That's fascinating. It's kind of pathetic to sit back and look at how many times over the years soaps chickened out of telling stories about Asian characters.

Were you surprised when they had Amy make a few appearances in the late 80's? Did you think she'd just been forgotten?

In her last appearance, at Nancy and Mac's wedding, there was this strange moment, a way she looked at Paul, or her being nervous, that made me wonder if they were planning story for her that never materialized.

Did it seem true to Penny's character that she would marry some race car driver (did viewers ever see him) and then spend the rest of her life in Europe with him?

Penny was a character I knew little about, as I had not been a fan of the P&G soaps while growing up. My family watched those soaps, but I did not. So, my knowledge of Penny was limited to the memories of my parents and grandparents. I started watching ATWT after Phoebe Dorin's Penny had been written off. Of course I knew Rosemary Prinz very well, as she had been in the premiere cast of All My Children, which I watched from the beginning.

A decade later, circa 1983, I actually met Rosemary Prinz. When I brought up World Turns, she gave a short, political response. She did not deride the series, but she focused on her enjoyment of the cast with whom she worked (she and Mark Rydell were very close friends) and she was happy that her performances had given my family pleasure. She said something to the effect of Penny and ATWT being a part of her past, so I assumed she would never appear on it again. I was very surprised when she agreed to return as Penny a few years later for appearances at Bob and Kim's wedding, and Chris and Nancy's anniversary. Her recurring appearances for the England scenes surprised me far more than the appearances of Anton and Amy. Doug's inclusion of those two was not really a shock since he did have a greater affinity for continuity and family than any other serial writer of that era. I really enjoyed seeing Patrick Horgan, who had been marvelous in the 70's as the heinous Dr. John Morrison.

To answer your question, though, yes. Penny marrying a race car driver in England did seem a little bizarre and out of character, something more like Rosemary Prinz might do in real life. However, Nancy and Penny had been written as an ambivalent mother-daughter relationship, so maybe it is not too hard to accept. My only regret is that she did not return for the end. I would have paid her anything or made any concession to get her back, but sadly, Chris Goutman never demonstrated an ounce of respect for the serial's history or the show's most faithful fans.

Again, my dream writing team would have been Marland and Long...he would have kept her in line and true to history and she would have made the characters more vibrant and alive and warm and yes, sexy.

Ok, you officially have my heart with that statement.

I didn't realize we'd ever seen Anton. So he was in one of Penny's 1988 returns? I've only seen a bit of that (a conversation with Nancy about Mac, and then when she and Amy came back for their wedding). I wish I'd seen him.

I just have to thank you again for all this info. It's a bit surprising to me that they had two characters named Marion a few years after each other.

I have a behind the scenes thing somewhere which has Konrad's Grant - by then he was labeled as formerly playing Grant. I will post it when I find it again.

It's odd to me because Goutman brought Penny back at Christmas 2000. Unless Rosemary couldn't return, there was no reason for her not to at least be at Nancy's funeral. While I will always appreciate Goutman allowing Lucinda and Barbara back on the frontburner in ATWT's last year, I will never be able to forget the shocking lack of vets who went unmentioned - not even unseen, but unmentioned - in ATWT's last year.

I didn't realize we'd ever seen Anton. So he was in one of Penny's 1988 returns? I've only seen a bit of that (a conversation with Nancy about Mac, and then when she and Amy came back for their wedding). I wish I'd seen him.

I would wager those scenes are somewhere on Youtube. In late 1986, Frannie attended university in England to put the Doug Cummings mess behind her. She saw her own double at the airport in London. The woman later turned out to be Sabrina, but it was the beginning of a mystery. Anyway, Bob and Kim went to the UK to spend Christmas with Frannie, who I believe was staying with Anton and Penny. I remember there were scenes with Anton, Penny, and Amy appearing collectively. Anton was played by Patrick Horgan, and if I remember correctly he appeared several times as a recurring character throughout the Fullerton mystery. I believe 1986-87 was the only time Anton was ever shown onscreen.

I've seen most of the 1986-1987 that's on Youtube but I will check again.

Got an email about this upcoming SAG event with Miss Fulton:

http://www.sagfoundation.org/userhome/eventdetails/8789

That should be interesting. I hope someone gets to go.

September 1, 1992 Digest.

I was reading an early 1986 Digest and it said that although Lisa and Lucinda would fight over Earl Mitchell, neither would win him, that his heart would go to a sweeter woman. Did this happen? I just remember him with Lisa. I wonder if they meant Emma, or Harriet Corbman. Perhaps it was supposed to be Lyla, until they decided to pair her with Casey.

February 25, 1986 Digest.

Once again thanx to Saynotyoursoap for taking the time to detail Irna's final storylines.

I believe Lisa was involved with Wally,the doctor/minister played by Charles Siebert,best known from Trapper John MD in the 80's.How serious did that relationship become?

Also,from what I can gather,Tom and Carol were friends of Peter and their story during this time (the happily married newlywed phase) was in support of them.

It seems this story and Amy Hughes are ignored in summaries because they had little effect on the continuing story.Those characters were there and gone within the year.

Maybe Irna's long term plan was to have Peter and Wally integrated into the canvas, She liked to tell adoption stories (Ellen/Dan,the premise of AWA).Seems her real life circumstance influenced her.

I know Kim was also introduced in 73 and her original incaranation was different to the long suffering heroine she became. Again, it would be interesting to know where Irna would have taken that character.

As regards Rosemary Prinz,I think I have seen articles from when she was on the show complaining about her character and soaps. What surprises me is that she stayed 13 years.

Marcia McLain- Dee Stewart

Edited June 15, 201114 yr by Paul Raven

Those are great.

I was reading a late 1983 Digest, close to the end of the year, and for ATWT news, they mention John Phillip Law arriving as Reed, who would be in a triangle with Lyla and Maggie. We'd talked about that before. They also mentioned Leon Russom as Zachary, child psychiatrist, who would get involved with Kim, and Norman Snow, as "mysterious" Richard Fairchild, III, who would fall in love with Barbara and also have a story with John. Did all this happen?

Both Russom and Fairchild did appear . Zachary Stone was assisting young Paul Stenbeck and Richard Fairchild was involved with Craig. Maybe there was a writer change and the intended stories for these characters were changed.

Thanks. I guess Kim may have dated him, as I remember her being out with someone in the summer 1984 episodes that are on Youtube, but I don't remember hearing anything about Fairchild and Barbara.

This is from an October 1993 Soap Opera Update. I had forgotten they took publicity photos of Glynis O'Connor's Margo with Tom and Hal together. It's a nice reminder of how special the Margo/Hal relationship was, at least until it and the Margo character started really losing their way in the mid-90's.

Edited June 15, 201114 yr by CarlD2