Memories of Salem: 1965-1980

Marie was originally played by the lovely Maree Cheatham:

Howard Street Burying Ground in Salem, where the first witch was crushed to death and buried.

And then there was the great storyline of Julie and Susan, as delivered by two of the greatest soap actresses ever, Susan Seaforth and Denise Alexander. One of them stole the other one's man (I think it was Julie, who stole Scott Banning away from Susan??) causing Susan ENDLESS agony. Julie was related to the Hortons, the royal family of Salem. She was Mickey's niece. Susan eventually dropped out, but Julie would go on to have numerous unhappy love affairs that never worked out. She lusted after Doug (Bill Hayes, her husband IRL) but for some reason he married scheming Patricia Barry (can't remember why - a faked pregnancy?) and together Julie and Doug suffered ENDLESSLY. Julie then went on to wreck the marriage of some local tycoon named Bob Anderson; this drove his wife Phyllis insane, and she spent many hours painting a hideous Dorian Gray type painting of Julie and plotting to kill her. But of course she didn't. I believe Hope is the love child of Doug and Julie, but I'm not sure....?

Then there was the other adult love triangle of Laura and Bill and Mickey Horton. Laura was married to Mickey (I think?) but really loved Bill, and they spent many hours suffering ENDLESSLY. Laura and Mickey eventually separated somehow, and Mickey ran off to the country, where he met Maggie, who was some kind of cripple who sat at a spinning wheel all day, singing. Mickey ad Maggie eventually married and Maggie's disability miraculously vanished. I remember how dramatic it was when a mysterious hand knocked on the knocker of the Hortons, and it was revealed to be Marie - now SISTER Marie, in a nun's habit!!

I also remember some hideous club owned by "Lucky Pierre" Robert Clary, which gave Doug endless opportunities to sing. He and Julie had some popular love song that he would warble all the time, and whenever Julie heard it or fantasized about it in memory she would go to pieces.

Keep this thread GOING!! I know DL is not supposed to obsess over soaps, but the early days of this one was one of the BEST. And it's a welcome relief from Trump.

Julie WAS a Horton, the daughter of Addie Horton and her husband, bank president Ben Olson (played by Robert Knapp). Julie had a brother, Steve. Susan was a nasty classmate of Julie's, who lied about Julie trying to break up her relationship with David Martin. Susan eventually married David and had a baby son, but when the baby fell off a swing and died, Susan went crazy and shot & killed David.

Hope is the daughter of Doug and Addie (Julie's mother).

Bill and Laura were originally engaged, but Bill had a problem with his hand and feared it would keep him from becoming a surgeon. Devastated, he left Laura and moved to another town. He eventually returned, but by this time, Laura had become engaged to Bill's brother Mickey. After Mickey & Laura were married, Bill become insanely jealous and raped Laura in a drunken rage. She got pregnant and had a son, Mike.

Everyone thought Mike was Mickey's son except for Bill, who saw the results of a medical test Mickey took which revealed that Mickey was sterile. He kept this a secret from everyone except for Tom. Later, Bill found out that somehow Kitty Horton (Tommy's alcoholic ex-wife) had a tape of Bill confessing to Tom that Mickey was sterile and that he (Bill) had fathered Laura's child. Bill went to Kitty's apartment to retrieve the tape. He fought with Kitty, got the tape, and left. Then, Kitty had a heart attack and died.

Somehow, Bill was charged with murdering Kitty and he wouldn't reveal why he'd gone to her apartment, so he was convicted of manslaughter and sent to prison. That's where he met Doug Williams. After Bill got out of prison, he and Laura rekindled their romance after Laura found out the reason Bill had gone to Kitty's apartment. Laura planned to divorce Mickey and marry Bill.

Before that could happen, Mickey had a heart attack and nearly died. Bill performed an operation that saved his life, but Mickey was amnesiac and disappeared from the hospital.

Mickey found his way to a farm owned by the parents of Maggie Simmons, who was in a wheelchair after having been paralyzed in a car accident. Eventually, the Hortons discovered that Mickey was alive. By this time, he had fallen in love with Maggie, and granted Laura a divorce and she married Bill.

[quote](Doug) and Julie had some popular love song that he would warble all the time

I think 'The Most Beautiful Girl in the World,' from the 1935 Rodgers & Hart musical Jumbo, was "their song." But he also sang 'The Look of Love' by Bacharach & David a lot.

[quote]Everyone thought Mike was Mickey's son except for Bill, who saw the results of a medical test.

Back in the late '70s, a teenage Mike "doubted his manhood" -- meaning he thought he might be homosexual -- because he couldn't get it up with his girlfriend Trish. His (supposed) father's onetime-mistress, Linda Patterson, took him to bed to disabuse him of the notion.

DOOL was that kind of show in the '70s -- once billed as a "daring psychosexual drama."

OMG, THANK YOU, R4 and R5!! I remembered THE LOOK OF LOVE but it seemed too contemporary. He must have sung THE MOST BEAUTIFUL GIRL dozens of times! And you're right, Patricia Barry as Julie's scheming mother got pregnant and had Hope. And thanks for filling in the details of the Laura/Bill/Mickey love triangle; I forgot all about Mickey's amnesia!

DAYS was pretty daring for its day back then - I remember a scene where Susan Seaforth was in a bubble bath, cooing sexily to the aged tycoon Bob Anderson. Can't remember how that storyline wrapped up, bu I do remember crazy Phyllis and her painting getting more hideous by the day. DAYS was really excellent in this era. MORE, please! Didn't Trish turn out to be some kind of nasty character?

I arrived in 1976 at The BayView Sanatorium as a beautiful young ingenue. The denizens of Salem couldn't believe I was old enough to be a qualified Psychiatrist!

Not to mention that I turned out to have a psychotic TWIN SISTER!!

So who was Scott Banning? I remember the name but that's about it.

Julie was a hot little mess, because she wasn’t getting attention at home from her parents who cared more about appearances and Salem society than Julie. Julie began acting out. Eventually Julie moved in with her Grandparents Tom and Alice, and Addie and Ben and Stephen left Salem for Europe. Once Julie was with Tom and Alice she mellowed and started dating a boy named David Martin. David’s parents were the wealthy Martins who owned factories around the country.

David had a fast car and liked fast girls and did fast things and had something of a reputation in Salem as a bad boy. David meets Julie and the two began dating much to the concern of Tom and Alice and Uncle Mickey.

It was also during this time that Susan Hunter returned to Salem from Boarding School. Susan came from an unhappy home and lived with her mother Diane who was dating playboy Mickey Horton, much to the concern of Alice who didn’t like Mickey dating an older divorcee.

David and Julie, sensing pressure from her family to breakup, decided that they were going to pretend to break up and then eventually cross the state line and get married. So Julie told everyone in the family that she and David were through as they planned to elope. But, that never happened. Julie was going to meet David at the old bridge where they would run off to get married. After a particular moving evening with her Grandparents, Julie had second thoughts about her lies and running off with David. She went to the old bridge to tell David that she couldn’t hurt her family and he reacted badly. Julie left David alone, because of some drama with Marie (who was now married to her ex fiance’s Father) and David went to the Malt Shop.

Meanwhile Susan learned from her mother, Diane, that she and her father were going to make it official and get divorced. Diane suspected that Mickey wanted marriage, but in reality all Mickey wanted was pussy. Susan took the news of her parents breakup badly and headed to the Malt Shop.

While all of this going on, Julie is with her family helping Marie with yet another crisis. Poor Marie. And Julie is thinking that she will see David tomorrow and they will fix things and all will be well.

Take David and Susan at the Malt Shop talking about how rotten their lives are. (Susan also believes that Julie and David have broken up) David invites Susan for a ride in his car. They decide to go parking by the Field House and David brings out some liquor. As they drink their problems away, the two teenagers get frisky and fuck.

The next day, both teens are guilty and realize that it was a drunken mistake and think that’s that. Julie and David reunite and all seems well, but they still don’t tell anyone that they are together.

A few weeks later, Susan goes to see Tom because she isn’t feeling well.

Remember this is the 60s and Bill Bell, so a few weeks later, Tom gets the tests back and informs Susan that she is pregnant. Susan, knowing what this means, breaks down in tears about her reputation and about her baby “not having a name”. Susan eventually tells Tom that she is gong to solve her problem and make an appointment for “a procedure”.

Tom, throws all medical impartiality and being a medical professional out the window and begs Susan to reconsider and to “not destroy the life that is growing within her”. So Tom pretty much forces Susan and David to get married. But Susan plans to marry David and then after the child is born, they will get a divorce, and they will give the child up for adoption.

Meanwhile David asks Julie to wait for him so they can be together after all of this is over.

David and Susan cross the state line and get married with Julie as the witness. Susan is still unaware that Julie and David are together.

David and Susan get married and move into an apartment. David on the couch and Susan in the bedroom. And they both are miserable. At one point Susan contemplates forcing a miscarriage by going horseback riding, but nothing happens. After one huge fight, Susan says fuck Tom Horton and plans to go have the procedure. David cautions against it because girls die having that procedure and tells Susan to just be patient. Just as Susan is about to go get the procedure, her father returns to town and she breaks down and tells him everything. He counsels her to remain in the marriage and they will figure it out after the child is born.

Susan and David announce her pregnancy and it’s around this time that David and Susan begin to soften towards each other. Julie, who is Susan’s best friend, is at the apartment all the time and sees that David and Susan are getting closer. So what does Julie do? She seduces David, thinking that the power of her pussy is stronger than any child. So David and Julie begin their affair. And Julie becomes more vicious towards Susan and Susan doesn’t even realize what’s happening.

The child is born prematurely and may die. Susan doesn’t want to see baby, because she’s planning to give the child up. But through fate and circumstance she sees the child and falls in love and promises to be a good mother and give the baby a good life.

Julie is getting antsy and wants David to make a move. When David talks to Susan, Susan says there will be no divorce. David doesn’t know what to do and goes to Julie. This is when Julie goes full on bitch. She goes to Susan and tells her everything and just slices and dices poor Susan. She leaves Susan a crying mess and then goes and fucks David (what a cold bitch).

Again, remember it’s Bill Bell... so some time passes and David and Julie decide that they are going to run away together. David leaves the child unattended and the child falls and eventually dies. Susan shoots and kills David. Susan is taken to jail. David is buried and Julie vows to destroy Susan. It was around this time that Julie learns that she is pregnant with David’s child. (David was quite fertile and very good looking). So Julie goes to the jail and taunts Susan with this fact and again vows to destroy her.

Mickey and Laura working together get Susan acquitted on temporary insanity, which pisses off Helen Martin. So Julie and Helen team up to destroy Susan. The problem is, Helen is becoming unhinged and plans to kill Susan. Once again, Tom interferes, and convinces Julie to give up her baby for adoption.

So Julie and David’s son is adopted by the Banning family and called Brad. Scott Banning’s wife dies of some soap opera affliction and Scott and Brad are alone and move into the apartment across the hall from Susan. Susan begins babysitting baby Brad and they bond. Eventually Susan and Scott become close, Susan was also dating Bill Horton around this time and they were a popular pairing). Any way, Julie returns to the story now played by Susan Seaforth and decides she wants her baby back. She also still wants to destroy Susan.

So basically Julie and Susan go back and forth for years trying to destroy each other until General Hospital steals Denise Alexander away from Days with an unheard of salary (at the time) and perks package that I believe made her the highest paid actor in soaps at the time.

Days recast the Susan role, but it wasn’t the same because by that time Julie and Doug were the stars of the show and Julie was trying to keep her man away from her Mother.

I didn’t edit the above so please forgive typos, etc.

R14 tell us more about the early exploits of sexy Grandma Marlena

Thanks, R13 -- I started watching in 1972/3 & struggled to figure out the past of Julie & Susan. At that time, there were frequent references to Susan's experience with "the man in the park", who was played by Stanley Kamel -- he may have been a rapist, I don't remember details. But I really liked Kamal, who was attractive in a different way from the usual soap stud. He never married or had kids & I assume he was gay.

R15, early Marlena was just basically a Laura clone and the 70s version of “an independent woman” who was looking to be tamed by the love of a strong man. Marlena and Don Craig were the big couple and they hung out with their good friends Mickey and Maggie. They had a son who died of SIDS and that sort of tore them apart. Marlena really didn’t become the star of the show until they paired her with Roman during the Salem Stranger storyline. Marlena and Roman were always going on adventures and then Bo and Hope were added to the mix. Wayne left and Drake played Roman for years. Dee left to do primetime and was lured back to Days with a huge salary, an “and” credit and the promise of her own spin off called “Manhattan Lives”. Then Jim Reilly began writing the show and Marlena became his muse and that’s Marlena in a nutshell.

R17 I heard Deirdre did some great acting in her early years before the show became larger than life.

Did Jim give Marlena the best story lines and sideline some others?

Can we not get sidetracked by Marlena, who didn't come on the show until 1976?

Julie & Susan were never a main attraction for me, so thanks for filling in those blanks, R11-R13

My nana, who was glued to Days in the 70s (she switched to AMC and OLTL when Karen Wolek went hooker), worshipped at the altar of Denise Alexander and Susan Seaforth. She always said that the genius of the story, beyond the Bill Bell pacing, was that both women were compelling figures who you liked, loathed, admired, envied, and pitied, as the story dictated.

[On a side note, Sami Brady is what got me watching Days in the early 90s. So fat, so uneven an actress, but a glorious trainwreck of a character. But that's another thread]

Mike Horton has to be the most SORASed, de-SORAS-ed, and re-SORASed character ever. It's really a huge mess.

Mike was working on a tractor on Maggie's farm and there was some sort of accident. He needed a blood transfusion and neither Mickey nor Laura were a match. Oopsy! This is when everyone discovered that Mickey wasn't Mike's real father. Mickey didn't take it well (to say the least) and he shot Bill. I think Mickey was still having mental problems a this point. He spent some time in an asylum.

Linda Patterson was kind of the pass-around slut of Salem. Mickey, Bill, Tommy (to whom she was briefly engaged, in an attempt to give John Lupton a storyline), and Mike were all inside of her at varying times.

The Horton family in 1973

(back row, l-r): Mickey, Tom, Tommy, Bill (front row, l-r): Addie, Alice, Sister Marie

I was never in any of these family portraits.

I called Addie "Subtractie"

Then there's moi, the only child of Tommy & Kitty Horton. I never had a major storyline, but appeared on the show from 1967-1971 (played by Astrid Warner and then Heather North), in 1982 (played briefly by Martha Smith), and from 1983-84 (played by Pamela Roylance). I thought the rest of the Hortons were quite hoity-toity, and while I haven't been seen or mentioned since the Reagan administration, presumably I'm "living in Hawaii" with my father Tommy. Who hasn't been mentioned since then, either, and is probably dead by now.

Dee was very good when DJ died and when Samantha stole her life. I still remember when Stefano kidnapped Eric and Sami and Marlena shot him, that was good stuff. Reilly gave Dee fun storylines and you could tell that she was having fun, but she never lost who Marlena was. No matter how crazy the storylines, Marlena was Marlena. Three of my favorite Marlena scenes during the Reilly years was the first time Marlena sees Stefano when he’s back from the dead and she just screams in the hospital. Another one was at the Penthouse Grille, when she begs Stefano not to hurt her children. And the third was at Belle’s baptism when Stefano walks into the entry of the church and Marlena sees him and then confesses her affair with John.

And Dr. Sandy Horton, you were going to be part of another Days spin off, set in Hawaii with your dad Tom, Jr. and some other characters. But it never went beyond the planning stages.

Sandy your Mom Kitty was quite the bad girl and was so much fun. I thinks she even had Alice fooled.

Thank you, R26. That makes me feel better. Why did none of these spin-offs ever get off the ground?

Thanks so much R26 I love Marlena and she got me into DOOL when it was first broadcast here in the UK in 2000 after Sunset beach was cancelled.

She still looks terrific but seems mainly relegated to supporting status these days. I'd love to be able to stream episodes here as it's no longer shown on any TV here.

The Sandy, Dr. Tommy Horton spinoff was being discussed around the same time as NBC had bought the rights to Scruples and was going to turn that into a soap, but NBC ended up going with the soap Santa Barbara.

The Manhattan Lives series starring Dee had a bible and a commitment from NBC. I might be mistaken, but I think I remember something about NBC replacing Santa Barbara with Manhattan Lives. But I think Dee and Wayne’s return to the show didn’t spike the ratings like NBC hoped and ended plans for the new show. In all fairness, I think the head writer was Gene Palumbo, he really botched the Two Romans storyline.

How was it botched?

Heather North, the second Sandy Horton, was also the voice of Daphne on Scooby-Doo. She died last year.

Pamela Roylance (the last Sandy Horton) today:

Kinda dykey, right?

There were no real repercussions. The real Roman came back, they went on an adventure to Mexico, and Roman became Roman again and John became John Black again. Marlena went back to Roman and John went on with Isabella. There was no fall out, no lingering feelings. Roman even went back to his old job at the Salem PD. It was like nothing happened. Until Sheri Anderson returned to the show and eventually Jim Reilly joined the staff and they wrote Roman being pissed off that Marlena just accepted John as Roman all this years, and Marlena was burying herself in work and not dealing with the marriage. Then Stolle Lombard pushed her down that hole and we finally got to see repercussions. Then the affair happened. Then they aged Sami and the rest is history.

I take your point, it was too slow burning to be of interest. It was a terrible story though, Marlena being duped in the 80s like that.

Do you think they were planning her possession and needed to isolate her when they concocted the affair fallout?

Back up, back up! Didn't Julie have a romance with Don Craig (the luscious Jed Allan, who always reminded me of Tony Roberts)?

And I LOVE YOU, R11-13!!! Thanks for deconstructing Julie and Susan and their respective offspring. And doesn't anyone remember the old rich guy Bob Anderson and his crazy wife Phyllis and her hideous painting of Julie?

I do remember Stanley Kamel and I think he was a rapist, although they may not have used that term. Did he wear a black ski mask over his face and at one point get unmasked?

R22 Indeed. Mike Horton has beeen thirtyish for about 30 years, from the 70s until the mid oughts.

I remember Linda Anderson being some kind of bitch on wheels in the late 70s, but my real early memories of days are at the very end of this time frame as that's when my mom was watching it.

Julie getting burned in the face.

Marlena and Don.

Lee and Renee and the beginnings of the DiMeras (before they became super soapy).

Jessica and Chris Kosicheck's brother, and the Salem Strangler......

And Doug singing in his cafe, with the little French dude as the coowner.

Dr. Greg Peters and Amanda Peters! I always thought Peter Brown was so sexy.

Linda Anderson - Loved Margaret Mason

Does anyone remember Brooke Hamilton? She worked for Anderson Manufacturing and was a rival to Mary Anderson (I think, kind of fuzzy on her backstory). She disappeared for a year then came back in disguise as Stephanie after "plastic surgery" played by a different actress. She got involved with Chris Kositchek. I remember one particular scene where she was worried that she was going to have to give her fingerprints (and thus outing her as Brooke) and she put her hands on a hot frying pan. It seems she turned out to actually be a illegitimate daugher of Bob Anderson.

Chris Kositchek - back when Josh Taylor was hot.

Maggie and her red shoes!

Really loved 70's DAYS.

I always wondered why DAYS didn't tap into their history more.

Marlena should see Don Craig again.

They should bring back the handsome John Martin as Bill Horton, maybe he introduces Mike, Jen and Lucas to his younger kids.

They could bring back Sandy or Tommy, for sure, and/or their kids.

Jeremy Horton could come back (played by someone who can act this time).

Sarah Horton returning is a good start.

I never saw the appeal of Doug. Julie was so beautiful, but Doug was short & ugly. You know who Doug looks like to me? Paul Manafort!

Tommy would be like 90 years old by now.

I have dim memories of Mickey in that insane asylum - can't remember how he got out...but I always liked that actor who played him.

And what happened to Patricia Barry, who played Julie's scheming mother? Didn't she die shortly after giving birth to Hope, and wasn't that why they called her Hope in the first place, because they knew she was dying?

And didn't Mike's girlfriend Trish turn out to be somewhat evil, or is it just that I didn't like her?

This thread is stirring up great memories - wish I could recall more!

[quote] Tommy would be like 90 years old by now.

True, but they could cast someone to play him for a year, establish his younger kids and grandkids, etc.

And Maree Cheatham is still around, somewhere.

Patricia Barry died a few years ago in real life, and yes, Addie died on the show in the 70s.

R42 Patricia Barry played Brooke English's drug dealing mom, Peg, on All My Children in the early 80s

[quote]And didn't Mike's girlfriend Trish turn out to be somewhat evil, or is it just that I didn't like her?

She killed her stepfather and split into two personalities apart from Trish, and it was revealed that her stepfather had abused her for years. She later fled Salem with the son she had with her husband David Banning (Julie's son), and David tracked them down and took Scotty (Trish & David's son) back with them. Trish returned to Salem a bit later and reconciled with David before finally divorcing him. Before she left the show in 1982 she was involved in some diamond theft scheme.

Wasn’t Scotty Banning selling stolen jewelry out of Julie’s antique store or something? My memory is fuzzy.

Addie was diagnosed with leukemia, but went into remission, then found out she was pregnant with Hope. Then the leukemia came back and she died. Or something like that. She was not a very nice person and basically had no interest in her children, but miraculously became nice when she found out she was dying.

She was my grandmother, basically.

I think Doug sang her to death!

Addie was married to Ben. She and Ben and Stephen moved to Europe. Addie was concerned about her social standing and society. Addie returned to Salem in the early 70s and got involved with Doug. I might be mistaken but Addie might hold the record for the longest soap opera pregnancy, which I believe was 17 months (Bill Bell). She got Leukemia, went into remission, and died after a car hit her. She was trying to save Hope. After Addie’s death, Julie mellowed and wasn’t such a bitch and helped raise her little half sister.

I know it’s only me and about three other people in the world, but Days still has all their episodes. I wish they would repeat them on the Retro channel like The Doctors.

The first time I saw Days I couldn't get over the audible interior voices.

The real world is more interesting. Things move much more slowly, though. I don’t mean to rain on your parade. I am reading because I live near Salem and am interested in it. The character’s names are true to the historic names in the area.

[quote]She got Leukemia, went into remission, and died after a car hit her. She was trying to save Hope.

That's right. I'd forgotten about that. But the earlier remark about her not being a nice person and having little interest in her children until she got leukemia is accurate.

I don't remember Julie having an antique store - was this after she finally got together with Doug? They eventually did have a big soapy wedding on the show, didn't they?

Julie was married to Bob Anderson and got pregnant and miscarried . He then set her up in the antique shop so she would have something to do . Stephen Schnetzer played her brother and he was the one selling hot diamonds out of the antique shop . I think Doug bailed him out and that’s when he left the show . He looked damn fine in a speedo in the 70’s .... like 1976 or so .

Stephen Schnetzer looked fine in a speedo in 1986 too ... starts at about 8:20.

I loved Denise Alexander as Susan Hunter Martin. All of the Days cast was great, but she was a stand out. When you think about it, her leaving Days was for GH was the most momentous moment in soap history. Had she stayed on Days, there would never have been Luke and Laura on GH.

R55 didn't that start the Days/GH rivalry?

It escalated in the 80s when former GH headwriter, Pat Falken Smith came to DAYS and began to out GH, Gloria Monty era GH, with the introduction of the Brady's and Dimera's and supernatural storylines and supercouples left and right.

Which is when the show really began to lose its cachet. More elaborate and ridiculous plot lines and characters, versus actual daytime DRAMA. They should have always kept it centered around the Hortons.

I agree and disagree with you R57. I think Days, like most of the other soaps at that time, saw the writing on the wall and decided that if GH was getting viewers by saving the world, they would too. It actually worked for Days. Days was in a bad way at the end of the 70s. Creatively, it was a mess. Between 1975 and 1980, Days had a total of 7 different head writers. When PFS came back to the show and basically ripped off GH, the show started to turn around.

The powerhouse NBC lineup, which was can’t beat during the early 70s, just all came undone by the late 70s. If Days wouldn’t have changed course, NBC daytime may have completely collapsed.

I started watching DAYS in the mid 80s and it ALWAYS seemed like an ABC soap that just happens to be on NBC

Another World felt more like it's sister P & G soaps ATWT and GL and Santa Barbara was it's own thing but DAYS ALWAYS seemed it would have fit in fine in the ABC Daytime lineup after OLTL and before GH, it had that "feel" to it

Nina Laemmle was a great headwriter!

Bob Anderson was the owner of Anderson Manufacturing and first appeared in 1972. He had a wife, Phyllis, and a daughter, Mary. Julie’s husband Scott Banning worked for Bob and was killed in a work-related accident in 1973. Bob and Phyllis felt badly for Julie and invited her to come live with them.

Bob then fell in love with Julie and divorced Phyllis to marry her, which he did, in 1974. Phyllis did not react well to this development. She attempted to shoot Julie, but shot her daughter Mary by mistake. Mary survived, but was killed years later by the Salem Strangler.

Julie soon got bored with Bob, who was old and decrepit and not too spry in the sex department. Julie divorced Bob in 1976 and married Doug (finally).

Bob married Linda Patterson (that’s a girl who really got around) in 1978. They separated and Bob told her he’d keep her in his will if she left town. Linda had gone totally nuts by this time and was doing all kinds of scheming, but I don’t remember the details.

Bob’s health declined and Phyllis showed back up to care for him. He died of a heart attack in 1980.

In Phyllis’ defense, Julie was scheming to take her man. Phyllis did end up with playboy Doctor Neil Curtis.

I seem to remember Bob singing and playing the piano.

Linda Patterson, incidentally, was Melissa Anderson/Horton’s biological mother. Linda got pregnant with Melissa back when she and Mickey were an item, so everyone assumed Melissa was Mickey’s child (Mickey didn’t know he was sterile at the time).

Melissa’s biological father was actually Linda’s ex-husband Jim Phillips. When Linda married Bob Anderson, Melissa took his surname. And somehow Melissa was eventually adopted by Mickey and Maggie, but I don’t remember the details.

James Reilly destroyed all this history when he turned DOOL into a supernatural camp fest in the 90s

It's never recovered since

Anyone what town was used for the aerial views of Salem?

Dr Kate Winograd fucked Bill Horton, didn’t she?

R67. And didn’t they finally decide that Kate Winograd was Kate Roberts? It makes absolutely no sense. Kate was a low-rent floozy when she arrived in the early-90s. How did they explain that she had a medical license, yet was working as a prostitute? Does anyone know?

I just looked it up, and apparently what I wrote at R68 isn’t true and they are, after all, two different people.

The Kate Winograd/Kate Roberts thing is one of the Datalounge things that people think is funny and perpetuate long after the expiration date.

I’ve always given Days credit for keeping the Horton and Horton-adjacents front and center for most of the show’s run. It took me a while to get into the Brady family. What sealed the deal for me was Caroline and Victor’s affair that resulted in Bo. And that was one of those stories that played out for years. Caaroline and Victor even had their own background music.

I don’t feel like the Hortons have been all that front & center for a while. Admittedly, I haven’t watched the show in years, but I’ve heard bits and pieces. Haven’t they recently killed off or had imprisoned characters like Jeremy Horton and Nick Fallon (Marie’s grandson)?

Incidentally, Elaine Princi played both Kate Winograd and, later, Linda Patterson #3.

R73 and Dorian Lord on One Life to Live from 1989-1993

Laura Horton #1 - Floy Dean (June-October 1966):

Laura Horton #2 - Susan Flannery (1966-1975):

Laura Horton #3 - Susan Oliver (1975-1976):

Laura Horton #4 - Rosemary Forsyth (1976-1980):

R70, you blame all of DL for one idiot?

Sue Flannery is a big ole lez.

Laura Ann Spencer was a psychiatric intern when she met Bill Horton in 1966. They eventually became engaged, but Bill aprubtly ended the relationship when he discovered a health problem that might impede his ability to become a surgeon.

Laura briefly dated Marie’s ex, Tony Merritt, but while working on Susan Martin’s insanity case with Mickey, Susan’s lawyer, the two fell in love and were married in 1968.

When Bill returned to Salem, he was angry and jealous that Laura had married Mickey. In a drunken rage one night, he raped her. Laura became pregnant and gave birth to a son, Mike.

Later, Bill went to prison for killing Kitty Horton, a crime of which he was innocent, in order to protect the secret that he was Mike’s biological father. After Bill was released and Laura learned the truth, she began to fall in love with Bill.

Eventually, Mickey and Laura divorced and Bill married Laura. Laura gave birth to their daughter Jennifer in 1976. Laura suffered from post-partum depression, made worse by her discovery that Bill had begun an affair with his colleague Dr. Kate Winograd.

Laura began to hear voices and see the ghost of her dead mother Carrie, who had committed suicide. Laura endangered young Jennifer by putting her on a bus alone, then attempted to hang herself at the instigation of her dead mother, but Bill found her in time to save her.

In 1980, Laura was institutionalized and would not be released until 1993.

Jim Reilly did a great job of using Bill's affair with a forgotten character named Kate to inform new story. Personally, I don't think Kate Roberts and Kate Winograd are the same person, but it doesn't really matter. It was already established history that Bill cheated on Laura with a woman named Kate. And because of that we got Lucas and years of story.

R62, so did I! At least for a while. He didn’t like that I refused to put on that nun’s habit for him.

Susan Flannery was a GREAT Laura. In those days she could suffer with the best of them, even Susan Seaforth!

Most people have forgotten/don't realize/or are much too young to know that Julie was a scheming little tart back in the day. She was like a sluttier version of Sami. Also she did was scheme, plot destruction, or was trying to steal someone else's man. She would walk around the Anderson house in a very skimpy bikini and was always offering Bob massages. Poor Phyllis.

[quote]Most people have forgotten/don't realize/or are much too young to know that Julie was a scheming little tart back in the day. She was like a sluttier version of Sami.

Which is why Julie has had several conversations with a young Sami and Charlotte Ross' Eve that were along the lines of, "You're not fooling me, little girl, I was pulling this stuff years ago."

In one episode, the grieving widow Julie was lying on the Anderson couch in pink bikini. Bob came home and Julie was going into her song and dance about how she was worried about little David growing up without his father and how she just didn’t know if she could do it alone. She turned on the waterworks and Bob started to comfort her and then in walks Phyllis to see the scene.

Turns out that Julie had set the whole thing in motion, so that Phyllis would walk in and see this.

Then in another episode Julie gets into a vicious argument with her mother about David. Then Julie says something about Addie being too old to satisfy Doug. It set Addie off and Addie started to rip into Julie, just as Alice walked in. All Alice saw was Addie saying vicious things to Julie and Alice let Addie have it in her Alice way.

It’s too bad these episodes weren’t saved. They’d be a hoot and a half to watch.

All of Days episodes have been saved and are stored in a warehouse somewhere.

Julie was once shown in a bubble bath, on the phone with Bob Anderson, cooing "I'm all pink and shiny..."

I wonder what it was about the name Spencer that affected Bill Bell so much. Was it a family name? Some woman he'd fallen in love with?

It's Laura's maiden name on DAYS and of course he named an entire family that on B&B.

Julie and Susan couldn’t stand each other. But Susan was beloved all over Salem and it would drive Julie crazy. She was always calling Susan a murderer. Technically she was a murderer, but there were extenuating circumstances. Julie and Susan had the best confrontations. Julie loved to call Susan frigid and a cold fish and every time would throw in her face how Susan ruined Julie’s life. And Susan would come back with Julie being a tramp and how Julie is the reason her son Dickie was dead. Good stuff.

R89, do you have a source for that? It was my understanding that all soaps reused tapes (at least back then) that is, they taped new episodes over the old ones, to save money.

Ken Corday himself. Back in the 90s, Sony wanted to launch a Soap Opera Cable Channel that would show old soap operas. I think ABC beat them to the punch and Sony cancelled their plans. Any way, it was stated that the two Sony shows had their full catalogues that would have been available for airing. The Doctors, (NBC Soap) is currently showing repeats on Retro TV. They started with 1967 epsodes and are currently in 1976.

The shows with full catalogues:

Days

Y&R

Ryans Hope

Dark Shadows

The Doctors

All soaps that premiered after 1978

Some people say that Love is a Many Splendored Thing and Where The Heart Is and Love of Life are available because they were syndicated to foreign countries, but those tapes have never turned up. Maybe they will one day, like the old Hollywood Squares tapes did when someone discovered them.

No SEARCH FOR TOMORROW? Joanne Tate? And Kathleen Beller and a delicious young Micheal Nouri as tragic star crossed lovers? Lots and lots of stars passed through this one.

R94, I’m glad to hear that about Days, at least. I don’t know why they don’t just upload them to YouTube or something. I think the first two episodes were put out there (for the 50th anniversary, I think).

The odds of them making any money off of them at this point is nil, so they might as well do it to make the minuscule number of people who’d be interested happy.

Although maybe it would cost too much to digitize them? I mean...they could show me where the tapes are and I’m tech-savvy enough to figure out how to do it myself.

Elaine Princi made my clit very moist.

R95, PG wiped and reused their tapes. The PG collection begins in 1978 and lasts through the end of each show's run. I believe certain classic episodes of PG shows are in various private collections and are on the tape trading circuit. ABC wiped, so most of that classic AMC and OLTL and the early days of GH is gone.

Thanks, R98. I never cared about the ABC soaps. Days, ATWT, and The Secret Storm (I’m guessing not much of that one is left) were my favorites.

Sad that the P&G soaps and ABC soaps get all the love and classic DOOL can't even reach 100 posts.

Here's a short video with a few classic clips from the 70's when DOOL was great.

R100 that's because everyone talks about DOOL on the current main threads

DOOL is probably the most talked about current soap on the DL

OMG, R100, THANKS for that post! I had forgotten Mickey turned into "Marty", and those stupid red shoes he bought her for her miracle return to walking. And Patricia Barry really pulled out the stops for her death scene - I could smell the ham all the way through the screen!

All those long reaction shots - this is what made this soap so great.

I remember back in the days when Days (when all soaps really) had money, Days would do these big location shoots every year. New Orleans, England, Greece, Miami. But my favorite one is when they went to Alamania. The opening shot of that limo and that song is like burned into my mind.

Go to 10:48

I remember when Hope and Bo got married, they went to London, and when they got back, there were Harrods bags and boxes all over the place!

[quote]The opening shot of that limo and that song is like burned into my mind.

Thanks, R103, I'd never seen that. It was certainly the perfect song to accompany the sequence. I love that the show continued to involve Alice in storylines long in to her old age.

Those were the days when the could also afford popular music.

I hit send too quickly. Yes, I loved that Alice was usually part of the action. I don't think any other soap really did that. She was on quite a bit until her health finally failed. She was great. I always loved when Alice was scheming and Tom would be like Alice what are you up to now.

Poor Brenda Benet.

Wonderful thread. Great memories. Glad to have it separated from the current Days thread and its endless fanbase wars. Thanks for starting it.

Have watched Days since 1970, so will post some memories later.

Stanley Kamel played Eric Peters, the younger fuck-up brother of Dr. Greg Peters. It was was Eric who raped Susan in the park, although the two did not know each other at the time. As I recall, Eric and Susan met a little later and it was an awkward situation. Somehow Eric convinced Susan not to out him to the big brother he admired to much. But eventually that secret came out.

When Bill Horton went to prison for Kitty Horton's death, his cellmate was con man Doug Williams. Bill talked fondly of Salem, so when Doug was released, he came to Salem and set his sights on the widowed Susan Hunter Martin, who inherited a fortune from her late husband David Martin.

Susan quickly figured out what Doug was doing and rebuffed him. But she did hire Doug to seduce Julie. At that point, Julie had interfered in Susan's budding romance with Scott Banning and had stolen him away from her.

Scott Banning and his late wife Janet had adopted a baby a few years earlier and Julie had somehow learned that their baby was the one she had put up for adoption. Julie was determined to get her baby back and figured the way to do that was to marry Scott, which she did. Julie quickly adopted him and then had a legal claim over the child. I forget what name Scott and Janet had given the baby, but Julie would eventually rename him David (after his father, David Martin).

So, Susan hired Doug to seduce Julie and break up the marriage to Scott Banning. Susan hoped to rekindle her relationship with Scott and serve as a mother to the baby (I believe Susan also knew the adopted baby was Julie's). However, Doug quickly began falling for Julie, mimicking the budding real life romance that was occurring between Susan Seaforth and Bill Hayes.

Addie Horton Olson returned to Salem in late 1971 (played by Patricia Barry) following the death of her husband Ben Olson. Addie and her daughter, Julie, had always had a contentious relationship, but the two did grieve Ben together and initially got along. Somehow Addie discovered the Julie was having the secret affair with Doug and grew incredibly jealous, although she kept her jealousy hidden.

Meanwhile, Julie had initiated divorce proceedings against Scott, but the two had temporarily reconciled for 30 days. However, that reconciliation was a ruse since Julie needed to show she was trying to make the marriage work in order to pull off some legal maneuver (I think it had something to do with getting custody of the baby David). As I recall, her hotshot lawyer (maybe it was Don Craig?) advised her on pulling off this legal maneuver.

The plan was for Julie to end the reconciliation on Day 30 (the absolute last day possible) and then file the papers to that would finalize the divorce then and there. Immediately after that, Doug and Julie would fly off and get married.

However, at the last minute, Julie panicked and stayed with Scott. As I recall, Julie was scared she would lose her claim to baby David (or something like that) if she divorced Scott, so she stayed.

Doug was devastated. The two had made extensive plans for their fabulous life together, but Julie left him en route to the altar. Addie had somehow known all about this plan, so when she learned Julie had stayed with Scott after all, Addie went to Doug's apartment and offered herself to "Mr Williams," as she always called Doug. The two went off and got married that very night.

When Doug and Addie returned to Salem, Julie was devastated to learn of their marriage. At some point, Doug and Julie cleared the air about day that Julie was supposed to file the divorce papers. They both admitted they loved each other, but Doug refused to leave Addie. Doug, the con man, suddenly developed morals and said that he had pledged himself to Addie when they exchanged vows and he intended to keep the marriage vows.

NBC Daytime was in freefall by the late 1970s. As someone said upthread, it was ironic given that NBC Daytime was the top of the ratings in the early 1970s.

I maintain that NBC brought this freefall upon themselves by its foolish decision to expand soaps from 30 minutes to 60 minutes. Yes, I know Harding Lemay lobbied for the 60 minute soap so he could do longer scenes and make Another World more theatrical. Another World went to 60 minutes first, in Jan 1975, followed by Days in late April 1975. And initially the ratings stayed fairly high.

However, the long term consequences of that decision to expand to an hour are what left NBC Daytime in such bad shape, both creatively and ratings wise, a mere three years after going to 60 minutes.

For AW, Harding Lemay began writing 80 percent of the scripts himself. He was so obsessed with getting the theatricality in the scripts that he rewrote most scripts his subwriters submitted. Eventually, he let most of the subwriters go and just wrote the scripts himself; in his book, he reported that at one point he was scripting 4 out of 5 shows per week. That was in addition to plotting the show and doing long term story projections. Plus, he was also trying to create and HW the new soap, Lovers and Friends. This lead to incredible burnout on Lemay's part. AW suffered creatively from Lemay's burnout and by 1978, AW was not the must-see show it had been throughout the 1970s. It fell from #1 in 1977-78 with a 8.6 rating to #8 in 1978-79 with a 7.5 rating. It was not surprising the P&G fired Lemay in March 1979.

Meanwhile, on Days, Bill Bell was HWing both Days and Y&R from 1973 to 1975. Both were 30 minute shows and moved at a slower pace, so it was not difficult to HW two shows (Agnes Nixon had done it with AMC and OLTL; Henry Slesar had done it with Edge of Night and Somerset, etc). However, when NBC expanded Days to 60 minutes in 1975, Bill Bell refused to come along for the ride. He did not want to write a 60 minute show and quit the HW job. However, he did agree to stay on for two years as story consultant. Meanwhile Pat Falken Smith became HW and worked off Bell's long term story projections. But by 1977, those story projections had run out and Pat Falken Smith left in a contract dispute. The subsequent revolving door of new HWs couldn't maintain the creative standards Bell's had mastered and Days suffered severe consequences. It went from #4 in 1975-76 with a 8.3 rating to #10 in 1978-79 with a 6.8 rating.

Thus I believe that if NBC had kept the soaps at 30 minutes, Bill Bell would have stayed on as HW for much, much longer. Similarly, Harding Lemay wouldn't have suffered from the creative burnout and also would have stayed on as HW of AW for much longer.

Yeah, the whole lineup hit a wall. And their prime time fall didn't help matters either.

Back in those days each soap had it's own identity, but at the same time they would copy each other. If one show had a nun about to leave the convent for a man story, you better believe that a similar was going to show up on some other show. I think Lemay had good intentions with the expansion to an hour, but I do believe that the shows that followed did so only as a gimmick. Expanding to an hour was the "Luke and Laura" of that time. And to be totally honest it wasn't until Gloria Monty reinvented GH that soaps started to get the hour right. All those wonderfully tight well oiled 30 minute shows, became meandering messes.

I think it was Sam Hall who said that a lot of these writers just thought that for an hour show you just added three more acts to your script, but it was more complicated than that. The pacing was off and the shows just had a lot of filler. Days was one of the biggest offenders.

In an interview I read years ago, Bill Hayes said when they went to an hour, they also started emphasizing the Doug's Place setting. They started having Doug sing at song in virtually every episode because they weren't sure that viewers would stick around for a full 60 minutes of straight story. Thus, they wanted to supplement their Days experience by giving views a chance to hear Doug singing, or Robert LeClair or Jeri Clayton or Trish Clayton singing.

And with those songs, they had the various audience members reacting to the song, thus lots of emoting over the songs.

God, THANKS SO MUCH to those like R110 and R111 who can fill in those details! I had totally forgotten that Doug was a con man Bill met in prison!! Brings back SO many memories of the great early days of this soap.

Help me out, though - who played Kitty Horton and how/why did Bill kill her? I remember Bill as kind of a milk toasty kind of guy (maybe it was just the actor) and I think I'm getting her mixed up with Kitty from All My Children - which was another thing entirely! So please help fill in this if you can.

LOVING THIS THREAD!!!!!

When Bill was introduced he was just out of Johns Hopkins. He was a hot head who was always going up against Tom. I believe the back story was that Bill felt that Tom loved Tommy best and that Bill was an afterthought. The irony being that it was Bill who brought Tommy back home and into the fold, but by then Bill issues with Mickey.

Bill and Marie were the babies. Marie tried to kill herself and after her miscarriage was hearing crying babies and she was just fragile then she developed feelings for a man who turned out to be her brother and that sent her over the edge.

Kitty was played by the great Regina Gleason. She was such a great character. Bill didn't kill Kitty. Kitty had a heart attack after Bill left the apartment. You see Kitty found out the truth about Michael not being Mickey's and wanted to use that for her own gain. She also wanted Bill for herself. She and Bill fought. Kitty had the heart attack and Bill was blamed. Bill wouldn't tell the truth about why he was at Kitty's, so he went to jail.

Susan and Julie!!

As great as Tom and Alice were, they really had some fucked up children. And even though technically Julie was their Granddaughter, she was practically raised by them and she was a mess too. Makes you wonder how these two kind, caring people could create such monsters.

In real life, Salem becomes a tourist trap from Labor Day to Halloween. The traffic becomes unbearable and I try to avoid the area completely over this period.

Someone please refresh my memory about Linda Patterson Phillips. She was essentially the town whore who slept with virtually everyone, but what was her story?

Margaret Mason was a ice blonde (Hitchcock would have loved her), but she sure knew how to be bad.

Linda was the town pump and Mickey's secretary. Mickey was fucking her. Linda got pregnant and thought Micky was the father. I can't remember who the actual father was. Linda also fucked Bill and Tommy. For some reason, I think she left town or was run out of town but eventually came back and married Bob Anderson. I really think her only story was that she was in town to be fucked and passed around by various men, especially Hortons.

Linda spread her legs like SOFT BUTTAH!

The 70s sitcom Sanford & Son would reference Days of Our Lives storylines from time to time because star Redd Foxx was a big DOOL fan in real life

I think in one episode Fred recapped the entire Mickey/Laura/Bill story to Grady.

[quote]Linda got pregnant and thought Micky was the father. I can't remember who the actual father was.

I believe the father turned out to be Jim Phillips, Linda's husband, and the child turned out to be Melissa.

Jim worked for Bob Anderson if I recall, but was killed on the job. Or maybe that was Scott Banning. Anyway, I think Jim was always an off-camera character -- often referred to but never seen.

Oppps, r126 was written by me, Brent Douglas.

Does anyone know where the name Brent Douglas came from?

[quote] I believe the father turned out to be Jim Phillips, Linda's husband, and the child turned out to be Melissa.

That's gotta be a soap first! The town slut's baby is sired by her husband instead of all the other men she's slept with.

[quote]Does anyone know where the name Brent Douglas came from?

Brent Douglas is Doug Williams' real name.

Fun fact about Uncle Mickey. He was sort of a playboy in the early days of the show. Fucking hoes and breaking bitches hearts.

Don’t take away my tv.

That scene is hilarious - thanks for digging it up and posting!

Some great old Doug & Julie clips her,e including Doug singing "The Look of Love."

Please remind me how Neil Curtis came to town. He was originally a scoundrel as I recall. But what were the details on his arrival in 1974? What were his original storylines?

No one remembers the details of Neil Curtis' arrival? Come on Salem fans, surely one of your knows.

I'm trying to think of who he even was!! The name is familiar, but not much else---

Doctor with questionable morals.

Compulsive gambler.

Was in love with Amanda Howard (Mary Frann) while she was in love with Greg Peters (Peter Brown).

Was once married to Phyllis Anderson and also had an affair with Linda Patterson Anderson.

Biological father of Sarah Horton, subbing his sperm for Evan Wyland's (Lane Davies).

Biological father of Noel Curtis, whose mother was Liz Chandle (Gloria Loring).

Great summary, R136! I loved Neil! (I began watching 1981). He was good, he was bad -- a perfectly flawed soap character. He especially endeared himself to me as Kimberly's BFF/confidant during the whole Victor/Shane/baby Andrew storyline.

I HATED Sarah retcon. That was plain ICKY! So, he wacked off & inseminated his good friend, and patient, Maggie? Gross!

He got the "Don Craig" treatment at the end. 17 years on the canvas, and his last words were "I need to see patients. Lots of patients." as he walked away from Nurses' station, never to be seen again.

What was the scoop on Amanda Howard? Where did she come from? How did she get involved in the story?

I must have been a baby star somewhere in there, OP? Like, I'm talking before the ribbons I do and don't wear?

A thread devoted to Marlena Evans was recently started in case anyone is interested.

Wasn't Stanley Kamel the creepy younger brother of Dr Greg Peters? And wasn't he eventually unmasked as the Salem rapist?

Also, were Julie and Don Craig ever together?