Xanthe

I would have been very surprised if DePriest was capable of introducing the triplet storyline without trying to create a romantic relationship between Scott and Vicky. Maybe she avoided it because they were dropping Rhonda Lewin. They could have created a Donna/Michael/John triangle without the ugly backstory -- all they needed was for Michael to neglect Donna somehow and her spend too much time with John. Or they could have done something with Nicole and John instead. At best she had a lot of internalized misogyny and just accepted the idea that women are weak and are either virgins or whores.

God, don't get me started. Sometimes I think DePriest's attitude to sexuality was more messed up than the Sin Stalker's. For one thing somehow the rape put Donna in the wrong and John was allowed to insist that his point of view in which she had wanted him was the correct one. For another it somehow was supposed to make John's relationship to Donna more significant because it made him her "first" lover instead of Michael, and there was also a huge significance placed on the possibility that John could be Marley and Victoria's father (including the mysterious photo that Reginald had showed Donna which turned out to be of John and apparently two infants as if that could be evidence of paternity).

Reginald's henchwoman Gomez was making sure that Donna was drugged and confused and the performance conveyed both physical and mental weakness. I don't know when Anna Stuart decided to leave and whether she left because she wasn't enjoying her storyline or whether DePriest didn't know how to write the character out without making her feeble. I was surprised that Lau was not a more appealing romantic hero because I had heard that Greg and Jenny on AMC had been so popular. But after Bekins and Yates he seemed uncharismatic and stodgy. Of course I also blame DePriest for making him a doctor. Joanna Going was charismatic but Lisa was saddled with a past rape and psychic powers.

According to the ibdb, Ford had no Broadway credits after she joined AW. Of course Broadway is not the only theatre and Lemay mentions Beverlee McKinsey and Constance Ford performing in a play of his, probably in 1973: But he had already admired Ford, the above was more about putting Iris and Ada together.

Donna (like Felicia) was created by Robert Soderberg. DePriest came in not long after Michael had been introduced and IMO weakened the character a lot even though she brought her to the forefront as a kind of heroine/damsel to the point where it seemed like Reginald's treatment of Donna was the reason for Michael's conflict with Reginald and Donna was just the object. DePriest created drips like Cheryl and Dawn and Lisa. I am not sure whether she should get any credit for Anne Heche's Vicky -- as I recall Vicky spent an inordinate amount of time fretting over whether Donna and John were having an affair under DePriest's watch. I'm not sure any of Vicky's really interesting storylines started until afterward. Of course I don't think DePriest did anything interesting with Felicia either. Even John Hudson, who may be the only character she created who lasted for any length of time, had a lousy introduction and was redeemed later (not in the sense that he became a better person, but in the sense that later writers did a better job of making him interesting).

I adore the introduction of the Loves and McKinnons before the Margaret DePriest era. MJ really resonated with me, and the introduction of Kathleen and her integration into the Cass/Felicia/Wally milieu layered on top of that fit so perfectly. On the Love side, Peter's introduction as an eligible bachelor with his snobbish sister Donna interfering in his love life was handled really brilliantly as well. Marley falling for Ben was serviceable (and secondary to the reveal that she was Donna's daughter) but replaced by the much stronger Victoria/Jake/Marley triangle. However although I liked Denise Alexander and Robert Hogan as Vince and Mary, I disliked the concept of bringing Reginald and Mary back from the dead and found that era just wasn't very good at complex characterization. I want Vic to seem different from Reginald not because Reginald was a bad man but because he was a simplistic moustache-twirling villain.

Thank you! With the suggestion I am now able to make out the flame of Vic's literal torch for Lenore. He also played Reginald Love 1986 I don't remember Vic but we discussed John Considine's friendship with Nicolas Coster a bit last year so I am aware he existed. I hope the character's manner was entirely unlike Reginald's.

I can recognize Steve in the illustration, assumed it must be Alice kissing him, and eventually figured out that in the foreground Ada must be standing over the supine Rachel. I presume the couple on the right would be Jim and Mary Matthews, but am less certain who the other characters would be. Lenore and Robert maybe? Or Pat and ???

I was surprised to recognize a very young Cady McClain as Peter O'Toole's daughter in My Favourite Year.

Based on their dates of birth in Wikipedia, Courtney would have been 28 when she left the role in 1975 and Fairchild 25. Not an insurmountable difference in terms of age, although of course manner and performance can make a big difference in how big the difference seems.

Replied in the AW thread.

I have brought this over from the recasts thread. I only know Morgan Fairchild by appearance. Does she always play a vixen? In a Bay City with both Rachel and Iris, would you see her main storyline linked to them or would she focus on other things?

Barbara Van Arkdale was played by Carla Borelli, who had also played Reena on Texas.

Today by chance a Twitter thread about Baywatch came across my feed and I glimpsed Kim Morgan Greene (original Nicole Love) at 0:35. Apparently it was an uncredited role as Girl with Injured Foot. I liked Kim Morgan Greene as Nicole and never felt the recasts captured the privileged party girl aspect of the character.

Robin Strasser's Rachel never overlapped with David Bailey's Russ. Did the actors have some other connection?

Don't forget about Darlene Love as Judy. Based on Stickney's description, it might not even be a performance in the story, just the kind of singing a person might do going about one's day. I can think of the odd time characters sang Xmas carols, or Adam singing to himself getting ready for a date with MJ.

Because we have been talking about Robin Strasser, I started reading Llanview in the Afternoon (which is pretty interesting even though I never watched OLTL). In it, Timothy Stickney made a comment that really surprised me: "I knew every black character on daytime had to sing at some point" because although I can think of a couple of AW characters who had (or wanted) singing careers (Leo Mars, Lily Mason) I can't remember any tendency for Quinn or Roy or whoever to sing. Did the Burrell family sing?

I picked 1983 because Texas had ended and that was when they introduced Donna.

I remember reading an interview, probably in the 80s, with an actress who described how her personal moral code led her to refuse to play some storyline in which her character would have transgressed. I don't think it was a hot-button issue like abortion -- it might have been as run-of-the-mill for soaps as adultery? I have not been able to track down any more specific details regarding who, what, or when but maybe someone else knows what I am thinking of.

I have not seen enough of Robin Strasser to really know, but my impression is that if they had cast her as Rachel it would probably have ultimately broken up Mac and Rachel which would either have completely obliterated Mac or pushed him into other relationships until Doug Watson's death. I would also guess that Robin Strasser's Rachel would have filled some of the same space as Donna, so depending on timing either they would not have created Donna in the form she took or they would not have wanted to take Rachel in that direction with Donna already on the canvas. Also I would guess that they would have dropped Rachel's sculpting career and put her into more business-related storylines. Would Robin's Rachel have had an affair with Sandy in 1982? Left Mac for Mitch in 1986? Only imagine if they had recast *Iris* with Robin Strasser in 1983.

Today I learned that it was Judith Barcroft, the original Lenore, who sold Matthew condoms when he was thinking about losing his virginity to Josie (and dispensed such portentous advice about what a big decision it was apparently scared him into several months of abstinence mixed with confusingly flirting with Lisa). Barcroft also mentioned that she and George Reinholt had to help out with the writing because everyone was so busy with Somerset!?! https://www.welovesoaps.net/2010/02/catching-up-with-judith-barcroft-part-1.html The only problem I come close to having with Felicia and Lucas is Michael and Donna already went to the well of First Love and Father of My Secret Baby Must Be Best Love, and although that kind of thing has its place it doesn't do to apply it everywhere. But other than that I did really like them together. I just would have preferred Zane had remained for longer.

Oh, I think you're right. The AWHP synopses for 1982 say "Brian advised Steve to bankrupt Blackhawk and incorporate a new company, Frame Construction. [...] Rachel quietly gave her commission to Quinn to help finance Steve's new business despite Ada's objections."

Of course. By "it" I was thinking "Steve Frame's net worth", not any specific company.

Surely whatever the financial status of Frame Construction in 1977 it was reset by the resurrection of Edward Black/Steve Frame in 1981 and Jamie could have been quite comfortable after Steve died again in 1983?

Did you like Mitch and Felicia together? I thought the relationship between Mitch and Rachel made some kind of sense in a last gasp of the 70s kind of way, and I believed that they could be drawn together as fellow artists. But when he returned I didn't feel anything between him and Rachel and the chief reason to pair him with Felicia seemed to be because they wanted to eliminate Zane as too far outside the "core families" and that meant Mitch was an adult human male who needed a mate to keep him from breaking up Rachel and Mac. Maybe it was partly because Margaret DePriest didn't know how to represent artistic types -- she was the one who changed Jamie from a writer/publisher to a doctor.