Ivan Kipling was a marvelous character creation, one of the most unusual in soap history, but then, many of Gordon Russell’s characters were unusual by serial standards. In the late 70s, OLTL seemed the most adult of all the daytime soaps. Y&R had the reputation for being the sexiest soap, but it was “safe” romantic fantasy type drama. OLTL’s sexuality was baser, and often cloaked in negative expressions of guilt and repression.

Ivan was such a character. He had been raised in a strict, religious home that exceeded fanaticism. On the surface, he appeared a fine, respectable surgeon: competent, intelligent, a humanitarian. Underneath, he was a sexual sadist. He attempted to force his beautiful young wife Faith into bizarre fetishes, which left her cold and frigid. Ivan threatened to divorce her. He went out and rented a seedy apartment on the bad side of Llanview. There, he hired prostitutes to fulfill his perverted fantasies, which became increasingly violent. This was going out every day to over ten million homes and was actually quite provocative drama for the late 70s.

Yes, OLTL was quite different from other shows in the late 70's. It was the only show that featured a seedy, seemly take on sex, prostitution and fetishes. Karen Wolek was a character that was particularly interesting. Remember the time she went to the River Rat bar and goaded a potential john into beating her up? Or how she traded sex for jewels and clothes before her full fledged descent into prostitution? And then there was Katrina Karr, a hooker/junkie that was always in trouble, getting beaten or looking for her next fix. This was mature content for my then 13 year old self to be watching! Ivan took the cake, though, with his sexual fetishes, his frigid repressed wife and preoccupation with hookers and scarves, LOL! I have to believe that the network just wasn't paying any attention to all this lurid content, otherwise, it would not have aired as it did. It was all very provocative, and believably rooted in character. Ivan was fascinating, though I don't think the character could have worked long term. To redeem him would have been implausible, IMO.

Edited February 24, 201312 yr by Dale

Others knew that Ivan was the natural father of Edwina. She, however, never knew the truth.

I am not too familiar with OLTL. What is the difference of characterization between Clint Richie's Clint and JvD's Clint?

Clint Ritchie's Clint was a hot head but bascially a good guy. he could loose his temper and be totally crazy but then be very loving too,especially to Viki and the boys (later Jessica). Then when the writers didn't want a lon standing couple on the show anymore, they turned him into an unsympathitic homophobe. After the divorce, he mellowed but it just didn't work.

JVD came on as a good guy at first but then after Nora left him, they turned him into Asa's junior. he did some pretty mean things like sending David to a mexican prison on his wedding day to Dorian and then switching the paternity tests of Jessica and Natalie's babies. but he paid for it. sort of. Living in Llanfair isn't exactly punnishment.

Clint Ritchie's Clint was a hot head but bascially a good guy. he could loose his temper and be totally crazy but then be very loving too,especially to Viki and the boys (later Jessica). Then when the writers didn't want a lon standing couple on the show anymore, they turned him into an unsympathitic homophobe. After the divorce, he mellowed but it just didn't work.

JVD came on as a good guy at first but then after Nora left him, they turned him into Asa's junior. he did some pretty mean things like sending David to a mexican prison on his wedding day to Dorian and then switching the paternity tests of Jessica and Natalie's babies. but he paid for it. sort of. Living in Llanfair isn't exactly punnishment.

He did a whole lot worse than that.

I just wish I could erase all those stories.

He did a whole lot worse than that.

I just wish I could erase all those stories.

and of course choose Dorian over Viki and then expecting to have cofee with her the next morning was pretty dumb but Viki put him in his place.

then he beat Robert ford up "Mr. Black and Mr. Blue" but i don't remember other things he did wrong. he was only under house arrest because he confessed to murdering Eddie Ford when he found out Matthew did it.

Paying Eddie Ford to kidnap Nora, and Eddie nearly raped her. The whole blackmailing Inez to sleep with Bo, was almost comical in a ridiculous sense.

There was also the Shane cancer story.

I wish I could just have those forgotten. Just wipe them from existence.

The Shane part bothered me due to the rewrite issue too, as the idea that he knew he was a match and said nothing. There wasn't anything in what we saw when Shane was initially sick for us to assume Clint knew. He could have donated anonymously...

I wonder what Clint is going to be up to this time around though. He'll never stop being mean. We know that.

I wonder what Clint is going to be up to this time around though. He'll never stop being mean. We know that.

I don't know...at the end there he was pretty nice. Being with Viki again changed him. I admit that whole love fest with Rex and Robert was so phony but I hope they can continue making him good. If not he doesn't stand a chance of getting his lady back. Although they could do another "Viki/Todd story" with Clint where he's always doing crazy stuff and Viki's always making excuses for him and staying by his side. Who knows.

I just hope somebody is able to post Viki scenes on youtube because i don't have Itunes or hula or whatever it's suposed to be on. and i hope Soap digest goes back to writing for the shows again.

You can watch for free on Hulu. You don't have to pay for Hulu plus unless you wanna watch on something other than your computer. (like, a Kindle for instance) I'm not paying.

You can watch for free on Hulu. You don't have to pay for Hulu plus unless you wanna watch on something other than your computer. (like, a Kindle for instance) I'm not paying.

Has anything been said for those of us in Canada?? I know Hulu isn't an option for us but will we be able to watch on itunes or some other format?

I just found this--my favorite couple has sex for the first time in 10 or 11 years! Addie, you're the greatest.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ne1S3qPMzc

Happy early birthday!!!

Some of this may be repititous, but I wanted to say:

Gordon Russell wrote A Flame in the Wind. I was not aware that Ralph Eiilis (who was a former actor) had worked on that show, so I appeciate the news. I also had not known that either men had worked on The Doctors. This may have been when the show was an anthology show with self-contained episodes or when the show had five-episode arcs in serilized form.

The pairing of Sam Hall and Henvy Slezar should have been wonderful, but I don't think that there was much colaboration between them.

I apologize, danfling and other readers. Gordon Russell and Ralph Ellis were co-headwriters of The Nurses, not The Doctors. That was a mistake.

Danfling, you are correct regarding Hall and Slesar. Henry Slesar accepted the writing position at OLTL because ABC promised him that he would be promoted to sole headwriter. They reneged, of course, and he left the series. Slesar told me that he could not collaborate with other writers. It was a personal idiosyncracy. He almost did not accept the position as headwriter for Edge of Night in 1968 because P&G wanted him to have a co-headwriter due to his inexperience as a serial writer. It was our good fortune that P&G ultimately conceded.