Some clipsets with Cindy Pickett.

(she's in the early clips of Enough is Enough).

1980 episode:

I forgot to say how much I loved that Helena/Justin scene. How far did that go?

Rose Alaio was just a wonderful and charismatic actress. I'm sorry no soap used her long-term.

Thanks for the vids Carl. I've seen much of them, but oddly enough the woman shown arguing with Justin in the acting reel looks so different than the one in the vids you posted, and I'm quite positive the woman was Jackie due to the argument they were having.

Is it the jail scene? I think that's Jane Elliot, as Carrie.

This is taken from an old Soap Central character summary concerning the character of Tom Halverson( now deleted) Most sources claim Tom was played by Chris Sarandon and was on the show in 69/70. This detailed synopsis says Tom stayed around till 74.

I know there were some character summaries that were disputed due to innacuracies. Was this one of them? It certainly reads well and ties into many documented storylines of the early 70's. Or is Tom's involvement just elaborate fan fiction? Hopefully, someone with knowledge of that time frame (saynotyoursoap?) could verify what is fact or fiction.

Whatever, it makes fascinating reading.

>When attorney Mike Bauer first came back to Springfield from Bay City, with his young daughter Hope, Mike knew, in setting up his law firm in Springfield, that he might not be able to handle the workload alone. This could especially be true because of the need that Mike had to want to stay close to raising his daughter, especially with the fact that Hope's mother had committed suicide when she was quite young and there had been some difficulties in Bay City. Mike especially knew that to be successful in defending the clients he would want to represent, occasionally he would need to have an assistant to do what is other wise known as the "leg work" that he couldn't do while either being in court or gathering evidence in interviews -- this would be especially true when it came to criminal investigations. Mike met a man n Bay City, Mr. Halverson through business contacts there that had a young son who was just finishing up his law school education and Mike had briefly met the young man and found this young man to be quite intelligent and the young man himself, Tom Halverson was very pleased to meet Mike (Mike wouldn't know this from Tom at first, but Tom had wanted to be like Mike Bauer as an attorney since he was in his teens.) Since Mike found Tom to be quite personable and willing to want to do a lot of hard work, Mike told Mr. Halverson to have Tom come to Springfield when he finished his law school education and passed the bar. That's what Tom Halverson did and Mike hired him as his new assistant. That hiring would be the most beneficial thing Mike ever did for his career. Although, at first Hope became a little jealous of Tom, because Mike treated him almost like the son, he didn't have even with Mike being his late 30's and Tom being in early 20's -- only about 15 years apart.) Soon though Hope Bauer would treat Tom Halverson as a big bother, especially since Tom would give Hope lessons in how to really get her father to do what she wanted him to do! The first major case handed to Mike as to help his family friend Nurse Peggy Scott Dillman who was up on charges for murdering her husband Marty Dillman. Although, Peggy was suspected of the crime, Mike had a strong hunch that it definitely was not the sweet Peggy and, besides Marty's body was missing. Mike asked Tom Halverson to investigate where Marty's body might have gone. Tom found Marty's body near the lake with a fractured skull and knife wound to his neck and Tom led the police there and then the pregnant Peggy was charged with the crime, but this made Mike believe even more that Peggy couldn't have done it with her being pregnant. With Tom's continuing "leg work" and the help of Charlotte Waring it was revealed that the murderer was actually Flip Malone! Tom continued to be a big help to Mike and even assisted Mike with helping his good friends, Dr. Sara McIntyre and Dr. Joe Werner, when it appeared that Sara's new husband, Lee Gantry and his housekeeper, Mildred Foss were gaslighting Sara for her money. During the investigation, Tom was knocked nearly unconscious by Mildred's boyfriend, Tyler Meade and had to be submitted to Cedars hospital! (Tom wasn't there when Lee would eventually accidentally kill himself.) Although Tom wouldn't realize it then, Tom was about to meet the woman who he would eventually marry while a patient at Cedars. Many of the young nurses staff found Tom to be incredibly handsome and would hope that Tom would ask them out and even more. But, Tom who had led a rather sheltered life, before he went to law school and in law school was so studious that he hardly budgeted himself a social life. Tom didn't know what to make of all the attention the mainly female nursing staff gave him. Besides, Tom who was only in his early 20's was still a virgin! One nurse though was very calm around Tom and didn't necessarily throw herself at him, this beautiful nurse was Marion McHenry. But, Tom barely recognized and even ignored her, at first. Then as Tom was recovering and walking around Cedars, he would run into one woman that very much mesmerized him. That woman was Janet Mason from nearby Tarrywood! Although, Janet at first didn't see Tom, she soon would when she accidentally bumped into him and then Janet saw how handsome a young man Tom was and Janet could tell that Tom was also riveted by Janet's beauty! Finally striking up a nerve, Tom introduced himself to Janet and that's how when Tom was released from the hospital Tom Halverson and Janet Mason would begin to date and then fall in love.

Janet at the time was working as the secretary for Dr. Paul Fletcher, the mentor of Mike's brother, Dr. Ed Bauer. Janet herself was still in love with Ed, when she met Tom, whom Janet had an affair with in the recent past, but Ed was waiting to see if his first wife Leslie Jackson would come back to him. Leslie herself had fallen for Mike Bauer, but Mike himself had married Charlotte Waring (despite Hope's utter disapproval of Charlotte.) And, Leslie herself was also very disgusted (and rightly so, since Ed had beaten her while he was drunk when they were married.) During Ed and Leslie's marriage, Mike and Leslie had started an affair, but when Leslie at first wouldn't break free from his brother and divorce him, Mike decided not to wait and married Charlotte out of his frustration. Leslie then married the rich new businessman in town, Stanley Norris, much to Dr. Ed and Leslie's father, Dr. Steve Jackson's absolute horror -- for Stanley was known to cheat on his first wife, Barbara Norris and his second wife, nurse Katherine "Kit" Vested a lot! Into all of this, the lonely Janet decided to have a romance with the sweet Tom Halverson, but secretly Janet was still hoping Ed would come to her and give up his obsession over Leslie. Janet decided to quit her job with Dr. Paul Fletcher and for a while was on an intensive job hunt. Janet also decided to bring Tom Halverson home to Tarrywood to meet her mom and dad. Both approved of Tom, which further reinforced Janet's belief that perhaps it was time to cut all ties to Cedars and drop Ed. At this first meeting with Tom, Ellen, who was in one of her drunken states gave Janet a wink of approval for her choice of Tom. Then Janet finally gave in to temptation and seduced Tom, who finally lost his virginity. Back at Cedars, Ed performed a successful surgical procedure, which won him back his permanent position. Now Ed was ready to divorce Leslie, Janet finally growing tired of being strung along by Ed (and with Tom now in her life) finally dropped him. Then, to Ed's horror, Leslie informed him about her pregnancy! They named their little boy Frederick after Papa Bauer. Janet herself got a job as a secretary to Mike's law firm partner (but, not Tom's boss), Kenneth "Ken" Norris who found himself also attracted to Janet, but Janet was repelled by the man because of how egotistical he could be. Then Ellen, in another one of her drunken stupors and during an argument, accidentally blurted out to Grove that Ed and Janet had had an affair! Grove came to Cedars to confront Ed. Their heated meeting caused Grove to have a coronary, which killed him! After overhearing the altercation, Leslie's father, chief-of-staff, Steve Jackson insisted that Ed tell Leslie the truth about Janet, which he did. Leslie was so livid, she not only divorced Ed, but she forbade the Bauers from seeing Freddie! After Grove's funeral, Janet and Tom helped Ellen move to a new home in Springfield, but Janet was still failing to pick up on signs that Ellen was becoming quite the alcoholic and Janet and Tom's love affair became more heated and passionate, with the sheltered Tom (who'd been raised on a farm) finally losing his virginity. Enter though, the devious and somewhat irrational son of Stanley Norris, fellow attorney, Ken Norris. Mike Bauer had decided to let Ken Norris become law partners with him, but Mike made it clear to Ken that Ken was not Tom Halverson's boss and the only one of the partners that could give work and instruct Tom how to do the work, was Mike Bauer. But, Ken would soon find other ways to make Tom's life, hell! This included his love life with Janet. Ken himself found himself falling in love with Janet, despite the fact that Ken was in a relationship with his father's second wife, Kit Vested. Then Tom would get even more potential competition for Janet from the newly arrived in town, Roger Thorpe! Roger was just as devious as Ken! Roger was a junior executive of Stanley Norris' firm and fancied himself quite the ladies man. Roger was also being pursued by Ken's sister and Stanley's daughter, Holly Norris, much to all of the Norris' horror. Holly even went with Roger to New York City to help Roger move out of his apartment so Roger could relocate to Springfield and Roger let Holly seduce him and they had sex! Now, Tom would find himself to be in competition with not one but two men for Janet's affections and unlike Tom, Roger Thorpe and Ken Norris were not so sweet or so honest! And, this would lead to a series of events that were quite disastrous for all involved!

Roger and Ken both decided to make Tom jealous. Ken went as far as telling Tom, that he and Janet were having an affair. Roger started stalking both Tom and Janet while they were out together. Then both men used a drunken Ellen to find out where Janet was living. Roger's stalking went further and Roger even got a hold of Janet's keys (he stole her purse, but replace it, before she caught on.) Roger walked in while Janet and Tom were having sex in the bedroom, but he quickly walked out without Janet and Tom realizing he was there. And, Roger continued to lead Holly on, despite Ken beating him up. Then one night all hell broke loose! After being reassured by Janet, that he indeed was the only man she was having sex with, Tom was ready to propose marriage to the woman That night though would become disastrous for any long-term relationship between Janet Mason and Tom Halverson (including marriage!) For one rainy night, Tom had every intention to propose marriage to Janet that evening and was going to after dinner, Janet though asked Tom to go to the store and buy some ice cream for dessert. Tom, already wanting to show how dutiful a husband he would be when he and Janet were married, went to the store to pick up the ice cream and postponed his marriage proposal. That would be unfortunate for both Tom and Janet! Because while Tom was out, Roger Thorpe came by Janet's apartment with the duplicate key and tried to force himself on her, Janet held off Roger's advances, but Roger got Janet's lipstick on his shirt collar! Then as Roger was leaving Janet's apartment, Holly Norris was coming to see Janet (they had become friends), but Holly seeing Roger leave Janet's apartment with lipstick on his collar, misconstrued the whole episode and thought that Roger and Janet had consensual sex and Holly bolted from the apartment building -- Roger saw Holly and he too went running after Holly. At that moment, Tom Halverson was coming back to Janet's apartment building with the ice cream and Holly in her rush ran right into Tom! Holly and Tom who had met each other and Holly knowing that Tom was seriously in a romance with Janet, told Tom, "Roger Thorpe and your girlfriend are having sex! I just saw them kissing!" Tom was livid and totally bought into Holly's misconstrued reconstruction of the events she had just witnessed and then Holly went running into the street without looking where she was going. Tom then ran into Roger coming out of Janet's apartment building and would have beat up Roger right there on the spot, if not for the fact that Tom and Roger both suddenly turned toward the street to see Holly get run into by a passing motorist! Roger bolted the scene and Tom totally forgetting about the spilled ice cream went to try and assist Holly and stayed around to be a witness to what had just occurred. Being a witness to what happened and what Holly had told him before she got ran into, made Tom's blood totally curl and he decided against going back up to Janet's apartment and went home. Meanwhile, well all of that was going on outside of the apartment, Ken came by Janet's apartment and saw absolutely terrified Janet and Ken asked if Janet needed any help. Taking advantage the situation and Ken helped Janet calm down and Janet let Ken hold her and Janet fell asleep in Ken's arms. The next morning, Janet still fully dressed from the night before thanked Ken (who also was still fully dressed from the night before) for being there! Ken then left to go to work. Janet would arrive to Mike and Ken's office later in the day to find out why Tom had not come to her apartment after what Roger had tried to do to her. Instead, Tom wouldn't even let Janet speak and looked in her straight in the eye and showed the engagement ring and told her, "Your not ready for this." and then threw the engagement right into the trash can near his office desk. Then Tom walked away with Janet blubbering, "But, Tom....why?" Ken Norris witnessed this whole event and went to comfort Janet, who had fished out of the trash can the engagement ring and put it back on Tom's desk, thinking that sometime in the future Tom might change his mind or at the very least realistically sell it!

Tom though wouldn't have time to mourn the ending of his relationship with Janet or even find out how badly Holly Norris had misconstrued what she had seen. The same night that Holly had seen Roger leave Janet's apartment and then went outside and yelled out her misconstrued telling of the events and then getting run into by a car, her father, Stanley Norris had been shot and killed. The night of the murder, Gil Mehren, another junior executive at Stanley's company walked into Stanley's office and saw Leslie Jackson Bauer Norris standing over Stanley's body with the gun nearby! Although, Leslie told Gil that she had just arrived, Gil didn't believe her and Gil called 911 and Leslie was arrested by Capt. Jim Swanson of the Springfield police department and Leslie was sent to jail! To Leslie's rescue, came Mike Bauer who was in total disbelief that Leslie could have murdered Stanley, even if Stanley was as much of a cheat as people were saying. Mike suspected himself that Stanley's secretary, Linell was the murderer, but at first had no proof and the D.A. Ira Newton was out for blood, Leslie's that is! Two of the problems with the gun was that, 1. there were no fingerprints -- obviously whoever had committed Stanley's murder had used gloves and, 2. the gun had been bought with one of Stanley's employees, Roger Thorpe's credit cards, yet Roger Thorpe quickly turned out to have an alibi for the night in question -- he was across town trying to rape a woman, Janet Mason! (This wasn't really known at the time, Roger's "girlfriend", Stanley's daughter, Holly had told everyone that Roger and Janet were having an affair!) Even Tom had seen Roger across town. Roger was quickly cleared by the Springfield police department of Stanley's murder and left town in disgrace. So Leslie was put on trial and the trial was rough, with D.A. Ira Newton giving very little ground. It also didn't help that Mike's third wife, Charlotte was doing her utmost to make sure Leslie (the woman Mike truly loved) was taken to prison and out of their lives forever! Charlotte fed information about Mike and Leslie's tortured love affair to the prosecution through Ira's secretary, Rita Putnam. Charlotte even went further and told the secretary of Springfield D.A. Ira Newton (who was out for blood), Rita Putnam, finer details of how Mike planned to save Leslie from what was certain to be a heavy sentence for the murder of Stanley. Luckily, Tom would then get Mike two lucky breaks. After the disastrous end of his romance with Janet Mason, Tom decided to date Rita Putnam and found out from her what Charlotte was doing and told Mike. That would almost seal the end of Mike and Charlotte's marriage. Fortunately, Tom was dating Rita and clued Mike into what Charlotte was doing. Then Tom stumbled across four clues about who the murderer really was: 1. Tom found out through the forensic analysis of Springfield officer Camilla Crawford that the aim of the bullett would indicate that a woman had murdered Stanley (that didn't necessarily clear Leslie, but gave Tom some help.) 2. Then one of the security guards at Stanley's office building told Tom that a woman who was wearing Linell Conway's coat was let into the building sometime during the evening. 3. Then Tom found out from the gunshop owner that a woman fitting Linell's discription had bought the gun, claiming to be Roger Thorpe's wife. 4. Finally, Tom also found out about the fight between Linell and Stanley at the office party the week before Stanley's murder. Tom quickly turned all this information over to Mike and Mike quickly put Linell on the witness stand. While on the witness stand a shocking conclusion happened. Marion Conway, Linell's elderly, protective mother, confessed to killing Stanley (she wore Linell's overcoat the night of the murder to gain access to the building and took the gun out of her daughter's desk.) All hell broke loose, when Marion collapsed and died of a heart attack. Charlotte was not happy to see Leslie exonerated of Stanley's murder. With Leslie now free the only thing left for her and Mike to marry was for one more tidbit about Charlotte to come out and that would be from Mike's daughter Hope -- who with Tom's urging told her father that she had seen her stepmom in a romantic embrace with Dr. Dick Carey! Now free after a divorce Mike asked Leslie to marry him and they did, with Tom being Mike's best man (although his brother Ed was in attendance too, despite formerly being married to Leslie.) In the midst of this trial, Tom finally discovered the equally sweet young and pretty nurse Marion McHenry at Cedars when he suffered a broken leg while trying to help Mike on another case! Tom finally asked Marion out on dates and they became lovers, much to Marion's happiness! And, eventually Tom asked Marion to marry him (although not with the same engagement ring as Janet had fished out of the trash can) and they were married soon after. Not longer after, Janet would become pregnant with Ken's child and confessed to Tom that she wished it were his. Tom, who by now suspected that Holly was wrong about what transpired with Roger and Janet, agreed but by this time he was committed to Marion.

The last case Tom would work on for Mike Bauer, though would again involve Mike's good friends, Sara McIntyre and Joe Werner. After they had gotten married, it would appear that Kit Vested had set her sights on the handsome Joe and then when her supposed good friend, the former Charlotte Bauer (Mike's ex) got in between Kit and Joe, Kit had Charlotte poisoned and Charlotte died on the operation table with Joe performing the surgery, but not before Charlotte wrote an anonymous note to Sara saying, Another woman is after your husband!" The lead to it being Kit would come from Tom who while out on a date with Marion McHenry got to witness Kit with the now married to Tom's former lover, Janet Mason, Ken, and Tom got to overhear Kit's plans to poison and kill Sara and then have her sexual way with Joe. That same night, Janet saw Kit and Ken together and assumed they were having a renewed affair (Kit and Ken had been item before Janet and Ken married.) Then, on one of her dates with Wilson Frost, Mike Bauer happened by and Sara, feeling guilty,cut off the date. While Mike and Sara were sitting together, Mike's assistant, Tom Halverson, admitted that he had seen Kit and Ken together and thought he overheard them talking about where Joe was (at this point Sara was nervous that perhaps Joe might be dead.) Ken and Janet were having an argument about Kit, when Mike and Sara came to their house and when Janet went in the other room -- Mike and Sara berated Ken as to where Joe and Kit might be. Eventually Kit completely lost her mind. She made a phone call to Sara and tricked her out to the cabin (Kit didn't know that Mike was nearby and was following closely behind) and then Kit poisoned Sara (who was fortunately saved by Mike). Kit then shot Joe, only to be fatally wounded while struggling with Joe over the gun! ! Meanwhile it would be the bieginning of the end for the Norris marriage since Janet learned what Ken and Kit were discussing. Tom though wouldn't be around for Janet after the marriage fell apart, because Tom would get a lucrative job offer at a huge law firm in Los Angeles and move with his new wife, Marion McHenry out to California, with Mike wishing his protégé well. Before Tom left, Tom finally told Mike how much he had looked up to and admired him and hoped to someday be even half the man that Mike was. Mike told Tom, he was already there. Through the years, Mike would occasionally receive letters from Tom and they were always treasured by Mike, who was always thrilled that Tom and Marion were doing quite well in Los Angeles.

As far as I can recall, Mike Bauer's law partner at his firm was Peter Wexler (played by Michael Durrell). I came back as a viewer to "The Guiding Light" in the spring of 1970, and do not recall a character named Tom Halverson, nor the name Chris Sarandon in the crawl.

I don't think Rita Putnam (played by Anna Shaler) was Ira Newton's (played by Larry Gates) secretary. I seem to recall her as some snoopy TV reporter.

There are a number of omissions in that character summary (actually, more of an alleged plot summary).

For example:

No mention was made of Liberty Airlines.

No mention was made of Johnny Fletcher (played by Erik Howell).

No mention was made of Barbara Norris (played by Augusta Dabney and then by Barbara Berjer).

No mention was made of Adam Thorpe (played by Robert Gerringer and then by Robert Milli).

No mention was made of David Vested (played by Peter D. Greene and then by Dan Hamilton).

No mention was made of Mrs. Herbert (played by Rosetta LeNoire).

No mention was made of Hope's friend, Christie Rogers (played by Ariane Munker).

No mention was made of Deborah Mehren (played by Olivia Cole).

No mention was made of Karen Martin (played by Tudi Wiggins).

I note that concerning Leslie Bauer's being charged with Stanley Norris' murder, what really got her into trouble was being witnessed in the park on a rainy night by Charles Eiler (played by Graham Jarvis). He was walking his dog, when he spotted her running through the park, crying, and saying, "I could kill him!" Also omitted was Charles' wife, Betty Eiler (played by Madeleine Sherwood).

Does anyone remember that the second actor to play Stanley Norris (William Smithers) used to put his feet up on the office desk a lot?!

Regards from NYC!

Soapluvva

http://www.youtube.com/soapluvva

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Thanks for sharing all this with us. I never knew Graham Jarvis or Madeline Sherwood were on GL.

This has already been talked about a bit but can you tell us more about Olivia Cole's story?

SOD covers GL's 1989 Christmas party.

SOD synopses July 76

Mike is at Spence's cabin. From his position on the cot across the room, he observes Spence. Mr. Jeffers sits behind a small table loading a shotgun. His hands are shaking, he's perspiring and he has that nervous look of a man on the run. Mike observes this, and other things as well. He notices that behind the brash exterior there exists a very frightened man. Mike senses that he might be able to persuade Spence to give himself up. It won't be easy, but Spence is really not that certain about what he wants to do. He's just running scared and maybe, just maybe, he's now tired of running. Mike's hunch is correct. Spence is indeed tired of being on the run. He feels he's basically a good man who has just had a large dose of bad luck (first the man in the bar in Juneau and now, Leslie). He's really sorry about Mike's wife (he claims he didn't see her) as he is about the young man he killed in Juneau. Mike tells Spence that since his crimes weren't premeditated, the courts will probably go pretty easy on him. Mike gets through to Spence, and he agrees to return to Springfield and turn himself into the police. Before they leave the cabin, Spence tells Ann that Jimmy is alive. He left their son with David Rustin's family. They live in a small town, just outside of Juneau. Ann is overjoyed to learn that her son is alive.

Rita: Roger's Salvation?

Roger wants to give Peggy so much, but he can't, not with the burden of having to pay off all that money he owes Holly. After he's through sending her the monthly payments, he's left with very little to save. He needs a way out. But is there one? Yes... there certainly is. Roger suddenly remembers Rita... Rita and all that gorgeous money she owes him (while they were in Texas, they made a deal. Rita was to give him half of an inheritance she would soon be receiving). Better late than never, Roger thinks, as he dials Rita's number. He meets with Rita. She says she can't give him the money. She's been deluged with family problems (she's helping to pay her mother's hospital bills). Roger says he doesn't care about her problems. He just wants the money. She skipped out on him once before, and it's not going to happen again.

Dr. Ed Bauer sits in his office staring off into space. In his hand is a legal document from Holly's lawyer, stating that Holly's and his divorce will be final very, very soon. Judging from the look in Ed's eyes, it seems very obvious that he's having second thoughts about this divorce. He still cares very much about Holly and in recent days, it appears, they have been getting a bit closer. The brick walls they built around themselves are beginning to crumble. They've been touching, verbally, for the first time in months. During the last few days they've been sharing laughter and jokes, instead of more strained formalities. Ed now knows he has a difficult decision to make (to divorce, or not to divorce) -- and he only has till the end of July to make it!

This new closeness between Ed and Holly is also becoming quite obvious to their friends and family. Ed's mother, Bert, decides to give them a push in the right direction. She arranges a double birthday party for Ed and his and Holly's daughter Christina.

Rita gets a distressing late night phone call from her sister Evie. She can hear the quiver in her sister's voice as she says that their mother had another blackout spell. Rita makes a quick decision. She tells Evie to bring their mother to Springfield. She wants to have her admitted to Cedars Hospital.

Ann nervously stands by Mike's side as he dials David Rustin's telephone number. She can barely contain the anxiety and joy she is feeling. The moment she has waited for has finally arrived!! An can hardly believe it, but in a few seconds she'll be talking to her son Jimmy... Or will she?

Ann's stomach hits rock bottom when she hears Mrs. Rustin tell her that Jimmy is no longer living with them. He left home a while ago and they don't' know where he is. "But," Mrs. Rustin continues, "there's a good responsibility Jimmy hitched up with a boat and went out to sea. That's the one thing I remember most about Jimmy, his love of boats."

Guess Who's in Love?

Can it be? Can it really be happening? Can this super-independent Ms. actually be falling in love? Can Cupid's arrow actually have landed right smack in the middle of Rita Stapleton's heart? It's a loud, affirmative "Yes" to all of these questions!! Rita Stapleton is happily, glowingly in love... and the object of her affections... Cedars Hospital's chief-of-staff, Dr. Ed Bauer.

It's great to be in love, but not so great when the man you love is still married... and is now giving every indication that he might remain that way. Rita is not wearing blinders and she is quite aware of the rekindling of old feelings between Ed and his wife Holly. Rita's devious little mind goes to work, and she plots how to win this man for her very own. Let's hope Holly is up to sparring with the super-cool -- and quite attractive -- young woman.

Though her heart is filled with love, her mind is deeply troubled with the thoughts concerning her mother. Viola Stapleton is now in Cedars Hospital, undergoing a series of tests, that will hopefully put the finger on what is causing her blackout spells. Viola's doctor is the very capable Dr. Sarah Werner. Sarah tells Rita, and her younger sister, Evie, that so far they haven't been able to locate the cause of their mother's troubles.

Dr. Justin Marler, that esteemed heart surgeon (and possibly heart wrecker), has been trying very hard to reignite the fire that once burned between him and Sarah. It's not going to be easy. He can sense Sarah is still very attracted to him (her blush is obvious proof), but he also realizes she's very much in love with her husband.

It seems that Justin now feels he made the wrong choice. While they were in medical school together, Sarah advised him not to marry Jacqueline. She said it would be a mistake. But being a bull-headed son-of-a-gun, Justin didn't listen, and he went ahead and made that woman his wife. It comes as no surprise to Sarah to learn now (from Justin himself), that he and Jacqueline are divorced.

Time has become quite an important factor in the lives of two women in Springfield. Both Rita and Holly are watching the calendar rather closely. It's only two more days until Holly and Ed's divorce becomes final. While Holly ruminates, Rita plots. Holly knows she wants to try to make another go of her marriage. Rita knows that she has to make herself #1 in Ed's thoughts.

How does Rita handle the situation? Well, one way is to entice the young doctor by inviting him and his son, Freddie, for a swim at her pool, and then appearing before him in a rather skimpy bikini. It's quite an effective maneuver. Ed's eyes widen with delight as they gaze upon her luscious form.

While Rita and Ed take in the sun, Holly takes in her current situation... then makes a decision. She tells her mother, Barbara, that she's going to try to stop the divorce, but so far she hasn't been able to reach Ed, and let him know how she feels (Holly left word with Ed's answering service, but when the service located Ed at Rita's; Rita didn't tell Ed Holly called).

Ed and Holly finally do connect and they agree to meet the next day at his office. Holly arrives on schedule, but what she sees is something that causes an abrupt change in her plans. She catches Rita in Ed's arms and now knows Ed won't want to return to her -- he obviously has started a new life for himself.

What Holly doesn't know is that Ed was holding Rita out of comfort, not love. He was trying to ease her suffering after he told her that they discovered a cyst on her mother's brain and they have to operate.

Viola Stapleton comes through the surgery with flying colors. The cyst, which the doctors found to be benign, is successfully removed. Rita's mother can now look forward to a long and happy life.

It's a shame the same can't be said of Holly. At the same time that Viola is successfully pulling through surgery, Holly learns from Mike that her divorce is final. Upon returning to her home, Holly reflects on her loss and breaks down in tears.

To Pose or Not to Pose

Will Hope Bauer follow Ben McFarren's advice and rid herself of her inhibitions? Will she agree to pose nude in her art class? Surprisingly enough it seems as though the answer may be yes. Hope seems ripe and ready to shed her upbringing and become a freer person.

So Joe Werner was still around at this time?

I wonder why they didn't consider keeping Sarah and putting her with Justin again after they killed Jackie off in 1982.

That stuff with the Holly/Ed breakup is the type of contrived soap writing that annoys me.

I believe that marland wanted to keep Sara but CBS and/or P&G wanted the oldies out and Sara,Adam,Ed(Mart Huswit) and Barbara were written off.

It's a shame. Honestly I can see why Barbara went, but I think they should have kept Sara at least. This was a canary in the coal mine as GL/P&G then went on to dump so many others in the next few years, including characters who could have driven story for a long time to come, like Justin.

I also think it was a mistake to kill off Jackie.

Supposedly Jackie was killed off due to the recast not being liked.

Ed's birthday is in December, why would they have a birthday party for him in the summer.

I understood when reading about what was going on at GL why they dumped Adam and Barbara. Holly and Roger were both gone, so where was the story?

I was watching TV last night and saw a commerical for FitRX, a wright loss retreat place and I swear the one "trainers" looked like Beth Ehlers.

Supposedly Jackie was killed off due to the recast not being liked.

Ed's birthday is in December, why would they have a birthday party for him in the summer.

For the same reason that Nancy Hughes' birthday was in October, but in later years they celebrated it in August. Poor continuity. GL and ATWT could have used Margo Husin Call.

From what I understand, Jackie was not meant to remain dead. She would have returned later when a suitable actress was found, but after Doug Marland was axed, and Justin was written out, later writers probably did not think much about her. I would have loved to see Jackie return when Phillip was at his lowest ebb. They could have mined so much out of that relationship, especially had Jackie become stronger and gone up against Alan. Cindy Pickett was a delight, but Carrie Mowery, the last Jackie, was too ineffectual.