Well, I had always heard that Edge of Night, or EON, was different from other soaps, what with the focus on mysteries and its popularity with males. So I've been checking it out, and I am truly hooked. I usually watch two or three an evening, as they only run for twenty minutes. Right now, Draper Scott/Kirk Michaels has amnesia and is recovering in the bed of Emily Gault while back in town, Raven Swift is trying desperately to get her child back. From what I understand, what I'm watching first aired in the spring of 1980. Although there is a little too much repetition for my liking (which I probably wouldn't mind if I weren't watching back-to-back, but day-to-day), I have thoroughly enjoyed the Mansion of the Damned and the train wreck. Looking forward to what I think will be something about a carousel, as Crazy-Dream April (as I've come to know her) has been tossing and turning in her sleep again.

Just now, RavenWhitney said:

I don't believe these photos were from April 1984. Henry Slesar was fired in March 1983; he would not have been in attendance at the 1984 celebration, and unlikely he would have attended an April 1983 celebration since he had just been fired).  Lee Sheldon was head writer.  This may have been 1982 or earlier.

Thanks. The Getty Images site had the date as 1984 in the captions.

Another nice pic of the first couple of Monticello:

The little how that could. Miss it. The Edge of Night has been off the air for 37 years. I remember meeting the actors when they made an appearance at our local college. 

On 12/19/2021 at 6:19 PM, Broderick said:

Yes, it does look sort of like a ghoulish holiday 😁

Eliot Dorn, Paige Madison and Nola Patterson were all major characters on "Edge", in addition to playing characters in the "Mansion of the Damned" movie.  So Kim Hunter was given the job of playing Nola on "Edge", Hester Atherton in "Mansion of the Damned", the old witch in "Mansion of the Damned", and Mrs. Corey (Deborah Saxon's neighbor), who was a mash-up of a lady who ran a news stand and the witch role she'd played in the film.  It was an interesting and fairly complex storyline.   

Here's another pic:

3 minutes ago, amybrickwallace said:

Here's another pic:

That's two vampires going out for a festive New Years Eve bash 😆

Really, it's Margaret Colin playing Paige Madison on "Edge" in costume as the ingenue in "Mansion of the Damned", being seduced by Lee Godart playing Eliot Dorn on "Edge" in costume as Satan in "Mansion of the Damned".  

Just now, Broderick said:

That's two vampires going out for a festive New Years Eve bash 😆

😂😂😂😂😂

The first couple indeed. I loved Mike and Nancy Karr. 

On 12/20/2021 at 10:28 AM, amybrickwallace said:

Thanks. The Getty Images site had the date as 1984 in the captions.

Another nice pic of the first couple of Monticello:

The first couple indeed. I loved Mike and Nancy Karr.

And they're standing in front of one of the best backdrops on daytime TV (in my opinion).  

On 12/20/2021 at 8:49 AM, amybrickwallace said:

Here's the 28th anniversary party in 1984...and they'd be canceled before the year was out.

I believe the cake says the show is celebrating its 25th anniversary so it should be April, 1981.

On 10/1/2021 at 7:43 PM, Nicholas Blair said:

Nothing could be more truly 1970s than that video of Dennis Parker. It would be really sexy if I weren't laughing so much.

In his book EIGHT YEARS IN ANOTHER WORLD (1981) Harding Lemay says that after the firing of George Reinholt (1975), other producers were also willing to fire their (these aren't the exact words, but the right idea) "temperamental, high-priced" stars. I always guessed that Donald May was one of these. I don't know who else Lemay had in mind. Don Stewart remained on GL until 1984.

Thanks to everyone for all these great pieces of information.

 

Wasn't it DM who wouldn't agree to go along with ABC's idea of EON becoming a late night show?  I would think if most of the cast and crew were good w/ it, he would have to put up or shut up.

Actress Joan Copeland, who played Mary Appleton on The Edge of Night in 1959, has passed away.

 

Joan Copeland, Broadway Star and Soap Opera Actress, Dies at 99

 

©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett C

Joan Copeland, who graced both the stage and screen for decades as a Broadway star and soap opera actress, died the morning of Jan. 4 in her New York City home, Copeland’s family confirmed to Variety. She was 99.

Copeland’s career included performances on numerous daytime soap operas — including “Search for Tomorrow” (1967-72) “Love of Life” (1960-63), “The Edge of the Night” (1956) and “How to Survive a Marriage” (1974).

As one of the first members of The Actors Studio, she made her Broadway debut in 1948 as Nadine in “Sundown Beach.” Her other Broadway credits include “Detective Story,” (1950) “Coco,” (1969) and “45 Seconds From Broadway” (2001).

Copeland was the sister of playwright Arthur Miller, who died in 2005. She appeared in one of Miller’s plays, “The American Clock” (1980), a performance for which she earned a Drama Desk award.

“From the time I was a little girl I had the stage bug,” Copeland told The New York Times in 1981. “It was like a big dream, like kids who want to fly to the moon today. Perhaps I was unconsciously influenced by my brother. He had made it. I was desperate to get out of the dreariness I was living in.”

Still, Copeland worked to separate her career from her brother’s — which influenced her to take on the stage name “Joan Copeland.”

“I did not want to trade on my brother’s name,” she told the Times.

While most of Copeland’s career was on the Broadway stage and in television series, she also made it to the big screen. Her first film, Paddy Chayefsky’s “The Goddess” (1958), was said to be based on Miller’s second wife (and Copeland’s onetime sister-in-law) Marilyn Monroe. In addition, Copeland appeared in “Roseland” (1977), “A Little Sex” (1982), “The Object of My Affection” (1998) and as the voice of Tanana in Disney’s “Brother Bear” (2003).

She is survived by her son, Eric Kupchik, and her niece, actress Rebecca Miller.

Joan Copeland also starred on Broadway as Noah's wife opposite Danny Kaye in Richard Rodgers' Two by Two. Her best movie role is probably in Middle of the Night. Astonishingly, in The Goddess she plays a character with a Southern accent. 

On 1/4/2022 at 12:49 PM, mphs19952003 said:

Wasn't it DM who wouldn't agree to go along with ABC's idea of EON becoming a late night show?  I would think if most of the cast and crew were good w/ it, he would have to put up or shut up.

i've read that before but never seen it verified.

My understanding is that ABC wanted to replay EON late night. 

 My guess is  some sort of deal was in the works for those involved to receive minimum payments as this was new territory and probably there was no compensation payments agreement set up.

ABC saw this as a chance to pay peanuts and make extra money on the deal compared to primetime reruns.

Donald May was probably the most outspoken at what he saw as exploitation of soap actors and the blame was pinned on him for it not going ahead.

Just speculation...

Edited January 12, 20223 yr by Paul Raven

I heard that the whole ABC cast was in favor of the additional airing on late night television, but that Donald May demanded that his salary be doubled.     That demand stopped the idea of late night airings of the show.

3 hours ago, danfling said:

I heard that the whole ABC cast was in favor of the additional airing on late night television, but that Donald May demanded that his salary be doubled.     That demand stopped the idea of late night airings of the show.

Well then he was off the show shortly after either by his choice or the show’s.  I loved his character 

But the unique thing about daytime  is that it is supposed to be an ensemble effort.  Good or bad no one is irreplaceable.   So if actors start to get demanding they are plotting their own demise. I don’t know if Donald May was like that or not. And even though painful the show (and others with similar situations) survived.  Joel Corruthers was basically the replacement 

And lord knows in the current cost cutting climate the attitude seems to be they are lucky to have a contract that continues to the next day

Edited January 13, 20223 yr by TVFAN1144
Changed actor name

5 hours ago, danfling said:

I heard that the whole ABC cast was in favor of the additional airing on late night television, but that Donald May demanded that his salary be doubled.     That demand stopped the idea of late night airings of the show.

There's some irony that Donald May was later cast on Texas, which was not only re-played on TBS, but reports at the time were that actor's contracts limited the residual payments for the rebroadcast so that they made less than industry standard.