Today in Soap Opera History (April 29)

1980: Edge of Night's Raven finally arrived to see her sick son.
2009: Days of our Lives' Mia met Will's friend, Tad.
2013: The online versions of All My Children and One Life to Live premiered on Hulu.

"History speaks to artists. It changes the artist's thinking and is constantly reshaping it into d ifferent 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...

1932: Radio soap opera One Man's Family premiered on Los Angeles, Seattle and San Francisco stations. The popular series went nationwide a year later and ran until 1959.

1940: Young Doctor Malone aired for the first time on CBS Radio, having moved from the Blue Network.

1974: Radio soap opera Sounds of the City premiered. Quaker Oats sponsored Sounds of the City, and was so happy with the initial three-month cycle of five-times a week 15-minute episodes, it ordered more. By September, the show aired on 27 stations in the largest markets in the United States via the Mutual Black Network. Sounds of the City was created by Byron Lewis and Raymond League of Uniworld Group, Inc. Lewis was inspired by his mother's love for the old radio soap Stella Dallas. Writer and Shaunneille Perry served as writer and director. Sounds of the City ran for a total of 39 weeks, and starred Robert Guillaume and Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs in the story of a southern black family that had moved to a northern city and faced the typical urban problems of unemployment, drugs, and crime. Ruby Dee, Robert hooks and other famous players made occasional guest appearances.

Today in Soap Opera History (April 29)

1980: Edge of Night's Raven finally arrived to see her sick son.
2009: Days of our Lives' Mia met Will's friend, Tad.
2013: The online versions of All My Children and One Life to Live
premiered on Hulu.

"All true histories contain instruction; though, in some, the treasure may be hard to find, and when found, so trivial in quantity that the dry, shrivelled kernel scarcely compensates for the trouble of cracking the nut."
― Anne Brontë in "Agnes Grey"

"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...

1932: Radio soap opera One Man's Family premiered on Los Angeles, Seattle and San Francisco stations. The popular series went nationwide a year later and ran until 1959.

1940: Young Doctor Malone aired for the first time on CBS Radio, having moved from the Blue Network.

1974: Radio soap opera Sounds of the City premiered. Quaker Oats sponsored Sounds of the City, and was so happy with the initial three-month cycle of five-times a week 15-minute episodes, it ordered more. By September, the show aired on 27 stations in the largest markets in the United States via the Mutual Black Network. Sounds of the City was created by Byron Lewis and Raymond League of Uniworld Group, Inc. Lewis was inspired by his mother's love for the old radio soap Stella Dallas. Writer and Shaunneille Perry served as writer and director. Sounds of the City ran for a total of 39 weeks, and starred Robert Guillaume and Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs in the story of a southern black family that had moved to a northern city and faced the typical urban problems of unemployment, drugs, and crime. Ruby Dee, Robert hooks and other famous players made occasional guest appearances.

Today in Soap Opera History (April 29)

1980: Edge of Night's Raven finally arrived to see her sick son.
2009: Days of our Lives' Mia met Will's friend, Tad.
2013: The online versions of All My Children and One Life to Live
premiered on Hulu.

"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...

1932: Radio soap opera One Man's Family premiered on Los Angeles, Seattle and San Francisco stations. The popular series went nationwide a year later and ran until 1959.

1940: Young Doctor Malone aired for the first time on CBS Radio, having moved from the Blue Network.

1974: Radio soap opera Sounds of the City premiered. Quaker Oats sponsored Sounds of the City, and was so happy with the initial three-month cycle of five-times a week 15-minute episodes, it ordered more. By September, the show aired on 27 stations in the largest markets in the United States via the Mutual Black Network. Sounds of the City was created by Byron Lewis and Raymond League of Uniworld Group, Inc. Lewis was inspired by his mother's love for the old radio soap Stella Dallas. Writer and Shaunneille Perry served as writer and director. Sounds of the City ran for a total of 39 weeks, and starred Robert Guillaume and Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs in the story of a southern black family that had moved to a northern city and faced the typical urban problems of unemployment, drugs, and crime. Ruby Dee, Robert hooks and other famous players made occasional guest appearances.

Today in Soap Opera History (April 29)

1980: Edge of Night's Raven finally arrived to see her sick son.
2009: Days of our Lives' Mia met Will's friend, Tad.
2013: The online versions of All My Children and One Life to Live
premiered on Hulu.

"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...

1932: Radio soap opera One Man's Family premiered on Los Angeles, Seattle and San Francisco stations. The popular series went nationwide a year later and ran until 1959.

1940: Young Doctor Malone aired for the first time on CBS Radio, having moved from the Blue Network.

1974: Radio soap opera Sounds of the City premiered. Quaker Oats sponsored Sounds of the City, and was so happy with the initial three-month cycle of five-times a week 15-minute episodes, it ordered more. By September, the show aired on 27 stations in the largest markets in the United States via the Mutual Black Network. Sounds of the City was created by Byron Lewis and Raymond League of Uniworld Group, Inc. Lewis was inspired by his mother's love for the old radio soap Stella Dallas. Writer and Shaunneille Perry served as writer and director. Sounds of the City ran for a total of 39 weeks, and starred Robert Guillaume and Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs in the story of a southern black family that had moved to a northern city and faced the typical urban problems of unemployment, drugs, and crime. Ruby Dee, Robert hooks and other famous players made occasional guest appearances.

FLASHBACK: Location Shooting...A Soap Could Visit Your Home Town (Part 4)

Ryan's Hope viewers shared the beauty of Ireland when Jack and Mary
Fenelli honeymooned in Erie.  Here, Mary (then, Kate Mulgrew) is seen
on the cliffs of the Dingle Peninsula.

Location Shooting...A Soap Could Visit Your Home Town

The Soap Box
Vol. IV No. 3 March 1979
by Linda Susman

(continued from Part 3)

Love of Life: When the character of Michael Blake drowned last year, LOL set up shop on Candlewood Lake in Brookfield, Conn. Heather Hill, one of the show's directors, lives nearby, and associate producer Paul Sladkus says her husband, Randy Hill (a stage manager) helped with permits, security and other arrangements for the one-day shoot. Comments Sladkus, they "lucked out with the weather. In fact, we had to use reflectors because it was too sunny at times." For the drowning, a large boat was used to produce a wave large enough to capsize the small rowboat being used for the rescue. The shoot lasted from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and the overcast late-day skies fitted the bill for the dreary effect necessary.

FLASHBACK: You Are Cordially Invited to A (Soap) Wedding (Part 2)

Ryan's Hope producers sent Mary (Kate Mulgrew) and Jack Fenelli
(Michael Levin) to Ireland when they reconciled and remarried. The
cameras followed, and viewers were treated to weeks of on-location filming.

You Are Cordially Invited to A (Soap) Wedding

The Soap Box
Vol. IV No. 2 February 1979
by Linda Susman

(continued from Part 1)

Not all of Pine Valley's weddings have been so traditional or well-attended. The unorthodox "wedding" of Tara Martin and Phil Brent was the basis for a major AMC storyline that continues to complicate the lives of many Pine Valley residents even today.

Tara and Phil had been high school sweethearts; but after Phil ran away to New York when he found out he was adopted, Tara became engaged to Chuck Tyler, Phil's best friend. Although Phoebe Tyler, the boy's grandmother, wanted a huge, fancy affair, Tara chose a simpler wedding in her grandmother's garden. During the ceremony, Chuck fainted, suffering from a serious kidney disease. While he was in the hospital, Phil and Tara realized they were still in love, but they didn't want to upset Chuck until he had fully recovered. Meantime, Phil was drafted and they decided to marry secretly the night before he was to leave for Vietnam.

Although the young lovers made careful plans, they didn't count on a blizzard that would prevent them from reaching a justice of the peace. Desperate to take their vows before morning, they found a tiny, deserted chapel and performed a ceremony themselves they considered binding. Tara became pregnant that night, and when Phil was listed as missing-in-action, she finally told Chuck the whole story. He still loved her, and she agreed to marry him so her child would have a father.

Today in Soap Opera History (April 29)

1980: Edge of Night's Raven finally arrived to see her sick son.
2009: Days of our Lives' Mia met Will's friend, Tad.
2013: The online versions of All My Children and One Life to Live
premiered on Hulu.

"Mankind are so much the same, in all times and places, that history informs us of nothing new or strange in this particular. Its chief use is only to discover the constant and universal principles of human nature."
― David Hume

"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...

1932: Radio soap opera One Man's Family premiered on Los Angeles, Seattle and San Francisco stations. The popular series went nationwide a year later and ran until 1959.

1940: Young Doctor Malone aired for the first time on CBS Radio, having moved from the Blue Network.

1974: Radio soap opera Sounds of the City premiered. Quaker Oats sponsored Sounds of the City, and was so happy with the initial three-month cycle of five-times a week 15-minute episodes, it ordered more. By September, the show aired on 27 stations in the largest markets in the United States via the Mutual Black Network. Sounds of the City was created by Byron Lewis and Raymond League of Uniworld Group, Inc. Lewis was inspired by his mother's love for the old radio soap Stella Dallas. Writer and Shaunneille Perry served as writer and director. Sounds of the City ran for a total of 39 weeks, and starred Robert Guillaume and Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs in the story of a southern black family that had moved to a northern city and faced the typical urban problems of unemployment, drugs, and crime. Ruby Dee, Robert hooks and other famous players made occasional guest appearances.

'Ryan's Hope' Star Kate Mulgrew Talks About Baby She Gave Up For Adoption on 'CBS Sunday Morning' (Video)

Kate Mulgrew on CBS Sunday Morning.

Kate Mulgrew was catapulted overnight to stardom on Ryan's Hope in 1975.

"Whole gaggles of girls would stop me on the streets of New York, 'Mary Ryan! Mary Ryan!' I remember that. It was big," Mulgrew revealed on CBS Sunday Morning earlier today.

That first season she was on top of the world. And then, she got pregnant. The father was an assistant director. Marriage was out of the question.

"He's a good, good guy. We were just too young," she said.

They broke up on a bench outside Central Park: "And he looked at me and, not unkindly, said, 'I wish I'd never met you.'"

At her mother's urging she went to Catholic Charities and agreed to put the unborn baby up for adoption, while the producers of Ryan's Hope wrote her pregnancy into the plot line.

"Six million people watched me have this baby," said Mulgrew. "And I had the baby. And I gave the baby up and went back to work two days later."

In 1999 she was contacted by an agency that connects adopted children with their birth parents. Mulgrew was in her trailer on the set of Star Trek: Voyager at 5 a.m.: "The phone rang. 'Hello? 'Hello?' 'Hi. This is Danielle Gaudette. And I think I am your birth daughter.'"

Watch Mulgrew's CBS Sunday Morning feature below:

Today in Soap Opera History (April 29)

1980: EON's Raven finally arrived to see her sick son. 2009:
DAYS' Mia met Will's friend, Tad.  2013: The online versions of
All My Children and One Life to Live premiered.

"The whole past is the procession of the present."
- Thomas Carlyle

"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...

1932: Radio soap opera One Man's Family premiered on Los Angeles, Seattle and San Francisco stations. The popular series went nationwide a year later and ran until 1959.

1940: Young Doctor Malone aired for the first time on CBS Radio, having moved from the Blue Network.

1974: Radio soap opera Sounds of the City premiered.

Today in Soap Opera History (April 29)

On this date in...

1932: Radio soap opera ONE MAN'S FAMILY premiered on Los Angeles, Seattle and San Francisco stations.

1940: YOUNG DOCTOR MALONE aired for the first time on CBS Radio, having moved to CBS from the Blue Network.

1974: Radio soap opera SOUNDS OF THE CITY premiered.

1980: Alfred Hitchcock died at age 80.

NEWS ROUNDUP: Stockard Channing Joins THE GOOD WIFE. Plus, Kate Mulgrew, Tina Sloan, Shonda Rhimes, Jessica Capshaw, AnnaLynne McCord

Four more reasons to cheer for soaps
The success of REVENGE is one big reason that Roger Newcomb and his team at WeLoveSoaps.net are declaring the rest of 2012 as "The Year of the Soap."

GUIDING LIGHT alum Tina Sloan in Wichita
Tina Sloan, left, introduces herself to Nancy Koeppel, center, and Karen Nelson, before speaking at an author's talk at Watermark Books.

Kate Mulgrew joins the new Netflix drama ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK
The show centers on Piper (Taylor Schilling), an engaged Brooklynite whose decade-old relationship with a drug-runner (Laura Prepon) in college results in her arrest and multi-year detention in a federal penitentiary. Mulgrew will play Red, a Russian prisoner who runs the kitchen and serves as a mother figurehead for the women.

CLASSIC CLIP: Jack & Mary's Wedding on RYAN'S HOPE 1976

Jack and Mary were married on RYAN'S HOPE in 1976 in a beautiful ceremony filmed on location at St. Benedict the Moor Church on Manhattan’s West Side. Watch the clips below:

50 Greatest Soap Couples: #11 Jack & Mary From RYAN'S HOPE

COUPLE: Jack Fenelli & Mary Ryan
SHOW: RYAN'S HOPE
RANK: 11
PLAYED BY:
Jack: Michael Levin
Mary: Kate Mulgrew, Mary Carney, Kathleen Tolan, Nicolette Goulet
YEARS: 1975-1979; As a ghost/spirt in 1983, 1989

STORY:
While working on her brother's (Frank) political campaign Mary met Jack, a young reporter assigned to cover the campaign for the Village Banner.   They clashed for many reasons from their backgrouns (he was Italian and she was Irish) to him being a devout bachelor versus her stubborn career-minded and family-oriented lifestyle.  Her family was the center of much of their conflict.  An opposites attraction kept them coming back to each other.  When they finally made plans to marry, Jack went on an all-night drinking binge the night before and didn't show up at the church.  Mary's father, Johnny, finally found Jack and sobered him up by throwing him into a cold shower.  Their beautiful wedding was filmed on location at St. Benedict the Moor Church on Manhattan’s West Side.

Laura Innes Joins Lindsay Wagner, Kate Mulgrew As WAREHOUSE 13 Guest Star

Laura Innes, an Emmy-nominee for both acting (ER) and directing (THE WEST WING), will guest star on Syfy’s hit series WAREHOUSE 13.

In the Monday, September 17 episode at 9 p.m. (ET/PT), Innes will play Emma Jinks, the mother of Agent Steve Jinks (Aaron Ashmore), who has been estranged from her son for two years. Steve is forced to seek out his mother during an artifact-related crisis, but in order to get to the bottom of his case, he and Emma must first make peace.

CLASSIC CLIP: Jack & Mary in RYAN'S HOPE 1983 & 1989

The spirit of Mary visited Jack in 1983 to help convince him to move on. She returned in 1989 (Kate Mulgrew's voice anyway). Watch the clips below:

CLASSIC CLIP: Jack & Mary in RYAN'S HOPE 1977

Jumbo demanded Jack try to fix this with Mary and baby Ryan on RYAN'S HOPE in 1977.  Watch the clip below:

Claire Labine To Be Honored, Kate Mulgrew Presenting At 64th WGA Awards

The 64th Writers Guild of America Awards will take place on Sunday, February 19 hosted by Rachel Dratch. The WGA East has also selected daytime TV writer Claire Labine as winner of the Ian McLellan Hunter Award. Judd Apatow will receive the Herb Sargent Award for Comedy Excellence.

WGA East president Michael Winship said: "With this year's Sargent and Hunter Awards, we honor one of the most important aspects of membership in the guild: collegiality. Both Judd Apatow and Claire Labine not only have created notable and entertaining bodies of work; they have gone out of their way to encourage and mentor new young writers, offering constant and solid support to those just starting out in the business."

Presenters include Kate Mulgrew, Jonathan Ames, Jon Benjamin, Shari Springer Berman, Jimmy Fallon, Geoffrey Fletcher, Nancy Giles, Steve Kroft, Seth Meyers, Robert Pulcini, James Schamus, Kristen Wiig and Terence Winter.

RELATED:
- NOMINATIONS: 2012 Writers Guild of America (WGA) Awards -- ALL MY CHILDREN, GENERAL HOSPITAL, THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS
- WLS Interview Archive: Claire Labine (7-Part Series)
- WLS Interview Archive: Claire Labine Answered YOUR Questions (6-Part Series)
- 50 Greatest Soap Actresses: #38 Kate Mulgrew

FLASHBACK: Daytime's 10 Most Tempting Women (1978)

As a tribute to ALL MY CHILDREN's final weeks on ABC, we continue our series of daily Flashbacks today with a feature that included ALL MY CHILDREN's Susan Lucci (Erica) and Candice Earley (Donna).

The January 1978 issue Rona Barrett's Daytimers magazine included a "Daytime's 10 Most Tempting Women" special issue which also profiled Kate Mulgrew, Veleka Gray, Jaime Lyn Bauer, Brooke Bundy, Deidre Hall, Suzanne Rogers, Katherine Glass and Kay Heberle.

Daytimers was a great source of information and fun gossip in its day but you had to live with occasional inaccuracies such as seeing "Candice Earley" on the cover and "Candace Earley" with an "a" on the inside. They also notably referred to Deidre Hall's legendary Marlena as "Marlene." But it was always worth the read.

Ignoring that, who do you think was the most "tempting" woman in AMC history?

We hope you enjoy and come back daily for a new AMC classic article.

(Click image below to view larger. You may need to click it a second time to enlarge again)

CLASSIC PHOTO: Kate Mulgrew & Michael Levin

In honor of Kate Mulgrew being selected as the #38 Greatest Soap Actress of All Time, here is a classic photo of one of the most memorable couples in soap opera history, Mary Ryan and Jack Fenelli, played by Mulgrew and Michael Levin.

Thanks to Rob Wargo for the photo.

50 Greatest Soap Actresses: #38 Kate Mulgrew

NAME: Kate Mulgrew
RANK: 38
SOAP ROLES: Mary Ryan Fenelli, RYAN'S HOPE (1975-1977, 1983, 1986, 1989); Garnet McGee, DALLAS (1978)

AWARDS:
2001 Saturn Award nomination for Best Genre TV Actress
2000 Saturn Award nomination for Best Genre TV Actress
1999 Saturn Award nomination for Best Genre TV Actress
1998 Saturn Award win for Best Genre TV Actress
1998 Golden Satellite Award win for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama
1980 Golden Globe nomination for Best TV Actress - Drama

NOTE: Mulgrew's awards and nomination all came after her original RYAN'S HOPE run.

COMMENTS FROM THE PANEL:
Claire Labine: (wrote for Mulgrew on RH) I think Mary Ryan, especially as played by Kate Mulgrew in the early years, was sort of the gal I liked to be, and the woman that Paul would like to hang out with. Kate could have been Helen’s daughter, they had the same sort of style. I wish Kate could have stayed. I said to her, “You have to go, you have to see what else is out there.” But it was a blow.