Mona Kane Croft

Unfortunately during this era, nearly all the soaps had begun gradually been getting rid of their servant characters. Probably for budget reasons, but perhaps also because someone decided they were not interesting or not necessary. So Vivian returned to AW in 1988 and stayed for about two-years (working for Iris). Also the Cory's had another maid (forget her name) still on the show for about the same length of time. And of course Bridget lasted a few more years on AW. After that, servants were seen on soaps more and more rarely, unless they were directly related to an important storyline -- and then they might appear, but only minimally. As I recall, Y&R's Ester was the only servant character to truly survive the purge -- perhaps because Ester had become more of a fleshed-out character who interacted with characters beyond being a servant. Plus, giving Ester a daughter on the show probably increased the character's chance for survival. I realize Ester is no longer a servant at this point, since Jeanne Cooper's death. I was sorry to see all the servants disappear from American soap operas. I thought they added depth and believability to the shows, and provided a working-class perspective to the workings of the wealthy family's households.

Does anyone know if Don and Joyce's house is the same house that Lila and Casey later lived in? The living-room sets definitely look very similar.

Thanks. I find it very interesting.

Apparently I was wrong about Fitzhugh being the reason Connie remained in New York in the mid-1960s. It seems she lived in NYC most (if not all) of her life, even while appearing in films and primetime TV series filmed in Hollywood. I made an assumption, but I was incorrect.

Wow, this is rather detailed. This might explain why Connie was in NYC (rather than California) in 1967 to take the role on AW. Thanks for posting, and please don't leave us on a cliff-hanger. LOL.

Yes, it was Ralph Mitchell. Thank you! He returned to Oakdale near the end of Marland's run as head-writer around 1993, and he and Ellen had a romance. I think Marland was setting up a little love triangle between Ellen, Ralph, and another woman. Not sure who, but I think it may have been Lisa. Then Marland died and Ralph was written off. Does anyone else remember this?

Didn't Ellen also sleep with that Mitchell guy near the end of the Marland era 1993? Not Earl Mitchell, but an earlier character who had returned, last name Mitchell. She was dating him, and it was certainly implied they were sleeping together. I don't remember it being shown.

I was thinking the same thing about Doug. And I don't remember Claire being particularly neurotic until she got involved with Michael Shea. And HE would have made anyone neurotic! I suppose it is possible Claire had been portrayed as neurotic before she married Doug. But she always seemed pretty normal to me during their marriage, at least.

The essential problem with Texas was that it was a soap opera put together by committee. And the Corringtons' original idea for the show was bastardized to such a degree, that they didn't even know how to write it. I'm not suggesting the Corringtons' original proposal would have been successful, but that is what they were hired to create. Then after they accepted the job, the "committee" came in and started making them change things. One change after another, until the end product in no way resembled the show they were hired to create and write. How could any creative person be successful under those conditions? And one more thing -- Texas should have premiered as a 30-minute show. Then expanded to 60-minutes a couple of years later, if it was successful.

I used to check out Datalounge often, but it's been a few years. I'll try to find Midwestern on there. Speaking of Datalounge, have you ever read the posts from "Beverly Penberthy's gay nephew"? Based on the information he shares (or used to share), I came to believe he probably really is her gay nephew. He knows too much to be a fake.

Well, Charney returned to AW for a year. So it worked out for a year. Sad he didn't stay permanently. Sam was a grounded believable character, and he gave Ada another person to interact with. He might have been a good romantic partner for Clarice later on. I wish Charney had returned for Ada's funeral episodes, but at that point Vicky Wyndham was probably the only person in the studio who even remembered that Sam existed. And Wyndham had a pretty bad memory for details.

I agree. She was so disapproving of so many things, but still lovable. She reminded me of both of my grandmothers. And Helen Wagner could send a disapproving message with just her eyes, even if the dialogue was neutral. No idea why the Dobsons thought Nancy (of all people) was boring. They must have been idiots.

So they knew they were lying. LOL. In a way, that's almost worse. But truthfully, I think we may as well give up on historical accuracy regarding soap opera history online. Have you seen any of the AI generated soap historical posts on Facebook? They are filled with obvious errors -- so many it is laughable. But I assume they can't be stopped. Right?

Do some of your think Sloan was using the actress's real first name? I assumed she had changed the name, as is often the case in biographies -- especially when a person is being criticized or disparaged. I don't think Karla is the real name. Having said that, I am still drawing a blank on who the actress might be. Were there any particularly experienced older actresses on Somerset? Georgiana Johnson was somewhat experienced, but would she have been sharing a dressing room at that point? Wasn't Johnson more or less the unofficial star of Somerset? Especially after Roux, Charney, and Wedgeworth left the series? I think Johnson would have had a private dressing room. But who knows?

Yes, Texas was syndicated and aired late-night around the same time Edge of Night was running late-night. Each hour-long episode of Texas was split into two 30-minute episodes. So the re-airings were all 30-minute episodes. As I recall, it ran on USA Network, but not for very long. So I'm not sure why anyone would describe it as successful. But I really never read anything about the ratings for either Texas or Edge of Night in syndication.

OMG!! What did Nancy say about John's mustache? That must have been hilarious. I'd love to watch that scene!!

Those are interesting details, so thanks! At least somebody remembered, as you said. As I recall Holly's father, Stanley Norris, was a wealthy business owner -- sort of an early version of Alan Spaulding. I can't remember if Stanley Norris just left town, or if he died. And then the Spauldings and the Chamberlins arrived to assume the wealthy family roles. Meanwhile, Holly was nearly always in the Bauer orbit in one way or another, making her seem more middle-class. And as writing duties evolved over the years, Holly's wealth was seldom demonstrated. A similar thing happened on Another World in the 1970s. Lenore Moore and her mother, Helen, were introduced as very wealthy old friends of also wealthy Liz Matthews. But after Agnes Nixon left the writer's room, later writers seemed to forget about Lenore's wealth. Lenore became close friends with the middle-class Matthews girls, which led to Lenore and Helen also being played more or less middle-class. When Harding Lemay introduced Iris and Mac as the show's new wealthy family, Lenore's wealthy origins were further forgotten -- as she had little interaction with either Mac or Iris, and seemed to feel no identification with them. I believe there was a very brief flirtation between Mac and Lenore for a time, but even then Lenore was not played as one of Mac's peers, nor on similar financial footing. Sorry to go off on a tangent, but I just thought the two situations were vaguely similar.

In the Frannie/Sabrina reveal storyline around 1986, didn't Rick play a part in concealing Sabrina's birth and getting the baby out of Oakdale? And if I'm not mistaken, the hospital administrator (forget his name) and John Dixon were also involved? That Frannie/Sabrina doppelgänger plot was one of my favorite Douglas Marland storylines, but in the beginning it was extremely complicated, especially the number of "bad guys" who took baby Sabrina, got her out of Oakdale and eventually to England. I'm surprised they all were able to keep the secret as long as they did. Brilliant use of history, in my opinion. And involving Rick Ryan and Johnny-boy Dixon was even more brilliant.

Wasn't Holly originally from a very wealthy family? That relationship to wealth seemed to be completely ignored when the character returned in the late-1980s through the end of the series. Did Holly lose her wealth in a storyline? Or was her rich background just forgotten about? Or am I just wrong about her wealthy background?

Also, there were two or three younger men always hanging around the pool at Miranda Bishop's house. I believe they were all contract actors. And Ric Halloway, who married Marianne Randolph. Unless I have my timing wrong.

You are probably aware, but both Somerset and Another World taped in the same studio in Brooklyn. So it wasn't very inconvenient for the actors to do cross-overs. But it probably took a good deal of coordination between the writers and studio crew to get everything (both episodes) aired on the same day, or at least on the correct day.

And another first abortion ever on daytime television!!! Jeeze-Louise!! Why does everyone ever involved with an abortion plot on a soap opera think there's was the first? It's crazy as hell??!! And getting ridiculous...

The affair may have been David Bailey. Not sure who the actress may have been. The younger man -- who knows? AW had lots of young men in the cast at that point.

Yes, Ada and Sam were siblings. Sam and Lahoma had separated or divorced before Sam returned to Bay City. So Lahoma did not appear on AW during Sam's return. Interestingly, when Lemay wrote Sam off the show around 1973-74, Sam indicated in the script that he was planning to reunite with Lahoma and their daughter. I forget where he said Lahoma and Suzanne were living at that point, but it was not Somerset.

Originally, I believe both shows shared the same head-writer and executive producer (if I am wrong, please correct me), and that is the period in which there were the most cross-overs. Harding Lemay and Paul Rauch took over Another World around 1971, meaning the two shows now had different writers and executive producers, and that is when the cross-overs really slowed down and eventually stopped. I do remember three major cross-overs during the Rauch/Lemay era -- 1. When Sam Lucas moved back to Another World after being a regular on Somerset. 2. When Robert Delaney moved from Somerset to become a regular on Another World. And 3. When a major character (I don't recall the name) on Somerset died, Sam Lucas and Ada McGowan appeared at the character's funeral on Somerset. There may have been more cross-overs during the Rauch/Lemay years, but I remember only those three. Sam Lucas stayed at AW for about a year, and was then written off. During early appearances of Robert Delany on AW, Robert would occasionally mention his life in Somerset and the wife and child he had lost in an auto accident (I believe this accident took place off-camera, not actually in a Somerset script). But eventually he stopped mentioning it, as he settled into life in Bay City. So Robert Delany is likely the last character to mention Somerset in an AW script. Harding Lemay did not seem eager to continue AW's connection with Somerset -- perhaps because Somerset had become mostly a murder-mystery show (similar to Edge of Night), which was very different in style to Lemay's AW. Who knows his real reasoning?? But the town of Ogden became the "near-by city" that characters often mentioned, and I feel confident Somerset was not mentioned on AW again after 1973-74.