Y&R: Old Articles

[Paul Raven]

As requested by @BoldRestless the 1976 story summary of Y&R from the Daytime serial newsletter.

I will post it in parts as it is quite detailed. 

Pt 1

Set in Midwestern Genoa City, The Young and the  Restless, which premiered four years ago, is the story of the Brooks and Foster families. Jennifer and Stuart Brooks are, on the surface, the perfect couple, blessed with four beautiful daughters, but under the veneer of a first impression lie cracks in the facade.
Jennifer had become dissatisfied with her marriage after the birth of her oldest daughter, Leslie, and had left Stuart with the idea of returning to her former fiancé, Dr. Bruce Henderson. After later reconciling with Stuart, Jennifer found she was pregnant with Laurie, and she has lived all these years with the suspicion that Laurie may be Bruce’s daughter. Leslie  has recovered from a nervous breakdown and is now a famous concert pianist, happily married to former Surgeon now newspaperman Brad Elliot.  .
Chris Brooks is married to Dr. William (Snapper) Foster, and Peggy, the youngest Brooks daughter, is a college student. Jennifer recently left Stuart a second time, considering again a life with Bruce, but the discovery of a lump in her breast followed by a mastectomy for cancer has again changed her priorities. 
 Laurie, meanwhile, has been dating Dr. Mark Henderson, Bruce’s son. 

Snapper’s mother, Liz Foster, had finally accepted the fact that her husband, Bill, had abandoned their family and had had him declared dead when he suddenly walked back into their lives, suffering from emphysema. Jill, Liz and Bill’s only daughter, was married to Phillip Chancellor, the father of her unborn child, just hours before his death. Phillip obtained a quick Caribbean divorce upon learning of his impending fatherhood and was badly injured when his
now-ex-wife, Kay, meeting him at the airport upon his return, lost control of the car when he told her of his plans to marry Jill. After Phillip’s death Kay vowed to void his marriage to Jill and deprive Jill of |his estate.

Kay’s son from her first marriage, Brock Reynolds, supports Jill in her claim, but Kay, a
former alcoholic, cannot accept the idea of having lost Phillip to her former paid companion.
Greg Foster, Jill and Snapper’s brother, is an attorney working for Legal Aid, where Chris is his assistant.

Upon learning that her daughter Lauralee has become engaged to Dr. Bruce Henderson’s son Mark,Jennifer Brooks tells Mark she suspects he and.Laurie are half brother and sister. She explains she spent a week with Bruce after a bad fight with her husband, Stuart, when she believed their marriage was over. A blood test confirms her fears—Stuart cannot be Laurie’s father. Keeping what he’s learned to himself,Mark painfully breaks his engagement to Laurie and leaves town. Laurie is shattered by this, unable to understand what went wrong. But soon she begins to put bits and pieces together and confronts hermother, asking what she said to Mark that drove him away. Jennifer finally tells her daughter the truth and stands helplessly as Laurie turns to run to her father for comfort and suddenly realizes he’s not her father—even this her mother has taken from her.
Laurie follows Mark to Cleveland and tries to persuade him that they can still be married—they need not have children—only to be hurt again when Mark sadly tells her their love would become dirty and they would wind up hating themselves and each other. Heart broken, Laurie agrees to let him go.
Jennifer has recently left Stuart, due to growing frustration in her marriage, and had planned to marry Bruce, but discovery of breast cancer and a subsequent mastectomy caused her to reconsider her plans. When Stuart earnestly pleaded with her to come home to him and their daughters after her recovery, she agreed, but now her guilt over Laurie’s situation has caused her to waver. When Laurie confides the truth to her older sister Leslie, Les makes it clear to her mother that she finds the idea that Jennifer would think of returning to her father contemptible. But Brad Elliot,Leslie’s husband, warns her to hide her feelings or her father will notice and ask for an explanation.Jennifer gives in to Stuart’s wishes, and he welcomes her home as his wife again.
Leslie has had two more piano-concert triumphs and basks in the attention of the music world, as well as that of Lance Prentiss, a wealthy industrialist who has been following her career with avid interest. Les invites Lance home to Genoa City, hoping the dynamic, handsome young titan of business can help distract Laurie from her heartbreak.
With the birth of Jill Foster’s baby imminent, Kay Chancellor offers Jill one million dollars for the child —fathered by her late husband, Phillip Chancellor. After Phillip’s death Kay had the divorce ruled invalid and voided Jill’s marriage, making her unborn child illegitimate. But now, finally acknowledging Jill’s baby as Phillip’s, Kay tells Jill she can give the child the Chancellor name and social position, as well as the love she had for Phillip. Jill, torn by love for Phillip and his baby and the extreme financial need of her family (Jill’s father is dying of emphysema and needs a warm, dry climate), realizes that Kay can give her child everything he could need, things Jill could never provide, and agrees to Kay’s terms. 
Jill’s son, Phillip Chancellor Foster, is born prematurely a few days later. Liz Foster, Jill’s mother, is horrified that Jill would “sell” her son to Kay, and Jill’s father, Bill, is horrified that it is concern for his health that led Jill to this arrangement. He would rather die than give up his grandson. But when Jill, who has avoided seeing her child, has to take physical custody of him in order to deliver him to Kay, she is suddenly unable to give him up.