Today in Soap Opera History (January 15)

1953: Love of Life's Meg was upset with Vanessa.
1983: Guiding Light's Mike investigated a birth certificate.
1988: General Hospital's Grant tried to kidnap Robin.
1993: NBC aired the final episode of Santa Barbara.

"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...

1953: On Love of Life, Van (Peggy McCay) and Meg (Jean McBride) were at odds over Meg's son, Beanie (Dennis Parnell). Meg later asked Van, "How can you go on being friends with a man who threatened my life?" McCay left Love of Life in 1955 after 4 years. She currently stars as Caroline Brady on Days of our Lives.

Today in Soap Opera History (January 15)

1953: Love of Life's Meg was upset with Vanessa.
1983: Guiding Light's Mike investigated a birth certificate.
1988: General Hospital's Grant tried to kidnap Robin.
1993: NBC aired the final episode of Santa Barbara.

"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...

1953: On Love of Life, Van (Peggy McCay) and Meg (Jean McBride) were at odds over Meg's son, Beanie (Dennis Parnell). Meg later asked Van, "How can you go on being friends with a man who threatened my life?" McCay left Love of Life in 1955 after 4 years. She currently stars as Caroline Brady on Days of our Lives.

Today in Soap Opera History (January 15)

1953: Love of Life's Meg was upset with Vanessa.
1983: Guiding Light's Mike investigated a birth certificate.
1988: General Hospital's Grant tried to kidnap Robin.
1993: NBC aired the final episode of Santa Barbara.

"More and more, I tend to read history. I often find it more up to date than the daily newspapers."
― Joe Murray

"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...

1953: On Love of Life, Van (Peggy McCay) and Meg (Jean McBride) were at odds over Meg's son, Beanie (Dennis Parnell). Meg later asked Van, "How can you go on being friends with a man who threatened my life?" McCay left Love of Life in 1955 after 4 years. She currently stars as Caroline Brady on Days of our Lives.

Today in Soap Opera History (January 15)

1953: Love of Life's Meg was upset with Vanessa.
1983: Guiding Light's Mike investigated a birth certificate.
1988: General Hospital's Grant tried to kidnap Robin.
1993: NBC aired the final episode of Santa Barbara.

"The present contains nothing more than the past, and what is found in the effect is already in the cause."
― Henri Louis Bergson

"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...

1953: On Love of Life, Van (Peggy McCay) and Meg (Jean McBride) were at odds over Meg's son, Beanie (Dennis Parnell). Meg later asked Van, "How can you go on being friends with a man who threatened my life?" McCay left Love of Life in 1955 after 4 years. She currently stars as Caroline Brady on Days of our Lives.

FLASHBACK: 'Another World' The Story of Steven, Rachel & Alice (Part 9)

George Reinholt played Steven Frame on Another World.

ANOTHER WORLD: The Story of Steven, Rachel & Alice

The Soap Box
Vol. IV No. 6 June 1979
by Bryna Laub

(continued from Part 8)

It was Russ himself who inadvertently told Alice Jamie was Steven's son after all! One evening, after a hard day at the clinic, Russ found himself unwilling to go home and face Rachel's sarcastic resentment of his work. Since her hopes for great wealth were dashed, Rachel hadn't even made an effort to pretend any love for Russ. The only reason he even bothered to go home at all was Jamie. He visited Alice and confided all this to her. He reminisced that he and Rachel had only one brief period of real happiness, the time she came back to him and they conceived Jamie. When Russ mentioned that until the reconciliation he and Rachel hadn't lived as husband and wife for weeks, Alice realized that for once in her life Rachel had told the truth. Jamie was Steven's son.

With incredible effort Alice managed to keep her shock from Russ. The following day she reported the conversation to Steven who was as shaken as Alice had been. Alice quickly reassured him she knew he had no idea the child was really his or he wouldn't have tried to avoid responsibility for him.

FLASHBACK: 'Another World' The Story of Steven, Rachel & Alice (Part 3)

It didn't take long for Alice (Jacqueline Courtney) and her mother (Viginia
Dwyer) to see through Rachel for the scheming, manipulating woman she was.

ANOTHER WORLD: The Story of Steven, Rachel & Alice

The Soap Box
Vol. IV No. 6 June 1979
by Bryna Laub

(continued from Part 2)

Rachel tried desperately to fit in with Russ's family but Mary and Alice sensed the artificiality in Rachel's attempts. Jim Matthews, Russ's father, however, was enchanted with Rachel. Out of a need to gain the approval of every man she met to replace the love and approval of her father, Rachel seemed to sense what a man wanted her to be and that's what she became for him. Mary called it twisting Jim around her little finger.

Rachel's delight at living in the Matthews' home was soon tempered by her disappointment at Russ's prolonged absences. She had pictured a marriage as a never-ending whirl of parties and restaurants and dancing and she decided Russ was just being difficult by spending all his time at the hospital. And when he did have a few hours off, she resented the way he came home and collapse on the bed when he should have been taking her out for some fun.

Today in Soap Opera History (January 15)

1953: Love of Life's Meg was upset with Vanessa.
1983: Guiding Light's Mike investigated a birth certificate.
1988: General Hospital's Grant tried to kidnap Robin.
1993: NBC aired the final episode of Santa Barbara.

"A page of history is worth a pound of logic."
― Oliver Wendell Holmes

"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...

1953: On Love of Life, Van (Peggy McCay) and Meg (Jean McBride) were at odds over Meg's son, Beanie (Dennis Parnell). Meg later asked Van, "How can you go on being friends with a man who threatened my life?" McCay left Love of Life in 1955 after 4 years. She currently stars as Caroline Brady on Days of our Lives.

Today in Soap Opera History (January 15)

1953: LOVE OF LIFE's Meg was upset with Van. 1983: GL's
Mike investigated a birth certificate. 1988: GH's Grant tried
to take Robin. 1993: NBC aired the final episode of SANTA
BARBARA.

"Maybe if people started to listen, history would stop repeating itself."
- Lily Tomlin

"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...

1953: On LOVE OF LIFE, Van (Peggy McCay) and Meg (Jean McBride) were at odds over Meg's son, Beanie (Dennis Parnell). Meg later asked Van, "How can you go on being friends with a man who threatened my life?" McCay left LOVE OF LIFE in 1955 after four years. She currently stars as Caroline Brady on DAYS OF OUR LIVES.

Today in Soap Opera History (January 15)

Shepperd Strudwick

On this date in...

1968: On ANOTHER WORLD, Missy told Alice (Jacqueline Courtney) she blamed herself for causing Liz pain and heartache with her selfishness.

1972: On THE EDGE OF NIGHT, a seance was held in the Marceau house.

1983: Shepperd Strudwick, whose soap roles included Jim Matthews on ANOTHER WORLD, Timothy McCauley on LOVE OF LIFE and Victor Lord on ONE LIFE TO LIVE, died at age 75. He earned two Emmy nominations for his acting work in daytime in 1976 and 1980.

1985: On GUIDING LIGHT, Reva (Kim Zimmer) was worried about Vanessa.