Today in Soap Opera History (September 1)

1976: Ryan's Hope's Jack was annoyed with Little John.
1981: The Edge of Night's Nadine called out her daughter, Raven.
1981: General Hospital's Heather defended herself to Burt.
2004: As the World Turns' Barbara was determined to get her son.

"History speaks to artists. It changes the artist's thinking and is constantly reshaping it into different and unexpected images."
― Anselm Kiefer

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1966: On Dark Shadows, Joe Haskell (Joel Crothers) told Carolyn Stoddard (Nancy Barrett) about David Collins' crystal ball's prediction. Burke Devline (Mitchell Ryan) investigated Bill Malloys' disappearance, certain that he had incriminating evidence against Roger Collins and Sam Evans (David Ford). Sam believed everyone in the entire town was headed towards death.

Today in Soap Opera History (September 1)

1976: Ryan's Hope's Jack was annoyed with Little John.
1981: The Edge of Night's Nadine called out her daughter, Raven.
1981: General Hospital's Heather defended herself to Burt.
2004: As the World Turns' Barbara was determined to get her son.

"The best prophet of the future is the past."
― Lord Byron

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1966: On Dark Shadows, Joe Haskell (Joel Crothers) told Carolyn Stoddard (Nancy Barrett) about David Collins' crystal ball's prediction. Burke Devline (Mitchell Ryan) investigated Bill Malloys' disappearance, certain that he had incriminating evidence against Roger Collins and Sam Evans (David Ford). Sam believed everyone in the entire town was headed towards death.

Today in Soap Opera History (September 1)

1976: Ryan's Hope's Jack was annoyed with Little John.
1981: The Edge of Night's Nadine called out her daughter, Raven.
1981: General Hospital's Heather defended herself to Burt.
2004: As the World Turns' Barbara was determined to get her son.

"History is a vast early warning system."
― Norman Cousins

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1966: On Dark Shadows, Joe Haskell (Joel Crothers) told Carolyn Stoddard (Nancy Barrett) about David Collins' crystal ball's prediction. Burke Devline (Mitchell Ryan) investigated Bill Malloys' disappearance, certain that he had incriminating evidence against Roger Collins and Sam Evans (David Ford). Sam believed everyone in the entire town was headed towards death.

'Full Circle'...Fully Packed! Philece Sampler, Nancy Lee Grahn, Alex Wyse and More Attend West Coast Premiere!

Nelson Aspen performed for a full house at the West Coast premiere of "Full Circle."

I'm happy to report that the West Coast premiere of my cabaret show, "Full Circle," packed 'em in at Bar Fedora in Downtown Los Angeles last weekend. It's always fun to share my showbiz shenanigans through story and song, but I had an especially love-filled room in this beautiful venue...with a strong connection to my personal history in the soap genre.

While my special guest star, Deven Green, has her own ties to the soap world thanks to her enormously popular "Welcome to My Home" parody videos, a few familiar faces were spotted in the audience and even participated in the performance merry making.

My friend of 30 years, Philece Sampler (Rituals, Days of our Lives, Another World) turned up and joined me for a rendition of the 1980s "Another World" theme song, earning a cheer from the crowd at the suggestion that her character Renee DuMonde (DiMera) make a return to Salem on Days of our Lives.

Today in Soap Opera History (September 1)

1976: Ryan's Hope's Jack was annoyed with Little John.
1981: The Edge of Night's Nadine called out her daughter, Raven.
1981: General Hospital's Heather defended herself to Burt.
2004: As the World Turns' Barbara was determined to get her son.

"If you don't know history, then you don't know anything. You are a leaf that doesn't know it is part of a tree."
― Michael Crichton

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1966: On Dark Shadows, Joe Haskell (Joel Crothers) told Carolyn Stoddard (Nancy Barrett) about David Collins' crystal ball's prediction. Burke Devline (Mitchell Ryan) investigated Bill Malloys' disappearance, certain that he had incriminating evidence against Roger Collins and Sam Evans (David Ford). Sam believed everyone in the entire town was headed towards death.

Today in Soap Opera History (September 1)

1976: Ryan's Hope's Jack was annoyed with Little John.
1981: The Edge of Night's Nadine called out her daughter, Raven.
1981: General Hospital's Heather defended herself to Burt.
2004: As the World Turns' Barbara was determined to get her son.

"History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again."
― Maya Angelou

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1966: On Dark Shadows, Joe Haskell (Joel Crothers) told Carolyn Stoddard (Nancy Barrett) about David Collins' crystal ball's prediction. Burke Devline (Mitchell Ryan) investigated Bill Malloys' disappearance, certain that he had incriminating evidence against Roger Collins and Sam Evans (David Ford). Sam believed everyone in the entire town was headed towards death.

Today in Soap Opera History (September 1)

1966: Burke investigated Malloy's disappearance on Dark 
Shadows. 1980: The Edge of Night's Nadine was on to Raven.
1981: Heather defended herself to Burt on General Hospital.
1988: As the World Turns' Synder Pond was the place to be.

"To believe what has not occurred in history will not occur at all, is to argue disbelief in the dignity of man."
- Mahatma Gandhi

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1966: On Dark Shadows, Joe (Joel Crothers) told Carolyn (Nancy Barrett) about David's crystal ball's prediction. Burke (Mitchell Ryan) investigated Bill Malloys's disappearance, certain that he had incriminating evidence against Roger and Sam (David Ford). Sam believed everyone in the entire town was headed towards death.

Today in Soap Opera History (September 1)

1966: Burke wanted to know what happened to Bill on DARK
SHADOWS. 1980: Nadine was on to Raven on EDGE OF NIGHT.
1988: The Synder Pond was busy on ATWT. 2006: Alexis had a
request for Sam on GH.

"If you don't know history, then you don't know anything. You are a leaf that doesn't know it is part of a tree."
― Michael Crichton

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1966: On DARK SHADOWS, Burke (Mitchell Ryan) investigated Bill's disappearance, certain that he had incriminating evidence against Roger and Sam (David Ford).

Today in Soap Opera History (September 1)

On this date in...

1975: On ANOTHER WORLD, Alice's adoption of Sally was approved.

1988: On GUIDING LIGHT, Reva butted heads with Alexandra.  Watch the episode below:

Philece Sampler: A Blast From The Past From Nelson Aspen

I had a long overdue reunion with my great friend, Philece Sampler (DAYS, AW, RITUALS), last night. We shall definitely have to record a "Where Are They Now" segment for WE LOVE SOAPS TV but in the meantime, she wanted me to let you guys know that she (as always) is a busy bee with her voice over career and writing projects. In fact, she's in active development on a screenplay which would co-star our longtime pal and former soap stud, Emmy winning Gregg Marx.

What with all the recent DiMera activity on DAYS OF OUR LIVES (where she memorably portrayed Renee DiMera), I couldn't help but ask if she'd ever consider a return to Salem. She enthusiastically said, "YES!" And even told me an entire storyline she'd come up with years ago that involved Stefano having seperated Renee from her twin sister, at birth. Are you listening, Gary Tomlin!?

Philece is one of the many daytime pals featured in my new book, "DINNER AT NELSON's" which is coming out in February 2011. She'll be joining Marcia McCabe, Thom Racina, Christopher Durham, James & Kassie DePaiva, Louise Shaffer, Louan Gideon and a coterie of other showbiz notables---stay tuned!

Nelson's Soap Scrapbook #12 - Early 1990s

Nelson Aspen dug into his scrapbooks for some memorabilia from his early showbiz career in Daytime TV and shares some of his personal photos exclusively with We Love Soaps. All photos are owned by Nelson. For more of his exploits, read "Hollywood Insider Exposed!"

We continue this series with three photos from from life after ANOTHER WORLD.

Nelson's Soap Scrapbook #11 - ANOTHER WORLD 1988

Nelson Aspen dug into his scrapbooks for some memorabilia from his early showbiz career in Daytime TV and shares some of his personal photos exclusively with We Love Soaps. All photos are owned by Nelson. For more of his exploits, read "Hollywood Insider Exposed!"

We continue this series with two photos from ANOTHER WORLD.

Nelson's Soap Scrapbook #8 - ONE LIFE TO LIVE & ANOTHER WORLD 1987

Nelson Aspen dug into his scrapbooks for some memorabilia from his early showbiz career in Daytime TV and shares some of his personal photos exclusively with We Love Soaps. All photos are owned by Nelson. For more of his exploits, read "Hollywood Insider Exposed!"

We continue this series with photos from ONE LIFE TO LIVE and ANOTHER WORLD.