On Soaps, You’ve Got to Have Friends

When I started writing for the newish publication USA Today in 1988, I was sent to cover the premiere of Bette Midler’s new movie “Beaches” at the Museum of Modern Art. Over-the-top Marlena getting to interview the divine Miss M? OMG, was I thrilled! A decade earlier, I had heard her in concert at the Continental Baths with her accompanist Barry Manilow, another one of my favorite interviewees.

Interviewing Ms. Midler was fabulous. The first thing I told her was that I loved her 1973 song “You’ve Got to Have Friends.”  As an only child (who is also childless), friends have been everything to me my entire life.  As I’ve written repeatedly, I was a latchkey teenager, home alone after school, who started watching seminal soaps like “The Doctors” and “Another World.” Early on, soap characters became my surrogate friends.

My favorite surrogate soap friends were Susan Lucci’s Erica Kane on “All My Children” and Erika Slezak’s Victoria Lord on “One Life to Live.” Like me, Erica was a lonely only child who was hell bent on having a career — which she achieved as a supermodel. She also liked romance. Of course, I’ve had just one marriage (to Moose) while — LOL! — Viki had eleven. “OLTL’s” Viki (at least at the beginning of the show) was also lonely; her sister, Meredith, passed away very early on. Like me, Viki became a career girl, a journalist who worked at her dastardly father Victor’s newspaper, The Banner. Viki, too, had her share of romances over the years, which included seven husbands.

Soap operas have always been adept at portraying the art of true friendship. Look at Kim (played by Kathryn Hays) and Lisa (played by Eileen Fulton) on “As the World Turns.” At different times, both had been married to the same man, Dr. Bob (played by Don Hastings), but they managed to remain great friends.

Turning to “AW,” who wouldn’t want to be friends with the warm and wonderful clothes horse Felicia Gallant, so memorably played by Linda Dano? Felicia was very close to Cass Winthrop (played by Stephen Schnetzer), and her sidekick was Wallingford (played by the magical Brent Collins). In real life, I have been fortunate to have known Ms. Dano, and she is a wonderfully warm and loving person, just like her characters. That’s why she was great at conveying true friendship. I also loved Dano as Gretel “Rae” Cummings on “OLTL,” and as Cynthia Haines on “ATWT.”

Oh, there have been so many legendary on-screen soap friendships over the years! On “Days of Our Lives” John Black (first played by Wayne Northrop, then Drake Hogestyn), Bo Brady (played by Peter Reckell) and Patch Johnson (played by Stephen Nichols) were all great friends. Also on “Days,” Susan Martin (played by Denise Alexander) and Julie Olson (played by Susan Seaforth Hayes) started out as friends but came to hate one another because of competition over men.

One of the sweetest portrayals of soap friendship ever was the quartet of pals who started out together as teens on “Guiding Light”: Phillip (played by Grant Aleksander), Rick (played by Michael O’Leary), Beth (played by Judi Evans) and Mindy (played by Krista Tesreau). These four were collectively known as the Four Musketeers. We “GL” viewers learned so much about the meaning of true friendship by watching them change and grow over the years. The characters were involved romantically in various pairings (sometimes but not always with each other) at various points in the stories that never ended. I’ve heard that the performers were all great friends in real life, too.

Today’s soaps offer friendships of their own. I have always been a huge fan of Bradford Anderson’s brainish, quirky Spinelli on “General Hospital” and that character’s epic friendship with Jason Quartermaine (played by Steve Burton).  As you know, Bradford and Steve are great friends in real life, collaborating on a website called “Stone Cold and the Jackal.” They often make personal appearances together.

Another “OLTL” soap friendship was sprinkled with the kind of campy comedy I particularly enjoy. Its participants were Dorian (played by Robin Strasser) and David (played by Tuc Watkins). Snarky David used to call Dorian his best friend, much to her consternation.

Perhaps the greatest soap friendship of all, though, one that spanned the entire history of “Search for Tomorrow,” was that of Stu Bergman (played by Larry Haines) and Joanne Gardner (played by Mary Stuart). In the show’s final scene in 1986, Jo and Stu hung out together on a porch. Stu said, “Where are you going?” and Jo replied, “I’m searching for tomorrow.”

I also have a current soap fave friendship. On “GH,” Alexis (played by Nancy Lee Grahn) and Diane (played by Carolyn Hennesy) are law partners and great friends. Both are intelligent, independent, outspoken women. We self-confessed feminist soap fans couldn’t ask for more! I wish all my friends were as cool and as understanding as these two characters are!

What were (and are) your favorite soap friendships? Tell Marlena all!