vetsoapfan

See, although I keep saying I am highly sceptical, a snippet of Chris and Snapper's wedding is even on youtube, so I can believe the entire ep could be out there. I have heard for many years that the 90-minute special TEON is in the hands of fans, who guard it like the crown jewels, too. Still, I'm not going to pay $1000.00 for anything. Well, okay, if I could verify that a seller had the complete first five years' worth of Y&R on DVD, I might consider buying THAT for $1000.00, LOL.

Chris and Snapper's marriage from 1974 was the Y&R ep he mentioned.

He did not list all 20 eps, just a sample, but there was more than just DAYS and Y&R. He also mentioned the 90-minute premiere of The Edge of Night on ABC and the premire of How to Survive a Marriage.. Really, I am sceptical because I've been ripped off before, but I suppose hope springs eternal, right?

Well, with 4 eps on a $10.00 disc, that comes out to $2.50 per episode, which I consider reasonable. The seller does have to do some work to assemble the disc, after all. But if something long-thought-lost-forever popped up, like the debut of ATWT with Nancy Hughes saying, "Good morning dear!", I'd expect the seller to charge significantly more. You know, I also love hunting down vintage soap opera magazines from the 1960s and 1970s, but even those can cost an arm and a leg on eBay. Being a soap opera collector ain't cheap!

I agree, $10.00 for rare, hard-to-find episodes is a lot more reasonable than $50.00 per ep!!! $10.00 per disc? How many eps do you get on each disc?

Many years ago, I used to trade rare videos with other collectors, but finally stopped when I got sick and tired of getting ripped off. I understand that sometimes you need to keep ultra-rare material to yourself in hopes of using it to barter with someone else who also has ultra-rare material in his collection. And I can even understand charging someone for the costs of blank DVDs and shipping if he wants you to ship him discs through the mail. You don't want to LOSE money from your own pocket in order to gift total strangers with soap opera episodes from days gone by. But $1000.00 seems way too high a price to ask for 20 episodes. I'm curious to know what folks think they would comfortably pay for the soap episodes they want to acquire.

Someone contacted me recently and claimed to have 20 "very rare, never circulated among fans before" soap episodes from the early 1970s. He says he will sell them as a set for $1000.00 total. While the 1970s remain my favorite era of daytime TV, I am sceptical. What is the asking price these days, for uncirculated vintage material? I know that when Jacquie Courtney's Emmy reel was auctioned off on eBay several years ago, the bidding went beyond $300.00 for 60 minutes of material. Is $1000.00 for ten hours' worth of episodes reasonable? I mean, yikes!

I know. If there really is an afterlife in heaven, I hope McLaughlin and Hunter have been reunited and are at peace.

That is an excellent--if discouraging--point. Music rights have hindered the release of many classic primetime series over the years. Shows which were made with a mono soundtrack could not have only their music edited out for DVD sets, so entire scenes containing pop music had to be cut entirely. This was a disaster for DVD releases like WKRP. On the other hand, being able to edit out the original music but replacing it with cheap substitutes is REALLY ANNOYING. The 90210 and Tour of Duty discs with cheap substituted music are unwatchable, IMHO. In one early B&W ep of DS, I noticed that they had a Beatles song playing at the Blue Whale, which made it to the DVD. I wondered how MPI managed that.

You know, I've been about this a lot lately: getting soap fans to come together and create our own Vintage Daytime Drama channel. We could post links here on SON to classic soaps from anywhere on the web we found them. Fans could also upload any of their prized episodes they wanted to share, and include the links in the folders here.. I think we could even open separate folders for each soap title, and then subfolders within for each decade. For example, a main folder for As the World Turns, with different sections for the 1950s, the 1960s, the 1970s, etc. We could probably amass a HUGE, centralized library listing for soap lovers, but it would take a lot of work.

Yes, I do believe it's true that P&G only began conserving their soaps on a daily basis in 1979, but we know that many episodes much older than that are still floating around out there. We see them on youtube, in the hands of casts and crews and private collectors, in TV museums, etc. Missing eps of Ryan's Hope were found in Ireland. Soap Classics found Papa Bauer's funeral ep from 1973 when they were preparing their TGL DVDs. I have the premiere ep of SFT from 1951 which apparently even P&G did not preserve. If some of these classic older episodes could be brought together and sold in a package to eager fans, I think it would be good way to test the market. Since Y&R and DAYS have all their episodes in storage, how about a collectors' boxset of, say, the first 40 eps of Y&R from 1973?

Jessie was pregnant twice, both times by her first husband Phil Brewer. She miscarried the first baby at five months. The second child, whom she named Nancy, died shortly after birth. Her daughter wrote that EM never fully recovered from Hunter's death, and that years of loneliness led to her drinking. In 1988 she entered the Betty Ford clinic for seven weeks. She admitted that drinking was an anesthetic, and when she drank, she was slowly killing herself so that she could be with Hunter again. Towards the end of her life, at least, she was able to stop drinking. Here's a piece EM wrote for JH: "Talk to Me Softly" Talk to me softly in the night Tell me about another love Laugh with me gently in the dawn Tell me the things she did But talk to me, Talk to me, Touch my face. Sing to me any songs you sang Another time, another place Tell me the way the wind came up Tell me the way the sun went down But talk to me, Talk to me, Touch my face. So much of the time did nothing but pass And, mostly, nobody happened at all The days were weather and empty glass Till you came, you came, now. Tell me what time the birdsong stopped Tell me the clock is across the room Tell me all of what anything means Or was nothing was--as in yesterday But talk to me. Talk to me, Touch my face.

Back in the day, the tabloids printed all sorts of rumors, but as it turned out, the stories about EM's alcohol problems were true. Her poor health did contribute greatly to her missed tape-dates and inability to work, but TPTB also mandated that the vets be backburned in favor of the younger characters who would appeal to the teens and 20-somethings. I do believe that there should have been a tribute to EM/Jessie after the actress passed away. I would have settled for even just the final act of one episode, with Steve and Audrey remembering her with lots of flashbacks. But we got nada. BTW, McLaughlin's daughter confirmed my suspicion that Nurse Georgia (pictured below) was originally hired as a stand in for Jessie, and used on the show when EM was unable to appear.

Right. While I applauded Pat Falken Smith's giving Jessie a new romance with Dan Rooney years later, that was definitely a minor story rather than a front-burner one. Still, I was beyond thrilled to see EM being used at all. Thank you for the kind words, and of course I did not take your comment as disrespectful. I appreciate folks clarifying the facts if I make a silly mistake like confusing to whom Howie was married. The funny thing is, I knew it, but as I acknowledged previously, I was having a senior moment. Trying to recall events from 20, 30, 40, 50 years ago is challenging for an old brain! Sometimes I am shocked that I remember as much as I do.

I agree: making classic episodes available for the audience to stream or buy: YES. A reboot with new writers, producers and actors: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. I would also pay good money for vintage episodes of ATWT from the 1950s to the early 1990s. Nothing in its last 15 years would really interest me, however, except perhaps edited highlights featuring the veteran characters. When a single hour's worth of material of Another World from 1973/4 went up for auction on eBay, frenzied soap fans drove the bidding up to over $300.00. There is a market out there for rare soap episodes, I am certain.

I'd say he was more awkward than strange.

Right. By the late 1970s, Steve and Audrey had become more of a tentpole, supporting couple who mainly interacted with other characters, rather than being the center of their own storylines. At least we still saw them fairly regularly, particularly Steve. Jessie really dropped off the map for a while, although both Douglas Marland and Pat Falken Smith wanted to use her. (According to McLaughlin in a Daily TV Serials interview, ABC specially ordered Marland not to focus on the vets.) Pat Falken Smith gave Jessie her last real story: a romance with Dan Rooney. I thought it was sweet, but Mary Ann Anderson acknowledged that EM did not like the plot and it was dropped. After 1981, Jessie's importance and appearances on the show dwindled alarmingly. There were times in the 1980s when we did not see Jessie for months, and when she did appear, she only had a handful of lines that were so nondescript, they could have been given to any anonymous under-fiver. She was even absent from the annual Christmas shows, a fact which John Beradino once acknowledged disturbed him greatly. She last appeared on screen in early 1991, I believe. This may be her final show, Dawn's funeral from March, 1991. Someone correct me if you know of a later appearance.

OMG, you are totally right! I apologize for my senior moment. I have corrected my original post. Jane Dawson was indeed married to Howie Dawson, while Sharon was with Henry Pinkham. After the Jane/Howie and and Sharon/Henry relationships broke up, I believe that Jane and Henry got together and transferred to Mercy Hospital in 1975.

GH was such a mess in the mid-1970s, that I actually welcomed the Webber family to Port Charles. All the actors were attractive, charming, and talented. But I NEVER wanted the spotlight to drift away from the veteran characters like Jesslie, Steve, and Audrey, who were the heart of the series. I am like your mom (and most soap fans, I think), who all hate strange newbies appearing out of nowhere and taking over. I had a long conversation once with Mary Ann Anderson, McLaughlin's daughter. Due to her health woes, EM had been unreliable on set for a long time, and in the late 1980s was only able to tape half of the shows stated in her contract. She was finally taken off contract in 1989 (although the show still paid her a whopping $3500.00 per episode as a day player.) As quoted in Anderson's book about her mom, Emily said, "I had pride in the show and in being one of the reasons for its success. I could not let go emotionally as I grew older, as I did not look well and my part grew smaller. My pride was terribly hurt. I felt fear, resentment, envy of the younger people who had come in at large salaries and under good conditions we had created....My fear of losing the show completely was the constant in my life. There was resentment toward the producers who played games of uncertainty with us, with me...I lived in constant anxiety, which interfered with my work." Anderson continued, ""It was not until the arrival of producer Joseph Hardy that we saw the return of Jessie...viewers now saw (her) back at the nurses' station on average once a week." Unfortunately, as EM's health deteriorated even more, her appearances as Jessie dwindled again. Here's a poem, written by McLaughlin and published in Anderson's book: "Malibu I" I am scrubbed by the wind, Timed by trhe Tide. My mornings are early, My afternoons wide. The sun melts my being, The moon scatters the sea. And, I am alone with my center and me. Sharon was a sweet girl who just did not always fit into a little "nurse's box" of expected behavior and attitude. Audrey's sister Lucille, who was a crusty old broad and a stickler for the rules, would be driven around the bend by anyone who did not acquiesce--and acquiesce fast--to her authority, but it was impossible to dislike the effervescent Sharon. I would say that Sharon was more mature than Amy, and was able to keep her mouth shut, LOL, which Amy never seemed to manage.

TGL from the 1950s. Perry Mason too. Yes, Rona Barrett's magazines were rather catty, but were packed from cover to cover with great material. Not like some other rags like TV Dawn to Dusk which often had so much filler.

A lot of Rona Barrett stuff: Daytimers, Gossip, Hollywood, and other special soap-related collector editions. The Daytime TV Library Series, spotlighting SFT, AW, DAYS, etc. Movie mags like Modern Screen, Photoplay, etc. I just want to curl up in bed under a blanket, with some hot chocolate and ice cream, and read until my eyes bleed. When I moved I thought I had lost many vintage soap tapes, but I found a bunch of those too; tons of TGL.

I've found some ancient soap/movie magazines in a box, and flipping through them made me sooooo nostalgic. I know that our soaps are "only" TV shows, but they and their beloved characters come to mean something to us over time, and after knowing folks like Nancy, Bob, Kim, Lisa, Ellen, and others for DECADES, it's hard not to miss them when they are gone forever.

I have NEVER understood the myth promoted by some PTB, who insist that populating soaps with gads of teens and 20-somethings is the key to success; the key to attracting and maintaining a young audience. Have these executives not paid attention? Even "kids" in the audience ADORE the vets. Teens everywhere wanted a cool grandmother like Alice Horton or Bert Bauer. They loved watching Phoebe Tyler cast shade on her lower-class neighbors, or Lila Quartermaine give Tracy and Edward a good tongue-lashing. Viewers of all ages mourned when Nancy Hughes died, just before ATWT was cancelled. No matter what their ages are, the viewers find comfort in the "old folks," familiar faces whom they come to regard as family. In the 1980s, long after the quality of the show had declined, I continued to tape GH, just to keep up with folks like Steve, Audrey, Jessie, Lee, and Lesley. It infuriated me that the show ignored Jessie Brewer's absence completely, after Emily McLaughlin died in real life. This once-vital character simply ceased to exist without explanation, which was SUCH a slap in the face to the character, the actress, and to the fans who adored them. At least they wove Steve Hardy's death into the show, many years later.

I have found some old soap scrapbooks and magazines in the front hall closet, and it made me nostalgic for the good old days, when the shows had great writing and interesting characters. I could easily live without 80% of the actors on today's GH, but adored all the actors/characters pictured above. Even the mid-1970s, when the show stumbled, it was Shakespeare compared to what we see on screen now.