Edge of Night (EON) (No spoilers please)

[robbwolff]

That was really ludicrous. 

Her name was Maria and she was a patient at Greenhaven Sanitarium where Laurie Karr and Liz Corell were also institutionalized. Dr. Prentice, who was in charge of Greenhaven, accidentally killed Maria in a struggle. One of the guys at the sanitarium, Benedict, protected Dr. Prentice by burying Maria and then drugging Laurie Karr so that Laurie wouldn't reveal that Dr. Prentice had killed Maria. There was another guy involved in the mess -- Timothy -- but I don't recall his connection to Greenhaven. I always felt 1984 was a frustrating year -- so many new characters added for these stories only to be dropped as soon as the story was over.

[j swift]

Ahh, so that must have tied into why Laurie was released from the sanitarium at the end of series.  It is starting to make sense.  It may also explain why the bust was amusingly bad, because it may have been why Liz didn't recognize her sooner, as well as its slight resemblance to Lionel Richie in the "Hello" video.

 

It's funny how the details get lost in my memory.  I recalled that Chris Egan had a son, but I forgot about Walter Ganz and his relationship to the whole cast.  It is great to have this resource to be able to remember everything.

[robbwolff]

 

It is so long ago that it's hard to remember the details. I do remember the bust being laughable, but don't recall is Liz was aware that the bones were that of Maria. Walter Gantz wasn't around long at all -- less than three weeks. Lee Sheldon sped through story way too quickly. Poor Nicole was murdered around the second week of June and Miles was bedding Chris a few months later.

[RavenWhitney]

Because head writer, Lee Sheldon, was incompetent.  

[Broderick]

 

I have to agree with that.   It was hard to get excited about a mystery writer who named sisters "Liz" and "Beth".  lol.  

[j swift]

This may be too generous given @RavenWhitney's assessment of the writer, but I thought the names were meant to represent the duality of their sibling relationship, Beth-the-virgin and Liz-the-sexy one, etc... It was akin to a character with multiple personalities but played by separate actresses. 

[edgeofnik]

Happy Anniversary, Edge! 

[danfling]

Happy aniversary, THE EDGE OF NIGHT/EDGE OF NIGHT!

[DRW50]

 

One of the main soaps that would still thrive today if given the chance. 

 

Anyway, this episode is already up on Youtube, but in two clips, and not in the best quality. This version was uploaded last week and is in better shape.

 

 

[jam6242]

Thanks @DRW50.  I didn't know that Martha had been in a sanitarium.

[victoria foxton]

Edge of Night Clip (1978)

[Paul Raven]

Soap Operas Find They've Got Problems By JOHN CROSBY

Miami Herald March 13 1961

 ABOUT two weeks ago the heroine of a long living soap opera "The Edge of Night" decided that she wanted to quit the show for career reasons In the dear old days of radio soap opera that sort of thing wasn't hard You simply found some other voice to take over.

 On television though it's not so easy.

The actress was Teal Ames who played Sara Karr in the soap opera. John Larkin the actor who played her husband on the soap said: "They decided they would kill the character rather than replace Teal.They didn't believe the audience would accept a replacement But how to kill her? They didn't want her to sicken and die feeling that would be too great a shock for the viewers" Why? he was asked "Well if you're a soap opera addict you'd know leading ladies often lie at death's door. But they never go through the door. If the heroine gets sick the audience is trained to expect her to get better 'The second idea was to send her away off somewhere with a strange malady and then get word back she'd died - That's known in the trade as a two-step death They're not very plausible "So they decided to kill her violently and they brooded about how. Maybe someone from my past could kill her.But through some weird soap opera reasoning that I don't pretend to understand the writer and producer decided that if that happened I'd be in some way culpable that the audience would resent me. "Then the writer thought about a violent death by accident. He shelved that idea too. Finally it was decided she should make the supreme sacrifice.Mother love overcoming everything — that sort of thing/They introduced a strange malady that caused her child to go wandering blindly out into the street where it was in danger of getting run over by a car, The mother to save her got hit instead.

"However Sara didn't die right away.They decided she should have a death scene with me and she would end up lingering on for three days. This defeated their purpose. Only star-crossed lovers or bad people die in daytime television. Good people never die. And as I said when people linger at death's door the rule is that they always get well. All except poor Sara - she broke all the rules. Because she lingered all our fans got the idea she was going to get well. Her death came as a terrible shock to the viewers. She died early in that particular episode and before we got off the air we had 250 protest phone calls. Instead of killing her off quickly and cleanly they made a sloppy job of it. A quick calm death would have been more acceptable to the viewers. Of course there would have been just as many protests but I believe we'd have had a sounder defense for knocking her off, I kind of feel the viewers were right about protesting poor Sara's demise after leading them on that way - not done you know, not done at all"

 

In order to enlarge your understanding of the mysterious world of soap opera you should know that the child who wandered out into the street was suffering from "Paranucleosis". "Paranucleosis" was invented for the occasion for the authors who felt that the trouble with real diseases is that real people suffer from them and they'd be offended.The chief characteristic of "paranucleosis" is that it causes small children to wander out in the street where they get struck by automobiles. Very rare disease even in soap operas In fact this is the only case Mr Larkin was asked if the reaction of fans didn't bother him. "Intellectually it frightens me" he admitted, "It frightens me when I think of the total involvement some of these people have in the program.It imposes responsibilities on us.  The knowledge of the viewers' total involvement complicates all our problems.The agony- suffered by our heroine was no worse than the agony we suffered in trying to find a way to get rid of her"

Edited May 8, 2021 by Paul Raven

[j swift]

I was just reading The Soaps of Yesterday tumblr about soap news from 1985 and it struck me that Larkin Malloy (Sky), Sharon Gabet (Raven), and Marcia Cross (Liz) were all cast on other soaps almost immediately after EON was cancelled.  In fact, one story noted that Larkin started on GL the week after EON was cancelled.

 

However, so many other talented actors faded into obscurity. 

 

Can anyone think of other cast members that found work in daytime in the first year after the cancellation?

Edited June 19, 2021 by j swift

[gimmetoo]

Edge was populated with many character actors...many went onto other soap roles, but for sure Larkin's romantic pairings on GL and AMC made his the highest profile of all the actors' follow ups.

 

Joel Crothers to Santa Barbara in 85.

Irving Allen Lee to Ryan's Hope in 86.

Both likely would have done more if they had not died so sadly.  

 

Charles Flohe did a stint on Dallas, then onto Another Word, Santa Barbara and B&B.

Lois Kibbee did Search for Tomorrow in 85, then OLTL starting in 86.

Ann Flood had smaller roles on Search, Another World, AMC, ATWT and OLTL in the years after Edge.

Mark Arnold had a memorable turn on SB and then several years on OLTL.

Terry Davis did AW before SB and Sunset Beach on the West Coast.

Joe Lambie did GH, Search for Tomorrow, SB and a recurring role on Falcon Crest.

 

Edited June 20, 2021 by gimmetoo

[j swift]

Right, and I guess I forgot that John Allen Nelson when straight from EON to SB