5 hours ago, Vee said:

Classic Llanfair too. Is that Dorian's painting, or is it Meredith (recently deceased) or Eugenia?

I think the painting in the videos is of Dorian.

(This link has a pic supposedly of Eugenia
https://abc-daytime.fandom.com/wiki/Eugenia_Lord )

 

Edited January 29Jan 29 by janea4old

1 hour ago, Vee said:

More is up now from the same user. Featuring a very young Wanda and Anna (yes, Doris Belack) and Jim Craig.

I never can remember just when Pinkerton and Belack left. Was the former in 1976 and the latter in 1977, or both in 1977? OLTL always benefited so much from vibrant female characters, it must have been a jolt for fans. Luckily, they still had Viki, and maybe Pat, and soon Judith Light on the way...

I wonder when it is that they finally start to style Viki in a more glamorous way. Erika's hair is very '60s here and her clothes are more along the lines of a very unflattering bedcover. 

Love seeing Anna and Jim Craig again! 
But that recast Vince Wolek seemed off to me! 

Antony Ponzini was the only Vince for me.

And yes Larry Wolek was a cutie and a sweet character!

1 minute ago, janea4old said:

But that recast Vince Wolek seemed off to me! 

Antony Ponzini was the only Vince for me.

The worst is the one in the early '80s right before he gets killed off. IIRC a lot of us didn't even know about him for years because even the soap mags, books, etc. had forgotten him. Allegedly Ponzini and Erika had quite a romance early on, though that may just be rumor.

Edited January 29Jan 29 by Vee

4 hours ago, Khan said:

The more I see of Kathryn Breech as Karen, the more I'm convinced she wouldn't have been up to the challenges that playing the prostitution storyline posed.  She would've done okay with the story - she wasn't the WORST actor - but the audience wouldn't have been as sympathetic toward her as they were toward Judith Light, whose performances even after the storyline was over always emphasized how much Karen was truly haunted by a lifetime of poor decisions and a struggle to be the kind of person whom Larry, Jenny and others needed.

Chances are, if Breech had played out the prostitution story, it would've ended with Karen either going to jail, getting killed by a violent john or simply leaving Llanview in disgrace, never to be seen or mentioned again.

Meanwhile, that might be the most I've ever seen of Nancy Pinkerton's Dorian...and I enjoyed watching every cold and calculating moment of it, too, lol.  Don't get me wrong, Robin Strasser will remain "my Dorian" until the day I shake off this mortal coil, but I think if I had been alive and watching OLTL back then, I would've loved watching Pinkerton just as much.  In fact, I think I see how her Dorian really informed Strasser's take, in terms of her cunning; while Claire Malis' Dorian seems to have informed the layers of softness and vulnerability that Strasser would later bring to the role as well.  In the end, Strasser's Dorian really was a merging of Pinkerton's and Malis' Dorians, but shot through with her own panache and sense of humor.

And boy, was Jennifer Harmon chilling in her scenes with Lee Patterson, as you could see her Cathy starting to come unglued over the loss of their daughter.  I've watched enough DARK SHADOWS to know that Sam Hall and Gordon Russell knew how to write those kind of moments when a character is so unbalanced emotionally that they could send shivers down your spine.

Conversely, I know Katherine Glass had her fans, but I gotta be honest: I don't know whether I could've taken her Jenny for very long, lol.  I realize she's supposed to come across as young and innocent - she certainly doesn't know at that point what she's getting herself into with Brad Vernon! - but...I dunno...there's just something that's a little TOO sweetly earnest about her.  (Even her voice began to get on my nerves after awhile).  Brynn Thayer, IMO, was better at making Jenny kind-hearted and sympathetic, but not making it seem as if cartoon birds were going to land on her shoulders at any moment.

Breech and Glass are probably what Erica Hope or Patsy Rahn probably were on Y&R and GH - competent actors who would today hang around and hang around, doing decent, not memorable work in not memorable stories. Thayer and Light both brought so many shadings to their parts and made Karen and Jenny feel like people you know and can care about. Watching the Jenny and Karen scenes here seem more like sitcom cuties than the layered, at times heartrending bond they had in later years, where Karen sacrificed in ways Jenny never would have wanted her to do.

I agree about Glass' voice. She sounds like Almonzo's sister on Little House. 

This is the same Peter Jenny later married, right? When exactly does he lose the ve-hav-vays-of-making-you-talk accent?

You're very right about Dorian. That scene in the August 7th episode (the type of scene you never get now) where Matt essentially reads Dorian to filth - it says so much about who Dorian would remain for much of the '80s, as Dorian always wanted more and would never be satisfied. Her antics when Herb ran for governor, her wanting David when she was happily married to Herb and had reunited with Cassie, etc. And this is who Dorian always should have remained, as it's the classic anti-heroine motif. 

The flashback where Viki warned Dorian she was on to her games - is this the oldest Viki/Dorian confrontation we've ever seen? Amazing how in 40 years, Erika's acting style never changes. No sudden British accent, no suddenly trying to act or talk younger than she was, etc. 

As @titan1978 said, hard to believe just how long-lasting this material would be, even as the other part of the story (Tony) would be long forgotten.

4 hours ago, Vee said:

Probably, although Cathy was supposed to be a bit younger than Jennifer Harmon projects IMO. And Riley was early '20s tops.

When the show started, Cathy was about 16 or 17, wasn't she? I wonder just when the biggest age jump was. 

Edited January 29Jan 29 by DRW50

We didn't talk about "ships" back in those days,  but I adored Joe and Viki. 

Wild to see Viki pregnant with Kevin!

I didn't recognize Victor Lord Sr.  I see that he's a recast, also.  I knew only the first one.

I do like Kathy Glass in this and the other eps with her I've seen, and I understand why she was apparently quite popular as a young heroine. But I think Brynn Thayer is the Jenny that could clearly go the distance more matured (though Glass doing so might've been interesting too), and I wonder if Judith Light might well have wiped Glass' Jenny out. I'd be very curious to see Glass opposite JL, as they did apparently overlap. The contrast would certainly be much more striking re: good and 'bad' sister. Were OLTL still around I would have BT's Jenny visit again, as they always apparently intended her 'death' to just be a device to keep her offscreen so the focus could be on David in '98.

Edited January 29Jan 29 by Vee

I also love that all three episodes have beauty shots. I would say I wish they'd come back but we don't even have proper closing credits now. There's something unique about a soap and a beauty shot. In this one you have the wide shot of Joe and Viki's living room (starting with the painting), characters sleeping, and my favorite, Matt stewing, flouncing and boozing in the Lord living room.

Just now, DRW50 said:

my favorite, Matt stewing, flouncing and boozing in the Lord living room.

That one cracked me up.

8 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

When the show started, Cathy was about 16 or 17, wasn't she? I wonder just when the biggest age jump was. 

I would say Jennifer Harmon, who at least projects much older even if she wasn't. From what we've seen of her Dorrie Kavanaugh looks a bit younger.

6 minutes ago, Vee said:

I would say Jennifer Harmon, who at least projects much older even if she wasn't. From what we've seen of her Dorrie Kavanaugh looks a bit younger.

Thanks. I never have known why they didn't bring Cathy back sometime in the late '70s or early '80s - I guess with Tony, Joe, and Jim gone, they didn't think there was a point. 

I did a double take at Tony looking so much like Jim Jones with those glasses. I remember some talk of the state of Reinholt's performances by the time he left (unless that was just AW), but so little of his run is around.

29 minutes ago, janea4old said:

Love seeing Anna and Jim Craig again! 
But that recast Vince Wolek seemed off to me! 

Antony Ponzini was the only Vince for me.

It's hard to imagine this Vince wooing Niki Smith. He seems like he got lost on the way to a Gary Marshall sitcom.

6 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

Thanks. I never have known why they didn't bring Cathy back sometime in the late '70s or early '80s - I guess with Tony, Joe, and Jim gone, they didn't think there was a point. 

Allegedly she left at the end of '78, so I think they just thought she had a good run. I imagine if the show had continued Ron would've brought her back insane and played by Christine Tudor or something eventually.

I still remember Tony and Kavanaugh's Cathy's 'meet cute' in the '75 eps that went up a few years ago, clashing about politics and feminism. They seem to spark well until he compares her to a Saigon hooker. Ah, the '70s.

24 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

This is the same Peter Jenny later married, right? When exactly does he lose the ve-hav-vays-of-making-you-talk accent?

How you get from this guy (who was apparently quite popular) to Denny Albee from Edge of Night was beyond me before but it really is now.

Edited January 29Jan 29 by Vee

24 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

Watching the Jenny and Karen scenes here seem more like sitcom cuties than the layered, at times heartrending bond they had in later years, where Karen sacrificed in ways Jenny never would have wanted her to do.

Breech, in particular, struck me as someone either Jack or Larry would've tried to pick up at the Regal Beagle on "Three's Company."

4 minutes ago, Vee said:

I still remember Tony and Kavanaugh's Cathy's 'meet cute' in the '75 eps that went up a few years ago, clashing about politics and feminism. They seem to spark well until he compares her to a Saigon hooker. Ah, the '70s.

I *think* they were going for a Spencer Tracy/Katharine Hepburn thing in those scenes, but it just landed so terribly wrong.

25 minutes ago, janea4old said:

I didn't recognize Victor Lord Sr.  I see that he's a recast, also.  I knew only the first one.

Just looking at Shepperd Strudwick in those scenes, I don't think he gives off quite the same, patrician vibe that Ernest Graves probably did.  I think he would've been better off playing Dr. Will Vernon.

41 minutes ago, janea4old said:

But that recast Vince Wolek seemed off to me!

Jordan Charney, right, lol?  Yeah, he was not right for Vinnie.  You can't go from Antony Ponzini to Mr. Angelino, lol.

37 minutes ago, Vee said:

Allegedly she left at the end of '78, so I think they just thought she had a good run. I imagine if the show had continued Ron would've brought her back insane and played by Christine Tudor or something eventually.

I still remember Tony and Kavanaugh's Cathy's 'meet cute' in the '75 eps that went up a few years ago, clashing about politics and feminism. They seem to spark well until he compares her to a Saigon hooker. Ah, the '70s.

How you get from this guy (who was apparently quite popular) to Denny Albee from Edge of Night was beyond me before but it really is now.

I know Dorrie herself was a big feminist, based on her interviews. I think she may have mentioned some back and forth with George in those although it's been a while. 

They must have just been trying to find any part for Albee after his allegedly messy departure from Edge.

34 minutes ago, Khan said:

Breech, in particular, struck me as someone either Jack or Larry would've tried to pick up at the Regal Beagle on "Three's Company."

Definitely. Or one of the doomed girlfriends on Soap.

Watching the third episode and we see this Felicia who was a devoted maid to the Lords for years. I am guessing she was whipped up just for this story. Does anyone know if she was ever mentioned later on?

Edited January 29Jan 29 by DRW50

Finishing the last episode I now see why this Vince was vaguely familiar to me - it's Sam Lucas from AW. The scraps I've seen of him on there are better. And he could even play a blue-collar man without having a Guys and Dolls accent.

There's a good, understated dream/nightmare sequence with Dorian and Joe in the third episode. 

Matt so clearly wants Dorian and can't accept that she has no interest in him. In this last episode it came through more and he wasn't as much of her frenemy. In some ways he feels like what David was to her in 1995, before they made the relationship more romantic and made David into either a good guy or a complete moron depending on the writer.

Edited January 29Jan 29 by DRW50

Matt/Vance 

came back around 79 but nothing came of it.

OLTL went through quite a few cast changes in 77/78 with Joe Stuart replacing Doris Quinlan as EP and the expansion to an  hour.

Nancy Pinkerton, Doris Belack, Kathy Glass, Jordan Charney, Kathryn Breech,George Reinholt all left or were fired.

Jeff Pomerantz had been on Secret Storm and search for tomorrow before landing at OLTL.