danfling

I did not like the Eden story at all. However, there was a female character named Viva, and I thought that the actress who played her was beautiful.

I will point out that the Moore family storyline featured three male performers from Dark Shadows. Phillip Matson was played by Frank Scofield (Bill Malloy on Dark Shadows), Joel Crothers played Julian Cannell (after playing Joe Haskell and Lt. Nathan Forbes on Dark Shadows and Ken Stevens #2 on The Secret Storm), and Christopher Pennock played Dana Moore (after having played a number of roles on Dark Shadows).

It is being reported that Anne Meara (Peggy the housekeeper on All My Children) has passed away.

She may have not been killed (Samantha). For years, I dd not even think that Virgiania Vestoff had played a role in the1840 Parallel Time. But, I did see her in the reruns on the SciFi Channel. I was thinking that she had been killed. If she was not and was just simply dropped, even showing her in the new role was a big waste on the part of the show.

I really enjoyed Shelly Spurlock as Annie. Wasn't Glynnis O'Connor playing Dee at the time? Then, weren't they both written out. The new Annie was Marcia McCabe? I don't know who played Dee. I may be all mixed up. I liked these characters, but the show replaced them for no reason that I could tell. It was sort of like when they kept getting a new Dr. Paul Stewart every few weeks. I believe that Lisa (Eileen Fulton) was encouraging Annie to become a model, and Ellen (Patricia Bruder) was against that career choice. So, for a while, Ellen and Lisa were at odds again as they had been many years earlier.

I like Pamela Toll's hairstyle above much better than I like the way that she wore it when she was on The Doctors. I understand that she later read for the role of Mary Ryan Fennelli on Ryan's Hope. Looking at these pictures, I think that she would have looked as I would picture Mary. Was Pamela Toll a native of New York?

Slick, have you come across any information about Ralph Ellis that would prove or disprove that the Ralph Ellis who was an actor on Our Five Daughters is the same Ralph Ellis who wrote soap operas? If not, would you be looking for such information as you investigate and do all of the things that you do?

I think that this may have been published prior to 1971, because it mentioned the second season of Sesame Street, and that show premiered in 1969. (or was the director speaking of HIS second season on the show rather that the second season of the show itself?) I am thinking that CBS bought The Secret Storm and Love of Life in 1969, but it could have been 1968. Also, this director must have worked with Jada Rowland when he was directing The Secret Storm. She had a regular role on Sesame Street during the first season of that show.

I still have a few questions about this era of Dark Shadows. Had Katheryn Leigh Scott continued to appear on Dark Shadows and played Samantha Collins during the 1840 storyline, who do you think that she would have played in the 1840 Parallel Time months? I wonder why the Randall Drew character (played by Gene Lindsey) was not cast with Michael Stroka. Had Mr. Stroka decided to leave the show? I wonder why Morgan was not cast with James Storm? Why was he on the show in a predominant role, but was not used following the end of the run for the character that he played? I think that Mr. Storm was much better than Mr. Prentiss, although many may disagree with me. May I point out that when Joan Bennett was introduced as Flora in either the 1840 or the 1840 Parallel Time (I think, though, that it was the Parallel Time), Flora initially had a Southern accent. I bet that Ms. Bennett wanted to infuse more variety into her performances, but the directors decided against using the Southern accent. (During the very early weeks of the show, I understand that some of the actors tried to employ New England accents until the show told them that they should be dropped.) I had never cared for John Karlen on the show, and James Hall was, by far, my favorite actor in the Willie role. However, he was excellent in the Kendrick role, and I became a fan.

Virginia Vestoff was wonderful in the 1840 storyline, and I think that this was one of the best-written eras of the show. I have been wondering ever since I was a teenager and a viewer on the show on its original ABC run why the show hired so many new people and then did not use them during the final months. They even brought a few new people in for the 1840 storyline (for which I never cared). I am speculating that the contracts of Louis Edmonds and David Henesey had lasped and expired. Kathryn Leigh Scott left the show (and has since said that if she had known that the show was going to end when it did that she would have remained for the final months). Denise Nickerson had also left the show. Michael Sroka had also eveidently left the show. New people hired following the parallel time story included Kathleen Cody, Donna Wandrey, James Storm, Kate Jackson, Virginia Vestoff, Tom Happer, and Gene Lindsey. Also brought back to the show after absences were Clarice Blackburn (for at least one episode after she had played a character on The Secret Storm), Jerry Lacy (after he had played Simon on As the World Turns), Terry Crawford, and Humbert Allen Astredo. I understand that the show nearly got Alexandra Moltke to return, but that did not happen. My guess is that she would have played the role that Lee Beery played. I also understand that the show was bringing back Dianna Millay, but, before she was on, the cancellation came. Then, after the storyline changed to 1849 Parallel Time, Ms. Wandrey, Mr. Storm, Ms. Vestoff, Mr. Happer, and Mr. Lindsey were not used. But the show hired another new actor, Keith Prentiss. (Mr. Astredo, Mr. Lacy, and Ms. Crawford were not used for that storyline.) Ms. Vestoff was seen very briefly at the 1840 Parrallel Time storyline, but her character died. I had never cared for the acting of Christopher Pennock until he was seen in 1840.

Lee Sheldon's work very early work on Edge of Night was not very good. However, I thought that his work that his work got very good on the Isis storyline, and the conclusion of the storyline really excited me. However, the follow-up to that storyline (the college storyline) was some of the most dreadful television that I had ever seen, and it thoroughly disappointed me. I never cared for the show at all after that.

I had not seen a picture of Adam Brewster from One Life to Live in MANY years.

As I think back, The Edge of Night aired its final broadcast in December 1984. It must have been late July 1985 or August 1985 when the USA Network began these broadcasts. If I am wrong, it may have been 1986. I hope that someone will correct me if I am wrong.

I cannot remember when the shows began and ended. However, I can tell you the point in the storylines on which they began. The show began airing in the summertime, I do remember. The Bryson clinic storyline was just complete. I think that the first episode was the one after Nancy's rescue. Beth was seen in at least one episode when she was shown in prison. USA Network aired the series until the very final episode. The show aired Monday through Thursday nights, and two episodes were shown on Thursday. When USA Network began airing the reruns of Search for Tomorrow (shortly after its the final network episode), Search for Tomorrow picked up at the very time that the episodes of The Edge of Night was airing. Then, after The Edge of Night's final episode was presented, Search for Tomorrow began airing two episodes per night. I guess that four episodes may have been presented on Thursday evenings. However, the run of Search for Tomorrow did not last long after The Edge of Night ended. I suppose that the ratings were not as good for Search for Tomorrow as they had been for The Edge of Night. If that is the case, it shows that ABC made the mistake of not airing the show on latenight network television when the show switched networks in 1975. The network was in favor of doing that, as well as Procter and Gamble Productions and much of the show's cast. However, one particular performer (Donald May) objected because the performers would have received no more monetary compensation (or possibly very little) had the show aired in late night television. He refused to allow the show to air without a doubling of his salary. ABC made the decision to not air it based on his reservations.

Wilifred Hollister (Bernard Hughes) was a father who had been demanding of his daughter all of her life. He was crushed when she made the decision to leave classical music behind her. If I am not mistaken, the closing scene on Friday when the American Home Products owned the show and the Monday when CBS owned it was the scene between Laurie and Wilifred in which Wilifred dropped dead. Does anyone remember if Linda DeCoff or Stephanie Braxton was playing Laurie during that scene. Or, it is possible that Ms. DeCoff was playing the role on Friday and Ms. Braxton was playing the role on Monday. Does anyone know if I am correct or not? Also, I am thinking that the switch from Nola #1 (Rita Morley) and Nola #2 (Rosemary Murphy) was the time of the show's ownership switch.

Jill was involved with the character that Joel Crothers played AFTER he had left Dark Shadows. It seems to me that there was little time between those two roles of his. Before he was in the original cast of Dark Shadows, he had appeared on The Doctors. I suspect that this was when The Doctors was an anthology show or was presenting one-week length storylines.

Oh, I am sorry for confusing the names of Ralph Purdum and David Purdham. Upon further investigation, I learned that Ralph Purhum was married, at one time, to actress-turned businesswoman Melisande Congdon-Boyle. They later divorced. She was a stage actress (My Fair Lady) who did not appear in movies or television as far as I can tell. Her brother, though, was James Congdon (Another World, Somerset, Ryan's Hope), and he was married and divorced from Mary Fickett (The Nurses, The Edge of Night, All My Children).

Barbara Rodell's character, Jill, was married to Ken Stephens. Two different actresses played Jill. The original actress, Audrey Johnson, later returned to The Secret Storm in the role of Martha Ann, a friend of Belle's. Ken Stephens, the first husband of Jill, was also played by two different actors. Joel Crothers was the second actor to play the role. Jill was Ken's first wife, and Ken was Jill's first husband. Both remarried following their divorce. Ken's father, Judge Stephens (Terry O'Sullivan) was a good friend of Valerie. There were produce of spin-off of the show with Judge Stevens as the patriarch of a family, but CBS instead decided to air Where the Heart Is instead. (CBS owned Where the Heart Is, and the creators, Lou Shofield and Margaret DePriest, were writers of The Edge of Night). I am sure that the thought of pairing Valerie and Judge Stevens (I don't know his name or even if he had a first name.), but, I guess that the decision was made to spin-off the Stevens family to a new show. I saw the first Ken and Jill, but my memory of them (more specifically their early storylines) are quite vague. I believe that Ken operated a nightclub. Laurie Hollister was a concert pianist who had decided that she could no longer be so involved with her music. She was troubled, and she decided that she might use her musical abilities to support herself without the dedication that classical music demands. I think that she was hired by Ken to play popular music on the piano. (Incidentally, Belle was introduced onto the show as a singer, so I wonder if there was a connection.) Actress Linda DeCoff was the original Laurie. Laurie's parents, Wilfred and Nola, were played by Bernard Hughes and Rita Morley. Mr. Hughes had appeared on The Guiding Light and Dark Shadows. Ms. Morley was a leading model earlier in her life, and she was married to actor/writer Kenneth Harvey (Doug Phillips on Search for Tomorrow). Mr. Hughes left the show when his character of Willifred died during a heated argument with Laurie. Ms. Marley left the show, and Nola was played by Rosemary Murphy (All My Children and Another World) and by Mary K. Wells (The Brighter Day, As the World Turns, The Edge of Night, and the serial Return to Peyton Place). Incidentally, both Kenneth Harvey and Mary K. Wells retired as performers and became writers of All My Children. MaryK.Wells even won an Emmy for being one of that show's writers. Hispanic actress Stephanie Braxton had appeared in one episode of Love Is a Many Splendored Thing and gotten so much attention that when CBS purchased The Secret Storm from American Home Products, the network replace Linda DeCoff in the role of Laurie with Stephanie Braxton. Laurie and Ken began an affair. Normally, Jill would have been portrayed as a tragic, scorned wife and Laurie as the other woman (which she was) out to steal Jill's husband. But, although Jill was a sympathetic character, Laurie (as played by Stephanie Braxton) was someone who was falling in love with her employer despite her desires to not want to be involved with him. Ken eventually left Jill in order to marry Laurie. He did not know that Jill was carrying his child. Ironcailly, Ken (the character played by Joel Crothers on The Secret Storm) was in love with a concert pianist who left music. Jullian,(the character played by Joel Crothers on Somerset) was a concert pianist himself who left music (in Julian's case, to edit a newspaper). Stephanie Braxton played a concert pianist on The Secret Storm, and she played the wife of a concert pianist on the primetime drama/serial King's Crossing (and her husband was played by the late Michael Zaslow of The Secret Storm, Search for Tomorrow, The Guiding Light, Love Is a Many Splendored Thing, and One Life to Live). (Michael Zaslow, a pianist in real life, also played a pianist on One Life to Live.) Jill Stevens caught the eye of the wealthy Hugh Clayborn. They eventually married. I cannot remember if Hugh knew the truth about the little boy that Jill bore. They named him Clay. Hugh also had a teen-aged daughter, Didi (played by Judi Rollin) and a sister Birdie (played by Lovelady Powell). The character of Ken eventually died. The characters of Jill and Hugh were lost in an airplane accident. The Secret Storm had plans for Jill to return to the show, but cancellation came before that story could be developed. Laurie remained a character until the show's cancellation. She remarried Jim Redin (David Gale), a former priest who had left the priesthood in order to marry her.

To Slick: I saw David Purdham on an episode of The Doctors. I think that he played Phillip Townsend. Wasn' Mr. Purdham later on All My Children in a recurring role? Also, I have been wanting to ask you this for several months. There was an actor on All My Children named David Hayward (not to be confused with the character of Dr. David Hayward.) The character that he played was a contract role and was a friend of Jeremy Hunter. What was the name of this character?

Amybrickwallace, could you tell me on which episode it was that Joey Baio appeared? I would like to watch it on DailyMotion.

Do you know when Joey Baio appeared on The Doctors?

Ruby and her husband could have easily come to Pine Valley.

The way that the character of Tom Cudahy was introduced is that Little Phillip had been kidnapped. Tom was a young man just wandering though Pine Valley. Someway, he was able to learn about this kidnapping. (I think that he was perhaps a guest in the same motel that the kidnapper was.) He was able to rescue Little Phillip. He was then treated like royality by the Tyler and the Martin families. At first, I assumed that Tom was being introduced as a new romantic partner for Tara. Then, he became interested in Erica, and I thought that maybe Tara and Erica would have a fued. But this did not happen. Tom announced that he was using his football retirement money to open a restaurant that would be a more casual place than The Chateau. He and Erica fell in love. (I believe with all my heart that Tom is Erica's true love.) She, for a while, even opened a disco in the rear of the building which housed The Goal Post (named derived from Tom's football days). Back to the kidnapper, I am not even sure it this kidnapper was even shown onscreen. Brian Lima was playing Little Phillip at the time. I think that Karen Gorney had returned to the show as Tara. I think that this was following the departure of Stephanie Braxton.

Holly was in jail?

A lot of debate about what?