Xanthe

I'm sure this can't be April 8 (the possible date listed on YT) because Catlin and Sally's wedding started April 5. If they're talking about the night before the wedding I would guess it must be somewhere between April 2 and 4. (Maybe the 3rd is the most likely based on the daily synopsis on the AWHP? http://www.anotherworldhomepage.com/aw1985d.htm)

I don't think this is quite true. Bridget and Donna tended to stick to Victoria, but in the below videos Jake and Marley and Neal Cory are all saying Vicky. I couldn't find an example but I also could have sworn that Jake called her "Vic" from time to time in 1985. https://youtu.be/XjedejLD2Yo

Donna told Peter in 1984 during the Royal Dunning stuff because she needed help making sure her secret was not discovered in Dunning's files. The secret room in the basement was also a huge feature of 1984. At one point Donna hid a wounded and delirious Catlin in the room (presumably after hypnotized Sally shot him). Mother and Donna were supposed to both be abroad together during Donna's pregnancy, but Donna was actually in the cellar room. Since Peter and Nicole were not with Mother they could have believed that she was pregnant. I don't believe there is any terminus post or ante quem in the story that requires Mother to be dead before Marley could have been born, however. She was still alive when Reginald was fooling around with Mary, wasn't she? And Mary didn't get mixed up with him until after Cheryl was born which had to be later than Marley was born.

Sally of that era was very Cory-adjacent. She worked for Mac and had a warm sisterly relationship with Jamie. I think she may have specifically talked about considering Mac and Rachel as second parents after Steve's death around Mac and Rachel's remarriage. And didn't Sally bring Kevin to the Cory stables for riding lessons from Catlin? I know Ada hid him somewhere on the Cory estate when he was missing/presumed dead/on the lam around this time.

Lynda does point out that Sally was out of town for some time. According to the AWHP Julie Phillips left the role in September 1980 and Jennifer Runyon took over in March 1981. That's enough time to have a secret baby if you leave town pregnant, but not to meet David Thatcher and cultivate a relationship first. Regarding Kevin's age, if we decide he would have been born in Feb 1981, he would have been about 2.5 years old by the time the storyline of his birth was revealed. Matthew Cory, by comparison, was born onscreen in December 1980 and was being played by a 3-year-old in the summer of 1983. Not to mention Jamie, born onscreen in 1969 and now charitably in his 20s played by an actor in his 30s. Time is elastic in soaps. I don't believe they were planning the reveal of Kevin Thatcher since 1981 but I don't think making him a 5-year old was really outrageous or anything.

Cecile was missing for basically all of August, September, October 1984 until Cass found her in Majorca in November to wrap up the storyline.

I look forward to finding the time to watch this. Brian Linehan was always famous for how much research he did into the person he was interviewing. This week Kyra Sedgwick was on Ask Me Another and they talked very briefly about her time on AW, playing a clip of Julia on the phone with Aunt Liz in her first scene. I had not realised how young Kyra was at the time -- apparently she was 16 and the contract she negotiated required the show to allow her to attend half a day of school even on taping days.

I finished The Odyssey and The Idiocy and there were no AW cast or crew mentioned (unless disguised by pseudonyms). However if you are interested in Nicolas Coster's early career and his boat it might be worth looking at. Now reading Sometimes You Have to Lie and was surprised to learn that Constance Ford was in a relationship with Louise Fitzhugh (Harriet the Spy)when she was cast on AW. No backstage insight into the show here either but brief mentions of how Connie kept Louise on a more even keel until they broke up.

Absolutely. Everything is through the lens of how she has to fight him for alimony while he's making good money. And to be clear, the "horrible" behavior in the flashbacks of the marriage is generally selfishness and lack of consideration. Coster and his wife were in this Geritol commercial:

Looking for information about Nic Coster's memoir, I discovered his ex-wife's: The Odyssey and The Idiocy, Marriage to an Actor, A Memoir. She is extremely bitter about their relationship and he (under the pseudonym Richard Forest) is portrayed as horrible. So far there haven't been any mentions of Another World backstage or his costars. However there was a chapter about how Jacqueline Kennedy engaged him to teach JFK Jr to scuba dive.

I don't recall any specific source. I think it was supposed to be Old Money. Donna's income seemed to come from investments and property. I believe she owned the hospital, for example.

Speaking of hair, I remember being extremely disappointed in Rachel's makeover in 1986 when the return of Mitch had made her peevish and discontented and she went to a famous hairstylist. I hated that ultra-straight look.

Tastes vary, but I have to say that I thought Alice's style was beautifully modern and appropriate for her as the mature and confident doctor she was. She could however have had a more interesting storyline than her relationship with Mark Singleton.

In what sense? Steve was Jamie's father, so wouldn't he and Mitch be even in that respect? At least Steve never plotted to kill Mac (although I suppose Rachel had an extraordinary capacity to tolerate that in a suitor, all things considered). I never much cared for Mitch and would rather have let Felicia keep Zane, at least until Lorna and Lucas showed up.

Thanks. Did they present Rachel and Steve as if their relationship had been and was now true love or was it a mess of motivations? I was just watching Oct 1 where Mac told Rachel he was engaged to Alice and Rachel was completely ungracious about it. I assumed that we were seeing that Rachel was not perfect and that Mac was right when he said he didn't think Rachel was unbiased about Alice. That seems more interesting than the idea of the perfect love story of Rachel and Steve after years of cruel and unfair separation.

Minor correction: Milly, not Molly.

Thanks. Was it a good idea to resurrect Steve and pair him with Rachel? My recollection of that period is dim, and I just remember feeling more comfortable when Rachel was with Mac.

Frame Harding Construction seemed much smaller than Cory Publishing, but what was Blackhawk? I was under the impression that Steve came back from the dead wealthier than he had been.

Sure -- but they didn't give any of them to Judy Dewey. She seemed to exist only as a supporting character in Sandy's life (with a little bit of supportive sister to Larry and Catlin). She didn't have any personal goals or desires separate from the Corys, as far as I remember. If they liked Judy Dewey as an actress rather than just a tool for keeping Chris Rich on the show they could have given her all kinds of opportunities. Did Laura Malone's Blaine interact with Donna? I remember Donna clinging to Sandy as a protector and Judy Dewey's Blaine seeming peeved about it, but not any other kind of rivalry between Blaine and Donna.

She didn't really have any relationships to other characters or role other than Wife to Sandy.

Nancy Frangione was great but they did a good job replacing her with Julie Osburn as Kathleen. Sometimes replacements are too obviously pale imitations but she fit in with Felicia and Cass without being a Cecile clone. I remember Hunter Bradshaw. I thought although he was superficially someone Donna would think suitable for Marley, there was more potential for something interesting between him and Thomasina. He didn't last long though.

Thanks! I really only saw her in the 80s.

Glad to see that it appears she did continue to work during her marriage after all. I know Alice didn't have any bio-children but Courtney had a daughter. Did she take a mat leave? Sad to hear. I liked her as Maggie.

That was a great reveal because they kind of sort of played it as if it could be Marley uncharacteristically sneaking into Jake's room and took a couple of scenes before they confirmed that it was Marley's hitherto unsuspected sister. Perry's sudden death was also very shocking. I don't recall Marley's twin being hinted at in the press (obviously no casting announcements required) and it wasn't clear what Bridget and Jake were really up to beyond the fact that they were interested in Marley. I liked the fact that they introduced the secret twin before Marley knew Donna was her mother, and that Victoria also had not known the full story but found out about the stableboy before Marley. I understand why they had Marley suddenly get sick and need bone marrow because it forced both Donna and Victoria to make quick decisions with high stakes, but the speed with which they went from Perry's funeral to Marley's illness was staggering.

Joey Perrini and Eileen? I don't think I knew that Gary Tomlin had been an actor. Who was Morgan and what did he do?