Today in Soap Opera History (February 4)

On this date in...

1966: The character of Mike Bauer (played by Gary Pillar), born and raised on THE GUIDING LIGHT, debuted on ANOTHER WORLD in a crossover that would last a year. Elissa Leeds would join the show as Hope Bauer on March 25.

1975: On ANOTHER WORLD, Rachel (Victoria Wyndham) fretted to Ada (Constance Ford) she didn't have enough friends to be bridesmaids. Ada worried where Jamie (Robert Doran) would be living while they waited for the house to be built, so Gil (Dolph Sweet) suggested buying and renovating an old mansion.

1980: THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS expanded to an hour. 30 minute versions of Y&R and SEARCH FOR TOMORROW had aired at 12 p.m and 12:30 p.m., respectively (and had been since Y&R's premiere in 1973). The Noon half our was returned to the affiliates and the one hour Y&R moved to 1 p.m. after SFT. AS THE WORLD TURNS moved to 2 p.m. followed by GUIDING LIGHT at 3 p.m. ONE DAY AT A TIME repeats shifted into the 4 p.m. timeslot occupied until the previous Friday by LOVE OF LIFE.

1980: On GUIDING LIGHT, Roger (Michael Zaslow) kidnapped Rita (Lenore Kasdorf)from the Hall of Mirrors with Donna Summmer's "Enough is Enough" playing in the background.



1980: On THE EDGE OF NIGHT, Margo died after being bludgeoned by Nola.

2005: On THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS, Jack refused to leave Jabot.



Celebrating a birthday today are:
Conrad Bain (ex-Charles, THE EDGE OF NIGHT; ex-Mr. Wells, DARK SHADOWS) - 89
Jerry Adler (ex-Len, ONE LIFE TO LIVE) - 83
Gil Rogers - (ex-Hawk, GUIDING LIGHT; ex-Ray, ALL MY CHILDREN) - 78
Marie Masters (ex-Susan, AS THE WORLD TURNS; ex-Helen, ONE LIFE TO LIVE; ex-Hester, LOVE OF LIVE) - 71
Barbara Garrick (ex-Allison, ONE LIFE TO LIVE; ex-Charlotte, GUIDING LIGHT) - 47
Trent Dawson (ex-Henry, AS THE WORLD TURNS) - 41

EDITOR'S NOTE: If you would like to submit a piece of soap opera history for this daily column, please email it to editor@welovesoaps.com.

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