1 minute ago, Tisy-Lish said:

Does anyone remember the approximate date of John Randolph's death, when AW did that location shoot with the burning cabin out in the wilderness? And was there ever any mention in the soap press regarding how much TPTB spent to burn a real cabin and shoot on location? Didn't Susan Harney (Alice) leave AW shortly after this episode?

John died on March 6, 1979. Susan's last appearance was on March 20th.

14 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

John died on March 6, 1979. Susan's last appearance was on March 20th.

Thank you. Interesting. March 6, 1979 was my 20th birthday. Sorta sad that legacy character, John Randolph died on that day. I assume Harney had already given her notice and was on her way out. Alice was never again so important to the fabric of AW -- even when Steve Frame returned around 1982, and even when Jacquie Courtney returned in 1984. After 1979, Alice would come and go several times -- but always as a supporting character, never as a female romantic lead.

22 minutes ago, Tisy-Lish said:

Thank you. Interesting. March 6, 1979 was my 20th birthday. Sorta sad that legacy character, John Randolph died on that day. I assume Harney had already given her notice and was on her way out. Alice was never again so important to the fabric of AW -- even when Steve Frame returned around 1982, and even when Jacquie Courtney returned in 1984. After 1979, Alice would come and go several times -- but always as a supporting character, never as a female romantic lead.

I assume so. Harney is fine in her work for those episodes but you can guess how much better Courtney may have been.

At least that was a birthday to remember...they should have had Olive send out letters of apology to viewers.

2 hours ago, Tisy-Lish said:

Thank you. Interesting. March 6, 1979 was my 20th birthday. Sorta sad that legacy character, John Randolph died on that day. I assume Harney had already given her notice and was on her way out. Alice was never again so important to the fabric of AW -- even when Steve Frame returned around 1982, and even when Jacquie Courtney returned in 1984. After 1979, Alice would come and go several times -- but always as a supporting character, never as a female romantic lead.

I'm about two months older than you!

Damn I remember those scenes and my older sister crying. But then they kept repeating them. We had an old French cleaning lady and she walked by the tv one day and said "she's still burning?"

That 90 minute experiment was such a mess.

10 hours ago, DRW50 said:

I assume so. Harney is fine in her work for those episodes but you can guess how much better Courtney may have been.

At least that was a birthday to remember...they should have had Olive send out letters of apology to viewers.

Well, Harney was not good in emotional scenes, while showing emotion was Courtney's strength. So had Courtney been playing Alice in 1979, she probably could have won an Emmy with this episode. I've always felt Harney was rather embarrassing in her reaction to John's death. She was just wailing uncontrollably. Courtney would have played that emotion in a much more subdued way. Just my opinion.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by Tisy-Lish

Just now, Tisy-Lish said:

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Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by Tisy-Lish

12 hours ago, Tisy-Lish said:

One more thing -- wasn't an older actress from the sitcom "Phyllis" cast as Alice's head-nurse and the owner of the cabin? I seem to remember she had one scene with Susan Harney, before Alice drove up to the cabin.

I see that Jane Rose, who played Phyllis' mother-in-law, has a day player credit as "Mrs Hewitt" on November 16, 1977 according to the AWHP. Susan Harney would have been Alice at the time.