6 minutes ago, DeeVee said:

I hate to pile on your doubt, but I don't recall Bill Bauer being at Alan and Hope's wedding, either.

The wedding episode is not available online, but one of the anniversary compilations includes a brief clip of Mike walking Hope in her wedding gown down the stairs in Bert's house. In fact, someone posted that here fairly recently and I don't remember seeing Bill Bauer among the guests.

Since they had all the guests facing towards the camera and not turning away from it to look at Hope as she came down the stairs (by the way, what was THAT about, that was a very strange choice by the director), again, I'm kind of sure he wasn't there.

However, one can't discount cognetive dissonance--since I didn't expect to see him there, he might not have registered, especially since it's a really short clip. Also, we were too busy making fun of Hope's hideous wedding gown, another reason he might not have registered.

Does anyone remember which anniversary compilation that was? Now I really want to take a good look at it, LOL.

Way back in the day, I used to keep extensive scrapbooks on all my favorite soaps, collecting story synopses, reviews, interviews and pictures about each one. It was a fun pastime and kept my memories of the shows clear. Alas, I dropped the hobby in the early 1980s (life got too busy for time-consuming pastimes), and after 45-ish years, most of the scrapbooks have long since disappeared into the Twilight Zone.

There are certain things no one else seems to remember that I am 100% sure about, but in the case of Bill Bauer at Hope's wedding, I'm hesitant to die on that hill because my memory about it is iffy.

If you find that brief clip of the wedding, please let us know.

Edited 12 hours ago12 hr by vetsoapfan

@DeeVee @vetsoapfan It's a few minutes into this video.

1992 GL 40th Anniversary Prime Time Special Part 2

7 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

It's a few minutes into this video.

1992 GL 40th Anniversary Prime Time Special Part 2

I don't see him, but looks like some of the guests might have been cut out, so the mystery is still not solved!

Thanks for posting this, I would been looking for it half the night.

4 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

@DeeVee @vetsoapfan It's a few minutes into this video.

1992 GL 40th Anniversary Prime Time Special Part 2

Ahhh, see, this is why everyone loves you, @DRW50 !🙃

Unfortunately, that brief clip cut off before the camera pulled back enough for us to see all the attendees of the ceremony.

But, since so many SONers are collecting vintage soap scripts these days, I wonder if we could track down the Hope-Alan wedding script. It would list that day's characters, and the mystery would be solved!

I thought Dame Joan Collins would have made a wonderful recast for Elizabeth Spaulding. For one thing, she could've dipped in and out of story, depending on JC's availability. For another, they could have explained how, in the years since she departed Springfield, she had resumed her photography career, becoming a celebrity photographer like Annie Leibovitz or Herb Ritts. In turn, her success as a photographer would have restored the self-assurance that had evaporated during her marriage to Alan.

Looking at Nov 80 synopses there is mention of Joe Bradley making romantic headway with Holly.

The same month she left town. Interesting. Maybe Marland was just using that as a motivation for Holly to leave-she was still hooked on Ed and couldn't deal with the complications of another man taking an interest?

Or he was testing the chemistry in case Maureen renewed her contract? How much say would Marland have in such matters? If Allen Potter or P&G/CBS wanted to keep Maureen would Doug have to go along with it, even if not that interested in writing for her?

Headwriters have a certain amount of autonomy but there must be many instances where they have to write for actors/characters they are not that invested in.

It's ironic how GL always struggled to write for MG/Holly whenever MZ/Roger wasn't on the show, even though, by many longtime GL fans' account, it was Peggy, and not Holly, who was the true love of Roger's life.

I just read that Michael J Stark tested for Andy Norris, but lost to Ted LePlat. He got Joe Bradley instead which I believe was recurring at first but Marland liked him and he got a contract. Maybe that's why Andy was written out- Marland liked Stark/Joe better as Springfields next villain.

As for Peggy, she was unjustly forgotten. I don't know if Fran Myers didn't want to return, but it would have been nice if she came back to Springfield upon leaning of Roger's death and was allowed to play Peggy's reaction to that.

Of course if her son Billy was already in town, living with Bert and involved with Morgan...

9 minutes ago, Paul Raven said:

I just read that Michael J Stark tested for Andy Norris, but lost to Ted LePlat. He got Joe Bradley instead which I believe was recurring at first but Marland liked him and he got a contract. Maybe that's why Andy was written out- Marland liked Stark/Joe better as Springfields next villain.

How much longer did Joe last than Andy?

From my 90s viewing I’d assumed that Ross/Vanessa were just a thing when they were super young and Van had Dinah-it’s funny how Ross’s backstory is totally different than I’d assumed. I’m in the middle of Ross’s Senate campaign and one thing knowing more show history is that it’s pretty funny for Ross to have used Holly as his “respectable woman” to help with the campaign. You’d think it would be a pretty big news story that Ross had an on and off relationship with the rape victim of one of his former clients. There’s also a line early with Ross/Blake they Ross says he’s spent his life doing this in a way to be 100% scandal free and it seems he forgot a few years in there.

What is the more or less full story of Ross/Vanessa? Outside of a general talk of history and Dinah there’s few specifics referenced in any period I’ve watched.

7 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

Looking at Nov 80 synopses there is mention of Joe Bradley making romantic headway with Holly.

Ew.

Joe Bradley was written as so obviously smarmy (like Andy). It would have made Holly look like an idiot.

Diane sleeping with him made sense--it was strategic on her part. I believe I recall an article interviewing one or both the actors, who revealed they agreed to play their scenes as if they wanted to go to bed together and Marland picked up on it. If that's true, it wasn't even his idea.

Anyway, no, no, no. No wonder MG left.

Thanks @Paul Raven for posting that article about Dalton. How interesting that she said she chose to leave. The scuttlebut has always been that Marland was determined to write out the character. They must have paid her well if she could afford a mink coat after becoming unemployed. 😂

I just don't understand why they didn't kill her off. Then MAYBE Justin and Jackie getting custody of Phillip would have made a tiny bit of sense. Of course, the obvious route would have been to kill off Elizabeth, then the truth about Phillip coming out, and Alan fighting J&J for custody.

43 minutes ago, GL95 said:

What is the more or less full story of Ross/Vanessa?

The problem with their backstory is some of it was retconned.

When Vanessa was introduced, their story went like this:

Ross was a poor student (either college or law) when he fell madly in love with socialite Vanessa. They wanted to get married, but her father's business was failing. The only way for her to save it was to marry a guy named Gerald, who had a lot of money.

Ross never totally got over it. It was not just because he genuinely loved her; it made him feel like he was nothing. It was used as a reason to explain why Ross was so ambitious and money mad.

When divorcee Vanessa hit SF she was determined to get him back. She would show up at his apartment wearing nothing but a fur coat. You guess the rest, LOL. They briefly got back together a couple of times, but it never worked out.

They changed it later so that she was in high school when they first knew each other. Ross was dating Lillian's sister Calla, but he also got involved with Vanessa. She became pregnant on her prom night but she never told him.

Edited 3 hours ago3 hr by DeeVee

It’s funny that not even knowing Ross’s backstory I never really loved the Blake/Ross dynamic because there was always this underlying messaging that Ross was Good and Blake was Bad, and that she should be grateful he was willing to be with her.

It’s an unpopular opinion but I don’t love Ross is general though I totally get why JVD’s charm makes him popular. I just find him overly sanctimonious and hypocritical as a character-I’m at where Holly finds out about Blake/Ross and I really don’t see much difference between how AM led Blake on to help his business interests when he knew she wanted him and how Ross was with Holly during the campaign especially at the end where he definitely knows he’s using Holly for public perception and giving her hope by bidding on her in the auction. But Ross pretty much blasts Holly immediately for thinking she had a reason to be angry-he does the same thing to Blake when she was worried about Amanda, turning the tables on her telling her he was mad at Blake for not trusting him. Blake does a bunch of stupid, impulsive things then lies but Ross does his part to set up the dynamic where Blake spirals when they fight because her entire self-worth is based on his approval and he likes it that way.

I had just assumed Ross was always a white knight do gooder attorney who just temporarily got sucked in by money/power when he worked for Alex given how Ross interacts with other characters/speaks about them.

12 minutes ago, GL95 said:

I had just assumed Ross was always a white knight do gooder attorney who just temporarily got sucked in by money/power when he worked for Alex given how Ross interacts with other characters/speaks about them.

Nope, nope, nope.

He was pretty bad in the beginning. He did a lot of sketchy stuff. He treated Holly (and Hillary) horribly during the rape trial. He tried to do a Spaulding takeover using Amanda's stock and money (he was her lawyer and financial advisor). Justin (who also had a bit of a sketchy past) was frequently lecturing him about his ambition and what he did to gratify it.

It was Marland who decided to "redeem" him. Probably JVD's natural niceness made it easy for the audience to accept it.