Edge of Night (EON) (No spoilers please)

[j swift]

@Broderick I found the part of the recap that you mentioned, but youtube doesn't have the video for that date:

MAY 9 - 14, 1977:
Nadine confronted Raven about her affair with Ansel, and when Raven blamed her for taking away Raven's father when she was a child, Nadine stunned her with the news that he didn't want her.

It is interesting because there is a minor contradiction in Nadine's final scene three years later in 1980.  Raven talks about her memories of her father being over attentive in response to Nadine's neglect and Nadine says that he loved her too much.  I couldn't figure out from the 1977 recap if Mr. Alexander abandoned them, or died, and in which order?  But, it cleared things up for me because I had always assumed that Draper and Raven were raised as stepsiblings, so their flirtation seemed gross, yet now I see they didn't meet until they were adults and before their parent's marriage.

When Raven left Jamey with April, she intimates that she's going to London because she knows Ansel will care for her financially, which is a little weird to say to Draper, his son.  It is also interesting that Ansel left such a large amount of money to Jamey, given that he was only married to Nadine for two years, and Raven lied that Draper was his father.  Also, Draper doesn't appear to have gotten any money in the will.  Then, when Nadine dies, Raven doesn't seem to inherit any money from her mother, but Jamey's trust is still in tact.

@DRW50 Laurie Ann's son John Victor, and Serena's son Timmy also seem to disappear.  Apparently, Monticello was an adults-only kind of town

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Nadine's final scene

 

Edited September 29, 2021 by j swift

[robbwolff]

I believe Lambie was on the west coast at the time Logan came back in 1984. He had a short stint on Santa Barbara in early 1985 and then returned to New York with his then wife Juanin Clay to join Search for Tomorrow. An article I read said they returned to New York because Juanin thought she'd have better luck getting cast for roles in New York than she had experienced in Hollywood.

[amybrickwallace]

I figured as much. He did have that short gig on SB (as a detective, I believe) in early 1985.

[robbwolff]

Dick Callinan portrayed Raymond Harper.

Adam Jr. was shown on occasion over the years. I think he went to live with April and Draper after Nicole was murdered in 1983

Kevin was sterile.

 

 

[j swift]

Holy storyline contradiction!

FEBRUARY 7 - 11, 1983:
To delay her wedding, Raven lied to Ian that her stepfather Ansel  Scott is seriously ill. Raven left for London, but planned a secret rendezvous in New York with Sky.  Ian ordered Camilla out of his house after she insinuated that Ansel isn't really ill.

FEBRUARY 14 - 18, 1983:
Ian called Ansel to disprove Camilla's accusations, but Ansel confirmed that he's in perfect health

Didn't Ansel die in 1980, before Nadine?  Otherwise, why was Raven so concerned about Jamey's trust from Nadine's will right before her mother's death?

Edited September 29, 2021 by j swift

[amybrickwallace]

Yikes!!

[Nicholas Blair]

Thanks for recommending this episode. It was as good as advertised! Excellent dialogue, committed and very natural performances by everyone. I had never seen any of this storyline.

[robbwolff]

Nope. No contradiction. Ansel was very much alive. In fact, the synopses on the Edge homepage show he was notified of Nadine’s death.

[Broderick]

We saw Nicole and Adam's son (Adam) from time to time.  During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Nicole was the anchorperson for WMON-TV, and Miles was a physician.  They were both shown as being "busy career people".  As a result, they had a nanny (Mrs. Goodman) who usually hustled Adam off-screen pretty quickly.  But occasionally we'd see Miles and Nicole (or Jody Travis) playing with Adam.  

Kevin Jamison was sterile (rather than impotent).  Geraldine was aware of this fact, but Raven wasn't.  When Logan impregnated Raven, Raven anticipated having no difficulties passing her baby off as Kevin's.  It was Geraldine who broke the news to Raven that Kevin was sterile.  There was talk of a possible abortion, but ultimately Raven decided she would flee to London to mooch off Nadine and Ansel for a while.  Kevin borrowed Draper's car and raced to the airport to intercept Raven before she could board the plane, and Kevin died in a car wreck.  

I was never 100% sure if Mister Alexander and Nadine were married at the time of Mr. Alexander's death.  Nadine's exit scene in 1977 (which I barely remember) left me with the impression that Alexander and Nadine had divorced prior to Mr. Alexander's death.  Nadine's 1980 exit scene (which I remember vividly) left me with the impression that Nadine was still married to him at the time of his death, leaving Nadine as crushed by his death as Raven was. 

Ansel Scott was alive and well in England when "Edge" ended in 1984.

Raven's inheritance had come from her long-dead father, Mr. Alexander.  Mr. Alexander and Nadine were fairly wealthy, and upon the death of Mr. Alexander, Raven had received a small trust fund under his will.  Raven got monthly distributions from the trust, which allowed her to exist without a job.  (She was sort of a Holly Golightly from "Breakfast at Tiffany's" -- morally opposed to holding a job, because she had Daddy's trust fund distributions that paid her rent and grocery bills.)  The REAL MONEY that had belonged to Mr. Alexander -- aside from Raven's little trust fund -- had passed to Mrs. Nadine Alexander.   Raven was always aware that if she ever hoped to be truly wealthy, she would need to get her hands on Nadine's inheritance.  

In about 1976, Draper was summoned to New York City to meet with his father, Ansel Scott.  Draper and Ansel had been somewhat estranged over the years, primarily because Ansel was disappointed that his son was more of a "Mike Karr full-of-integrity-attorney", rather than a cut-throat-snake like himself.  When Draper arrived in NYC, he found that Ansel was engaged to be married.  Ansel's fiancé was Mrs. Nadine Alexander, who hoped that she could facilitate a reconciliation between Ansel and Draper.  In Nadine's eyes, she could offer Raven to Draper, which would help cement her own relationship with Ansel. 

Ansel ended up coming to Monticello to defend Tony Saxon in a criminal trial.  Draper was on the prosecution team, pitting Ansel and Draper against each other in the courtroom.  No father/son reconciliation was in the cards, although Draper learned to have a certain respect for Ansel as an attorney, and Ansel likewise developed a (small amount of) respect for Draper.  Nadine and Raven came along to Monticello, as well, and they stayed with Geraldine, who it turned out had been friends with Nadine Alexander for decades.   

Ansel Scott was sexually attracted to the nubile young Raven.  Ansel was FINANCIALLY attracted to Nadine, because Nadine was the holder of the purse strings, having inherited the majority of Mr. Alexander's wealth.  (Ansel was perpetually in need of money.) To get his hands on Raven for sexual purposes, Ansel would need to forego marrying Nadine.  To get his hands on Mr. Alexander's millions, Ansel would need to marry Nadine and forego having sex with Raven.   As a result, Ansel was perpetually trying to sabotage any budding relationship between Draper and Raven, so that he could have Raven for himself, but he was acutely aware that if he were caught with Raven, he'd be unable to marry Nadine. 

Draper became aware of what was going on, and he dropped Raven pretty quickly.  Draper never had any use for Raven thereafter.    

Nadine and Ansel ultimately married, and they moved to London after the Tony Saxon trial.  Their marriage wasn't a happy one, and Ansel continued to stray with young starlets and models. 

Raven dumped her son (Jamey) on Draper and April permanently, and went for an extended trip to visit Nadine and Ansel in London.  This trip reignited all the tensions, as Raven and Ansel had dinner alone together several times in London, while Nadine was out of town.  In retaliation, Nadine changed her will, leaving all her millions to Jamey, and absolutely nothing to Ansel or Raven.  As it happened, Raven had lunch with a young attorney who worked in the London law firm that drafted Nadine's new will, and Raven learned from the chattering attorney that Jamey was the sole beneficiary of all Nadine's millions.  This news sent Raven scampering hurriedly back to Monticello to pry Jamey away from Draper and April, so that she could be the administrator of Jamey's future millions.  To Raven's horror, Draper and April had returned Jamey to his father (Logan), which meant that Logan Swift would be administering Nadine's fortune if Nadine passed away.  Raven herself would be left with nothing more than small distributions from the trust her father had left her; the BIG MONEY would be in the hands of Logan and Jamey.  This led to a big custody suit between Logan and Raven.  Of course, Logan simply wanted custody of his son because he loved him; he had no clue that Jamey was on the cusp of inheriting all of Nadine Alexander's money.  Raven, though, was perfectly aware of the financial benefits of having custody of Jamey. 

In a strange series of accidental events, Nadine of course did ultimately die in 1980.  Ansel Scott, her husband, received nothing under Nadine's will.  Raven also received nothing.  Jamey got it all.  Raven was proud of herself, thinking that as the custodial parent, she'd be making all of Jamey's spending decisions for the next twenty-one years.  She referred to him as her little million dollar baby.  But unfortunately for Raven, it became clear that she'd perjured herself to get custody of Jamey, and custody ultimately went to Logan.           

 

[amybrickwallace]

How much of any of this did Sharon Gabet actually play? I can see why she was so enthusiastic about those early years, because Raven was so horrible.

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[Broderick]

The first girl (Juanin Clay) was around for about a year, and the actress actually married Joe Lambie who played Logan.   Juanin Clay was in the role for the Nadine/Ansel/Raven triangle, and for the beginning of the Kevin/Raven/Logan situation.  Sharon Gabet came along sometime in 1977, to make Logan's life miserable and to torment Draper's new girlfriend (April).     

[j swift]

I feel like such a sexist pig for thinking that Ansel had all of the money from the Saxon case, that I forgot that Nadine had her own supply.

The dates that you mention for the recast track with the YT availability of episodes because I think most of the episodes were posted by a specific fan to facilitate a re-watch with Ms. Gabet through her Facebook account, which is why there is so little of Ms. Clay's material available.

What do you make of Nadine saying to Raven during her affair with Ansel that her father never wanted her, and then seemly contradicting herself on the day of her death by suggesting that Raven's father was too attentive?

I smiled in watching Nadine's final scene over two nonsensical details: (1) she would drive herself to the airport, everybody knows that after a fight with Raven you should never drive yourself to the Monticello airport, just ask Kevin Jamison, and (2) that she would have rented a brown hatchback as shown at the end of the episode.

Edited September 29, 2021 by j swift

[Broderick]

Yes, Ansel was strictly a leech.   Although he was an attorney, he tended to squander his money on girls, and he married Mrs. Nadine Alexander to refresh his coffers.  There's a funny scene featuring Ansel, shortly after Nadine's death.  He reveals what he individually received from Nadine's will -- it was one vase, or something like that -- and there's a young girl crawling all over him while he's discussing it.  

I found Nadine's choice of rental cars pretty strange.   As a car guru, I remember thinking when the scene first aired, "Surely that's not really her rental car!"  lol.  Seems like it was a Ford Tornio, or maybe even a Pinto.  

I wish I could remember the 1977 scene more clearly.  My own impression of it was that Raven was blaming Nadine for Mr. Alexander's untimely demise, and Nadine shot back that he'd never wanted any children in the first place.  If that's the case, it's probably not inconsistent with the 1980 scene.  In the 1980 scene, Raven is whining about how attentive her father was and how aloof Nadine was.  Just because Mr. Alexander didn't specifically want children probably wouldn't prevent him from being overly-attentive once his daughter was born.  

[j swift]

Given that Draper married April and got a house in Oakdale and a penthouse in the deal, one could say that the apple didn't fall far from the tree.  However, I'm pretty sure Draper's eye never wondered, and he would have been willing to give up the penthouse if it meant that he wasn't accused of Margo's murder.

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[Broderick]

Right.  Draper thought April was poor when he started dating her.   She was supposedly a little orphan girl with no mother.  But surprise!  She got Margo!  Draper's problem was that he ended up with a mother-in-law who kept forcing him to take things he didn't want. lol.