involved.  The mansion was built by Frame Enterprises while Steve Frame was still living.  Before moving into the mansion, Iris must have lived in an apartment because she was in Bay City during the entire construction. I don't remember Iris's first apartment in Bay City, but I was watching regularly at the time.   So to answer your question directly, Iris had at least three different homes in Bay City before moving to Houston -- her initial apartment, the mansion, and finally the penthouse.  

Does anyone else remember Helga and Sven?  Helga was hired as the Cory's new housekeeper, after Beatrice Gordon left.   A few days after Helga started work, her cousin (or was it brother?), Sven arrived.   Sven did handyman jobs at the Cory estate and also for Iris for a few weeks, until Mac and Rachel finally hired him as a low-wage gardener or something.  Sven caused all kinds of havoc -- plotting with Iris to break-up Mac and Rachel; threatening Helga and her young daughter, Regina; murdering the Cory stable man, Rocky; and kidnapping Rachel.  At the end of the storyline it was revealed Sven was not Helga's cousin (or brother?) at all -- but her former lover.  And Sven had years-earlier murdered Helga's husband, Knut. Was Sven Regina's bio-father?  That was never revealed.    

45 minutes ago, Paul Raven said:

1958

 But a new man soon comes into Ellen's life: Dr. Tim Cole, a research colleague of Dr. Doug Cassen. The two have a passionate affair, but Tim is keeping something from Ellen: he is already married to someone else. Ellen soon finds herself pregnant. Since she doesn't want anyone in Oakdale to know she's going to have a baby out of wedlock, Ellen leaves for Columbus, where she stays with Dr. Joe Meadows and his wife. It is there that Ellen gives birth to a baby boy she names James, after her late father

At some point Ellen then decides to put the baby up for adoption and David and Betty Stewart adopt him. 

Ellen realizes their son Dan is her boy and tries to get him back etc

Okay, so the Meadows did not adopt James/Dan. The adoption to David and Betty Stewart happened on ATWT.  So Ellen must have spent relatively little time in Columbus.    Still, that is interesting history to explore.  Thanks!

17 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

Irna Phillips -this was around the time that there was crossover from As The World Turns to Brighter Day with Ellen giving her baby to the Meadows.

ATWT's Ellen Lowell gave her son, Dan, to a couple on TBD?  What year did that happen?  This is the first time I have heard about this.  I've never read this in any of the old soap-opera histories.  Very cool!  How did Dan get back to Oakdale and ATWT?   

18 minutes ago, denzo30 said:

is the Helen Moore in the back?  I wonder why Rita and Paul Connelly are not in this picture? Eileen's aunt and uncle

Helen Moore was long gone by this time.  I believe this photo was taken before Rita and Paul joined the cast.   With John Randolph in the pic, that dates the photo pre-March 6, 1979.   

23 hours ago, Xanthe said:

I vaguely associate the Red Swan with Ken Jordan and Paulina so I was shocked to scan through the AWHP synopses from 1989 and 1990 and discover that for months and months before Ken arrives, people [Lucas, Derek, Mitch, Caroline, Griffen Sanders?] talk about and try to acquire the Red Swan by fair means or foul [and fail to notice it depicted in the background of a painting] but there seems to be no ultimate reveal about its significance. Was it intrinsically valuable? Did the papers it contained prove that Mac had had an affair with Paulina's mother? Was the painting evidence of anything at all? Did its function as a MacGuffin drive story in any meaningful way? If Mac had been alive would they have cast Paulina's mother to create a love triangle?   

 

If I remember correctly, the MacGuffin part of the plot just sort of fizzled out, before the storyline ended.  And no, I don't believe the red swan had any intrinsic value.  I never understood what made all those millionaires feel the desire to search for it.   Yes, I believe it did contain papers that proved Mac was Paulina's mother, but that is not what I would call intrinsic value.  Plus, the characters who were looking for the red swan were not aware of those papers until the swan was found.  Silly storyline, almost as bad as the Egyptian urn in Arizona and the Lumina cult.   

Mac Cory should have died with a dignified and believable plot that connected to his family and his business.  Not some silly MacGuffin chase.  I've always believed TPTB should have hired Harding Lemay to write Mac's demise.  Just give Lemay a contract to write one final storyline.  Oh well.  

6 hours ago, j swift said:

@Neil JohnsonI thought of you because you mentioned Jessie passing recently.  This was short but sweet and done close to the time of the actress’s death 

Thanks.  I sort of remember this clip, but I did not realize it was so soon after her death.  But I believe the show did not acknowledge the character's death in the script until GH's 30th anniversary.  Am I correct about that?  

17 hours ago, Soaplovers said:

I remember on one of the Locher Room AW reunions that one of the actors mentioned that Douglass Watson was going to have a big front burning story in 1989 and was off work on vacation when he passed.  Apparently he was going to the gym to get in shape to prepare for it... so whatever was being planned must have been huge.

Years ago, I read an interview with Donna Swajeski in which she said the story she had written for Mac was essentially the Red Swan Mystery.  But she had to alter the plot details after Watson's death.  So she decided to connect the Red Swan thing to Mac Cory's death, saving her from throwing out the entire plot.  

Personally, I thought the Red Swan storyline was a total disaster from beginning to end.  And I don't think even having Mac alive could have saved it.  

I know times have changed since the mid-1980s.  But can anyone explain why Epiphany got a death/tribute episode, while Jessie Brewer (arguably the star of the entire show) died without even a mention?  This is a serious question.