1 hour ago, Mitch64 said:

No, it was a way to get Fulton off for her three month time off clause. Lisa gets a call from her Mom, who hadnt been mentioned in years, and has a discussion with Tom about it. She comes back ( after disquising herself as a cleaning woman at the Yacht club to spy on her family and friends to see what was going wrong..and try to fix it in the usual Lisa way..believe me, it was weird then...) and tells him that her mother is doing great, and that was that.

Thanks. Such a surprising choice. I wonder if Alma lived to meet Lien. I'd like to imagine a world where Lisa took Alma to meet Earl and Alma privately told her that she thinks Earl is a homosexual.

So, how old would Alma have been by 1985? 100? 110?

5 minutes ago, Khan said:

So, how old would Alma have been by 1985? 100? 110?

Ethel Remey would have been 90 if she'd lived. I'm not sure how old Alma would be...they had aged Tom quickly but then kept him the same age for about 10-15 years.

I am curious as to how Clarice Blackburn played the part. She was only 12 years older than Eileen and 30 years younger than Ethel.

1 hour ago, DRW50 said:

Thanks. Such a surprising choice. I wonder if Alma lived to meet Lien. I'd like to imagine a world where Lisa took Alma to meet Earl and Alma privately told her that she thinks Earl is a homosexual.

LMAO...Alma "Well dear, I knew you would end up with one!"

Lisa, "One WHAT, Mother?" (she always respected Nancy more then her poor mom."

Alma: "You know dear, a man who is..theatrical"

Lisa: "Oh, I KNOW, isnt it great...while Bob or Grant had NO interest in theater or musicals..while all they wanted to do is, Bob, watch the Cubs, and Grant sit with his books on history and law! Finally I found someone I have so much in common with!"

Alma: "Oh, I think you two have more in common then you even think dear, but if your happy"

Lisa, "Mother, I never know what you mean, I wish you would make sense sometimes!!"

Dec 1974 synopsis

Despite a bitter divorce several years ago, Dan and Susan Stewart's lives continue to cause conflict. The problem now, as in the past, is their daughter Emmy. Although the courts awarded Susan legal custody of Emmy, Dan is determined. to raise his daughter alone. Since Emmy has run away twice while living with Susan, Dan takes it upon himself to keep Emmy with him. Naturally Susan protested and had Dan served with a warrant. Luckily, Dan's lawyer, Grant Colman, was present and insisted he let his daughter go for now. Meanwhile a small child is being tossed from one parent to another. Susan states she loves Emmy but one must wonder if this is just a ploy to get Dan back. Dan, on the other hand, is a truly devoted father and wants only what is best for Emmy and is not about to give her up without a strong fight.

While sharing breakfast with Susan, Mark Galloway appears surprised that Susan is planning to bring legal action against Dan. However, her plans may change now that she has been informed Dan is going to have the custody suit reopened. Grant receives a visit from Mark, who pleads with Grant to set up some sort of meeting between Dan and Susan. At first, he states he cares about the child's welfare, but it isn't long before Grant realizes he is thinking mainly about his future with Susan.

He does tell Grant however, that he feels Susan may relent before this case goes to court, as he belleves she does not want the responsibility of raising a child. Knowing how vindictive Susan is, Grant informs Mark he will have to discuss this with Dan, and only he can make the final decision. As Mark leaves, he appears pleased but asks Grant never to let Susan know about their visit. When Grant discusses Mark's request with Dan, he is totally bewildered, but agrees, hoping Mark is correct.

Susan's lawyer informs her about the proposed meeting, but before she makes a decision, she decides to talk it over with her good friend John Dixon. Assuming John will understand, Susan appears humiliated when he, who knew Susan when she didn't want any children, questions why she is letting this go so far when they both know she still loves Dan. Susan finally decides to go through with the meeting, but informs Mark she is ready for a long, hand fight.

Kim Dixon, who wants to, help Dan in any way she possibly can, is thrilled with Betsy's invitation to her school's Christmas play. John, recuperating from surgery and feeling totally alone, questions Kim's sudden interest in Betsy Stewart. John has yet to learn that his attending physician and Kim are very good friends and that she has a special feeling for Dan's young niece. Betsy's play is a terrific success, and Dan takes she and Kim out for refreshments to celebrate. A woman stops by their table and tells Dan and Kim what an excellent actress their daughter is. As the woman departs, Betsy apologizes for her mistake and Kim is quick to tell Betsy that she would like nothing more than to have had her for a daughter However, the woman is only half wrong as Betsy is Dans real daughter, but perhaps she will never learn the truth for he feels she is much too young to understand.

Kim stops by Lisa's bookstore to have lunch and finds her terribly upset over Ellen Stewart's recent visit. She confides in Kim that she feels Ellen was responsible for her and Grant's break-up. Kim tries to persuade Lisa to talk about Grant, however, saying she never wants to see or talk about Grant again.

Joyce Colman, resuming her she job at Memorial Hospital, spots Grant and immediately begins discussing what a trouble maker Lisa is. Knowing Lisa and Grant will never resume their relationship, Joyce, trying désperately for the first time in her life to become independent, tells Chris Hughes she has rented an apartment. Chris, knowing how insecure she is, wonders how she is going to make it. Joyce tells him she firmly believes everything will work out. Could she possibly be thinking Grant will come back to her once he realizes how much she has changed.?

Although the charges against her have been dropped, Natalie Bannon continues to pursue Tom Hughes, At a dinner celebrating her freedom, Natalie admits to Tom that she wants to be more than his ex-client. Tom, just learning about Carol's plans to obtain a divorcee from him, tells her that they are friends and although his future looks dim, he will call her soon. Nancy comes home and finds Chris extremely worried as Carol went to see him about recommending a divorce lawyer for her divorce from Tom. Nancy, refusing to mind her own business goes to see Carol in the hopes of getting her to change her mind about divorcing Tom.

However, upon her arrival at the bookstore, she meets Jay Stallings who is currently dating Carol, and he is quick to put her grandson down for the pain he has caused Carol. Carol finally appears and tells Nancy that she is sorry, but she and Tom are hopeless and is determined to go through with the divorce. Bob, trying not to interfere, goes to see Tom and asks him to call Carol before this situation goes any further. They are interrupted by a visit from Natalie who senses Bob .doesn't like her. Tom assures her that Bob's coolness is just because he doesn't know her. However, if Tom and Carol's marriage breaks up, the Hughes' family will have only her to blame. Bob, feeling he got nowhere with Tom, visits Lisa. Lisa informs Bob that no one can talk two people out of anything once their minds are made up , but she often wishes someone would have tried in their case.

CarJacker, celebrating Sage's birthday! She'd be legitimately 23 yrs old. In soap years, She'd be on her third marriage by now! LOL!

THE DAILY NEWS, TARRYTOWN. N. Y. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1965

Birthday Unnoticed

Perhaps as a gesture of good citizenship, the CBS daytime soap opera "As the World Turns" will practically ignore the fictional 72nd birthday of Grandpa Hughes, a popular regular character on the epic played by veteran TV and radio actor Santos Ortega. Two years ago they made a big thing out of his 70th birthday and the network was flooded with 150,000 assorted cards and cakes which must have delighted the U.S. Post Office right in the midst of the holiday rush. In any event, this year the show will make a notable contribution to our turning world by letting Santos' birthday go unnoticed. The press agent called it Santos! gift to Santa.

..

The old bag Helen looks good there

The Journal-News ROCKLAND COUNTY, N.Y. TUESDAY APRIL 28, 1981

World finally stops turning for Wagner By MICHAEL KUCHWARA Associated Press Writer NEW YORK (AP) —

She's poured more cups of coffee and listened to more troubles than Mrs. Olsen and Ann Landers combined, but after 25 years of playing Nancy Hughes on the CBS soap opera. "As The World Turns,” Helen Wagner is out of a job "I am not retiring,” declared Miss Wagner, who a CBS spokesman said, left the show last month because she and the network could not come to a contractual agreement. " "I had nothing whatsoever to do anymore, the actress said recently in describing the gradual elimination of Nancy from the show — she had one line in three months — and her decision to leave, “There just hasn't been anything to Nancy's character. Miss Wagner said. "Anybody could read the lines I've been given I haven't been in the kitchen for a year and a half.”

Soap opera buffs know that Nancy's kitchen, located in that mythical Midwest community of Oakdale, has been an important part of the show since its debut April 2.1956 It's where problems involving the Hughes and Lowell clans are discussed, rediscussed and then discussed some more “World Turns” has always been the most traditional of soap operas,celebrating the family, of which Nancy, and her husband Chris, played by Don MacLaughlin. were the anchors. It was the show which celebrated the Fourth of July. Memorial Day and Christinas. And for nearly 20 years, it was No. 1, generating huge ratings and profits for CBS and its owner. Procter & Gamble Productions.

With the death in 1974 of its creator and head writer. Irna Phillips, and the gradual success of youth-oriented soaps on ABC,World Turns slipped in the ratings. It’s still among the five top-rated soaps. CBS said, but a turnover of writers and characters changed the tone of the show. The “World" of today is much sexier and turns at a faster pace, blurring characters, especially the newer ones who are in and out of the show within six months.

“Writing an hour show, five days a week. 52 weeks a year is very, very difficult." Miss Wagner said." To make all the little details fit is very demanding "But if you're going to write World Turns,' you're going to have to do that. It's about the details of people's lives and their interaction rather than the thrust of the story. "I am very much aware that as the years have gone by. the character must change," Miss Wagner said." I don't expect to be used in the same way as I was in the beginning of the show, "But I see no reason not to involve Chris and Nancy in the kinds of situations that their present age (early 60s) would be. She said Don and I have never objected to being aged as we went along. Her husband and manager. Robert Willey, said, "Helen and Don MacLaughlin were the only happily married people on the air. As far as the writer’s job is concerned, writing a happy marriage is incredibly hard to do." The character of Nancy Hughes has not been written out of the show. Miss Wagner said. She is still there for writers to tap in any future epi sodes "I have never really criticized what the authors have wanted to do",. she said. "What I have criticized is what they wanted to lose or not bother with. They should use what background material they have inherited. It's a loss of a great treasure if they don't"

Helen was right, Nancy and Chris should have had a place in the story. The best way forward was to mix the traditional and the contemporary. P&G in particular seemed to go into panic mode, thinking dropping everybody over 60 was the answer.

Days kept Tom and Alice prominent, even amongst all the adventure stuff. AMC used Phoebe, Joe & Ruth . And eventually Nancy was back and stayed until the end.

Helen Wagner hit the nail on the head when she said it was about "the details of people's lives and their interaction rather than the thrust of the story." People don't tune into their favorite shows for the plots; they tune in for the characters. This is true, not just for soaps, but for all TV shows. Why the networks won't get that through their thick skulls, I'll never know.

1 hour ago, Khan said:

Helen Wagner hit the nail on the head when she said it was about "the details of people's lives and their interaction rather than the thrust of the story." People don't tune into their favorite shows for the plots; they tune in for the characters.

I agree completely.