OLTL Tribute Thread

[Vee]

I know Holly was not happy Milli was replaced. I do think the plan was probably always to ultimately put Jim with Anna, but who knows.

[John]

I was under the impression that Ellen Holly was an OG cast member but she wasnt. 

[Vee]

I believe she was hired from the very beginning, but didn't appear onscreen until October. OLTL first aired in mid-July.

[amybrickwallace]

Yeah, she had that huge surprise entrance.

[Vee]

My understanding is that Sadie spent the first several weeks or months telling the sad story of her long-lost daughter Clara. Then Carla Benari showed up at Llanview Hospital as a seemingly unrelated character in story with Jim Craig and Price Trainor. I don't know when they pulled the rug out with the famous reunion scene reveal but it wouldn't shock me if it was the same year's November sweeps.

[amybrickwallace]

I remember reading somewhere that it was November 1968 where they reunited. Were sweeps even around for daytime soaps in 1968?

[j swift]

It is funny you mentioned that because I had the same reaction.  I did a little googling and found that sweeps weeks actually started in 1954.  However, it took some time before networks starting programming in direct response to sweeps.

On the other hand it is remarkable to read old soap synopses and see a story randomly culminate in March, during a non-sweeps period.

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/27044/how-do-tv-sweeps-periods-work

[soapfave06]

I thought I read somewhere that the Carla/Sadie scene happened in February, but I could be wrong. 

[amybrickwallace]

You could also be right, because some of those old books/articles are notorious for their factual errors.

[marypat57]

@soapfave06

i believe you are correct about the Carla/Sadie scene happening in February.  I seem to remember that was when Larry was injured in the fire at the hospital.  Anna could not be reached by phone to let her know about the accident, so Carla decided go over to Anna’s apartment and leave her a note to come to the hospital.  As Carla stuck the note in the door, she turned around and saw Sadie.  Carla said “Mama”, then Sadie said “Clara”.

I believe that Anna and Carla were friends through their work at the hospital.  By that time, Carla had started working as Jim’s secretary and Anna would do some volunteer work in the evenings after her regular non-hospital clerical job.

[danfling]

The New York Times had published an artcle about lighter-skinned African American performers.   Ellen Holly responded with a letter to the editor about the scarcity of roles.   Agnes Nixon read it and asked to meet Ms. Holly.

 

Ms Nixon also had a servant named Sadie, and she named Lillian Hayman's character after her servant

 

 

[amybrickwallace]

That letter showed up at the 11th hour, so I've heard. Agnes still didn't have a Carla, and they were about to go on the air.

[SFK]

Agnes Nixon refused to hire a white actress for the role which had almost always been the case for dramatized depictions of this subject matter. Fredi Washington being the most famous exception.

[j swift]

The discussion of Carla's storyline made me think of another story that probably seemed less controversial at the time, but may not get written today.

Jenny the novice nun, not only left the church to marry a Jewish boy on his death bed, but she later flirted with a father and son, became a single mother, and left town with a man who had a child out of wedlock.  I think fifty years later soaps would shy away from stories about the Catholic Church.

Obviously, OLTL went back to the well of inter-faith marriages with Bo and Nora, but that was rarely mentioned, except on Hanukkah, and was never a point of contention.  I mean when Matthew had his son, I don't recall anyone planning a bris, or even discussing circumcision (I guess that was because he was in a coma while Destiny was pregnant, but even so).  

1970s soaps were far more willing to take risks regardless of the assumptions otherwise.  They were pretty radical in the afternoon.

[j swift]

Today I learned...

Cusi Cram, the first Cassie Callison, (who may have been fired because her weight according to reporting from the Soaps of Yesteryear tumblr) is the granddaughter of the 12th Duke of Argyle and his first wife. 

Cusi's mother, Lady Jean Campbell, (who romanced JFK and had been married the first time to novelist Norman Mailer) was married to John Sargent Cram II at the time of Cusi's birth but it was later revealed that Cusi's biological father was a Bolivian Ambassador to the UN

Cusi's grandfather, The Duke, is in the news because the story of his scandalous divorce from his third wife (Cusi's ex-step-grandmother) is being turned into the newest season of A Very British Scandal with Claire Foy and Paul Bettany.  https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-10129453/A-British-Scandal-LOOK-Claire-Foy-Paul-Bettany-play-Duke-Duchess-Argyll.html 

Dorian could never...

 

Edited October 26, 2021 by j swift