7 minutes ago, Broderick said:

@Reverend Ruthledge I sure won't argue one way or the other. The first time I ever laid eyes on Penny was when Douglas Marland brought her back for periodic episodes in the 1980s.  My parents (who'd watched World Turns since Day One) would always get excited when Penny reappeared, and Penny was always the subject of much discussion around our house, lol.  

I wish someone who remembered Neil Wade was around to ask, but I don't know of anyone.  I just flipped through that old book Robert Laguardia wrote, and he opined that Jeff Baker had been killed in a car wreck (probably true) and Neil Wade was losing his vision and was struck and killed (which could go right back to the embolism you referred to).  

I remember Neil Wade, and I remember when he died.  But I don't remember what caused his death. I do have a vague memory that he had been ill before his death.  

31 minutes ago, Broderick said:

@Reverend Ruthledge I sure won't argue one way or the other. The first time I ever laid eyes on Penny was when Douglas Marland brought her back for periodic episodes in the 1980s.  My parents (who'd watched World Turns since Day One) would always get excited when Penny reappeared, and Penny was always the subject of much discussion around our house, lol.  

I wish someone who remembered Neil Wade was around to ask, but I don't know of anyone.  I just flipped through that old book Robert Laguardia wrote, and he opined that Jeff Baker had been killed in a car wreck (probably true) and Neil Wade was losing his vision and was struck and killed (which could go right back to the embolism you referred to).  

Maybe Vetsoapfan will chime in. He might know. 

20 minutes ago, Reverend Ruthledge said:

Maybe Vetsoapfan will chime in. He might know. 

I hope so!  

Despite allegedly being on the show for several years, Neil Wade got a total of ONE paragraph in the Laguardia book.  

Paraphrasing, it said, Neil Wade (Michael Lipton) "helped Penny put her life back together after Jeff's death", "was a physician who didn't practice medicine for personal reasons" (didn't know that), "opened a bookstore with Penny" (sounds right), "planned to adopt a baby with Penny who couldn't have children" (sounds right), "began losing his vision and was struck and killed" (who knows?), and then Penny ultimately moved to Europe and married the racecar driver and adopted an Asian baby named Amy (sounds right).  And that was it.  

Irna wasn't involved with ATWT at the time of Neil's death, was she? I'm imagining a situation where right after his latest doctor's appointment, he's killed.

3 hours ago, Broderick said:

I hope so!  

Despite allegedly being on the show for several years, Neil Wade got a total of ONE paragraph in the Laguardia book.  

Paraphrasing, it said, Neil Wade (Michael Lipton) "helped Penny put her life back together after Jeff's death", "was a physician who didn't practice medicine for personal reasons" (didn't know that), "opened a bookstore with Penny" (sounds right), "planned to adopt a baby with Penny who couldn't have children" (sounds right), "began losing his vision and was struck and killed" (who knows?), and then Penny ultimately moved to Europe and married the racecar driver and adopted an Asian baby named Amy (sounds right).  And that was it.  

I believe he also turned out to be Doug Cassen's son. I could be wrong about that. Yeah, he doesn't get talked about much in the history books. 

1 hour ago, Franko said:

Irna wasn't involved with ATWT at the time of Neil's death, was she? I'm imagining a situation where right after his latest doctor's appointment, he's killed.

I'm not familiar with Irna's timeline of comings/goings, but I got the impression Neil Wade was written off circa 1967-1968.  (And I might be jumping to conclusions, but I also felt maybe the character was jettisoned because Rosemary Prinz was leaving?)  

7 minutes ago, Reverend Ruthledge said:

I believe he also turned out to be Doug Cassen's son. I could be wrong about that. Yeah, he doesn't get talked about much in the history books. 

I know who Doug Cassen is, I think.  Wasn't he one of Claire Lowell's husbands?  They didn't mention Neil was his son.  But clearly there was a LOT unmentioned in the short synopsis that I was reading.  

37 minutes ago, Broderick said:

I know who Doug Cassen is, I think.  Wasn't he one of Claire Lowell's husbands?  

Yes, he was. 

Neil Wade was Doug's son and ran the Wade bookstore, which lived on until 1980 when the Dobsons had it destroyed in a fire.

Irna was still headwriter. She stayed until early 1970.

He had been losing his eyesight for months in the story. He was killed off in mid 67. That lead to Penny quickly marrying Roy McGuire to gain custody of Jimmy, Roy and Sandy's son. That caused conflict in the Hughes family as Sandy was married to Bob.

Doug was also killed off in 67. Irna loved to pile on the tragedies.

Penny left in 68.

 

Didn't a curtain rod fell on him and that's why he went blind?

32 minutes ago, Paul Raven said:

Neil Wade was Doug's son and ran the Wade bookstore, which lived on until 1980 when the Dobsons had it destroyed in a fire.

Irna was still headwriter. She stayed until early 1970.

He had been losing his eyesight for months in the story. He was killed off in mid 67. That lead to Penny quickly marrying Roy McGuire to gain custody of Jimmy, Roy and Sandy's son. That caused conflict in the Hughes family as Sandy was married to Bob.

Doug was also killed off in 67. Irna loved to pile on the tragedies.

Penny left in 68.

 

Gracias!  

1976 Pt 2

A young woman named Tina calls Norman’s hospital room, claiming she’s in town and is broke and upset about his condition. He firmly tells her to stay away, but she sneaks into his room later, upsetting him. He tells her she’s ruining his plan, but she can’t see why— after all, he’s told her he loves her, and they will soon be married. Norman becomes irate and starts yelling, claiming all his problems are because of Sandy.

Meanwhile, Bob, who had left the floor station for Norman’s room, discovered he’d forgotten his stethoscope and returned to his office for it. Nurses passing Norman’s room heard loud shouting from within but assumed everything was under control, as Dr. Hughes was in there. When Bob finally returns, he finds Norman alone. Tina has slipped out, and Norman has had another heart attack. All emergency methods fail, and Norman dies. Bob takes it hard; he was his doctor and couldn’t save him.

John Dixon, long resentful and bitter at Bob’s successes in his career, subtly manages to force a hearing into Norman’s death. The floor nurses report that Bob went to Norman’s room and an argument followed; then Bob called for help when Norman went into heart failure. Bob’s report is contradictory that he went for his stethoscope and found Garrison already stricken. Bob, assuming that this is only a routine death, has already left on a short vacation, untroubled and unsuspecting, so his written report must stand. He returns to find that the situation has escalated into a full-fledged investigation. Learning that the argument is the bone. of contention, Sandy comes forward and claims that she was in Norman’s room, arguing with him. Bob refuses to let her perjure herself, which John manages to use as credence in Norman’s contention that Bob and Sandy were having an affair.

‘Bob is angry when, after a week, the hospital board hands him an official reprimand; thinking this is virtually an accusation of guilt, Bob refuses to accept it. His first reaction is his resignation, but upon thinking it through, he decides he’s going to fight this. He withdraws his hasty resignation and begins to work with Tom to reconstruct the events of the day Norman died. Nurse Connolly finally admits that someone could have entered Norman’s room unseen, but Floor Nurse Holland is firmly convinced no one did.

Carol Stallings is upset to learn that the business tactics of her husband, Jay, while legal, are not as ethical and moral as she would have hoped. Chris Hughes has asked Tom to take over Jay’s legal affairs for the firm. Tom decides the opportunity is too good to refuse, even though he personally doesn’t like Jay - and knows Jay resents him, as he and Carol were at. one time married. Tom soon finds that some of Jay’s proposed new dealings are somewhat illegal, in the gray area, and tells him he advises against them. It is a  lawyer’s function to protect clients from making this kind of mistake, he explains.

Kim Dixon has recovered physically from the injuries she sustained when she was hit on the head during a tornado, but her amnesia continues. She has been told that she was about to divorce John and marry Dan, but cannot seem to feel any emotions toward Dan now. In fact, she has noticed that most of the people around her seem to dislike John, and she is therefore feeling sympathetic toward him. John manages to usé Kim’s uncertainty to widen the gap between her and Dan, and finally convinces Kim to let him move back home. Dan is very badly hurt upon learning of this. Kim explains to Bob that she feels uncomfortable with Dan—she senses that he expects more of her than she can deal with now—while John has been thoughtful and understanding of her.

Susan Stewart, Dan’s ex-wife, has stopped drinking, and tries to help Dan through this painful time by taking the holiday season responsibilities for Emily and Betsy upon herself to relieve Dan of the burden. (Emily is Dan and Susan’s daughter; Betsy believes she is Dan’s orphaned niece but is in reality his daughter by the late Elizabeth Stewart.) Dan’s misery at Kim’s apparent rejection has finally  convinced him to accept a medical-mission assignment in Bolivia. Kim, meanwhile, has been having momentary flashes of memory, but none are long enough so that she can understand what she’s remembering.

On the night Dan is leaving for Bolivia, however, she has a coherent recollection and remembers the letter she wrote to Dan saying she wanted to be with him for the rest of their lives. Learning that he is leaving immediately, Kim leaves three messages on his answering machine. But Susan, who still wants Dan back, overhears Kim on the phone and goes to Dan’s office, where she removes the tape. Susan later tells Kim that Dan got the messages but they weren’t important enough to handle before leaving for South America. Susan then suggests to Kim that she gracefully end it by writing to Dan saying it’s all over, and to press Kim further shé suggests that Kim has been ungrateful to John for the constant care and concern he’s shows her during the past weeks.

I believe the Dan going to Bolivia story was when John Reilly left. When Dan returned, it was again John Colenback. So the Kim/Dan story had been initiated with Reilly/Hays.

13 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

 

I believe the Dan going to Bolivia story was when John Reilly left. When Dan returned, it was again John Colenback. So the Kim/Dan story had been initiated with Reilly/Hays.

Yep, when Kim was bonked over the head during the harrowing tornado, she was in love with that grinning, happy, big-haired Dan who looked as though he belonged on The Brady Bunch.  (Reilly) By the time she finally regained her memory fully and shook herself free of John Dixon (didn't she get pregnant with Andy during all of this?), she was stuck with that sad-eyed, grouchier Dan who'd been Dan several years earlier (Colenback).  The Bolivia trip was probably the switchover.   

On 6/9/2025 at 3:32 AM, vetsoapfan said:

When I returned to university in the 1980s, I created a bible for a new soap and presented it in my screenwriting class.

Please tell us more about your bible if you want to 🙂

RIP Harris Yulin, who played Michael Christopher (Steve's biological father) from 84-85.

Harris Yulin Dead: 'Scarface,' 'Training Day,' 'Ozark' Actor Was 87

Did they ever mention this character after he left? Steve should have asked him for a loan...not that he would have.

Edited June 11Jun 11 by DRW50

3 hours ago, Sapounopera said:

Please tell us more about your bible if you want to 🙂

I was so disappointed in how the soaps were being decimated in the 1980s (asinine sci-fi/fantasy garbage, discarding of vets, an emphasis on gimmicks and gloss over humanity and identifiable human drama), that I wanted to go back to cornerstone basics of the genre.

I've actually created a few soaps in my lifetime. The first was during my early high school years; a mystery saga along the lines of The Edge of Night.  It didn't really click well, for whatever reason (I was no Henry Slesar), but I figured I'd get better at writing with practice.

The second one was at the end of my high school experience. The writing came much easier for me by then, and the words just flowed from my hands as if the stories were writing themselves. I ended up producing 306 episodes of that serial, until real life (school, work, family responsibilities) pulled me away from it. I brought that "world" to a conclusion with a wedding of two principle characters and then said goodbye to it. Occasionally, I must admit, I still daydream about that community today.🙃

The soap I devised when I went back to university in the 1980s was based on people I knew and the issues they had had/were having in their lives. It was predicated on interpersonal relationships mainly. I included some characters who were aspiring to succeed in the entertainment industry. My professor wrote that I had imbued the show with a somewhat idealized depiction of the main family. He described it as being the type of family everybody wishes they had, but so few people ever get. He called it comforting wish fulfilment. That had been my goal!

I wrote descriptions and histories of all the main characters, along with projected storylines for the first six months, and then the opening scripts. It took me ages to complete, but it was a joyous experience for me.

It was like conceiving and birthing 20 children all at once, ROTF!🤣