OLTL Tribute Thread

[Vee]

I honestly can't tell if that's Michael Ingram (Vinnie #3) or not, judging by recent 1980 episodes that also feature him prominently. I can see why it might not be though.

That kid playing Danny sure looks broken up over Nat Polen. You didn't usually see soap child actors that emotional so I wondered if that's somehow the same kid from the '70s or what.

Edited November 6, 2021 by Vee

[amybrickwallace]

Thanks for posting the episodes! It's interesting seeing the contrast of Dorian Lopinto as TD's Missy Palmer and OLTL's Samantha Vernon.

[vetsoapfan]

That's not Michael Ingram, but it's weird OLTL recast the role just for this. And the child is not the same one from the 1970s, but did do a fine job here.

[Vee]

Obviously some actors slip through the cracks, because if that's Vinnie #4 and Danny #-whatever, neither have been listed for the characters anywhere. The Danny listings claim the last kid, Eddie Moran(?), was gone by '79 or '80 and he didn't return til '83, and I've never heard of a fourth Vinnie. I believe the first brief Tony recast post-Reinholt also was never listed. Just goes to show we all are subsisting on apocrypha.

Edited November 6, 2021 by Vee

[MissPalmer]

I have been watching Asa and Sam's wedding (24 June 1981) and Wanda is alone at the wedding, not with Vinnie....and he doesn't appear at the final credits of the episode because he died during the week of 23rd February. I read somewhere that Vinnie was killed on 9th July 1981...but it is wrong!

Nat Polen (Jim Craig) died on 3rd May 1981.....and I guess his memorial took place one or two months later....so at that point Vinnie was dead.....so who is that man next to Wanda?

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Edited November 6, 2021 by MissPalmer

[vetsoapfan]

Michael Ingram was playing Vinnie when the character died. Vinnie and Viki had a nice, poignant scene in the Carriage House that she shared with Joe Riley, in which she told Vince what a decent human being she had always known him to be. I was soap-savvy enough to realize this was foreshadowing the character's demise. Then, after Vince died, Larry went to view the body ("played" by Ingram), said goodbye and kissed him on the forehead. So the "Jim Craig funeral Vinnie" must have been a temporary or emergency recast, and then Ingram returned to play out the character's final days.

And that is very true: Jimmy Jonz, who portrayed Tony Lord immediately after George Reinholt, is not listed in any of the history books or on line anywhere. Certain actors and characters truly do fall through the cracks completely.

Edited November 6, 2021 by vetsoapfan

[Vee]

Been bingeing both early '80s and mid-late '80s OLTL - two very different shows - and while I've seen my share in recent years before, it's only recently, perhaps during the pandemic, that we've been blessed with more consecutive material from so many eras. Am I getting this right? Cord married Kate Sanders two months after Tina went over the falls? I know they were on the outs before that but good lord!

[amybrickwallace]

I wonder how that went over with the fans in real time.

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[Nicholas Blair]

Considering all the forgotten children of Viki and illegitimate children of Victor who turned up on the show, it's surprising that none of the headwriters decided to use Meredith's twin sister as part of the story. Meredith (Lynn Benish) went to see Dr. Joyce Brothers because of guilt about being the surviving twin, the other having died at birth. Revealing that Victor had given away one of the twins or that a nurse had stolen her would have been easier for the viewers to accept than some of the storylines that were actually used.

I thought that killing Meredith was a mistake when Lynn Benish wanted to try her luck in Hollywood (IIRC). Lynn had good chemistry with Michael Storm and good sisterly chemistry with both Gillian Spencer and Erika Slezak. True, killing off Meredith did open the door for Larry to find women who would make him miserable after this brief interlude of happiness.

Edited November 8, 2021 by Nicholas Blair
typos

[soapfave06]

What contrasted Meredith to Viki? Just wondering how they would both compare long-term had she stayed 

[Vee]

To this day I'm unclear if they canonized Meredith not being Victor's daughter or not. You can hear Niki Smith taunting him about it in a very old clip from 1969 (which, woof, for my money makes the DID/molestation retcon even more plausible, listening to the way she talks to him), and I know it came up on and off in the '70s but I don't know that it was ever made official or dug deeply into.

Edited November 8, 2021 by Vee

[Nicholas Blair]

Viki was the older daughter who had been treated like the son Victor didn't officially have and was set to follow him in the newspaper business. Meredith was the more traditionally feminine, probably set to be a stay-at-home mom. The sisters got along very well, with Viki feeling protective about Meredith. Had Merry lived, it would have been interesting if she had become part of the business world later on.

[vetsoapfan]

It was discussed on-air during the 1970s that Victor Lord knew Meri was not his daughter.

[j swift]

@Nicholas Blair & @vetsoapfan  I wonder if you would agree that by the time they revisited the DID story, (during Tina's investigation of Victor's secret room), there was a character merger of Viki and Meredith? 

I say this because in reading the synopses, and seeing the portrayal of Viki during Marco's murder trial, she was a strong, reliable, woman with fewer vulnerabilities.  As evidenced by her relationship with Joe, were she was liberated and showed agency over her father's legacy.  After Tina's revelations, Viki became more vulnerable, a little less stable, and in need of Clint's support to run the newspaper and deal with the stressors of life in Llandview.  Much like Merry needing Larry to lean upon.

It may be a case of different writers with a different concept for the character, but even the way that Viki dealt with Cathy vying for Joe's attention and kidnapping her baby seemed like it came from a place of strength, as opposed to how VIki dealt with Maria's finagling with Clint where she was much more of a victim of circumstances, and somehow less able to see through Maria's motives.

Edited November 8, 2021 by j swift

[slick jones]

Meredith was long forgotten by this point, as were any character attibutes. I think Vicky, by this point, relied on Clint (storywise) because he was the big strong cowboy man the writers were envisioning.

By the way, I've mentioned this many, many times, but I'll do it again.

LLANVIEW

LLANFAIR

LLANA FLAGG

LLANTANO MOUNTAIN

LLANTANO COUNTY

None have a d in them.  I believe @robbwolff has mentionerd it as well as others.