Actually, another weird thing about his name: I seem to remember seeing that River's first name is actually William--the name of Andrew and Cassie's first, deceased child. River was either his nickname or his middle name. Seems kind of awkward to me, but there you are.

When I found out about this I had a real problem with it. I feel like this child was Cassie's replacement for a dead son. That's not a good place to be, mentally.

When OLTL brought River back they should have done a story where he learned about all of this and lashed out.

Yeah, Cassie was calling him William from when she found him in the manger and continued to call him that until they met Beth. River was Beth's name for him and I guess Cassie and Andrew gave him the legal name William but called him River out of respect for Beth. William was the name of Andrew's late brother who died from AIDS-related illness.

Edited August 10, 201213 yr by SFK

When I found out about this I had a real problem with it. I feel like this child was Cassie's replacement for a dead son. That's not a good place to be, mentally.

When OLTL brought River back they should have done a story where he learned about all of this and lashed out.

River really did seem like he could have been Beth and Jason's kid (even though Jason was not the dad). Yeah, poor St. Cassie. It was really sad how Beth apologized for taking back HER baby that God had given Cassie. Sure Beth, you did a shitty thing leaving your kid in a manger, but let's not be so hard on ourselves. A Christmas manger display in front of an Episcopal church is much lovelier than a trash can.

That story had a lot of potential, instead of killing Beth off. I would have had a Jason/Cassie/Andrew/Beth/Marty story, Beth and Marty in love with Andrew, Andrew in love with Marty, Jason and Cassie begin to fall for each other, with Dorian hurt because of her past with Jason.

December 7, 1982 Digest

1st) I beleive they announced that his whole name is "William Sloan River Carpenter." (It's on youtube) god knows why they used River as his main name...especially since he's a preacher's son.

2nd) Poor Jason, no wonder why he left town. First he thought he was going to rase baby Duke with Leanne on the run and then he had a slight chance of raising baby River with Beth.

All Freeman, Jr. apparently passed away yesterday:

http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/blogs/165792116.html

That's so sad! I had always wanted Ed and Carla to be reunited and I can't believe, though its not surprising, that they were completely forgotten by the end. He was a great actor and definitely helped pave the way for future diversity on soaps, though that's all gone to hell now.

Awful news. Al was such a charismatic and talented actor, a real statesman, just effortless and COOL. Can you imagine an actor of this caliber even being offered a role on a soap today? Agnes Nixon tried to rewrite the rules of television with actors like Al Freeman Jr, and amazingly, she succeeded.

I think a poster here will enjoy this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmiGKQiEzZM

He was a great actor and definitely helped pave the way for future diversity on soaps, though that's all gone to hell now.

I don't quite know what you mean by that. there are black people on soaps now and they are not housekeepers like Sadie Grey was. just look at Young and Restless the Winters family. they had been on that show for years. and on Days Of Our Lives they have Abe Calaver who's been on the show for well over a decade. they had his wife Lexie but the actress wanted to leave the show. sadly General Hospital isn't as good right now (in the black category) but they have Shawn who works at Kelly's and his "ward" who is starting to date Alexis's daughter.

Agnes Nixon and her soaps paved the way for all of that. I don't think there were black people on Soaps before she started in the 60's and i'm sure they didn't hold down good jobs and were intergrated into the dailey lives of "all the white folk" like they are now. I agree there is a lot of work to do but that is true for all minorities...especially gays. but on this topic, i think we've come a long way from the Sadie Gray days.

The Winters family are barely seen tokens.

Sadie was not exactly a housekeeper herself. She was the head of the housekeeping for Llanview Hospital, although she did work for the Siegel family as a second job. One book says that she also worked for the Vernon family, but I don't remember that.

The first African-American actress in a contract role on a soap opera was Miki Grant on Another World, during the time that Agnes Nixon was the headwriter. The Edge of Night had featured Al Freeman, Jr. before that, but it was not a contract role. Also, when Ms. Nixon was the headwriter of The Guiding Light, there were African-American performers (James Earl Ray, Cecily Tyson, Billy Dee Williams) but these were not contract roles.

Irna Phillips integrated The Brighter Day in the early 1960s when Rex Ingram was hired to play a character. The show was cancelled quickly after that.

I think a poster here will enjoy this.

You know me so well!

I just started it.

ETA: Five videos? Maybe more? WOW!

Edited August 12, 201213 yr by MissLlanviewPA

Part 2 has Al's birth! I had no idea that was on YouTube! YAY!