Marlena says: Two weeks ago, I asked all of you to send me recollections of your first soap. These memories typically go back a long way. In the first installment, I described my introduction to “The Doctors.” A colleague spoke fondly of “Another World” and the interlocking rings on its colorful logo. Another went way back, to the days when the name of “The Guiding Light” still began with “The.” This time we’re offering the memories of three more friends and fellow fans. More are coming in every day. We hope yours will be among them.
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Tom Lisanti, a pop culture historian whose eleven books include “Ryan’s Hope: An Oral History of Daytime’s Groundbreaking Soap” and “Texas: An Oral History of Daytime TV’s Answer to Dallas”
My first soap, as an adult, was ABC’s “Ryan’s Hope.” I stumbled across the serial quite by accident in the spring of 1980. I was living at home on Long Island and was an 18-year-old freshman commuting to a local community college. Three days a week, I had a big gap between morning and late afternoon classes, so I would drive home, stopping to pick up lunch. One day in May, while eating, I was perusing the TV channels and saw a handsome blonde who reminded me of my favorite actress, Carol Lynley. I stopped to watch, as the woman fretted to some dude that she was afraid that the mob was going to take away her fabulous restaurant, The Crystal Palace. I learned that the capo, Tiso Novotny, who was her silent partner, had ordered the successful hit on the show’s beloved leading lady a few months prior and he in turn was recently killed by her husband. I had no idea what I was watching until the end credits. The blonde was Randall Edwards as Delia Reid Ryan Ryan Coleridge and the show was ”Ryan’s Hope.” I had not seen a soap since I was a kid and watched “Dark Shadows” for a bit. I was surprised that a soap opera had a mob plot. As a fan of “The Godfather” movies, I became curious to see more. I was soon hooked and, in the days pre-VCR, I would catch the show on-and-off when my schedule allowed.
A few weeks later, I began a part-time job at Guardian Bank in Hempstead where I filed mortgages in their vault, which was in the basement adjoining the staff lunchroom. They set me up at a small desk that faced the television where the mostly female staff would venture down on their lunch hours to watch their ABC soaps beginning with “Ryan’s Hope” through “All My Children” and then “One Life to Live” or “Another World,” depending on who got to the television set first. I now became even more addicted to “Ryan’s Hope” and the others too. I loved the warmth Maeve and Johnny Ryan extolled with the scenes at their bar or above in their home. It was nice to see such a happily married couple and one so into their faith even though I was a totally lapsed Catholic.
My favorite character, though, remained Delia who I thought, at first, was the show’s heroine. She was treated shabbily by her pompous ex-husband Frank Ryan (Daniel Hugh-Kelly) and the haughty Coleridge sisters, Jill (Nancy Addison), and Faith (Karen Morris-Gowdy), or as I nicknamed them, “the Witches of Coleridge.” Slowly some of Delia’s machinations began to be revealed, i.e., while married to Roger Coleridge (Ron Hale) she slept with her stockbroker to make up losses in her funds; she let Tiso secretly fund her restaurant even though everyone suspected him of being a mob kingpin; etc. Even so, I still adored her.
I had a new favorite character when Ryan’s Hope, in early 1981, brought back to life Tiso’s presumed dead nephew, Joe Novak, now played by Roscoe Born. He oozed sex appeal as the conflicted mobster pretending to go straight to win back his ex-wife Siobhan Ryan (Ann Gillespie) but still having ties with his crime family. I was hooked.
Alina Adams, New York Times best-selling author of soap tie-ins, skating mysteries, romance, and Soviet-Jewish historical fiction. Her latest book is “Super Soap Scenes: A Time Capsule of Daytime Drama’s Greatest Moments.” Co-host of “Soap Hub” podcast.
My first soap — warning: incoming cliche — was “General Hospital.” It was the summer of 1980, when EVERYBODY was watching Luke and Laura on the run. I was 10 years old. But, just to prove how not like other girls I was even then, the story that initially seized my attention was the love triangle (quad?) of Lesley/Rick/Monica/Alan, and Alan Jr’s paternity. I was also into Richard Dean Anderson as Jeff (and ended up following him to “MacGyver,” whom my slightly older self pegged as the perfect man). And, yes, another cliche: My mother picked me up from sixth grade so I could watch Luke and Laura’s wedding in 1981!
Vince Marasco, life-long soap fan, once interned at “One Life to Live”
My first soap was “General Hospital.” As a kid, I remember “Ryan’s Hope” always being on in the background while having lunch, and the opening theme is ingrained in my mind, but I was too young to really follow it. I did start watching a few years later, and it became my favorite soap.
However, during the summer of 1978, a young Laura and Scotty on “GH” drew me in. Laura’s accidental killing of David Hamilton, and her mother taking the rap for it, the introduction of Bobbie and Luke, and, of course, Luke and Laura, were very appealing to my younger self, as was the Ice Princess plot. I stayed with “GH” until around 1987 when I switched to” Santa Barbara,” but came back to “GH” in 1994, during the glorious Wendy Riche years.
Brian Scott Lipton, entertainment reporter, writes for many theater publications including Theater Mania and Cititour. Began his career writing for soap opera magazines.
My first exposure to soap operas happened when I was 10 years old. Because my mother had died, we had a live-in housekeeper named Adrina. I remember that I stayed home from school one day because I was sick and I went into her room to ask her to make me soup or something. She was busy watching “her story” and asked me to sit with her until the commercial. Her “story” was “All My Children” and I was immediately drawn into whatever was happening on screen, even though I didn’t know who the characters were. Eventually, Adrina introduced me into the whole ABC daytime lineup, and I still watch “General Hospital” religiously to this day.
What was my first soap?
My mother watched soaps for as long as i can remember, so I likely saw Search of Tomorrow and Guiding Light from my playpen. But it wasn’t until grammar school that I became aware and involved. I grew up in the ‘burbs, and back then kids came home for lunch.
After we finished eating, Search came on. We got to see all of that. We had to be back at school by 1pm, so we only got to see half of GL, but enough to keep up. My sister used to say that we grew up with the Bauer boys. Of course, they grew up a lot faster than we did.
Holidays, vacations, and sick days, I got to see As the World Turns, which in later years would become my show. But while the characters from that era are seared in my memory, I don’t have a lot of memories of specific storylines. However, in the mid-60s I was gripped by the fallout from Bill Bauer’s affair with Maggie Scott: Ed Bauer and Leslie Jackson, along with Peggy Scott and Johnny Fletcher. Still riveted by the scene when Bert confronts her son, Ed. Might have faked a few stomach aches so I didn’t missed what I knew would be a crucial episode.
Thanks so much for posting this dear old friend!
I kind of have different answers depending on how you define “my” first soap.
Mom watched DAYS and AW. I can remember bits of both shows, especially Rachel vs Iris on AW, and would watch them with her sometimes during sick days, snow days or summer vacation.
But the first show I started watching on my own was Guiding Light, around the time of Quint/Nola, followed by the Four Musketeers, which is about when I started to be a daily viewer. And then I discovered ATWT when Lisa Brown went to that show. I saw her in one episode (as Iva) and started watching from that point on.
Two shows I ended up watching to the very end! (And two shows I’ve written a few hundred thousand words about, too!)
Thanks Patrick. And of course your love for “Guiding Light” and
“As the World Turns” led to so many marvelous Marlena columns. I love rereading them even now.
June, 1956: School was out for the summer, and I was already best friends with daytime tv. There were game shows, music/variey shows, something for everyone. I didn’t know what a soap opera was, but was about to find out big time. Channel surfing, I found Love of Life. The opening was a time lapse photo of a rose opening, with this gorgeous organ theme song. Two polar opposite sisters, Meg (the nasty one) and Van (the nice one.] I was fascinated not only with the acting (Bonnie Bartlett and Jean McBride) but I was realizing that I was watching what I thought was a theatre play continuing every day. I made it my business to learn the names of all the actors, writers, directors, producers, everyone! Thus began the love affair. I then discovered As the World Turns. Here were Penny (Rosemary Prinz) and Ellen (Wendy Drew) discussing their future plans after high school. Penny’s brother Donald (Richard Holland) was in a relationship with Janice (Joyce Van Patten) and his mother (Helen Wagner) was totally against it. I found more shows: Search for Tomorrow, The Guiding Light, The Brighter Day, The Secret Storm and The Edge of Night. Each show was easy to follow. What a privilege to watch all these brilliant performers in action.
Being a piano student, with an ability to play by ear, I learned to play the theme song of every show. It so happened that our household also had a Hammond organ, so it wasn’t long until we repositioned the two instruments so that I could play them together, just like they did. A.career as a professional organist was born, and the soaps “struck the match” that lit the flame. Charles Paul, Bill Meeder, John Gart, Arlo Hultz, Paul Taubman were my mentors without them knowing how much they influenced me.
I happened upon YouTube postings of Lance Jackson playing our songs. He is totally perfect!! What an incredible heaven-sent talent he is (of other music as well!) I noticed his contribution to the previous post.
I remember that first summer so well as if it were yesterday. Also, when tragedy struck (big organ “sting” here): School started the first part of September and I had to wait till Thanksgiving vacation to catch up on all the shows. Thank goodness they moved story much slower in those days.
Yes, I still watch all the remaining shows, and still play the lovely themes!
This is absolutely wonderful. Thanks again for sending!
I love reading these recollections. My first vivid memory of noticing the soaps as a child was a scene on The Young and the Restless in which a young Jill was putting on make-up on in the mirror and you could hear her inner thoughts about how she was going to stop at nothing to become the new Mrs Stuart Brooks. The combination of Brenda Dickson’s compelling performance, the stark lighting (I can remember the background would fade out to black and you felt you were right next to Jill lit beautifully in a soft spotlight) and the beautiful piano and strings music in the background gave me chills. I would then tune in on sick days and school holidays and I can remember feeling shocked when I realised that Jill’s mother, who was the Brooks’ housekeeper, was also secretly in love with Stuart, and Jill’s steely ambition and almost frightening determination meant she was more than happy to watch her own mother’s heart being broken in the process of her getting got what she wanted. And I think this was before I even met the character of Mrs Chancellor and her iconic rivalry with Jill started to unfold!
Jill was quite the troublemaker. Thanks for writing in.