"Secret Storm" memories.

[Nicholas Blair]

I'll have to check out that YouTube channel. Now I didn't see any of that era of SFT, though I did see David Gale terrorize Nancy Karr on EON. It's great when you get to see actors before they were typecast. David Gale was totally believable as an earnest priest, just as Julia Duffy was great as a slinky young vixen on LOL.

I had mentioned on another forum that Terry Kiser and Jada Rowland were one of my favorite soap couples, and someone responded with something like "Terry Kiser played a handsome romantic lead???" He had only seen Kiser playing thuggish roles in more recent movies. Until I saw some of those early episodes of TD, I would never have have imagined him playing an innocent and shy young intern. Terry Kiser could really act.

 

Exactly! For us, seeing David Gale as a villain was something of a shock.

You and I both remember the plane crash and Jill and Hugh Clayborn being killed. It made good story sense to kill off Hugh Clayborn, which would have put Ken in the middle of a triangle, but none to kill off Jill (Barbara Rodell). I don't know if this was done for the famous CBS double switch when Jada Rowland left the show, Lynne Adams came over from GL to replace her, and Barbara Rodell replaced Lynne Adams on GL.

Barbara Rodell is another one who changed types. On AW, TSS, and GL she played sympathetic if emotionally fragile young women. As Joyce Colman on ATWT she got to play a troublemaker who was slightly crazy and more than a little villainous.

 

[amybrickwallace]

It's also a credit to the better soap writing and the versatility of theatre-trained actors of that time.

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[robbwolff]

A John Kelly Genovese article online from back in 1979 claims that Ken Stevens died in a car accident. The article covers some of the final storylines, including Laurie and Mark moving into a supposedly haunted house.

[jam6242]

Thanks!  I don’t know why I can’t remember that because Joel Crothers was the reason I started watching in the first place.

[Nicholas Blair]

Thanks, robb. I don't recall the haunted house, but wasn't watching the show much then. The big storyline at the end involved artificial insemination. Kevin (David Ackroyd) had become paralyzed, but was excited because his wife Amy (Jada may have returned by then) was pregnant. Unfortunately, Amy lost the baby. She begged her doctor, Dr. Brian Neeves (Jeff Pomerantz) to help her get artificial insemination. Without telling her, Brian used the most available donor: himself. Of course, he was also in love with Amy, much to the chagrin of his rather creepy sister Niele (Betsy von Furstenberg), who seemed unnaturally attached to her brother. Her name was pronounced Nee-ELL. The show ended happily with a no longer paralyzed Kevin making his way across the room to Amy.

 

[danfling]

I recently heard a tape recording of Amy's baby shower.   In the episode, Lynn Adams was still in the role of Amy.

[robbwolff]

Here’s the Genovese article that describes the haunted house story:

https://www.welovesoaps.net/2015/07/remembering-woodbridge-the-secret-storm-10.html?m=1

[amybrickwallace]

I loved those multi-part soap articles. The soap magazines were so well-written then. 

[Nicholas Blair]

Thank you! So much good information in that article, and a lovely tribute to the actors.

[Joseph]

I wonder about Betsy Von Furstenberg her character Niele Neeves didn't have much result in my search, I understood she was involved in the artificial insemination storyline

[danfling]

Laurie had been one of the "other women" who was in love with a married woman.   She was not a villianess, but she did manage to get Ken away from Jill.

This was possibly the first time that I had seen the other woman gain the man she loved as a husband and they became a beloved couple.

I remember Betsy von Furstenberg from the show and remember thinking that she strongly resembled Eileen Fulton of As the World Turns (who she later replaced).    I read here that she was the sister of Dr. Neeves (Jeffry David Pomeranz, Keith Charles), but I really remember very little of her place in the storyline.

[Nicholas Blair]

IIRC, Niele didn't interact much with anyone but her brother, whom she did not want to get involved with Amy. She was not paired up with any of the men and did not have a lot of airtime. I thought Betsy von Furstenberg was very good when she replaced Eileen Fulton the first time, but then didn't seem as strong or as involved when she returned to play Lisa another time.

[amybrickwallace]

How was an artificial insemination story even received in 1973? That must have been interesting.

[Joseph]

Well maybe if the show was on air longer they would find something decent for her to do, but who knows

And thank you everyone for the insights I guess so many questions are pretty boring 

[Nicholas Blair]

My impression is that it was well enough received. After all, Amy was a married woman, and she intended to raise the child with her husband. Because Kevin, who was paralyzed, had so looked forward to their having a child, Amy believed that he would become deeply depressed if he knew about her miscarriage. (And apparently he couldn't count to nine, but let's not think about that.) So the writers had come up with ways to make the artificial insemination more acceptable. This was not the case of a single woman wanting to have a child alone. By 1973 artificial insemination would have been generally acceptable for infertile couples.

The combination of a somewhat daring topic and a good old soap opera noble heroine probably made this work for many viewers. I don't recall exactly when Jada Rowland returned, but I remember Lynne Adams having a scene where she was excited about getting the artificial insemination. Robbwolff mentioned a scene where Lynne is having a baby shower. Did Lynne get the sperm but Jada had the baby? That's what I don't recall.