Edge of Night (EON) (No spoilers please)

[vetsoapfan]

When the Whitney family was first introduced to TEON, Colin was the first member of the clan we saw. He was in a television studio preparing for a broadcast, with his pushy wife Tiffany giving orders.

As we got to know the other members of the Whitney family, the skeleton in their closet was that Colin's murderous brother Keith was hiding out in the disguise of a a hippy type named Jonah Lockwood. The sociopathic Jonah Lockwood terrorized Monticello for many months but eventually fell to his death while he was trying to murder Laurie Ann Karr in a deserted area out in the country.

The Whitney left town to escape the bad memories, but matriarch Geraldine Whitney and Colin's wife Tiffany later returned after both their husbands died tragically.

To me, the Jonah Lockwood/Whitney family saga was a masterpiece; the most suspenseful and terrifying story ever told on daytime TV. Kudos to writer Henry Slesar for weaving a long, deliciously complex and mesmerizing tale.

[amybrickwallace]

It never aired on our ABC affiliate in Cleveland (WEWS-5), either. However, it did air in Akron (then WAKR-23).

[danfling]

Micki Grant (Ada Chandler #2) has unfortunately passed away this weekend.

[Paul Raven]

Donald May portrayed Adam Drake in 1,560 episodes. He taped his final episode June 9 1977.

[Jermsie]

Can anyone tell me about the character Ian Devereaux?

[Jermsie]

I was a huge fan of Lois Kibbee, only seeing her as Elizabeth Saunders on OLTL.   Do you happen to know who she played on SEARCH FOR TOMORROW and possibly what her storyline was?  Thank you!!

Do you happen to know Lois Kibbee's storyline in SFT?

[jam6242]

If I'm remembering correctly, her character was French, and was the grandmother of a character played by Joe Lambie (Lloyd?).  Maureen O'Sullivan also played the role. 

[amybrickwallace]

I saw these promotional photos on the Getty Images site. It was the ladies of ATWT and EDGE promoting CBS Daytime. I don't recognize any of them save Rosemary Prinz - and none of them were identified in the captions.

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[j swift]

Ian was part of Henry Slesar's final story for Edge of Night. 

This is from memory, so it is a little hazy.  After Jefferson Brown got plastic surgery to look like Sky Whitney, and was then assassinated in Switzerland while trying to kill Raven, the real Sky came to Monticello to visit his Aunt Geraldine and reclaim the family mansion.   However, now there was a group of men who wanted to find out the identities of other spies that worked with Jefferson Brown.  Brown had stolen the list while he worked for Senator Dedrickson, who later committed suicide after being falsely accused of spying and stealing the "phonebook" (an uninspired name for the list of other spies).  Later, his son Jim came to Monticello pretending to be Jefferson Brown while Brown pretended to be Sky, but that's another story.  For now, tru-Sky was inadvertently in possession of "the phonebook" somewhere in the Whitney mansion.  Ian Devereaux wanted the phonebook, as did his enemy David Cameron.  

There were two big twists.

First, Nora Fulton was murdered.  She had a huge list of enemies, so it could have been caused by almost anyone in Monticello.  Nora had drugged Miles with hallucinogens, she ratted out Jody's boyfriend Gavin, and blackmailed Gunther.  However, it turns out that she was killed by David Cameron when he caught her listening to a conversation about the "phonebook." 

Second, Ian had been a rival to Sky so he wooed Raven and tried to frame Sky for espionage in order to get the phonebook.  But, (in a move partially lifted from the 1980s Matthew Broderick movie War Games), it turned out that the phonebook was not a physical book, but a computer disk with a digital chess game for a password. Raven faked a romance with Ian, figured out the chess game, and freed Sky.  Ian had become more sympathetic to Raven when he described how the loss of his wife motivated his search for the phonebook and that David Cameron was the true villain, so he was allowed to escape when Raven solved the mystery.

In the end, the purpose of the story was to unite Raven with tru-Sky who had rejected her after her romance with Jefferson Brown was revealed.  Sky fell for Raven during the caper and they went on to solve other mysteries together.

Unfortunately, it was the end for Slesar.  Producers reportedly felt that the story had been too drawn out.  After all, this was the continuation of a string of stories that could be traced back to the Mansion of the Damned plot, which begat Draper being framed for Margo's murder, which begat the Clown Puppet Murders, which begat the Bryson Clinic where Jefferson Brown got his surgery, and other plots that required fans to have a complete knowledge of a complex cannon of plots.  Stations began to drop EON to play cheaper/more profitable programming like local news.  And eventually EON fired Slesar in order to achieve shorter stories and try to attract a younger audience.  Which, of course, failed and tanked the show.  But, that's a tale as old as soaps in general.

Edited September 6, 2021 by j swift

[danfling]

On the pictures of the actresses, I only recognize Rosemary Prinz (Penny #1 from As the World Turns) and Teal Ames (Sarah Lane Karr from The Edge of Night).

 

On the subject of Ian, I have questions which I shall ask.   But first, I will remind those here that he had a sister who was rather devilish.   She and Spencer (the butler for the Whitney family) fell in love.   These two roles were played extremely well by Mary Layne and Richard Borg.    I was actually more interested in them than I was Ian, Raven, and Schylar.

 

I do want to ask about Nora's "ratting out Gavin."    I remember that he did not like her, and that he had been walking outside the studio when she was murdered.   Was it Gavin who initially found the body?

 

I will add one more thing.    Nora's real name had been Roxanne Walker.

[j swift]

I was referring to the time when Jefferson Brown tried to pin Gunther #1's (I've forgotten name of Gunther's identical brother) murder on Gavin and he was hiding out in the theater, Nora was the one who spotted Gavin and called the police.

[amybrickwallace]

Bruno?

[jam6242]

@amybrickwallaceI think the taller blonde in the photo is Nancy Wickwire.  She was on ATWT around the late 50s/early 60s.  And the shorter brunette might be Mary Moor from Edge.

Edited September 7, 2021 by jam6242

[amybrickwallace]

Thanks!!!

[jam6242]

I edited my post—-think the 4th one is Mary Moor.