Another World

[Xanthe]

I did not realise that Iris' mother Sylvie was in Bay City as long as she was. Based on the timeline it appears that Harding Lemay introduced the character almost immediately after Amanda's birth and the sudden revelation that Mac was not Iris' father. Then Sylvie persisted under Tom King throughout the Kirk Laverty story and eventually confessed (falsely) to his murder, and at some point it was revealed that she had served time for murdering her rapist, Iris' father, and Iris had been born in prison. When Iris returned in 1988 and provided Mac with the evidence that he was indeed her father, was Mac meant to be surprised that he was really her father, or was he supposed to have known all along and just been lying to her?

I suppose the fact that Mac was Iris' biological father wouldn't have prevented Sylvie from being raped or from murdering the rapist. I think what shocked me was the AWHP describing the rape/murder as having occurred when Sylvie was a "young adult", which makes Mac's involvement with her sound kind of skeevy. Maybe the retcon eliminated the rape and murder altogether if it wasn't part of Lemay's story?

ETA: Apparently today is the anniversary of the day Mac told Rachel he was Iris' father after all. 

 

Edited November 2, 2021 by Xanthe
Anniversary tweet

[AbcNbc247]

He was supposed to be surprised.

It was a really half-assed rewrite; I should go back and watch those episodes. Apparently, Mac and Sylvie did have an affair and she got pregnant with Iris. Mac's wife then found about the affair but paid off Sylvie to say that Iris wasn't his biological child. And the only reason Sylvie didn't reveal this in the 70s was because she made the promise to Mac's wife (even though by the 70s, she had been dead for years) and Sylvie was the type of person who always kept her word, or something like that.

I'm curious why Lemay chose to rewrite his own story.

[Xanthe]

I was trying to figure out whether he had intended to make it a part of the original story somehow, but he left the show and didn't see it through. Or else he thought Iris needed a big reason to come back after so long and needed the biological relationship to justify her investment in Cory affairs. 

[AbcNbc247]

Probably the latter.

Lemay said in his book that in the aftermath of the reveal about Iris, he proposed a storyline with Iris coming to terms with the fact that she's actually Jewish.

Edited November 4, 2021 by AbcNbc247

[j swift]

In hindsight that is the funniest thing about Sylvie, she is clearly coded as Jewish, but Iris was the Waspiest woman in Bay City.  Sylvie was from New York, she was in the garment industry, and she was more bold in her fashion choices.  So, I think it would have been fun to see Iris struggle with her identity and the sources of her elitism.

I am also questioning my whole memory of the Iris the Chief story.  Was her motivation to destabilize Cory Publishing so that she could latter save the day, or was she trying get retribution by stealing Cory from Amanda and Matthew, as Mac's legitimate heirs?  Because the reveal of her as Mac's biological daughter seems like an unnecessary detail for either story motive. 

I also question the need to change the setup from Iris versus Amanda to Iris versus Paulina.  Iris had far more right to be mad at Amanda because her birth revealed that Iris was adopted, than Paulina who despite being Mac's child never had a legitimate claim to Cory because she wasn't in the will.

Edited November 4, 2021 by j swift

[AbcNbc247]

She wanted to save the day, and basically prove to Mac that his life was much better when Iris was in it (which in itself was a bit of rewrite because Iris left Bay City for Texas, she and Mac were on good terms)

According to her, Mac being framed for Drew Marsten's "murder" wasn't meant to happen and things just got out of hand, but I wonder if Iris was meant to be the Chief from the beginning. I don't think she was. The Chief storyline started during the writer's strike, but the reveal didn't happen until Lemay showed up. 

[j swift]

Not to mention that a year prior to her move to Houston, she gave up any inheritance rights to Cory when she married Brian, as a sign of devotion to her new husband.

EDIT: I just read 1988 summaries on AWHP and this really makes no sense.  Iris creates a dummy corporation named Bennet Publishing to takeover Cory and buys Cory stock.  Then, she lends Mac the money to buy back the stock.  So, lets say she spent 1 million on stock, then lent Mac 1 million (which he never repaid for obvious reasons), and got paid back 1 million, in the end isn't she still out 1 million bucks?  No wonder she had to stay at the mansion, she probably had no liquid assets.

Edited November 4, 2021 by j swift

[amybrickwallace]

Harding Lemay was quoted somewhere that he believed antisemitism would have been a natural part of Iris' personality.

[Marissa Gallant]

I have been watching the Mac/Rachel/Mitch story line episodes. I have a few questions. Who is the guy that runs the nightclub where that Tracy woman sings? How much longer before the real Cecile shows up? Why do Russ and Tracy get divorced? Is it because of the creepy dude that makes her sing? 

[AbcNbc247]

The creepy guy is Jason Dunlap, Tracy's former manager and ex-boyfriend that was still in love with her. Earlier in 1980, he convinced her to start singing again. He managed her, all while trying to get back into her life. (I think he got her hooked on pills too so that she could be easier to control, but I'm not sure) But she fell in love with Russ and married him. Eventually, she planned on giving up her singing career to start a family. Jason flipped out and set up Russ to be killed in a car bombing, but Tracy went in to the car instead and was killed. 

And the real Cecile shows up in June 1981.

Edited November 7, 2021 by AbcNbc247

[Franko]

If that's the case, then Warren Burton was reprising more than a little of the story he previously played on AMC as Eddie Dorrance. Of course, you could argue Janice Lynde was also doing a variant of her previous work as Leslie Brooks on Y&R.

[j swift]

Jason Dunlap was also in cahoots with the evil Else Fredricks, who was Sandy's pimp.  So, he is key to arrival of Sandy, which changes the character of Cecile, and transforms her into the "real" Cecile that you may recall.

Jason was played by Warren Burton who also played Warren Andrews on GL, Eddie on AMC, and Philip Hamilton on Santa Barbara.  He specialized is playing creepy guys who somehow charmed women into doing things against their better instincts.  He was also one of the many gay dayitime actors in the late 70s/early 80s whose sexual appeal was puzzling, but they played a combo of menace and suave with finesse. 

Paul Rauch later hired Janice to play an even more similar role on One Life to Live as Lauren Chapin, also an ex of a former mafia guy, who married the dullest doctor in town, and was later killed in a car.

Edited November 7, 2021 by j swift

[Franko]

And perhaps more than a little inspired by the less-remembered patrons and hangers-on at places like Studio 54?

Like deja vu all over again, as Yogi would say.

[j swift]

Agreed on the inspo, including the implication that access to drugs may have been part of Jason's allure (of course because it was a soap, the correlation between drugs and sex was never explicitly discussed - god forbid anyone ever had fun while they were high in daytime)

Edited November 7, 2021 by j swift

[Marissa Gallant]

Well, the soaps did use the same storylines pretty often. 

I don't like this Jason person. But no, no one ever has fun when they're under the influence. Drugs are bad. They turn your brains into fried eggs. Am I the only one that remembers that?

It's weird watching this time period. I watched a little later. So,,for me, there's a lot of "That's not my Jamie. Mac, it's gonna be okay for him to be a doctor. That isn't my Cecile. Where's my Felicia? What do you mean she isn't here yet? Ooh, Judith McConnell is definitely NOT playing Sophia here. Sigh, I hate Jason. Wish Cass was here. Mitch- hold on, Felicia is coming."