Did the soaps address swinging at all?

27 minutes ago, EricMontreal22 said:

Did the soaps address swinging at all?

Not that I know of but it felt like it was happening sometimes to my young mind. Musical Beds was a term thst came up often in describing soaps. ATWT had so many changing relationships and multiple marriages, to me. It was probably no different from the others but for some reason it struck me as being more pronounced. Maybe I am thinking more of the 1960s before I hit my teens. Divorce seemed rare and wasn't talked about when it did happen. And no one in real life rebounded the way they did, multiple times.

In the 70's Y&R did a story about VD with Nikki & Paul. Did any of the other soaps do stories about STI's ?

What was the first soap to start showing couples making love/bedroom scenes? I seem to recall seeing a scene a few years back of a 1968 or 1969 episode of The Doctors where it was played that Matt and Maggie hit the sheets during lunch hour and were shown getting dressed and making up the bed. I can't remember if they were shown rolling around in bed together.

Certainly when you read Schemering's Soap Encyclopedia they give the impression that Y&R was novel for showing bedroom scenes from the start (and what the soap press back then called "nudity" with seems to just mean shirtless men.) But surely that wasn't the very first?

It might not have been the first bare chests but they were younger and more attractive. I don't think "getting caught naked" happened, literally, with "the Catherine Deneuve" sheet titty cover, until the 1970s. Probably Y&R.

William Grey Espy was so damned (f-ing word excised) hot. Always showing his naked chest.

6 hours ago, EricMontreal22 said:

Did the soaps address swinging at all?

A bridge too far for soaps in the 70's I think.

There was a flirtation with older women/younger men

Dale/Ellen Somerset

Dennis/Elena Another World

Mark/Ellen All My Children

Mike/Linda DOOL

Eleanor/Luke TD

Loved Christina Pickles as Elena and loved Dennis but I never found that story credible with Mike Hammet as Dennis. At first I did not like when Jim Poyner replaced him, but came to embrace Poyner quite quickly. The new Jamie Frame was another story. He was awful. ( but my friends said he looked like me) but then Richard Bekins came along and blew every other Jamie away.

RH was kind of in a league of it's own because it took place in NYC so they introduced a lot of topics and attempted some form of diversity in the late 70s... but seemed more focused on religious diversity with Pat.. an Irish Catholic dating Nancy.. a Jewish girl... and Maeve and Sibohan having a debate about it in the kitchen as they're washing dishes.

They also dealt with women's roles, battle of the sexes, even did a right to die story I believe, but I don't recall any discos being shown on the show.. even when Rae's daughter Kim joins the scene.

1970s were more social issue oriented... some soaps more so than other soaps in presenting them... but based on some of the early RH episodes I saw... it was a tad too militant same with the summaries I came across for How to Survive a Marriage.

We also had ex-hooker Tracy Dallas on The Edge of Night during that period, as well as fellow hooker Inez Johnson and their madam, Mrs. Yost.

11 hours ago, SoapDope78 said:

In the 70's Y&R did a story about VD with Nikki & Paul.

And to this day, no one on that show can get it straight who gave it to whom, lol.