As The World Turns Discussion Thread

[P.J.]

Yeah...I think in some ways, it was always apparent there was a hole in Iva's life having to give Lily away. Even though the pregnancy was written in way before they would have known JH was leaving, with Marland's style of writing, her deception never would have been rewarded by getting to raise Aaron.

I don't thinkk JH was on long after he got back custody. But yeah, not only did I hate the way Holden treated Iva, I hated hearing he had just dumped Aaron off at Julie and Caleb's. I really don't think Julie had ever wanted the kid.

[DRW50]

Holden was around for about a year and a half after he took Aaron. He had that boring story with the mother of a deaf child, and with Janice, and sniffing around Lily (leading to the bell tower). At one point Emma castigated him for treating her as a babysitter instead of being a father.

The mention of Aaron living with Julie was ludicrous and that was one of the first big hints that FMB had no real interest in ATWT's history. I always liked Julie and her flaws were one of the reasons why. To hear that she was raising Aaron and that she was seriously ill throughout the 00's (did they ever officially kill her off?) was pretty damn sad. At least I have my memories of her brief return for that Lilden wedding in early 1998, with Andy taking photos of her.

[DRW50]

Marcy is fun here. And I love Lisa's childishness about Ellen. I guess this story with Keith Charles went nowhere. There's another clip where Ellen is grilling Gavin and Arthur Claiborne about a retirement home property or something, and Charles was in that too. It's a shame they didn't develop the story for Ellen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaIdBRRalMI&feature=related

[P.J.]

I don't think they ever killed her off. Her medical problems simply existed to explain Aaron's absences.

[DRW50]

August 1956 TV Radio Mirror.

[SFK]

What a coincidence that saynotoursoap posted those clips! thanks, that really explains the Edith/Penny back story for me. Edith sounds like an interesting character, and the kind of woman IP felt strongly about. Still wrapping my head around what it must have been like for World fans watching the new relationship of Phoebe and Amy.

[DRW50]

I had forgotten that Ruth and Rosemary both had major story together on ATWT and AMC. Wow. It's actually pretty clever of Agnes, if this was intentional (and she was with Irna in those years so it may have been).

I want to see this story so much. It also seems like Irna spent years building up these characters, instead of just throwing sh!t at them, as most new soaps do (and Irna herself did at AW). Viewers knew so much about Penny's fears and insecurities before she ever started a relationship with Jeff Baker.

I didn't know John and Edith were twins. I wonder if they were on the show at the same time?

[soapfan770]

Wow I didn't know the character of Bob started off so young.

That's interesting about John and Edith Hughes. Laurence Hugo, who is best known for playing the second Mike Karr on Edge of Night played the role of John Hughes. I'm surprised no later writers especially Marland never tried to bring on any characters related to this side of the Hughes family.

Question: Who played the role of Erma Kopecki, the wife of Pa Hughes in the mid-70s? What was the story there?

[DRW50]

It's tough to imagine anyone but Don Hastings as Bob. Some articles even refer to him as an original cast member. I think they aged him with another actor, then a bit later cast Don.

I don't know why they chose to ignore John (and Edith) later on. Perhaps they felt that the Hughes were established enough with Bob and his kids. I would hope that, if Marland had stayed on, he would have brought in more family. I would have been interested in someone like Meg Mundy (although she may have been a little too young), or Augusta Dabney.

[Paul Raven]

Interesting that Bobby was 11 in 56 and then married by 1960! Irna went for SORAS when she could have either made Bob older at the start,say 15 or let him age more realistically and be ready to take on 'adult' story in the 60's.

Ronnie Welch was the second teenage Bob.I think he was the actor that originally interacted with Lisa/Eileen Fulton for a few months.

I have read that Irma never appeared onscreen and was only referred to, as was Pa's wedding to her in 75.

Maybe saynotoursoap can shed light on this and how Santos Ortega was written out. I read when the show went to 60 mins ,Pa was dropped to recurring and hardly seen. Was this because Ortega was not well?

Seeing those stills of Edith after watching the clips,I can recognise her apartment set.

[Paul Raven]

Michael Forest (Nick Andropolous) then and now. Nick was one of the new characters brought in by the Dobsons.He swept Kim off her feet and seemed to be brought on to counteract the Bob/Don/Dan/Tom type good guys that ATWT always presented as Mr Right.

[DRW50]

Kathryn Hays said she got the most hate mail over this story.

I wonder why he didn't last longer.

[Paul Raven]

As you stated,there was a lot of negativity to Kim getting involved so quickly with Nick and they were in fact married off quickly (not years of complications to keep them apart).Then once they were married,there was nowhere to go.The Dobsons left and new writers decided to kill off Nick(or was that the Dobsons again on their second go round?) He was on from Jan 80 till Sept 82.

When dying,he made Betsy promise not to see Steve,which set in motion the whole Steve/Betsy saga.

[P.J.]

That's one of my earliest memories of ATWT. KH got hate mail over that?

[DRW50]

She said she got hate mail because she ran off to Greece to be with Nick, even though they were unmarried and barely knew each other. She said she understood why fans were so angry (although she might have just been appeasing them).

I think part of it was down to Kim being written as such a noble and pure heroine for years and years before this. If the earliest version of Kim had run off to Greece viewers probably wouldn't have minded.

Edited June 29, 2011 by CarlD2