ALL: Errors, Myths, Omissions & Firsts that weren't

[Paul Raven]

Some other AW firsts that came to mind

First character on a soap to give birth to twins on air -Pat Randolph-Mike/Marianne

First show to lose all original characters-when Liz Matthews was written off in 86 there were no characters left from the beginning.

First NBC soap to last more than 20 years.

First show to have an ongoing black character-Peggy Nolan (Micki Grant)

I wonder if a primetime show like The Defenders or The Nurses might have had an abortion story before AW?

[Contessa Donatella]

WTG, Paul! 

https://www.biography.com/actors/maude-abortion-storyline-bea-arthur

In November 1972, Norman Lear's sitcom Maude broke new ground. In two episodes titled "Maude's Dilemma," the character of Maude, played by Bea Arthur, learns that she's pregnant at the age of 47. After grappling with her choices, she decides to terminate the pregnancy. These lauded episodes, which forthrightly addressed the subject of abortion, boosted the show's ratings but also resulted in backlash and protest that affected TV for years. "We knew some people would be upset," Lear told Entertainment Weekly in 1993, "but we had no idea of the conflagration that did follow."

Edited June 10, 2024 by Contessa Donatella
MAUDE

[Contessa Donatella]

Where does it state in this script what the location is of the doctor's office? Pennsylvania? New York state? 

[Paul Raven]

https://www.kqed.org/pop/25129/the-history-of-abortion-on-network-tv-and-what-it-means-for-women-today

In the early 1960s, an abortion plot on The Defenders, which supported the rights of women to choose, caused an uproar at CBS. The show lost sponsors. Affiliates in many major markets refused to air the episode. Then, in 1972, there was the Bea Arthur sitcom Maude.

[allmc2008]

It's implied. The law that is reiterated in that scene reflects New York State. Mind you, Pine Valley wasn't specified to be in Pennsylvania at the time. Even in the shows bible, it doesn't say. It just says that it's an easy commute to a large city.

[Contessa Donatella]

It seems to me that what the doctor says could have been true many places. Before abortion was codified into law, some doctors privately performed them as  medical issues between them & their patients, although they might very well have had standards about husbands & permissions. I don't see anything that makes me think it is NY state's legal abortion with no residency requirement. 

[allmc2008]

It doesn't change the fact that it 'was' legal for her to get the abortion where she had the abortion. I'd argue that her not getting Jeff's permission, and using the fake name (Mary Kelley), was more of an ethical delima. I'm sure that many women lied like Erica did and I'm sure many doctors would be willing to cover it up.

[Contessa Donatella]

I don't think that is so. I think in Pennsylvania at that time (and every state except New York, Florida & Hawaii) abortion was not legal. Only some action taken by their legislature could have made it legal. However, I'm not sure if the legislature had not taken up the matter if then it was illegal but it definitely was not legal. 

And, about Jeff's permission, she had been upfront with him that she was going to do it, right? If so, then she wasn't acting to deceive him. She just took the path of least resistance in the story she told the doctor. 

Edited June 10, 2024 by Contessa Donatella
more

[allmc2008]

Is there a miscommunication? It's been established that New York had it legal. It's shown in the script that it was legal in the state she had it preformed. I read nearly every script concerning this story line. In fact, the doctor was needing a contact number if anything went wrong. But, she convinced him she didn't know anyone.

Dr Frazier states in that image of the script that "It is illigal to preform an abortion in this state on a married woman without her husbands consent."

If it were illegal to do it, I'm certain he wouldn't ask for one (and insist) because it would jeopardize his career.

Finally, if it were legal in Pennsylvania the fact remains: It was legal where she was. But if she had it in Pine Valley, why would have she tried to got to New York in the first place? She DID go to New York a month or so before this script but couldn't find someone with an appointment. She had to claim she went there to visit her father. Why would Erica go to all that trouble if she knew she could have gotten one in Pine Valley?

[Contessa Donatella]

At the time in the United States there were 3 states where abortion had been ruled on by the state legislatures & deemed to be legal. Those states were New York, Florida & Hawaii. In both Florida & in Hawaii this applied ONLY to residents. Only New York state had no residency requirement. The reason Erica wanted her husband to arrange for her to do it right, IOW travel to New York state, is obvious, because it was both legal & available to her if she traveled there. It was the understanding here that he did not arrange it so she did it locally, which would have made it NOT a legal abortion. 

[allmc2008]

Read the script. She had it where it would be legal. It's stated in the script page I posted that she had it legally.

It wasn't EVER "Arrange it so I'll get one in  New York or I'll get one locally".

Her excuse for leaving was that she had mid-terms at the university. Which was a lie, of course.

 

In fact, she went to New York to get one, which is specified as New York. Her excuse was to visit her father. Once she returned, it was revealed her dad died in Europe  after his wife Diana called.

[Contessa Donatella]

You said it was implied. Just because something is in a script does not necessarily mean that is what made it on air. I count fan accounts as evidence. We're probably going to need to just agree to disagree. Although it's not that I consider my mind closed. 

[allmc2008]

Changing those details would require the whole story to be rewritten

 

[allmc2008]

That's fair. Lets agree to disagree

 

[Mona Kane Croft]

Vivian Gorrow was certainly not the first humorous character on a soap opera. There had probably been close to a dozen by 1978.  Vivian wasn't even the first humorous character on Another World.  So that one is definitely wrong.  

By the way, I tend to use the word humor rather than comedy in regard to soap operas.  It's just a personal preference.  But I do understand the original post used the word comedy.  

Here are a few humorous soap opera characters before 1978 that come to mind at the moment: Lucille Wall on GH, Wanda and Vinny Wolek on OLTL, Lahoma Vain and Louise Goddard on AW, Martha Allen (Nick Belini's lab assistant) on The Doctors. All those were contract roles.  Additionally, Agnes Nixon created several humorous contract characters on AMC before '78, but I'm not an expert on that era of AMC.  And I didn't even mention radio soap operas, many of which had a humorous character to break the tension of the heightened drama.  

Edited June 11, 2024 by Mona Kane Croft