Reverend Ruthledge

Thank you, vetsoapfan. I greatly appreciate it. I'm glad there are some out there that enjoy and appreciate it.

Thank you. I appreciate that. I just don't know if the interest is out there.

That's how I envisioned it, and how I think it was meant to be envisioned, when I watched the show in the 80s.

Right. But as I said, in the early years of the show, it couldn't have been Chicago because Irna had Edith living in "the city" and not in the suburb of Oakdale. It was one of the things that distinguished the free-spirit, glamorous Edith from the conservative, traditional Hughes family living in Oakdale. Edith left "the city" and moved to Chicago for a while and wrote letters back to the family. She then later moved back to "the city" when she left Chicago. So, "the city" may have been based on Chicago but it definitely wasn't Chicago in the early years of the story.

-1/2/57-1/31/57. Dr. Snyder, Claire’s psychologist, continues to analyze Claire. As he probes into Claire’s obsession with Ellen not marrying Donald, it becomes evident that Claire psychodynamically sees herself and Jim in Ellen and Donald. Janice senses Donald growing away from her as he decides to live on campus. Janice breaks up with Donald at the Sweet Shoppe where their romance began and gives him back her engagement ring. Mrs. Turner comforts a heart-broken Janice. Donald admits to Chris that he was too young to get engaged. Chris tries to set Edith up with a widower to help her get over Jim but Edith informs him she doesn’t think she’ll ever get married to anyone and turns down the invitation. Alone, she contemplates the irony of not being able to marry the man she loves while he and Claire are stuck in a loveless marriage of convenience. Claire tries to push Ellen to broaden her horizons since she was never allowed to by her own parents. Dr. Snyder points out the irony that by doing so, Claire is in danger of being just as much a controlling parent as her own mother was. He tries to get her to distinguish herself from Ellen and not try to live her own life vicariously through Ellen. Jeff pursues Penny but she puts him off because of his bad reputation. She later feels bad for a dejected Jeff, who feels he’ll never get rid of his bad reputation, and calls him up. Jeff puts a self-righteous, snobby Ellen in her place by pointing out that she shouldn’t sit in judgment of him and his family since the whole town knows her parents were separated and her father was having an affair. Penny gets mad at Jeff and relays the story of what he said to Ellen to Edith. She says that Jeff claims to know who the other woman is, which strikes fear in the heart of Edith. -2/1/57-2/28/57. Ellen overhears Jim and Edith having a romantic discussion and realizes Edith is the other woman. A shocked Ellen tells a puzzled Jim that she, all of a sudden, has decided to leave home and go to Wellesley next year. Claire, after a visit to California, says goodbye to her brother Steve at the airport as she heads back to Oakdale. She shares with him the new perspective therapy has given her on her childhood. Ellen lets Jim know what she overheard. Ellen distances herself from Penny because of what she knows about Edith. Penny is hurt because she doesn’t know why. On Valentine’s Day, Ellen tells Penny that her aunt Edith is the other woman in her father’s life, making a shocked Penny the last to know the secret. -3/1/57-3/29/57. Janice comes back from her vacation in Florida where she has met a man, Carl Whipple, who wants to marry her. Janice is torn because Carl would be a great provider for her and her mother but her heart is still with Donald. Wanting to move on from Janice, Don invites Ellen to a mixer which infuriates Penny. Claire has a revelation in therapy that she never loved Jim and she was never able to be herself. Penny and Ellen make up and put the pieces of the puzzle together, realizing their naivete and lamenting their lost innocence. Edith confronts Penny with the truth and brings everything all out in the open. Penny learns that everybody in the Hughes family has known about Edith’s affair with Jim but her and she lets her aunt know that she hates her. Penny then lashes out at Nancy for keeping the secret from her and for loving Susan more than her. The whole Hughes family is in an emotional upheaval as Nancy turns on Chris and Pa taking Edith’s side over hers and not letting Nancy put a stop to Edith and Penny’s closeness. Pa infuriates Nancy when he lets it be known that everything isn’t Edith’s fault and that Penny only turned to her aunt because her mother had emotionally shut her out after Susan’s death. Claire starts to feel sorry for Jim because she knows what it’s like to be married to someone you don’t love now that she’s come to terms with it. A revived and renewed Claire wants a divorce and tells Edith she has no bad feelings toward her. Edith plans on moving to San Francisco. Edith and Nancy get into an argument and Edith calls Nancy out on her self-righteous smugness because she’s had a loving family whereas Edith hasn’t. “How dare you say that to me, Edith!” “Yes, how dare anyone speak the truth to Nancy.” Judge Lowell calls Edith to make sure she’s going to move away and Edith slams the phone down on him. Jim later finds the Judge slumped over the phone, unconscious. -4/1/57-4/30/57. The Judge is in the hospital with more heart concerns. The doctors think it’s caused by stress. Jim and Claire have a Come-to-Jesus talk with Ellen and try to get her to see that they never loved each other and that their divorce is for the best. Ellen doesn’t believe them. Claire tries to get Ellen to grow up and see her parents as fellow individuals and not just her parents. Ellen won’t have anything to do with it and storms out. Chris is planning to go out to California to see John now that he’s getting out of prison. Nancy begs Chris not to bring John back with him because she’s scared of him. Jim tells Chris that he’s going to ask Edith to marry him just as soon as his divorce with Claire is finalized. Pa and Nancy argue when Nancy makes it clear she wants to protect her own children from Pa’s children (John and Edith). The Judge and Jim finally reach out to each other and start calling each other “Dad” and “Jim” instead of “The Judge” and “James”. They even plan a trip away with just the two of them. Janice accepts Carl’s marriage proposal. Chris and Nancy’s anniversary plans are ruined by the Hughes family being at each others’ throats. Ellen wants her and Claire to go on Judge Lowell and Jim’s trip to Florida but Claire says no and she and Jim plan to get a quiet divorce while Jim’s away. Though Jim and Claire are both in agreement that a divorce is the best thing for them, they worry about the effect it will have on Ellen. Don takes Ellen on a date to see Giant and they talk about James Dean’s recent death and the Cult of James Dean that started after his death. Claire tells Jim she’s talked with the lawyer and everything will be over in a few months. Jim says he wishes he could see ahead because anything could happen in a few months. In San Francisco, Chris tries to keep John from killing the man who framed him. Chris goes back to Oakdale and tells Nancy John had a gun and he’s afraid he’s going to use it. Nancy tries to pressure Chris into turning John in for parole violation. Jim says he’d like to finally get his father’s approval but the Judge says he needs more time. Jim says that, for the first time in his life, he is afraid of time. Jim nixes Ellen’s plan to go along on the father-son trip with her mother and an angry Ellen tells Jim to forget he has a daughter. Judge Lowell has a sense of foreboding about the upcoming trip. Doug assures him that he’s ok physically for the trip. Ellen says that if anything happens to her grandfather that it will be her parents fault. Edith moves to Cleveland. Sally, John’s girlfriend, threatens to turn him in if he doesn’t give her his gun. -5/1/57-5/30/57. Penny’s 18th birthday is more melancholy than last year’s birthday as Penny realizes she’s lost her innocence over the past year. Penny refuses to celebrate her birthday with her family and goes out with Jeff instead. Ellen says she doesn’t want to go with them because she doesn’t like Jeff, which is fine with Jeff who doesn’t like Ellen. Jeff shares with Penny that he feels like he never should have been born because his parents can be bothered with him. He presents an engagement ring to Penny which she declines. Chris has a heart-to-heart talk with Penny at the end of her night about what it means to mature and face reality. Penny is getting ready to leave for the weekend in Cornell and Jim is getting ready to leave for his trip to Florida. An angry Ellen won’t talk to him. A hurt Jim says, “Maybe at another time and place, we’ll find each other again”. For the first time since she gave him back his ring, Donald goes to see Janice and meets Carl. This makes both Don’s and Janice’s moms nervous but Don reassures Nancy that he’s over Janice. Janice is less sure but resolves to move on from Donald to start her new life with Carl. In Key West, Judge Lowell and Jim struggle to fight the distance that is between them and bond. Claire tries to get a disapproving Chris and Nancy to understand why she thinks a divorce is best and tells them that it will be final in a couple of weeks. Jim takes Judge Lowell to see a 3-D movie in Key West. Jim mails a letter to Edith telling her that the divorce is about to be final and he wants to marry her but, before it can reach her, a letter from Sally asking for Edith’s help with John reaches her first. The letter prompts Edith to leave Cleveland for San Francisco immediately and she misses Jim’s letter. Pa and Jeff bond and Jeff tells him that he wants to marry Penny. John and Edith reunite after 19 years and fill each in on how their lives have gone wrong. Pa learns inadvertently through Carl that Edith is in San Francisco. -6/3/57-6/28/57. Judge Lowell declines the invitation to accompany Jim and Jim’s friends on a fishing expedition. Jim wants to stay at the bungalow because he is worried about the Judge’s health but the Judge persuades him to go. Before leaving, the two men express gratitude that this trip has finally brought them closer and say goodbye to each other. Jim leaves the bungalow before the mail comes with his copy of the finalized divorce but the Judge sees it and Claire reads hers in Oakdale. Feeling that her mission was unsuccessful, Edith says goodbye to John and heads back to Cleveland. The Judge receives word that Jim lost his balance on the boat, hit his head and is unconscious at a Key West hospital. Doug tells Claire and Ellen the bad news. Ellen relays her fears to Penny based on the similarities of Susan’s death, both having hit their heads. Chris wants to call Edith to tell her about Jim but Pa forbids it. Edith returns to Cleveland and finds the letter Jim wrote her asking her to marry him. Judge Lowell, Claire and Ellen hold vigil for Jim in Key West as he recovers from surgery. Claire tells Edith she should come to Florida because it doesn’t look good. First, Edith leaves Cleveland for good and stops in Oakdale where she furiously lays into the Hughes family for not telling her about Jim, judging her and trying to keep her and Jim apart. She declares that they can’t keep her from marrying Jim as she storms out the door on her way to Key West. Edith and Ellen run into each other outside Jim’s hospital room and Ellen lets out all her fury onto Edith and forbids her to enter her dad’s room. Penny graduates from high school without Penny. Chris flies to Key West on the Judge’s request. As Jim remains unconscious, Claire and Edith bond as they wait. Scripts. Doug Cassen delivers the news to Judge Lowell, Claire, Ellen and Chris that Jim has died. -7/1/57-7/30/57. The Lowells try to come to terms with the death of Jim. Ellen continues to feel guilty for shutting Jim out before he died. Judge Lowell wants to make Chris a senior partner to replace Jim but will keep the name of the firm Lowell, Barnes, Lowell and Hughes. After returning to Oakdale, a devastated Edith bitterly lashes out at Pa and screams that she hates the Hughes family. Chris is mourning Jim, who he considered a brother. One patriarch comforts another when Pa Hughes goes over to give his condolences to Judge Lowell. Chuck and Penny go on a picnic for the 4th of July. Edith gets a letter from Sally saying that John has left and she doesn’t know where he is. Edith regrets going out to San Francisco because she thinks it was unfruitful and caused her to miss Jim’s letter. Edith quits Margo Salon and doesn’t want to have anymore to do with the beauty business so Doug suggests she might like being his receptionist. Chris tells Don and Penny that their Uncle John has a criminal past and was in prison. He tells them in case John kills the guy who set him up for murder and it comes out in the papers. Chris doesn’t want to keep more secrets from the kids after the secret he kept about Edith blew up in his face. Penny is appalled and ashamed of the Hughes family. Jim’s death has been the catalyst to make Edith more bitter and isolated, Ellen to be more angry at the world and Judge Lowell to be more tolerant and less controlling. Chris is grateful when Judge Lowell moves him into Jim’s old office but is sad because of the loss of his best friend. Ellen is furious with the Judge when she finds out. Mrs. Turner warns Janice to keep Carl away from Edith, which offends Janice. Edith accepts Doug’s job offer. Doug and Claire grow closer which causes Ellen to be indignant. Edith starts working for Doug. Ellen shocks Penny by saying she doesn’t want to ever marry and wants to become a lawyer like her father. Judge Lowell asks Ellen if she would be so forgiving of her father if he had lived and Ellen turns it around and asks Judge Lowell if he would be so forgiving of Edith if his son had lived. Jeff tells Chris he wants to go to college to make something of himself for Penny. Chris says he’s got to accomplish things because he wants to, not for other people. -8/1/57-8/30/57. Janice goes to see Dr. Cassen and learns she’s pregnant. Mrs. Turner continues to be annoying. Doug implores Edith to make amends with her family and reveals he’s never had his own family and was brought up in an orphanage. Donald pursues Ellen even though she shows disinterest. He also sympathetically reaches out to an ostracized Edith in spite of Nancy and Penny’s disapproval. Donald tells Ellen that she needs to quit blaming everything on his aunt. Mrs. Turner goes over to visit Pa Hughes and brings her gossip and meddling, telling him Doug and Edith could be having a relationship. Pa’s not having any of the gossip but it gets his hopes up about Edith settling down. Pa goes over to the Whipples to ask Janice about Edith and Doug. Janice gets upset about her mother spreading gossip and getting Pa’s hopes up and lets her know it. Mrs. Turner plays the persecuted and misunderstood victim. Penny gets ready to follow Chuck to Cornell but Donald thinks Chuck wouldn’t be good for Penny. Jeff continues to pursue Penny longingly even though she’s apparently more interested in Chuck. Penny can’t wait to get away from her family who she thinks meddle too much in her life. Jeff tells her she’s lucky to have parents who care about her since he feels that his parents don’t. Claire is feeling empty and restless. Hank pursues an emotionally detached and uninterested Ellen. Al James also pursues Ellen and is turned down by her. -9/2/57-9/30/57. Doug, Pa, Chris and Janice all try to talk Edith out of moving to Chicago but Edith doesn’t think there’s anything for her in Oakdale any longer so she makes the move. Penny continues to hope that Chuck is serious about her while Jeff continues to yearn for Penny. Ellen lets Claire know that her resentment towards her and Doug is because she feels like they both put Edith’s wishes above hers while her father was dying. Al tells Jeff that he’s making a fool of himself with Penny which infuriates Jeff and he tells him to mind his own business. Penny prepares to leave for college at Cornell, following Chuck out there. On the eve of her departure, however, Penny is devastated to learn that Chuck isn’t as serious about Penny as Penny thought. -10/1/57-10/31/57. Penny tells Chris and Nancy that she’s not going to Cornell and is going to stay in Oakdale and go to Oakdale University. Edith writes Janice and tells her that she’s planning on coming back to Oakdale. Judge Lowell sells his house and Claire wants him to move in with her but Doug thinks it would keep her from the freedom that she’s finally able to enjoy. Judge Lowell wants to move in with Claire and Ellen but Doug puts doubt in his mind on whether it would be good for Claire. Bob starts high school. Al gets on Penny’s nerves. Doug visits Edith in Chicago and tells her she won’t regret going back to Oakdale. Penny assures Chuck that she didn’t start the rumor that they were going to be engaged, which is what scared Chuck off. Al continues to harass Penny. Edith comes back to Oakdale and Pa guilts Nancy into going with him to welcome her home. Edith goes to the Hughes for dinner and she and Penny reconcile though they both know things will never be the same. Edith resumes working for Doug. Pa Hughes tells Judge Lowell that he hopes Doug and Edith will get together. When the Judge talks about it to Claire, she gets a tinge of jealousy. -11/1/57-11/29/57. Donald tells Edith that Penny is getting a bad reputation. Ellen still hates Jeff for telling her about her father’s affair. Jeff warns Al to stop talking about Penny to everybody and spreading rumors. A defiant Al tells Jeff to quit being a sucker and letting Penny play him, which infuriates Jeff. Chris continues to work to prove John’s innocence. Penny gets hopeful knowing that Chuck is coming back to Oakdale for the Founder’s Dance. In Cornell, Chuck lets Hank know that he’s asked Diane to marry him. Claire comes to the realization that she’s falling in love with Doug. At the Founder’s Days Dance at the Country Club, Jeff and Penny run into Chuck and Diane. Penny is shocked to learn Chuck and Diane are engaged. A rejected Penny spontaneously takes Jeff up on his standing marriage offer and the two elope. Penny quickly regrets getting married and, when Jeff brings her back to the Baker home, she runs off back to the Hughes. Nancy freaks out when she hears the news from Penny that she married Jeff. Chris starts working on seeing if the marriage can be annulled. Penny, in her desperation, reaches out to her Aunt Edith once again. Edith tells Penny she can never be the little girl she once was. -12/2/57-12/31/57. Chris tracks down Dick and Grace Baker on one of their trips and tells them what happened and that they need to get home for Jeff. The Bakers are more annoyed about their trip getting cut short than they are worried about Jeff. When the Bakers return home, they push for Jeff to get an annulment. He tells them they never were interested in his world before so they needn’t be interested now. Penny faces Jeff and he asks her if she wants an annulment. She says yes so he throws in the towel and says he’s going to enlist. Chris and Nancy quietly take Penny to the courthouse to get her an annulment but a reporter catches wind of it. A blind item report comes out in the newspaper about an elopement and quick annulment between two young university students from prominent families. Ellen and Al figure out separately that it’s talking about Jeff and Penny. Al starts out on a gossip campaign. Jeff gets wind of Al spreading gossip about him and Penny and angrily goes looking for him. Al’s dead body is found in a ravine. Jeff cracks while being interrogated by the police. Dick and Grace are incredulous that Jeff signed a confession to killing Al James. The District Attorney wants to nail Jeff because he’s a rich kid and is out to get him the death penalty. Dick goes to visit Jeff in jail and Jeff tells him he’s not going to fight the charges, doesn’t want to see him again and wishes he’d never been born. Edith stops by to visit with Carl, Mrs. Turner and Janice. Janice is excited about the baby she’s about to have. Mrs. Turner mentions Jeff’s murder trial for Al James and the rumors about Jeff and Penny having eloped but Edith is reticent. Doug goes over to the Lowells to celebrate Christmas with them and he and Claire start to flirt. When Doug learns Ellen is at the Hughes, he is concerned because he knows Edith is on her way over there. Claire thinks it’s about time Edith and Ellen face each other. Nancy is angry that Chris sent Penny to stay with Edith and frightened when Chris tells her that the District Attorney will probably want Penny on the witness stand. Judge Lowell doesn’t want Ellen talking with Penny. Lt. Cunningham questions Ellen about Al’s death. Ellen tells Lt. Cunningham that she heard Jeff threaten Al’s life when she and her friends were at the Sweet Shop. Chris goes to the jail to see Jeff and tells him he believes in him and he needs to fight because he could get the death penalty. Jeff, however, says he’s guilty and it wouldn’t make any difference if he was put to death. Jeff walks away from Chris, who is heartbroken for him. -1/2/58-1/17/58. Judge Lowell is worked up over the scandal the Baker case is bringing to the law firm due to Penny’s involvement and Chris’ determination to help Jeff. Dick talks Chris into being Jeff’s lawyer. Chris cautiously wants Penny to talk to Jeff as he thinks she’s the only one who can get through to him. Nancy apologizes to Penny for being harsh with her when she came home after getting married. She also admits that she favored Susan and asks Penny’s forgiveness. Penny has an epiphany that she has been selfish and hasn’t had her feet on the ground. She tells her aunt Edith that she intends to change this by committing to stand by Jeff and marry him again one day. Penny goes to visit Jeff in jail and tells him she knows he didn’t kill Al and he has to fight the charge because she wants him to put the wedding ring back on her finger one day. Jeff tells Penny he wants Chris to be his lawyer but Judge Lowell is adamantly against it when Chris tells him he’s considering it. Judge Lowell insinuates to Chris that his position at the law firm could be in jeopardy if he takes Jeff’s case. Nancy is beside herself when Penny tells her that she’s engaged to Jeff and Chris tells her that he’s going to be Jeff’s defense attorney. The scandal of the whole ordeal makes Nancy ashamed and reluctant to go out in public, made worse by cranks calling the house accusing Chris of defending a murderer. Grace apologizes to Jeff for being a neglectful parent. Chris has to get police protection due to the threats the Hughes family is receiving.

I'm not sure if this would interest anybody, but I've written a synopsis of the first year of ATWT. It's more comprehensive than what you find in the history books so perhaps someone would enjoy reading this. I have other years too that I could post if there is interest. Enjoy! -4/2/56 thru 4/30/56. Episodes #1-21. First month of show. Chris and Nancy have a 19th Anniversary party. Edith and Jim discuss her discomfort around the Hughes family and her desire for Jim to divorce Claire. Nancy is jealous of Edith and Penny’s relationship. Donald wants to marry Janice. Judge Lowell lets Jim know that he knows about him and Edith. Jim tells Chris he never wanted to be a lawyer and never loved Claire but was pressured into the career and marriage by Judge Lowell. Jim almost tells Chris about Edith. Penny accuses Nancy of wishing she had died instead of her sister Susan, who died a few years back in an accident diving off the high dive at the local swimming pool. The Hugheses don’t approve of Donald’s relationship with Janice because she’s older than he is. Ellen overhears Claire tell the Judge that there’s another woman in Jim’s life. Janice meets Don’s family. Judge Lowell pushes Jim to go back to Claire. Nancy tells Chris she thinks Edith might be in love with a married man. Pa agrees to leave the farm and go to live with Chris and Nancy. Nancy forbids Donald to see Janice. -5/1/56-5/17/56. Mrs. Turner tries to convince Janice that Donald is too young for her while Chris and Nancy try to convince Donald that Janice is too old for him. Donald agrees to go to college if Chris and Nancy will accept that he and Janice will be married in a year or two, but he says he doesn’t want to be a lawyer like Chris wants him to. Donald says that he saw Jim Lowell going into Aunt Edie’s apartment building while he and Janice were going out. Nancy gets suspicious but Chris doesn’t want to think about it. Jim asks Edith to wait another year until Ellen is away from home but Edith is fed up with Jim stringing her along and tells him she’s done. Jim agrees to move back home for Ellen’s sake. Nancy thinks Edith and Penny’s closeness could be because they both feel that their parents favored their siblings (Chris and Susan) over them. Nancy and Edith discuss John. Edith thinks he’s dead but Nancy says Chris thinks he’ll find him. -6/1/56-6/29/56. Pa moves in with Chris and Nancy. Judge Lowell has a mild heart attack. Jim rushes over to the Judge’s house to find Dr. Doug Cassen taking care of him. Thinking he might be dying, the Judge asks Jim to make Chris a junior partner in the law firm and tries to make Jim promise to be a husband to Claire. Jim admits to Claire he feels nothing for his father. Chris is hesitant to take the position the Judge is offering him because he feels that the Judge is using his illness to snub Jim and take away some of his power. Claire tells Doug, the family doctor, that, even though Jim is living back home, they are not living as husband and wife. Doug can’t understand what’s wrong with Jim and Claire says it’s because he must be in love with another woman. All of the Hughes family is elated to learn that Chris has been made a partner at Lowell, Barnes, Lowell and (now) Hughes except for a bitter Edith. Chris continues to feel guilty about Edith and thinks he can give her more money with the advance in salary he will be getting. Nancy thinks his sense of responsibility is ridiculous. Chris and Edith get into an argument when Chris makes his offer to help her financially. Judge Lowell tells Doug that Jim is having an affair with Edith Hughes. Penny is interested in a guy at school, Jeff Baker, and Donald and Nancy both don’t want her seeing him because of his bad reputation. Penny is furious. Chris has hired someone who has found his brother John. Chris and Nancy are shocked to find out that John is still alive and in jail on the west coast. Edith tells Penny not to put her on a pedestal. Chris, Nancy, Pa, Penny, Bob, Edith, Janice, Jim, Claire and Ellen celebrate Donald’s graduation from high school. Jim and Edith try to act cool with each other so the others can’t tell what’s going on between them. Donald gives the valedictorian speech. Edith defends the fellow underdog, Janice, when Nancy says she’d rather have Donald get with Ellen because they’re from similar backgrounds. Edith accuses Nancy of being a snob. Pa knows about Jim and Edith. Edith thinks Chris and Nancy favor Don over Penny the same way Pa and Ma Hughes favored Chris over her. -7/2/56-7/31/56. Nancy is away visiting her sister in Kansas City while she is undergoing surgery and Bob is at summer camp. Talking to Chris, Pa observes generational similarities in the family and how Bob is like John, Susan was like Nancy, Penny is like Edith and Donald is like Chris. Pa tells Jim that he wants Edith to get married which makes Jim feel guilty. Jim tells Chris that he’ll always be in love with “the other woman” though Chris doesn’t know he’s talking about Edith. Working at Lowell, Barnes and Lowell as a messenger boy for the summer, Donald is starting to think about being a lawyer. Chris is concerned that Don is getting too materialistic, Nancy is just happy that this could be the end of Don and Janice. Chris lets Jim know that John is in prison for attempted murder but he’s keeping the news from Edith. Nancy thinks Chris should forget about John but Chris can’t let it go and plans a trip out west to see him. Pa is shocked to hear Edith brazenly say that she’s going to get Jim Lowell no matter what. -8/1/56-8/31/56. Claire has been having headaches and Ellen starts to notice that she’s not looking well. Doug gives Claire a check up and tells her that she’s physically fine and that he thinks the headaches are from tension. He tells Jim that Claire is headed for a nervous breakdown but Jim is dubious. Chris comes back from San Francisco and lets Pa and Nancy know that his visit with John in prison was depressing and disappointing. Nancy is pleased when Chris says he’s decided it’s not good to have contact with John while he’s still in prison. Chris and Nancy are horrified when Pa says he wants to go out to visit John. Judge Lowell lets a shocked Chris know that Jim and Edith are having an affair. The Judge wants Chris to try to talk Edith into transferring to San Francisco to get away from Jim. Edith is adamantly opposed at first but then reconsiders. Donald tells his disappointed parents that he is buying Janice an engagement ring. The Judge makes vague insinuations that Edith remaining in Oakdale with Jim could jeopardize Chris’ job at the law firm. The Judge threatens to talk to Edith. Ellen is lovesick over Don. Don and Janice become officially engaged. -9/1/56-9/27/56. Claire’s headaches get worse and more frequent. Doug thinks it’s just stress, Claire thinks it’s a brain tumor and Jim thinks Claire is a hypochondriac. Edith tells Chris that she’s turning down the job offer in San Francisco. Chris, Nancy and Mrs. Turner are all very upset when Janice shows them her engagement ring. Claire begins to suspect Edith is the other woman. Things get tense as Chris, Nancy, Edith, Jim and Claire gather for Labor Day. Pa tells Edith that Claire is on to her. The Lowells have dinner together at the Judge’s house. While looking at the portrait of Alice Lowell, the Judge’s late wife, Ellen notices a resemblance between her grandmother and Edith Hughes. Jim and Claire lay their cards on the table and Claire drops the bombshell that she knows he is having an affair with Edith Hughes. Nancy is also shocked when Chris tells her about Jim and Edith. As the truth has gotten out, bit by bit, the only ones who don’t know the big secret are the kids. Donald walks Ellen home from the Hughes and they find Claire passed out on the couch. Unable to rouse her, they call an ambulance and she’s rushed to the hospital. -10/1/56-10/31/56. Claire has had her stomach pumped after an overdose of sleeping pills. The Judge thinks Claire’s overdose was just an accident. Jim and Edith think Claire purposely overdosed in an attempt to manipulate Jim into staying with her. Jim and Doug don’t want Claire to know it was Ellen who found her. Pa is outraged at Edith’s disregard for Claire. Doug tells Jim that Claire is severely depressed and has selective amnesia and Jim should consider staying with her for her emotional well-being. Claire tries to assure Ellen that she didn’t try to commit suicide and Ellen lets it slip that she’s the one who found Claire unconscious. Jim accuses Claire of deliberately overdosing to get a reaction from everybody which makes Claire uncharacteristically furious. Judge Lowell goes to meet Edith and tries to get her to leave his son alone. They argue and Edith tells the Judge that his son hates him. He lets Edith know that Chris is aware that she is the other woman in the process. A furious Edith lashes out at Chris for not being straightforward with her and trying to get her to move to San Francisco under false pretenses. Chris fights back, accusing Edith of taking out her feelings of guilt onto him. Pa lets Chris and Nancy know that he knows about Jim and Edith. Nancy wants to break up Edith and Penny’s relationship. Nancy and Penny fight when Jeff calls Penny. Nancy forbids Penny to talk to him and frets to Chris that she’s afraid Penny will turn out like Edith because they’re so similar. Penny throws a Halloween party at the Hughes and invites Edith. Claire makes it a point to come to the party when she learns Edith will be there. -11/1/56-11/30/56. Claire and Edith have a verbal catfight when they’re alone together at the Halloween party. Claire vows to Edith that she’ll never give Jim a divorce. Ellen, worried about her mother’s strange behavior, asks Doug what’s wrong with her. Doug lets her know Claire is suffering from depression and Ellen begs him to tell her why. Jim’s plan to move out of his house with Claire is stopped by news of Claire’s mental breakdown. Chris, Nancy and Mrs. Turner have dinner together. All of them want Don and Janice to break up but Chris says they shouldn’t interfere which Nancy vehemently disagrees with. Donald notes to Penny that a worried Ellen, who has been brought into the reality of her mother’s emotional state, seems much more mature all of a sudden. Jim and Ellen both fret over Claire as her nervous breakdown gets worse. Jim feels trapped as Chris encourages him to stay with Claire because of her mental illness. On Thanksgiving, Chris sees the sharp contrast between the happy Hughes home and the depressing Lowell home when he goes to the Lowell’s for a visit. Jim is absent and presumed to be at Edith’s, Claire is unresponsive from her depressive breakdown and the Judge and Ellen are disturbed by the family’s situation. Donald, visiting his Aunt Edith at her apartment, is surprised when Jim stops by but then Don starts to figure things out. A defeated Jim breaks things off with Edith and encourages her to find another man. Penny defies her mother and accepts a date with Jeff Baker. Ellen and Donald warn her not to go out with him. -12/3/56-12/31/56. Penny is furious when Nancy forbids her to go to a school dance with Jeff. Without naming Edith, Jim admits to Ellen that there was another woman but it’s over now. Edith blasts Nancy to Pa and says her judgemental, holier-than-thou attitude is going to drive Penny away. Jeff Baker’s first episode as he calls Chris asking to meet with him and Nancy so they can get to know each other. Claire begins therapy with her psychiatrist, Dr. Snyder. Jeff comes over to meet Chris and Nancy and Penny’s feelings for Jeff have become more ambiguous now that her parents are more accepting of Jeff. She’s worried about her reputation if she goes out with Jeff, who already has a bad reputation. Donald and Janice because Donald doesn’t want Janice hanging out with his Aunt Edith. Janice thinks it’s because Donald thinks Edith is too good for Janice but it’s the other way around though Don doesn’t tell her what he knows. Janice defies Donald and has dinner with Edith, who tells Janice the truth about what Don knows. Wanting Ellen to not have anything to do with the Hughes, Claire forbids Ellen to see her best friend Penny. On the show’s first Christmas Eve, the Hughes family trim the tree and get ready for midnight church service, Edith drops by and tells them she’s not coming for Christmas. Ellen asks Jim what Claire has against the Hugheses. On the first Christmas, Claire is depressed and doesn’t want to go to the Judge’s for Christmas dinner. Jim goes over to the Hugheses to spend time with Chris, Nancy and Pa. Claire is obsessively afraid that Ellen will get romantically involved with Donald even though a bewildered Ellen assures her there’s no chance of that happening. Donald and Janice’s differences become more glaring and threaten the future of their relationship. Jim spends New Year’s Eve with Claire and Edith spends it alone, both wishing they could be with each other. After the stroke of midnight, Chris and Nancy reflect on the events of 1956 and wonder what 1957 holds in store.

You're welcome. I'm glad I could clear that up. You may have been the one asking the question originally. Yeah, the transition from Five Points to Selby Flats made a lot more sense than the transition from Selby Flats to Springfield.

You're welcome. It's interesting because I think there had been a move to get away from the Los Angeles setting even back in 1965 which was during those "generic" years when the name of the city they were in was never named. On the script where Julie Bauer was being put in the sanitarium, the script had the name of the sanitarium as "Oceanside Sanitarium" and then that was crossed out and someone (Agnes?) wrote "Lakeside Sanitarium" in ink. I can't think of any other reason to do that except to move away from the Los Angeles coastal setting.

Yes, ATWT always took place in Oakdale BUT when the show began Oakdale was a suburb of a "big city". The city wasn't named specifically. Some characters lived in the suburb Oakdale and others lived in "the city". Some characters, like Chris Hughes, lived in Oakdale but worked "in the city". I always assumed the "city" was Chicago because that would make the most sense sense Oakdale was later identified as being in Illinois. However, it wasn't deemed to be in Illinois when it began and Edith Hughes moved from "the city" where she lived to Chicago for a time after Jim Lowell died. So, that blew my theory that Oakdale was a suburb of Chicago. Over the years, Oakdale morphed from being a suburb to being a city and to being in Illinois near Chicago.

For GL historians: This question was asked on here a long time ago and I can't remember by whom so I don't know if anybody still on here will care. Also, this post might just get lost in the shuffle, but...just in case anybody reading this had the question of when the setting for GL became Springfield, it happened in July, 1968. Right before the show moved from 15 to 30 minutes. Also at the time Irna Phillips stopped writing it for the last time. Although name of Selby Flats hadn't been used in a very long time. Selby Flats was just a suburb of Los Angeles and the name Selby Flats stopped being used and the setting just became Los Angeles in general sometime in the 50s. Then, the show was "without a setting" for a while in the 60s when Los Angeles quit being named specifically. It just became a generic city that nobody named. They would just say "the city" and things like that. The actual name of Springfield was not spoken until July, 1968. It was first uttered by Sarah McIntyre who was living in Chicago at the time and placed a call to "Paul Fletcher at Cedars Hospital in Springfield". So, there was no fanfare about the change in setting. The setting of Los Angeles just gradually faded away and the city just suddenly began being called Springfield with no explanation. By that time, Los Angeles hadn't been named in such a long time (years) that it wouldn't have been all that jarring for viewers. Also, to answer the question I remember someone asked about whether or not the characters all moved at the same time, the answer is no. Nobody moved to Springfield. Los Angeles just became Springfield. No mention of the change and no characters had to move. I hope that answers some questions any of you might have had.

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. I found Finn very interesting and likable. It was a great interview in spite of Alan's typical interruptions, Brian Fellow-like "That's crazy!"s and the copious amounts of annoying commercials constantly breaking in. All of that was a chore to get through but it was great to hear from Finn. I liked her a lot.

Your post made me look up head writers for ATWT. I can't believe they kept Passanante around for almost ten years! It goes to show that the lack of care of, if not the intended destruction of, the show really started a long time before it actually ended.

Hers went quickly in that scene. Although one could argue she got "hotter". Sorry. Dad jokes.

LOL. Well, she did start off hot. She just didn't end up that way. I guess the same could be said for all of us. Things just deteriorated for her more quickly in that scene.

The woman I think about every time I get into a hot tub.

Yes, once again we see things eye to eye when it comes to the soaps. When I mentioned back from the dead nonsense, I wasn't just talking about "presumed" dead. That's bad enough when overdone but it is at least somewhat realistic. I'm talking about characters that have literally died and then been brought back to life through some serum or something silly like that.

The Ice Princess, I believe, was the introduction of stupid sci fi/fantasy crap invading soap operas. Like a cancer, it unfortunately spread over the years. I think Days was intelligent until 1983. I'll never forget the moment Eugene Bradford made a talking robot who became a character. I remember thinking, this doesn't look good for the show. And I was a kid then! Sure enough, that signaled the beginning of the end for Days being an intelligent, realistic show. That was the same year that Renee DiMera was murdered and her murder was so well-written that I thought, "Ok. Maybe the Eugene/robot thing was just a blip." Then, people started ripping off masks and coming back from the dead and it's been downhill ever since. But I think Days of Our Lives from 1965-1982 was excellence! If THAT show was still on the air today, I'd be happy. But in the odd times I tune into the show now (usually for the death of a vet), it's just unrecognizable. And I'm not talking about the new characters. They just went campy and never got back to their serious, realistic drama. Is there any character on that show who hasn't come back from the dead at least once? Except when a vet dies in real life, no death has any meaning on that show.

How does one get "Bernadette" out of "Bertha"? Weird. I guess it's not anymore weird than "Berta" and "B.B.".

It's no wonder I grew up so neurotic. I was watching some very traumatic things as a child! LOL.

Now that you say this, it's coming back to me. I remember that he had intended to rape Chris now. Wow. I hadn't thought of that in 50 years. Your memory is incredible. Even when I remember things, it's often distorted because I mix things up. Sometimes I've even imagined things that didn't happen. I guess that's a good sign that I have a creative mind but it makes memories less reliable. I would imagine if they ever stream the old shows of Y&R and DOOL that a flood of memories would come back to me as I watch them.

Ok. So, I guess it was Peggy that I remember. I guess I remember Chris' shower flashback. I vaguely remember Chris looking at Peggy and knowing what was up even though Peggy wasn't letting anyone know. These memories are very vague. I don't trust them.

You gave me flashbacks of having to get to the student lounge early enough to turn the channel to CBS before ATWT came on. It was ALWAYS turned to ABC. If I remember correctly, I always had to watch the end of All My Children or whatever was on and turn the channel immediately before any One Life to Live or whatever came in. I may be getting the shows confused. Anyway, I remember people walking in, giving me a dirty look and then walking out. I remember thinking, "You don't know what you're missing".

Oh yes, I would definitely include the 70s in the golden era. I think I was just too naive to know that I was in the golden era in the 70s. Otherwise, I would have watched a lot more soaps. Y&R and DOOL were the only ones I watched and that only started because that's what my babysitter watched. I'm glad she had good taste. I didn't realize at the time how great it was that I was watching these show first-hand during the last golden decade. I actually think, in retrospect, that the 70s was the best decade ever for soap operas. I would also include AW in the group of best-written soaps during the 70s. However, I think the decade just gets tainted for me because so much started going really south starting in the middle of the decade. But I actually think AW from 1964-1975 is soap opera at, perhaps, its finest. To be honest, I might be confusing Chris and Peggy's rape storyline. It's a faint memory. However, I think it was Peggy. It was whoever was raped by Ron Becker because I remember him. And I remember whoever it was, Peggy or Chris, compulsively showering. Not sure why I remember that. Stood out to me as interesting as a child for whatever reason. Now that you mention Lorie telling Leslie that nobody will believe her because she was mentally ill, a very faint memory of that came back to me. I think I saw that as well.

Great thread idea, vetsoapfan. You are wealth of information having seen so much. I envy you. Unfortunately, I was born too late to enjoy the golden years of the soaps but I was alive to see the 70s. I think the mid-late 80s was golden for ATWT but there were too many things I remember seeing from that time period to name. Although I wish I had seen ATWT and TGL in the 70s, I did see what were probably the two best-written soaps in the 70s and they were Y&R and DOOL. I remember mostly moments as opposed to storylines and the moments I remember were the most sensational (since they stood out the most in a kid's memory). I remember: Kay Chancellor driving herself and Phillip off the cliff Peggy Brooks' rape Lorie slamming the piano key lid down on Leslie's fingers while she was playing the piano Vanessa and her veil Julie Anderson getting her face burned (I think she wore a veil for a while also) Trish Clayton bashing her stepfather over the head with an iron Stephanie Woodruff purposely burning her hands on a hot skillet to burn off her fingerprints Laura Horton going insane, putting Jennifer Rose alone on a bus, and then hanging herself Margo Horton waving goodbye to the Hortons as Mike drove her off to die Linda Phillips taking Mike Horton to bed to prove he wasn't gay As far as whole storylines, I remember vividly watching the Salem Strangler storyline which I loved. I was not a fan of the subsequent serial killer storylines but thought the first one was very well-written. There are many more but those are the scenes I remember seeing first-hand. Looking at the list, it's all pretty morbid but, as a kid, those things were what stood out to me more than the sweet and romantic moments. I've never been a fan of romance which people who find out I love soap operas don't understand (most people who don't watch soaps only equate them with romance).

Very ironic since the show began with a Jewish family as the core family.