18 minutes ago, RavenWhitney said:

No. It was an ensemble.  No more built around Rachel than OLTL was built around Vickie or AMC built around Erica.

Exactly right.

18 minutes ago, RavenWhitney said:

No. It was an ensemble.  No more built around Rachel than OLTL was built around Vickie or AMC built around Erica.

I completely agree.  Not only were there times when Rachel was sidelined, such as when Sally became the romantic lead, or during the emergence of the Loves, but even in her heyday she was most popular in an ensemble story.  The Rachel/Steve(n)/Alice triangle involved the entire Matthews family and the Rachel/Mac romance was notable for the utilizing complex female counterparts like Cecile, Blaine, and Iris who could each be considered leading characters.

 

1 hour ago, j swift said:

I completely agree.  Not only were there times when Rachel was sidelined, such as when Sally became the romantic lead, or during the emergence of the Loves, but even in her heyday she was most popular in an ensemble story.  The Rachel/Steve(n)/Alice triangle involved the entire Matthews family and the Rachel/Mac romance was notable for the utilizing complex female counterparts like Cecile, Blaine, and Iris who could each be considered leading characters.

 

Even Aunt Liz won her Daytime Emmy as a Leading Actress at one period of time.

13 hours ago, j swift said:

@OzFrog retweet amazed me that the reveal of that story didn't happen during sweeps, and made me wonder if the original plan for Marley was always for her to be a twin?  Certainly there were a lot of early clues that she was Donna's daughter from the time of her introduction. Within Marley's first month on screen a drunk Peter says that one of the Love kids is illegitimate.  The David Thatcher/Royal Dunning murders were obviously written with the revelation in mind.  However, Ellen's very mannered portrayal of Marley also seemed to foreshadow an "evil twin" plot.  I am terrible at tracking writers, but I think Marley was introduced by a different writer than the one who wrote Vicky's introductory plotline.  Yet, I can't help but wonder if those were acting choices or writing choices that lead to such a distinct difference in the portrayal of each twin.

Donna admitting to Marley and Victoria that she was their mother wasn't really a reveal, story-wise. The only new piece was that this was the point where Marley found out for the first time. Donna had of course been confiding in Peter and when Marley was stricken with a disease that required a bone marrow transplant they were distressed because they couldn't tell the doctor that they weren't her siblings. Victoria made Jake and Bridget give her one day in Marley's place before she would agree to reveal herself to the family and donate the bone marrow, and it was when Victoria was pretending to be Marley and before Donna knew she existed that Donna confessed to "Marley" that she was her mother. When Marley didn't remember later Donna assumed it was because she had been so sick at the time. So there were a couple of months where Victoria, Jake, and Bridget all knew and Marley didn't yet, while Donna believed neither Marley nor Victoria knew.

I think initially the audience had it confirmed in October 1984 that Marley was Donna's daughter. Then Jake arrived in February 1985 as Ben was leaving town. Bridget arrived the next month, and then in April Victoria was revealed. My impression based on what I read in the press at the time was that they had not planned out the twin idea when Marley was first introduced, but that they saw something in Ellen Wheeler after she had played Marley for a while that gave them the idea that she could add a twin character to her repertoire and it would really open out the Donna/Marley storyline, which obviously it did for years. But I don't think they knew from the very beginning.

Thinking about the twin thing makes me wonder about the evolution of Leo Mars from Abel Marsh. Interestingly, Abel Marsh is listed as a main character on the AWHP but Leo Mars as a minor character. Did they hire Joe Morton with the intention of having him play twins, or did they expand his role because he had the range? (Did they ask him to sing and Joe Morton felt that it didn't make sense to have a singing doctor so they compromised by creating the performing twin?)

7 minutes ago, Xanthe said:

My impression based on what I read in the press at the time was that they had not planned out the twin idea when Marley was first introduced, but that they saw something in Ellen Wheeler after she had played Marley for a while that gave them the idea that she could add a twin character to her repertoire

In retrospect, It would be fun to see if Ellen's Marley became more mannered and high pitched once the idea of Vicky was proposed. 

The change in vocal tone between the twins always reminds me of this classic scene.

 

3 hours ago, j swift said:

In retrospect, It would be fun to see if Ellen's Marley became more mannered and high pitched once the idea of Vicky was proposed. 

Sweet innocent Marley also had a bit of a dry sense of humour -- she would react to Donna or Nancy's ridiculousness with a mocking seriousness. I think there probably were some elements where Marley did get limited in order to make the distinction from Vicky but it wasn't a sudden obvious change in the character one day as far as I recall.

 

4 hours ago, j swift said:

The change in vocal tone between the twins always reminds me of this classic scene.

I do not want to comment on the most brilliant transformation I have ever seen (live onstage) as that would be a spoiler, so I will mention instead the sensation I had watching Tatiana Maslany on Orphan Black. She did a fabulous job differentiating between multiple characters, with different tones and accents and postures. She was also helped by wigs and clothes and things but it was so easy to think that Tatiana Maslany was playing Sarah while some other actress whose name you couldn't quite think of was playing Cosima or Alison. I had that feeling with Ellen Wheeler's Marley and Vicky.

1 hour ago, Xanthe said:

so I will mention instead the sensation I had watching Tatiana Maslany on Orphan Black. She did a fabulous job differentiating between multiple characters, with different tones and accents and postures. She was also helped by wigs and clothes and things but it was so easy to think that Tatiana Maslany was playing Sarah while some other actress whose name you couldn't quite think of was playing Cosima or Alison. I had that feeling with Ellen Wheeler's Marley and Vicky.

Oh, classic! The best of the best! I could watch & re-watch EW & AH & Tatiana & I STILL cannot figure out how 5 of the clones danced together unless it was either magic or voodoo.

On 7/10/2022 at 10:56 PM, Tonksadora said:

Just out of curiosity... What does this have to do with Another World?   These doddering posts that have nothing to do with the show the thread is about.  And before the mods reply, I often report posts and nothing is done...

 

5 hours ago, slick jones said:

Just out of curiosity... What does this have to do with Another World?   These doddering posts that have nothing to do with the show the thread is about.  And before the mods reply, I often report posts and nothing is done...

 

Okay, I'll satisfy your curiosity. I'm having a serious health crisis at the moment. I'm in terrible pain all the time. I'm having to take strong pain pills which make me stupid. And, I've done like 5 screw-ups in 2 weeks as a result of it! And, that just makes me madder than a wet hen at myself. This will get better & I will get past this. Do your damn*est. I certainly can't stop you.

Don't worry, I will continue to report as you were banned before.

Sorry to hear about your issues. We all have them.  I don't choose to garner sympathy with mine, but to each their own.

1 hour ago, slick jones said:

Don't worry, I will continue to report as you were banned before.

Sorry to hear about your issues. We all have them.  I don't choose to garner sympathy with mine, but to each their own.

Oh, yes, to each their own but slide that knife in while it's handy.

24 minutes ago, Tonksadora said:

Okay, I'll satisfy your curiosity. I'm having a serious health crisis at the moment. I'm in terrible pain all the time. I'm having to take strong pain pills which make me stupid. And, I've done like 5 screw-ups in 2 weeks as a result of it! And, that just makes me madder than a wet hen at myself. This will get better & I will get past this. Do your damn*est. I certainly can't stop you.

With all due respect, if I were in terrible pain and taking strong pain medication which makes me stupid, I would refrain from posting.  It's that easy.    

All that aside, I am beyond tired of your rumor-based posts, which are minimally accurate at best.  There are many actual experts on AW history online, so please check your facts before posting.  My opinions only.   

1 hour ago, Neil Johnson said:

With all due respect,

I doubt that.

All that aside, I am beyond tired of your ...

Let me help you with an easy solution. Put me on Ignore. Or just manually move right past it when you see it's me. No one is forcing you to read me.

 

21 minutes ago, Tonksadora said:

I doubt that.

 

 

Let me help you with an easy solution. Put me on Ignore. Or just manually move right past it when you see it's me. No one is forcing you to read me.

 

And no one forces you to constantly post information framed as facts that have no basis. Or to keep posting GH in the Days threads. Days in the Y&R threads, etc.  Paying attention to what thread you are in probably would have helped to avoid a map of Port Charles in the Another World Thread in the Cancelled Soaps Forum.

 

Again, I wish you no ill will in regards to your health or to anyone's health.  However,  the tone of your post to @Neil Johnson, one of the most pleasant and well-informed ANOTHER WORLD fans, was uncalled for.

 

You are not alone in posting wrong information, but instead of the apologies, just taking the time to be aware of your location on the Board-- while you are still allowed to continue here by the Moderators in charge. I know I'm not alone as far as the reports against you go.

I sympathize with Donna's struggles but she clearly believes she is still ruling the roost on USENET 25 years ago.