Jan Spears

Norma Shearer's best period was 1930-31 when the Code wasn't being enforced and she turned out Pre-Code classics like The Divorcee (especially) and A Free Soul. Full enforcement of the Code forced her into "prestige picture" territory playing historical/literary characters such as Elizabeth Browning, Juliet and Marie Antoinette, which didn't play to her strengths. After Irving Thalberg died, Shearer had a hard time picking the right scripts and she made some errors in judgment. For instance, she turned down Susan and God (1940) because she didn't want to be seen playing the mother of a teenage daughter. Joan Crawford jumped at the chance to play the part, wisecracking: "I'd play Wally Beery's grandmother if it's a good part!" (Crawford later credited this movie and others such as Strange Cargo [1940] and A Woman's Face [1941] with helping Hollywood to see her in a different light and paving the way for the Oscar win for Mildred Pierce [1945].) Perhaps Shearer's most lasting achievement is her collaboration with legendary photographer George Hurrell. In 16 distinct sittings between 1929 and 1936, the two of them produced a series of stunning images. Said Hurrell: "Each time, she seemed a different personality or presented me with a different side of her personality. She was never static. Never let herself stagnate. She was always thinking ahead."

The Another World spinoff Texas (or Texas . . . Starring Beverlee McKinsey) premiered 40 years ago (!) on August 4th, 1980.

I've now made my way from the Luke and Laura wedding episodes in November 1981 to the 1982 New Year's Day episode. It's clear that General Hospital was a show in transition by the end of 1981 not least because two of their most popular leading ladies -- Genie Francis and Jacklyn Zeman -- were about to leave the show. (Zeman departed in the December 28th episode and Francis followed three weeks later.) This left the show's roster of younger female leads in a depleted state and meant that there were very few viable romantic couples in the under 30 age group. For a show that had resurrected itself through the younger set (Laura, Bobbie, Scotty), it now found itself without much of a roster in the teen and twentysomething age groups. What pairings the show did have at this point varied wildly in quality. With the after glow of the wedding fading, Luke and Laura were forced to confront the issues they had been trying to resolve before the Ice Princess drama kicked into high gear; namely, Luke's need to control Laura and Laura's need for independence. Laura's final weeks are spent in endless arguments with Luke, which are not especially flattering to the character. His constant lecturing of Laura is hard to take -- made worse by Anthony Geary's tendency to shout his lines. Robert and Tiffany's relationship is even worse as Robert is constantly belittling and insulting Tiffany. The only really great couple during this transitional period consists of Leslie and Rick, who have found their way back together and are remarried. The show introduced David Gray during this time and he is a creepy presence in the run-up to Genie Francis' departure. There's an especially creepy moment during the Christmas Day episode (!) when Laura takes a break from the holiday event at the hospital and encounters Gray near the deserted nurses' station. It reminded me of the movie Halloween II (from that same year) when Jamie Lee Curtis' character, Laurie Strode, encounters Michael Myers in the deserted hospital! Mercifully, the show finally put the 'Who Killed Diana Taylor?' storyline out of its misery so that Heather could be free to wreak new havoc in Port Charles. Heather's romance with Joe is uninteresting but her relationship with her psychiatrist, Dr. Katz, is fantastic. Their cat-and-mouse games during their sessions together make for lively viewing. So, by the end of the January 1st, 1982 episode (a Friday), it was obvious that the show needed an infusion of younger female leads. Not to fear: 'Enter Demi Moore as Jackie Templeton . . . Stage Left' on Monday, January 4th!

As 1981 came to a close, one of General Hospital's best stories involved Heather Webber and her psychiatrist, Dr. Katz. The December 28th episode has Heather and Dr. Katz engaging in a role reversal exercise where each plays the other. Actor Jordan Charney does a great impression of Robin Mattson as Heather!

Stuart Sutcliffe's estate posted this excerpt from a letter Astrid Kirchherr wrote to Stuart's mother after his death: https://www.facebook.com/stuartsutcliffeestate/photos/a.247691232435279/752218318649232/?type=3&theater "I can't wait to see my only love again, to see his beautiful face and to kiss his little hands. I will wait for him to take me with him and when I must wait a long time."

An interview Astrid Kirchherr did with National Public Radio's Terry Gross: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39qqW7z8dAk At 7:51, she refers to Stuart Sutcliffe as, "the love of her life." Call me sentimental but I would like to think Astrid and Stu are united in death in a way they couldn't be in life.

It's that day of the year again -- the anniversary of the first airing of my favorite episode (#233) in 1967. (This is the one where Barnabas recounts the story of Josette's death to Vicky and Carolyn in a Collinwood that has lost power due to a massive storm.) I always find something new to enjoy when I watch this episode. This year it's Carolyn's reactions to the storm, the loss of power and Barnabas' story. What would your reaction be if you were stuck in this vast and rambling house with no power and then you had to listen to Barnabas telling the story of how Josette threw herself off Widow's Hill to her death? Nancy Barrett really sells how disturbing this would be!

I've made my way through the three week period in November 1981 which encompassed the run-up to the Luke and Laura wedding, the event itself and the immediate aftermath. Rewatching it all again from a now distant remove, I would say that enjoyment of the entire event depends on two factors: (1) how much you can still buy into Luke and Laura as a "fairytale come true", and (2) how much screwball comedy and how many wacky characters you can stomach. Regarding the former, I find that Luke and Laura were more interesting in the pre-island, pre-wedding period when they were navigating some very real problems in their relationship and trying to reconcile their individual hopes and dreams for the future. (i.e. There was a scene set in Port Charles before Luke, Laura and Robert stowed away on the Cassadine boat where Laura tells Luke that she doesn't care if they don't have money. And Luke replies, "But I do.") Interestingly, these differences of opinion start to seep back into the storyline by the end of November as the collective dream state surrounding the wedding begins to fade. As for the screwball comedy and wacky characters, it all becomes too much for me at a certain point. A soap giving so much prominence to "colorful" supporting and recurring "characters" such as the Whittakers, Slick, Charlie & Emma Lutz and Delfina is just not my kind of soap. That being said, there are some of the quiet character moments that I prefer intermingled with all the low brow comedy: Bobbie being a good friend to Joe as he worries about Heather, Rick finding a slightly disconsolate Leslie standing by herself after the wedding and them sharing a moment together, and Luke and Laura having their own moments with Robert and Tiffany respectively after the wedding. ABC certainly spared no expense for the wedding itself and it set the stage for the lavishness of the 80s when location shoots and big budget events became the norm on soaps. The show also turned out most of the cast for the big day with only Heather (in jail), Susan ("has a cold"), Noah (on duty) and Bert (also on duty) missing. (Was Jessie there? I didn't spot her.) Elizabeth Taylor as Helena adds a suitable element of danger and intrigue to the proceedings both before (her conversation with Robert), during (her issuing 'The Curse') and after (her conversation with Luke) the wedding. One thing I picked up on second viewing (which I had no memory of at all) was Helena clutching one of Laura's earrings and Luke's tie pin when she utters her curse. It's heavily suggested that Helena's minions broke into the penthouse and the Webber house at night to steal these objects for Helena. That Helena's stooges stole Laura's earring from her bedroom while she was sleeping gives me the creeps. I have saved the best part of the wedding until last; namely, Scotty Baldwin returning just in time to catch the bouquet. This was one of the all time great soap twists made more so because we were unspoiled in those days and didn't see it coming. My only quibble is that the episode should have ended with Scotty catching the bouquet and then picked up with the aftermath in the next episode.

I'm still working my way through the Luke and Laura wedding (and aftermath) episodes. Once I finish with those, I'll gather my thoughts as to how those episodes hold up after nearly four decades. But until then, I'll write about the interim period that occurred between the end of the Ice Princess saga and the actual Luke and Laura wedding day episodes. To watch that eight week period now is to watch a show in complete stasis. With the exception of Heather Webber's ongoing travails and Lee Baldwin's alcoholic lapse in the run up to (and because of) the wedding, there's very little story momentum. Too many endless scenes take place in the Webber living room or Kelly's diner where nothing much happens except for various characters discussing the wedding. I understand why all these scenes happened as ABC no doubt wanted to ratchet up the excitement for the highly anticipated wedding to an almost ridiculous degree. But, in retrospect, this doesn't make for very exciting television viewing. If it wasn't for the Heather Webber/Lee Baldwin drama, the show wouldn't have had much going for it outside of Luke and Laura. One of the show's most promising pairings - Bobbie and Noah - comes and goes sporadically, which is particularly baffling given that Rick Springfield had had a #1 single in August 1981 with "Jesse's Girl". (In fairness to General Hospital and ABC, the show may have been constrained by Springfield's no doubt busy schedule promoting his album.) The Monica/Alan/Susan drama, while entertaining, only rears its head at irregular intervals. Leslie and Rick finding their way back together is worthwhile viewing but it's not the kind of storyline you can build a show around. Luckily, in the week before the wedding episodes, Elizabeth Taylor as Helena arrives and Port Charles starts to get interesting again.

I'm up to the point in 1981 where Elizabeth Taylor as Helena has blown into town on an ill wind. As one of Helena's minions delivers invitations to Laura, Robert and Tiffany for the reception she's throwing, he utters this great line: "Mrs. Cassadine has asked me to convey her warm and personal greetings to each of you."

Not only was the Ice Princess saga all of those things but it also evolved over time. It started out as an Edge of Night-style mystery before morphing into a Luke and Laura action/adventure story on the high seas (w/ Robert along for the fun) and then morphing again into a James Bond-like science fiction story. (Arguably, it morphed a 3rd time into a revenge tale with the arrival of Helena in Port Charles, the issuance of her Curse and Laura's disappearance into the fog.)

The Luke and Laura relationship (pre-ocean voyage/island adventure) gets misremembered a bit due to what came later. But in the winter and spring of 1981, they really did have a complicated relationship. Luke was controlling and domineering of Laura, and Laura was immature and self-centered. (Laura's rather callous treatment of Lee Baldwin makes for an interesting contrast to Luke's treatment of him. Luke, for all his faults, made a point of being deferential to Lee whenever their paths crossed because Luke had a better understanding of the complexities involved than Laura did.) As the spring of 1981 turned into summer and the Ice Princess story became a phenomenon, many of those unresolved tensions in Luke and Laura's relationship got dropped and for good reason: the show was riding the crest of a wave and everyone wanted a happy ending for Luke and Laura. But it's possible to look back from this late date and envision a different storyline altogether which dealt with the stresses that various characters (like Rick and Bobbie) saw in the relationship. The road not taken . . . or at least not taken until the 90s. The addition of Tiffany was an important part of the overall success of the Ice Princess saga. Her scenes with Alexandria and Victor on the Cassadine boat, and then her scenes with Robert, Alexandria, Victor and Mikkos on the island injected a lot of life into those episodes. It does go on seemingly forever! I'm watching the post-Ice Princess episodes now and that storyline is still going on. But for all that, I find I miss that era when soaps would let a storyline breathe over a long period of time. (If I'm being honest, the sheer length of this storyline may have had more to do with Richard Dean Anderson leaving as Jeff Webber and consequently the show not knowing how to resolve matters with one of the central figures in abstentia.)

Yes, it was shocking at the time, especially since Alexandria had been such a prominent character throughout 1981. As I look back at it now, though, the handwriting was on the wall for the character. She had been involved (to varying degrees) with the deaths of O'Reilly, Clay and James Duvall and, perhaps worse, she was complicit in trying to pin Duvall's death on Laura. From a storyline standpoint, she had to go. I agree with both of these posts. Not only was the Ice Princess saga harmonious with the established characters of all the principal players but it also maintained preexisting plot points in parallel to the main storyline. For instance, the show never lost sight of the missing Scotty Baldwin. In the middle of all the Ice Princess drama, the show still featured adversarial scenes between Laura and Lee Baldwin (which weren't always flattering to the character of Laura, either.) Another master stroke of the Ice Princess saga was to merge the island adventure with the goings-on back in Port Charles. How? We'll have Mikkos try to blackmail the world into submission by freezing Port Charles! It was an audacious move at the time (to put it mildly) but it worked brilliantly because the viewer got to see the entire hospital staff swing into action. Other storylines even got folded into that. So, when Kelly's Diner became a shelter for the derelicts populating the Port Charles docks, the show could bring the Anne Logan-Heather Webber drama into the mix, as both were sheltering uneasily together at Kelly's.

I've rewatched the Ice Princess story line in its entirety (late-December 1980 to late-September 1981) for the first time since I watched it in real time as a 13-14 year old in 1981. Despite the passage of 39 years (!) and the fading of the Luke-and-Laura phenomenon that was so much a part of that era, the Ice Princess saga still holds up remarkably well. The Ice Princess saga occurs in three stages: In Port Charles, where numerous characters are trying to get their hands on the mysterious Ice Princess sculpture, On the high seas, where Luke, Laura and Robert have stowed away on the Cassadine boat and are headed to points unknown, and On the Cassadine island, where Luke, Laura and Robert have to rough it above ground while they try to find a way to enter the Cassadines' underground headquarters. In retrospect, I would say that the boat and island sections of the story drag somewhat in comparison to the high-gear action in Port Charles where everyone and their brother is trying to get their hands on the Ice Princess and betrayal is only a moment away. Oddly, the draggiest parts of the boat and island scenes are the same things that made General Hospital such a sensation in 1981: the Luke and Laura scenes. The sheer number of gratuitous Luke and Laura scenes where nothing much happens really brings the story line to a dead halt at times. Some of it may have been the result of the writers' strike that occurred in 1981 which must have put a premium on treading water story-wise. But even without the writers' strike, ABC would have no doubt ordered Gloria Monty to keep Genie Francis and Anthony Geary front-and-center that summer given how General Hospital's popularity had swept over and beyond the confines of daytime television to become a pop culture phenomenon. For all that, the Ice Princess saga is a high gear action-adventure story that compares favorably to any of the time travel story lines on Dark Shadows. Apart from the adventure element, the viewer also gets the introductions of Robert Scorpio and Tiffany Hill as General Hospital regulars. Tristan Rogers and Sharon Wyatt both hit the ground running with their characters and they add a lot to the overall story. In particular, Rogers develops an immediate chemistry with Anthony Geary and their scenes together are as good as (and sometimes better than) Geary's scenes with Francis. Special mention must go to John Colicos as Mikkos Cassadine, who makes for a fantastic villain. Mikkos doesn't appear in the story line until its last 5-6 weeks and, at first, his presence is a little disorienting, as if Baltar had beamed in from Battlerstar Galactica. But once he gets going, he makes a formidable adversary for all concerned (and not just for Luke, Laura and Robert.) He also brings out the very best in Anthony Geary and Geary does some of his best acting of the year opposite Colicos. Final thought: Heading into my rewatch of the Ice Princess saga, I had two very strong memories: The murder of Robert's sidekick, O' Reilly, in Port Charles, and Luke and Laura discovering the frozen bodies of Alexandria, Tony, Max and Noel in Mikkos' secret chamber. Both scenes still pack a wallop lo these many years later!

I've been watching the entire Ice Princess storyline from 1981. I just finished with the August 10th episode, which is the first episode with John Colicos as Mikkos Cassadine. In the credits scroll at the end of the episode, he even got Special Guest Star billing. So, Baltar was a big name in 1981!

Interesting conjecture as to why Jennifer Lopez didn't get a nomination (may have to register to read): https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/13/movies/jennifer-lopez-academy-awards.html?searchResultPosition=1

George V of England and Nicholas II of Russia were first cousins and they bore a striking resemblance to one another. But the close cousinage didn't derive from Queen Victoria. Instead, it flowed from a common grandfather, King Christian !X of Denmark. Christian's eldest daughter, Alexandra, married the future King Edward VII of England. George V was their son. Christian's middle daughter, Dagmar, married Tsar Alexander III of Russia and took the name Marie Feodorovna. Nicholas II was their son. So, George and Nicholas were first cousins because their mothers were sisters. The two sisters were very close throughout their lives and that carried over to the relationship between the two cousins/sovereigns. George V did extend an invitation to Nicholas and Alexandra to seek refuge in England after the Russian Revolution began and then rescinded it. History has judged George harshly for that although it is debatable whether the Saint Petersburg Soviet ever would have allowed Nicholas and Alexandra and their family to leave. In his diaries, the French ambassador to Russia, Maurice Paleologue, wrote that the Soviet was adamant about not letting the now-deposed monarchs leave the country.

Diahann Carroll will always be Dominique Deveraux to me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7hTFqBmHH0

This week, I got watching the first few episodes of the Another World spin-off, Texas, which debuted on August 4th, 1980. Who should show up in episode 2 but Robert Gerringer -- the second (and best) actor to play Dr. Dave Woodard on Dark Shadows in 1967, It's always been a disappointment to me that Gerringer was released from the show (for refusing to cross a picket line) before his storyline came to a conclusion. (Barnabas murdered him and Julia was complicit in the murder.) The payoff just wasn't there with the replacement actor.

Any episode of Dark Shadows that has a massive storm raging over Collinwood and a power failure in the great house is my kind of episode. So it is with episode 289, which aired on this day in 1967. There are so many wonderfully moody elements in this episode: Vicky staring moodily out her bedroom window during the storm and thinking that she sees someone watching her from the surrounding forest. (She does indeed -- it's Barnabas. This exact scene would reappear in the 1991 revival series.) Barnabas appearing in Vicky's room while she's asleep with the intent to bite her. He can't do it so he opens Josette's music box on Vicky's night stand and lets her wake to the sound of Josette's theme. Vicky and Carolyn heading to the drawing room in the wee hours of the morning and encountering Julia reading by candlelight. (At this point in the storyline, Julia is posing as historian "Miss Hoffman".) The scene where Vicky and Carolyn first encounter Julia is lit to perfection. The production staff managed to create the illusion that Julia is reading only by candlelight and the light from the fire. Once the show moved to color, the staff were never quite able to achieve that 'dark shadows' effect. Great ending to the episode as well -- Julia breaks into the Old House and finds Barnabas sleeping in his coffin in the basement. And this was only a Thursday cliffhanger!

I looked up the ratings for Dark Shadows across the five years of its existence (season-rating-daytime soap ranking): 1965-66 - 4.1 - 13th (tie) 1966-67 - 4.3 - 12th 1967-68 - 7.3 - 12th 1968-69 - 8.4 - 11th 1969-70 - 7.3 - 12th 1970-71 - 5.3 - 16th (cancelled) The show started to take off in 1967-68 (focus shifts from Vicky to Barnabas in the present, 1795 storyline begins, introduction of Angelique) and then kicked into high gear in 1968-69 (introduction of many supernatural characters and elements, introduction of Quentin, 1897 storyline begins). The show did experience a drop in 1969-70 (1897 storyline concludes, Leviathans saga, Parallel Time storyline begins) but the true free fall occurred in 1970-71 (Parallel Time storyline concludes, introduction of Gerard and Daphne, 1840-41 storylines in regular and Parallel Time) -- dropping 2 whole points. Was the decline due to a particular storyline? Or had the show burned through story content and become repetitive? (i.e. The David-Hallie-Gerard-Daphne storyline was a rehash of the David-Amy-Quentin-Beth storyline.)

I watched the final episodes (#s 274 and 275) of the Jason McGuire story this weekend, which aired on July 13th and 14th in 1967. I think these episodes represent a real turning point in the show. With Jason's death at Barnabas' hands, the show moved away from gothic melodrama once and for all. They're also a turning point because episode 274 is the last one to begin with, "My name is Victoria Winters." (Alexandra Moltke would stop being the exclusive narrator with this episode as well.) From this point forward, the show would be Barnabas' story rather than Vicky's story.

Denise Nickerson's untimely death (at 62) got me thinking as to which cast members who were present at the start of the show are still alive: Mitch Ryan (Burke Devlin) - b: 1928 Nancy Barrett (Carolyn Stoddard) - b: 1943 Kathryn Leigh Scott (Maggie Evans) - b: 1943 Alexandra Moltke (Victoria Winters) - b: 1946 David Henesy (David Collins) - b: 1955 Those members of the original cast who've passed on include Joel Crothers (d: 1985), Joan Bennett (d: 1990) and Louis Edmonds (d: 2001). [Technically, Thayer David (d: 1978) and David Ford (d: 1983) weren't original cast members -- they were replacements. But I always think of them as original cast members.]

Sad news -- actress Denise Nickerson (Amy Jennings) has died: https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/news/denise-nickerson-violet-in-willy-wonka-and-the-chocolate-factory-dies-at-62/ar-AAEaqTi?ocid=mailsignout

I watched episode 270 yesterday (original air date: July 7, 1967). This is the episode where Liz is supposed to marry Jason McGuire but can't go through with it and blurts out at the wedding ceremony that, "I killed Paul Stoddard. And that man [Jason] was my accomplice!" This represents the culmination of the whole 'Is Paul buried in the basement?' storyline. It also signifies the end of the show's original gothic melodrama focus that had prevailed for the first year. I know most fans were ready to move on to full-out supernatural storylines at this time but I always liked this story. I especially liked how it ended: The 'A' storyline (Barnabas) intersects with the 'B' storyline (Liz/Jason) by having Barnabas be the one to kill Jason.