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[Franko]

Belle is indeed named after Isabella. It was Roman's idea.

Courtesy the Oct. 22, 1993 synopsis found on Jason's site:

"Roman suggests to Marlena that they call the baby Isabella and Marlena agrees. Sami isn't too happy when she overhears it but when they ask John he loves the idea. They toast to Isabella Brady."

[j swift]

I gotta agree with Sami on this one. -- thanks @Franko for the source, that's a good find.

I mean, not enough to sell the kid on the black market (pun intended) but..

At least it wasn't John who suggested it, that makes it cleaner.  Roman had naming rights until the christening cleared up the paternity.

Edited 2 hours ago by j swift

[Michael]

The baby was named when Roman was believed to be her father.

[j swift]

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Yeah, that's I mentioned the christening, when the truth comes out

Reading October and November 1993, what is actually nuts is how much story they went through in a month.

Because John's not even interested in Marlena at the time of Belle's birth.  He is rebound lusting for Kristen, who delivered Belle (funny mention in SOD about Marlena being unable to service at the Horton cabin on her "cellular" phone, I assume there was heightened vigilance to the exposition covering the tech of the time).  

And, of course, since it was Kristen helping Marlena give birth during a stormy night, they both looked glossy, windswept, and gorgeous.   

Justice for Jamie, I bet she's still holding Sami's secrets wherever she is.

Edited 1 hour ago by j swift

[Franko]

At this point, Marlena, John, and Roman all thought Roman was Belle's father. Sami had switched the initial blood tests. When it was time for another round of tests (because Belle was jaundiced), Sami panicked and kidnapped the baby. 

Up until January 1994, Sami was the only one who knew that John was Belle's father. Next up were Stefano and Peter, once Stefano read Sami's diary (he figured it would reveal what was going on between John & Marlena). Stefano revealed the truth of Belle's parentage to Roman AFTER Marlena revealed her tryst with John (about two weeks later, to be exact). Marlena and John were the last ones to find out (during February sweeps, naturally).

The John Black name was revived in September 1991.

[Franko]

John and Marlena may have committed adultery, but they weren't going to be smug creeps about it. "Roman, how do you feel about the name Isabella Titania Brady?"

[j swift]

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I went back to see how teen Sami even figured out how to sell a baby in 1993, and the recap is unintentionally hilarious. The exposition is so blunt it feels like the writers drafted it between bites of lunch. Suddenly there’s a teen mom named Karen who sold her baby through a shady lawyer, and somehow Sami just… knows this man and pays him with hospital volunteer money.

You can tell they were trying to make the whole thing “plausible” enough, but also knew the baby wouldn’t be gone long enough to justify a real subplot. 

I know one thing, if Karen had confided in Jamie, Sami would've never met Steve Miller. Jamie knew that snitches get stitches. Not to be confused with the horrific Stephen Miller, who was 8 in 1993.

AND

Just to show the audience how shady Steve the lawyer could be, he was played by this guy -- Character actor Terry Wills was cast as creeps on every sitcom in the 1980s.  I hope they used a doll if he had to handle baby Isabella.        

 

Cut to John months later, "Roman, Marlena's mattress is like a bag of rocks.  How did you ever get a good night's rest on that thing?  No wonder, Doc told me you preferred your sleeping bag on the floor.."                                                                                                                          

Edited 19 minutes ago by j swift

[j swift]

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One other side note, because now I've re-read 1993-1994.  I think that I found a ret-con issue. In 1993 after John finds out the Stefano is Kristen's father. It is not like I am claiming to have found nuclear fission, clearly mistakes happen.  But, I found this to be amusing.

In 1993, Stefano becomes deadly ill, so Kristen tells John that she needs to be by her father's side, but not to worry about the deadly disease, because she's adopted.  Given, that I've always thought of Kristen as being adopted, until the more recent cannon that she is Stefano's biological child, it is interesting that in 1993, the week before Tony comes to town to announce that he is Kristen's fiancée.  Kristen is saying that she can't give blood to her dying father, because she was adopted.  So, the current reverse in cannon, neglects that detail.

It is so funny to read this and then see Kristen and Tony in the crypt this week, 32 years later.  That's more than half the show's history at this point, amazing.

Edited just now by j swift