42 minutes ago, P.J. said:

I'm fine with first born sons being named after their fathers--and especially in Billy's case, it made sense that he would want to pass on his father's name. (I can't think of another son named after the father after A-M and Bill....I guess there's Phillip and Harley's kid Alan Zachary, but he was just Zach. I must be forgetting someone.)

I am humbly grateful however, we were never stuck with anyone naming their daughter after "dead" Reva. That's a step too far.

You're lucky you never watched EastEnders, where characters regularly name their kids after dead relatives even in the most contrived of ways, like when a teen mother named her daughter Peggy after a grandmother she had barely even known for most of her life. (the show, a few years later, also named a nightclub after Peggy and had a huge portrait of her on the wall)

Tonawanda NEWS Friday, August 31,1973

Soaps still actor's way to make living By JACK OBRIAN

Talk to anyone who's been sick for a while, and chances are pretty good that person is hooked on the "soaps " Yes soap operas are alive and well on daytime TV, and they offer an excellent way for a young actor to make a living.

Don Stewart stars on The Guiding Light." TV's longest running detergent drama. Don said If he wrote us a letter, it would go like this '

'Dear Jack, In the five years since I last wrote you, I married and divorced a girl who turned out to be a really bad one. In fact, she is trying to break up someone else's marriage now. Brother Ed as you know is an alcoholic, and he started drinking again long enough to get married to a very restless and impulsive child. I'd expect more from a great surgeon. Then, the other day, I finally married Ed's ex-wife, which of course makes me both father and uncle to his son. I guess that means I could be called "Uncle-Daddy." I recuperated well after being shot in the heart. It turned out to be only a flesh wound. My law practice has been extremely successful since I saved at least three people from the gas chamber or prison. My daughter ran away from home, but I found her in a blinding snow storm. Don

"WOULD YOU BELIEVE that all these incidents related above happened to me " Don asked. "It's true. They did - that is, they happened to me on the television screen. They're all incidents which have occurred in the last five years to Michael Bauer, attorney-at-law, in The Guiding Light ' How can they get away with such stories? The fact is they appear just as often in the news. In the words of Mary Stuart, a friend of mine who stars on 'Search for Tomorrow,' a redeeming factor about daytime TV is that the villain always pays for what he has done —and pays, and pays, and pays.

"SOME MEN put down soap operas and they put down their wives for watching them. But after all, what's the difference between watching soap operas all day or watching football games all day? "I don't want you to feel that I'm trying to justify my existence as an actor on a daytime drama (as it is more respectfully referred to). It is a tremendous job for an actor, very highly sought after and coveted. It's steady, it offers an opportunity to work continuously in one's craft, and allows time to pursue other activities. More than half the actors on our show are doing or have recently finished Broadway jobs. Also, daytime drama is a fact of life and affords an outlet for people who find it difficult to communicate, people in hospitals, older people, as well as housewives who are home with small children.

"ONE DAY I was entertaining on a program that featured great actress Joan Crawford. I was supposed to introduce her on the show. I went over to her table to meet her, but before I could introduce myself she said, I know you. You're a very fine lawyer!'

"On another occasion I had the opportunity to go up to the late Irene Ryan to compliment her on her role in Pippin.' But again, before I could get a word out, she said: Hi! I know you. I watch you everyday.'

Aww, I find it sweet that Irene Ruan watched the show.

I guess they're referring to Ed marrying Holly? In '73?

Lots of celebs watch or watched soaps. Sally Field said she has watched GH since the 60's. I remember reading Soap Opera Digest that former Governor John Connally and his wife Nellie would schedule their day so they could watch As The World Turns during lunch. People said they knew not to disturb them during that time. They did that up to their deaths.

7 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

a redeeming factor about daytime TV is that the villain always pays for what he has done —and pays, and pays, and pays.

That might have been true back then, but nowadays a lot of villains end up becoming the leading men on soaps, LOL.

Thanks for posting these, @Paul Raven. They're like windows into the past, and it's great when they mention storylines that happened during periods of the show we can't see.

14 minutes ago, DeeVee said:

That might have been true back then, but nowadays a lot of villains end up becoming the leading men on soaps, LOL.

Thanks for posting these, @Paul Raven. They're like windows into the past, and it's great when they mention storylines that happened during periods of the show we can't see.

Yeah there are a few that pay but mostly dead otherwise they are the leading men and that has been a trend for like the last 3-4 decades

3 hours ago, SoapDope78 said:

Lots of celebs watch or watched soaps. Sally Field said she has watched GH since the 60's. I remember reading Soap Opera Digest that former Governor John Connally and his wife Nellie would schedule their day so they could watch As The World Turns during lunch. People said they knew not to disturb them during that time. They did that up to their deaths.

Bette Davis was a big fan of Lisa Brown and Eileen Fulton, etc. Shelby Foote a novelist who wrote the book the Civil War, which Ken Burns turned into a groundbreaking miniseries...loved ATWT and would take a writing break when it came on..he and his wife called it "Doorways," cause someone was always in a doorway eaves dropping.

Not a celebrity, but I always remember being in the third grade, where our classroom was right across from the principal's office, hearing the theme music from ATWT as the nuns and the secretaries would stop and watch it...(imagine their chatter over what Lisa or Joyce were up to..)

The whole thing about not recasting Hope as they aged up AM was dumb...I think Deas and Frankie D were less then 10 years apart and I never thought anything of it...the Lyla actress and all the Margos were the a decade apart if that. They were just too lazy to recast.

Edited 26 minutes ago26 min by Mitch64