Another World 50th Anniversary: The Romance Novels

Today is the 50th Anniversary of ANOTHER WORLD, that soap that I followed for most of it's 35 year run on NBC. Today I present several romance novels inspired by the series.

The first, Another World by Kate Lowe Kerrigan was published in 1978. With an amazing new logo and wonderful cover art, this novelization was successfuil enough to spawn a sequel.Published later that same year, Another World II picked up right from where the first ended. It went back to press with a new cover for it's second printing.
Classic.In 1986, a line of novels called Soaps & Serials was launched and Another World was included in the line-up. The 14-book series adapted storylines from 1967 to 1976. Each book had it's own subtitle.

When Felicia Gallant came to Bay City - she brought her history of being a romance novelist along with her. Among her fictional titles were the classics : The Bride of Bombay, Doctor's Desire, Ebony Heartbeat, Embers in the Snow, Fallen Females, Gardenias for Gwendolyn, Gone with the Dawn, The Heart That Heals, Into the Fire, The Lady and the Laborer, Lust in the Kremlin, The Manly Heart, Moonlight Desires, Paradise Delayed, Passion's Progress, Savage Love, Torrid Tundra Nights and White Snow in Hell.  In the real world, actress Linda Dano teamed with writer Rebecca Flanders to create Dreamweaver, a Harlequin Romance. A novel idea!

Another World 50th Anniversary: TV Guide Ads

Over its 35 years on NBC, ANOTHER WORLD was occasionally promoted by the network. Here is a collection of TV Guide print advertisements that appeared during the 1980s and 1990s.

The Passion Never Ends was NBC's tagline for its daytime line-up back in the early 80s. Of the 4 soaps featured in these ads, only one, DAYS OF OUR LIVES is still airing on the network. In fact, DAYS is the last soap standing on the peacock network. AW's heroine Rachel Cory (Victoria Wyndham) is trapped! She is married to powerful publishing magnate Mac Cory - but pregnant with the child of sexy con-man Mitch Blake (William Gray Espy)!

Apparently things have gone from bad to worse for Rachel as now Mitch has been shot - and she could now be charged with his murder. Spoiler: He didn't die, he just left the show and came back years to be reunited with his teen-age son Matt. Notice Mac Cory's daughter Iris Wheeler (Beverly McKinsey) in the ad for her short-lived spin-off series TEXAS.

Bask in our Afterglow. THE DOCTORS and TEXAS are now gone - replaced by SEARCH FOR TOMORROW (transplanted from CBS) and the early reality show called FANTASY (hosted by the odd trio of Peter Marshall, Leslie Uggams and Glen Scarpelli!). ANOTHER WORLD was deep into the love triangle between Mac Cory's son Sandy (Chris Rich), his wife Blaine Ewing (Laura Malone) and the brilliantly conniving Cecile DePoulignac (Nancy Frangione). It was around this time that Cecile hired Alma Rudder (the chilling Elizabeth Franz), a crazed mountain woman to kidnap and poison Blaine AND to dress up as a giant Raggedy Ann doll and torment poor Blaine. It was pure genius!

Cecile's best friend Donna Love (Anna Stuart) didn't like the fact that her brother Peter (John Hutton) was going to marry the very common Sally Frame (Mary Page Keller), so Donna employed Cecile to break up the romance between them. It worked. :)
Ah, Cecile strikes again! Have I mentioned how she is my all-time favorite AW character? Followed closely by Donna Love. Nancy Frangione and Anna Stuart were incredible whenever they shared screen time. It was always a bitchfest royale!
Here's an odd ad for an Engagement Calendar that also promoted a bizarre storyline involving a killer named "Ross" who did in a bunch of minor characters. Pictured: Donna Love, Catlin Ewing (Thomas Ian Grffith), Kathleen McKinnon (Julie Osburn), Sally Frame, Cecile DePoulignac, Ross (Robert Phalen), Cass Winthrop (Stephen Schnetzer) and Nurse Emily Benson (Alexandra Neil). By the way, I think this was around the time Cecile became the Queen of Tanquir.Sally Frame, who was dumped by Peter Love eventually fell in love with Catlin Ewing. The two became a super-couple and were well on their way to the altar. Unfortunately Catlin's dead wife Brittany Peterson decided to show up. Played by EDGE OF NIGHT's Sharon Gabet - Brittany was left deaf mute after a boating accident. Gabet's performance was amazing.

Catlin was torn between Sally and Brittany. He eventually chose Sally and Brittany ended up with Peter Love! (see above). Unfortunately Peter (now played by Marcus Smythe) evolved into a villain in the tradition of his father Reginald (John Considine) and ended up on the wrong side of Brittany's shotgun.

Fanny Grady aka romance novelist Felicia Gallant (Linda Dano) married Brittany's rescuer Zane Lindquist (Patrick Tovatt) in a lavish ceremony attended by Liberace!
Evil mastermind Carl Hutchins (Charles Keating), ex-husband of Donna Love returned to Bay City to settle and old score with Mac Cory. Along the way he terrorized the hot young lovers Jake McKinnon (Tom Eplin as Kathleen's cousin), Marley Love (Ellen Wheeler as Donna's "sister"), Nancy McGowan (Jane Cameron as Rachel's sister) and Chris Chapin (Don Scardino).

As a result of Carl's machinations, a jar of poisoned dust travelled throughout Bay City killing off some minor characters.

The Sin Stalker came to Bay City and killed off a bunch of beloved minor characters like Maisie the waitress and glamorous architect Quinn Harding (Petronia Paley). Crystal Gayle managed to survive though - and got to perform the new theme song.

One will be betrayed. One will disappear, One will die. Jake and Marley broke up thanks to Marley's twin Victoria; Catlin became a widower when Sally (now played by ALL MY CHILDREN transplant Taylor Miller) was killed by Carl Hutchins; Kathleen disappeared and Cass set to to find her. Carl Hutchins eventually tried to kill her too.

Donna Love (now played by Philece Sampler, who was an amazing Renee DiMera on DAYS) was swept away again by her former stable boy Michael Hudson (Kale Brown)-but an affair with his Viet Nam vet brother John (David Forsyth) put an end to their happiness.

Another serial killer tormented Bay City. I'm not sure if this was Dr. Alan Glaser or Dr. Fax Newman, in fact Dr. Bailey Thompson and Dr. Taylor Benson were also twisted. One raped Sharlene Frame (Anna Holbrook) when she was a child, the other tried to kill her with an exploding boat. Bay City had its share of crazed doctors.

Yay! Cecile's back! The producers would convince Nancy to come back to the show every few years to spice things up- and it always worked. Especially when teamed with Cass Wintrop.

The show celebrated it's 25th Anniversary in style with a week-long reunion party that brought many much-loved characters from the Matthews and Frame family trees. This ad featured hot young super-couple Sam Fowler (Mitch Blake's younger brother, played by Robert Kelker-Kelly) and Amanda Cory (Rachel's daughter, played by Sandra Ferguson).

Two two "hosted" 2 special episodes that examined the changing rules of romance and sex in the 1990s.I'm not sure if this ad in in the right order, but whatever. Here we have Michael Hudson and Donna Love (notice Philece's head on Anna Stuart's body); Lisa Grady (Felicia's neice, played by Joanna Going) and Jamie Frame (Rachel's son, now played by ALL MY CHILDREN vet Larry Lau); and Cheryl McKinnon (Kathleen's baby sister played by Kristen Marie) and my favorite AW hunk ever Scott LaSalle (the son of Reginald Love, played by Hank Cheyne).

The final ad for ANOTHER WORLD - Jake McKinnon is determined to win back Paulina Cory (Mac Cory's daughter, played by the stunning and talented Judi Evans) from Ian Rain (Julian McMahon in his pre-NIP/TUCK days).

MOLLY

I rewatched MOLLY over the weekend...and decided to repost my "review" from 2009 in appreciation.

I've been hearing about MOLLY (1999, directed by John Duigan) from my friends for a few years now, and with Sarah Palin in the news again, I decided maybe it was high time I sat down for a lighthearted romp about a mentally challenged woman. Why not?

The film starts off on a good note with the wonderful Holly Cole song "Onion Girl" - unfortunately things go down hill pretty fast from there.We soon are introduced to Molly McKay (Elisabeth Shue) a profoundly autistic woman of 28 (played by a 36 year old actress) who has the mind of a spoiled brat.Molly has been raised in a nursing facility after her parents were killed in a car accident and her only relative is her older brother.Buck (Aaron Eckhart) wasn't around Molly much since he was selfishly off at school and building a successful career in advertising. Now Buck finds out that the home is closing and he needs a new place for Molly to live.
Oh at this point we are told that Molly, like many autistic people has super hearing!!! Who knew???Through a series of circumstances Molly winds up living with Buck in his spacious Venice, California loft. Let the chaos ensue. Molly is quite skittish and screams in horror at the drop of a hat. Molly and Buck also don't seem to have much in common - he likes modern art and she like to pee in her pants. He likes pizza, she likes peas. Molly is also stubborn as a mule and generally answers every question asked with a resounding "NO!!!"

Also, she's obsessed with organizing her collection of shoes. Okay, so am I.

After Buck tries to drop Molly off at daycare–and is rejected–it becomes "bring your autistic sister to work day". First she presses all the buttons in the elevator with evil glee, pissing off Buck's coworkers.

Then she gets bored waiting for Buck in the reception area.

So after picking off the receptionist's dandruff,

Molly decides to strip down hollering "Molly hot!!!"

and proceeds to walk naked into a meeting with a swimwear client!

Now if Buck was an adman worth his salt, he would have pulled a Darren Stephens and figured out a way to tie Molly's nude romp into the new ad campaign. But sadly he doesn't.

As this isn't enough, as a finale, Molly decides to splash around in a fountain. Molly hot again?
Buck tries desperately to juggle his job with his new burden, but he soon ends up unemployed. This causes resentment to grown between the two siblings. Enter the hunkiest mentally challenged person ever, Sam (Thomas Jane) a former worker at the nursing home and friend to Molly - who is both her guardian angel and interpreter - because he too has a learning disability. Hot.

Sam encourages Buck to be patient with his sister. Molly's neurologist, Dr. Brookes (TV's Jill Hennessy) recommends a controversial new surgical technique that could possibly reverse Molly's mental condition. At first Buck rejects the suggestion, but then agrees to it.
Amazingly, after the procedure, Molly slowly begins to become more "normal". Buck creates a "learning checklist" for her and gradually she learns things for the first time, changing her speaking style and appearing more and more like the Elisabeth Shue we know from other hit films.
Before you know it, Molly gains full use of her cognitive reasoning, is able to have intelligent conversations and begins dancing spontaneously in restaurants.

Buck and Molly start attending baseball games, where she uses her super hearing to listen to the players and then gets into an argument with an obnoxious guy, calling him "retarded."

Molly seems to come alive as she spends more time with her brother. In fact, Molly is falling in love with Buck - and doesn't understand why brothers and sister can't be lovers. We're not sure he understands either.
Becoming more of a free spirit, Molly soon learns how to kiss from TV and decides to try it out on shy Sam. He freaks out a bit and turns to Dr. Brookes for comfort.

Molly misunderstands flies into a jealous rage over this. But things get better when Molly has a real fancy date with Sam. Even though she has transitioned to the mind of an adult, she retains her childlike innocence - like when she thinks that a stage production of Romeo and Juliet is real...and, without resistance from her posse, crawls through the audience and onto the stage during the performance,

slapping Juliet across the face and telling Romeo not to drink the poison!

Later at a fancy dinner, Molly freaks out over live lobsters, questioning why anyone would want to eat them. I'm totally with her on that. Then she decides to revisit her restaurant dance routine and Buck joins her.

Later the siblings look at old family photos and watch home movies. Before you know it, Molly begins working with autistic children and even becomes a lecturer!!! Talk about coming full circle!
Well the circle goes unbroken when things take a turn for the worse for our plucky heroine when, after she falls off a bicycle, we discover that Molly's brain is rejecting the treatment and begins to digress into her former self. Before you know it, she's back to old, autistic Molly. What do do? What do do?I'm not sure what really happened next, but Buck and Molly say goodbye, and then they are on a boat out sailing with Sam and Dr. Brookes. So, Molly goes back to being autistic, but somehow it's a happy ending.

Okay, with all apologies to readers and friends who have mentally challenged relatives, this movie is retarded. First of all, Molly is really annoying and embarrassing and then she's a genius and she's still annoying and embarrassing! No one ever calls her on any of her behavior. Buck just lets her push the elevator buttons, dance in restaurants, crawl through audiences, etc.. Never once does tell tell her "Molly, NO! Stop it - people don't do things like that." He just lets her do whatever she wants, therefore she does the craziest things because she knows she can - and it's a hoot.

I think this movie was supposed to tug at your heartstrings, but it just made me laugh. A lot. So much that I cannot wait to see it again and again. A feel-good movie so laughably awful, you actually end up feeling good. 10 out of 10. Well done, Ms. Shue you have unknowingly created the comic performance of a lifetime. I love the multilayered MOLLY...she's just like an "Onion Girl".