Obscure AMC storylines

[soapfave06]

I had only heard about them as being related to Jesse and playing supporting roles to his relationship with Nancy, and of course, Frank's heart attack during an argument with Angie's father.

If I'm not mistaken, Nancy and Carl (I can't remember his last name) had the first interracial marriage, but usually I see GH get credit for that with Simone and Tom, I guess because there's actually listed and Nancy and Carl's ended within an hour.

[Steve]

I remember bits and pieces of it as a kid, too. I think they may have planned to bring Leora back around 1987 because I remember Joe finding a picture of Leora when he was cleaning out the attic and not telling Ruth about it. Then Jorn Winter was replaced by another producer and it was dropped.

[Steve]

If I'm not mistaken, they were Margaret DePriest's creation. I never liked them because the "actor" who played David was awful and they were forced as a couple.

It would've made sense to bring Lanie back at some point, though, with all the Dixie, Del, Di drama later on.

Yeah, it would've made more sense to bring Nancy & Carl back than bring on a whole new black family like the Fryes.

[saynotoursoap]

I recall overwhelmingly negative audience reaction to the Kurt and Leora plot, and the writers truncated the story as soon as possible. Bill Ferriter's Kurt was quite frightening. The two were having a dinner party, and when Leora boiled some lobsters instead of roasting beef in the oven, Kurt beat the hell out of her. I recall another scene where he attacked her with an andiron.The scenes were too intense, too specific to make the story palatable. Interestingly, at the same time, Billy Clyde was terrorizing Marestelle. He kidnaped her, took her to a cemetery, and confined her to a coffin, in which he intended to bury her alive. Yes, this was nearly 15 years before Carly and Vivian on Days, so Reilly's story was not terribly original, but I digress.

The funny thing was: as awful as Billy Clyde was, Matthew Cowles gave such an over the top, spirited performance, you almost could not take him seriously. Like Joe Pesci, Billy Clyde could appear alternately repugnant and hilarious. Bill Ferriter on the other hand, played Kurt as plain violent and scary. His actions were so specific, so resonant of a particular physical response, it was difficult to watch. This was AMC's second foray into domestic violence. In 1974/75, Agnes Nixon wrote a child sbuse story with Stacy, Wyatt, and Jamie Coles, and achieved a similar audience rejection.

Someone could write a very interesting thesis on soap violence, how audiences seem willing to accept romanticism of rape, yet vehemently reject other forms of domestic violence.

[DRW50]

I didn't know about the child abuse story. I guess those characters weren't around long? I wonder what the original plans were. Did Agnes rewrite that for Tad's story?

I had wondered if the "emotional affair" with Joe and Leora caused any backlash.

[saynotoursoap]

Kitty was nuts for most of 1973 and began to recover in 1974 after Nick tricked an amnesiac Ann into returning to him, and he dumped Kitty. Kitty then fell in love with Lincoln Tyler, which caused even more grief for snobbish Phoebe, who had worked so hard to get Nick Davis out of their lives. Kitty contracted one of those terminal soap opera diseases which arises quickly and results in lots of swooning, fainting, and weak moments requiring a big, strong man for support and comfort. She died in July 1977. The following spring, Linc received word from Myrtle that she had seen a playbill for a singer who was a dead ringer for Kitty. The singer was Kelly Cole. They tracked her down around May 1978, and a good number of fans complained that if AMC had to bring on Kitty's twin sister, they could have at least found an actress who looked like Francesa James!

[danfling]

The child abuse storyline with the Coles family did not last as long as the wife abuse storylines with the Sanders family. The relationship of Leora and Joe had more promise that the earlier one. Stacy Coles and her husband had little interaction with the rest of Pine Valley except in the hospital.

[allmc2008]

I want to know more about the Child Abuse story.

[Paul Raven]

Here's what they said about it in 'The Soap Opera Book'

In 1974, AMC took some time to present a storyline on child abuse. Stacy Coles beat her little boy; it was pointed out that many people beat their children, and that help is available. Stacy realized she had a problem.and presto, she and her child were gone. The story was neither fully developed nor integrated with other events in Pine Valley. But it was daring,for daytime

I wonder which characters were involved -probably Ruth and Joe and/ or Jeff and Mary.

Maureen Mooney played Stacy. She went onto GL as Ann Jeffers. Bruce Gray was her husband Wyatt and Jason Lauve was Jamie,

[danfling]

The Coles family storyline (child abuse) did not last nearly as long as the Sanders family storyline (wife abuse and possible murder). However, Leora and step-daughter Carrie had more interaction with the other residents of Pine Valley than did Stacy or Wyatt Coles.

[danfling]

I had forgotten about Clay. Or that he and Caroline were being friendly with one another. I only remember Caroline's story with Frank.

Caroline was a character that should have been used more. She was a widow whose husband had been killed in Vietnam military service.

I can only speculate why Clay was killed. It was probably because the show had decided to use Caroline in a triange with Frank and Nancy. Rather than a Frank-Caroline-Clay triange.

A lot of this PROBABLY had to do the expansion to a full hour. The performers on the show had to renegotiate contracts with the program. Two actresses left because of this: Francesca James as Kitty and Judith Barcroft as Ann. They continued on the show without contracts until they could be written off the show.

Maybe the show offered Reuben Green a longterm contract, and he did not want to commit to playing Clay for several years.

Lisa Wilkinson, the original Nancy, had left the show once (and was replaced by Avis McCarther of Love Is a Many Splendored Thing). Perhaps she had been non-contract, and the show offered her a contract. Then, it would have made more sense for a Nancy-Frank-Caroline triangle.

Does anyone remember that the late Lillian Hayman (Sadie Gray on One Life to Live) crossed over to sing at the wedding of Caroline and Frank?

I still remember the late Kay Campbell as Kate dancing the Bunny Hop at that wedding! It was the first time that I had ever seen the Bunny Hop.

I adored Lisa Wilkinson (Nancy), and was so disappointed when the show wrote her and second husband Bill Fisher off.

[DRW50]

I posted a photo of Sadie at their wedding some time back.

I never knew Nancy had been recast.

I wonder if Caroline is one of those characters they kept longer because they liked the actress.

[danfling]

It didn't seem that the show liked the actress who played Pat all that much.

She was written as one-dimensional, and, as soon as her storyline ended, she left Pine Valley in embarassment.

She was a roommate on the show with either Donna Tyler or Dr. Christina Karras. Nancy was the other's roomate, and I never could remember which one roomed with which.

Lisa Wilkinson decided to leave the show, so Avis McCarther was hired. I don't know if the show did not like her or what, but she was not on for very long before Lisa Wilkinson returned. (I have seen a picture of Ms. McCarthur, and she is not nearly as lovely as Ms. Wilkinson.) I may have read that Agnes Nixon persuaded Ms. Wilkinson to return.

Lisa Wilkinson was married to John Danielle (Frank, later Art on Loving) in real life.

When Lisa learned that they were having a baby in real life, she informed Agnes Nixon. Ms. Nixon said that she had just determined that Nancy was going to have a baby too.

Lisa and John later divorced, but they continued to play a married couple on the show until he left.

[DRW50]

I was just going on them giving Caroline and Frank a nice wedding (compared to what Nancy got with Carl), and also because it seems like she was involved in charity events and stuff with the AMC cast. But I've never seen any of this so I can't say.

[soapfave06]

I had no idea they had recast Nancy. I know she was on for like 11 years.

I also didn't know that Caroline's husband had died in the war. Thanks for sharing that, its nice to know a little more.