OLTL Tribute Thread

[slick jones]

Mariann Aalda was also a brief love interest of Ed Hall, Detective Delores, in July of 1979.

Edited June 19, 2018 by slick jones

[vetsoapfan]

 No, it wasn't Thomas, but someone much more aloof and austere. She did not last very long. Carla berated her once in the hospital for being insensitive about Ed, which is the main scene that I remember about the "mystery character." whom I suspect must have been played by Paley.

 

Unfortunately, with six decades of soap memories floating around in my head, not everything remains in sharp detail.

Edited June 19, 2018 by vetsoapfan

[amybrickwallace]

OK. Sorry I couldn't be of more help. Did the audience back then dislike Arthur Burghardt/Jack as much as Ellen Holly and several other cast members did?

[danfling]

Yes, I disliked both actors who played Dr. Jack Scott and Adam Brewster.

 

[amybrickwallace]

Wasn't the character of Jack Scott killed off? How did it happen?

[vetsoapfan]

 

God yes. Everyone seemed to loathe him. Both the character and the actor just exuded the essence of "smarmy, pompous ass," UGH.

[Gemini1689]

 

Sounds utterly fantastic both in having and doing! 

Please register in order to view this content

 

I know this is going to seem perhaps a bizarre question but I'm hoping soap history buffs might be able to help; does anyone know which number of episodes aired in 1984 i.e. 1-10 type thing? I've tried to find out but I'm kind of baffled. Any help would be greatly appreciated. 

[vetsoapfan]

 

I freely admit I was obsessed, LOL. I even maintained scrapbooks of my favorite soaps, with plot synopses, magazine articles, posters, trading cards (for Dark Shadows), etc.

 

It was a great time to be a soap addict.

 

Yes, he died in 1980. I bought a cake and champagne to celebrate, LOL.

 

There are fun-bad characters on soaps whom you love to hate (think Dorian Lord), but there are other characters whom you just despise, and whose presence on your screen repulses you. For me, Jack Scott was one of those characters. Ick, ick, ick.

 

BTW, the "mystery black woman" I am thinking of definitely appeared on OLTL in 1979, because it was the year Ed Hall was shot by Becky Lee's ex-husband. It must have been Petronia Paley. 

[amybrickwallace]

 

I'm sure Ellen Holly did, too. 

Please register in order to view this content

 How was the character of Jack killed off? 

[vetsoapfan]

 

I don't recall, actually, which is weird because it made me happy. I don't think the actor was successful getting much on-screen work, BTW. He seems to do primarily voice-overs.

Edited June 20, 2018 by vetsoapfan

[Paul Raven]

Synopses mention Ed dating Elizabeth Archer and Rita Parks in 1980.

Jack died in a plane crash in Asa's private jet in mid 1980.

[amybrickwallace]

Thanks. Were he and Carla still married at the time?

[vetsoapfan]

 

Thank you! I was tempted to say plane crash, but couldn't trust my hazy memory. Glad for the clarification!

[YRfan23]

When did Ellen Holly officially depart OLTL? I see some sources say September 1985 and others say all the way to December 85....unless she left, came back and then left again...

[danfling]

Ellen Holly's departure was bizarre to me.   (Both she and Lillian Hayman were written off at the same time.)

 

Producer Paul Rauch had been giving Ms. Holly a hard time, according to her autobiography.   She says that he criticized her voice (the same voice that had been considered an asset to the actress and which had received many compliments throughout her career) and the way that she wore her hair (shoulder length).  He would berate her in front of the other cast members.   She engaged a voice coach and changed her hair style.   (Oddly enough, the new hairstyle actually did become Ms. Holly and looked more like an assistant district attorney would probably look, so Mr. Rauch was somewhat correct in his vision.)

 

Both of these actresses were original cast members of One Life to Live, and, as such, you can imagine that they would normally be treated with reverence.   But Mr. Rauch kept the criticisms coming.   Finally, he said (not in privacy, but within earshot of other performers) that Ms. Holly was just too much trouble and that he was not going to renew her contract. 

 

Ms. Holly missed an episode, and this was during a murder trial.   Anthony Call as Ed stepped in and was the prosecutor that day.   Ms. Holly tells in the autobiography that she was so upset that her role was ending that she became intoxicated and slept throughout the day that the episode was taped.   She returned to the show, but, I noticed that she kept referring to Erica Slezak's character as "Victoria Riley" rather than "Victoria Buchanan" as the rest of the characters did.

 

Ms. Hayman, I have heard numerous times,  was leaving the studio one afternoon.   She was told that her parking spot would be taken by another performer by an attendant because she had taped her final episode of One Life to Live.  Ms. Hayman told him that was a mistake because her contract had months to go, but, upon checking with the show, learned that she was being written off.   She contacted Agnes Nixon, who told Ms. Hayman that she (Ms. Nixon) no longer had any association with One Life to Live.   (However, I do think that Ms. Nixon did contact the show to ask that Ms. Hayman not be written off.)  She offered Lillian Hayman the role of Minnie on Loving.   (Louise Stubbs had already auditioned for the role and was a front-runner, but she was not hired until Lillian Hayman made a decision about taking the role.)   Ms. Hayman decined the role (and Louise Stubbs was cast) and eventually was said to have forgiven the show.   (She was a very religious actress.)

 

But, the odd thing to me is that there were scenes about their departures.   How could that have happened had Ms. Hayman been told that she had already taped her final episode.

 

The scene was in a restaurant.   Carla and Sadie sat at a table, and Carla told her mama that she had been offered a position to move west (Arizona?) to take an position as a judge.  She asked her mother if she would come with her and leave Llanview.   Sadie decided to go, and as they got ut to leave, they spotted Dr. Dorian Callison.   Carla spoke to Dorian, and that was the only goodbye that was made to any of the characters.

 

I know that Paul Rauch and Robin Strasser did not like one another ever since their days on Another World.   I wonder if the goodbye to Dorian may have been a warning to her that no one was beyond being written off.  (Indeed, Dorian was sent to prison later, but the show had a great storyline about her incarsaration that involved Jamie and Elizabeth Sanders and introduced Allison Perkins to the show).   The show could have easily written off Dorian at that point, but did not.

 

It has often been said that Paul Rauch (who did some wonderful things for One Life to Live and did what executive producers are hired to do - bringing up the ratings) had little regard for the young characters and for the minority character.

 

The characters of Lisa Barron and Dr. Joshua Hall had been written off the show, then Carla and Sadie were written off suddenly.   The character of Ed was written off a few weeks (or months) later, although he did return to the show for a visit.   Also, the young characters of Danny Woleck, Gulianna, Annie, and Ivan's young henchman were all written off, with only Joy O'Neill, Cassie Callison, and Rob Coronol  being retained.   (The new police role was played by actor John Amos.)  The cult storyline was being introduced about this time (which led to the birth of Victoria's twins).  I think that this was one of the best periods of One Life to Live, although I never cared for the actor playing Jon Russell.

 

I actually think that the prison storyline was intended for the involvement of Josh and Carla, but the storyline was changed to involve Kate Sanders (Louise Sorrel) and Jamie Sanders (the late Mark Philpot).

 

So, the answer to your question was that Carla left to become a judge.   Her grandson was later introduced as a leading man for Rachel Gannon, but the role was not accepted and was written off the show.