J J J Thanks to J Feagle for emailing me to tell me that the newer version of “I’m Not In Love” that ABC uses for it’s PC promo’s, was recorded by Olive.  J J J 

Q:       I have a dumb question.  Why are soap operas called, well, "soap" operas?  Sarah P., Dallas TX

A:        No question is a dumb question, Sarah.  The very first soap, or serial, as they were once called, was a 15 minute drama, which aired on WGN radio, called "Painted Dreams”.   After that, NBC originated others, including, "Betty and Bob”.  This, in fact was the very first "real" network soap.  In 1933, came "Just Plain Bill", "The Romance of Helen Trent,” and "Ma Perkins”.

By the late 1930's there were thirty radio serials.  Soap companies started producing those programs that advertised their products, thus coining the phrase "soap operas". 

ALL MY CHILDREN 

Q:      My mom and I are having a disagreement about Cady McClain/Dixie.  She said there was a time when Dixie was played by someone else, I say Cady McClain is the only person that has ever played Dixie.  Who is right?  Tracie Doyal 

A:      I also thought as you did, until I checked and found that Kari Gibson played Dixie Cooney from the inception of the character, when Dixie came with her brother, Will, to Pine Valley from Pidgeon Hollow (1988 until 1989).  Then Cady McClain took over the role from 1989 until 1996, then returned to the role in 1998, to the present.  So it looks like Mother knows best on this one.

Q:       Erica is always harping on the fact that she loves Bianca, but she refuses to accept her now that she’s come out.  I don’t think any mother who really loves her child would act this way.  A friend told me that she also has another daughter.  If this is true, then what was their relationship like?  Where is she and why is she never mentioned?  Angelina,  Los Angeles, CA 

A:        Erica has one other daughter, Kendall, and the following will give you a good idea of their relationship:

In 1993, Kendall Hart arrived in Pine Valley and Erica hired her as an assistant.  Kendall told her that she had idolized Erica all her life. What Erica didn’t know was that Kendall was her long-lost daughter.  When she was very young, Erica was raped by an actor friend of her father’s.  It was her14th birthday and her father, Eric,

Kendall became very involved with Erica’s personal life and helped to coordinate her wedding to Dimitri.  During this time, Mona, (Erica’s mother) saw a birthmark on Kendall’s neck and realized that she was the baby Erica had given up years before. 

            When Erica's daughter, Bianca, was hurt in a riding accident, Erica doted on her, and Kendall, being jealous of all the love and attention Bianca was receiving, blurted out to Erica that she was also her daughter.  Erica told Dimitri the whole story and invited Kendall to move in with them. 

Kendall became obsessed with finding her biological father, Richard Fields, even though Erica was outraged and forbid Kendall to look for him.  Still, Kendall was determined and Erica was unable to stop her.  She managed to talk Dimitri into helping her locate Richard Fields.  

When Erica found out what Kendall was up to, she told Dimitri that Kendall had to leave their home. Dimitri was unaware of Kendall’s lies and deceit, and was reluctant to throw her out of their home.  When he hesitated, Erica asked for a divorce and moved out of Wildwind.            

Meanwhile, Kendall was becoming romantically obsessed with Dimitri.  She was also growing close to Anton Lang, a medical student from Hungary who had become Dimitri’s ward.   After she spent her first night with Anton, she ran to Erica and told her that Dimitri had

              When the Marick family’s Hungarian housekeeper, Corvina, came to Pine Valley, she finally confessed the truth of Anton's paternity to Dimitri.  Years before at Vadsel, Dimitri had too much to drink one night and had slept with Corvina.  Now knowing the truth, that he was Anton’s father, he swore to Corvina to keep it a secret.  At the same time, Dimitri grew very protective of his son and became hell bent on keeping Anton out of the devious Kendall's clutches. 

In the early part of 1994, Kendall began spending time with another new arrival, Del Henry.  Edmund wondered why, and had a suspicion that Kendall was once again up to no good, but her relationship with Del was not about sex. Kendall and Del were collaborating on a scandalous, tell-all book on the life and loves of her mother. 

At Erica’s trial for attempted murder, she took the stand and painfully relived every detail of the fateful night she stabbed Dimitri.  She insisted that she didn't mean to stab him and leave him to die.  She told the courtroom that in her delirium, she thought he was Richard Fields. Kendall tried to unnerve her mother by wheeling the elderly and sick Richard Fields into the courtroom. When Kendall took the stand, she lied through her teeth, swearing, under oath, that Dimitri had seduced her. She testified against her mother claiming that Erica knowingly stabbed Dimitri because she was jealous that he had seduced Kendall. Later Kendall saw Richard Fields for the monster he was when he tried to force himself on her half-sister, Bianca.  Seeing the error of her ways, Kendall recanted her damaging testimony, but was still sent to jail for committing perjury on the witness stand. Erica was set free. 

            As for Richard Fields, he never lived to see the outcome of the trial.  Mona saw to that. She watched as he clutched his chest and collapsed to the floor.  Mona ignored Richard Fields's pleas for help, assuming that he was faking the chest pains. She simply walked away, leaving her daughter's rapist to die.

          After her short stay in jail, Kendall returned and fell in love with Anton.  He asked her to marry him and she accepted. Soon after, she discovered the secret that Dimitri and Corvina had been keeping, that Anton was their son.  Knowing this, Kendall married Anton and soon began working on a scheme that would help him claim his birthright. Getting Corvina to help her, she forged documents stating that Corvina and Dimitri were switched at birth which would mean that Corvina and Anton would inherit the family fortune, but all her scheming failed. After she was humiliated, she was forced to agree to a divorce.  After being free of Kendall, Anton warmly accepted Dimitri as his father. 

Kendall began helping Del write his book about her mother.  Soon he showed her that revenge wasn’t healthy and also helped her to get back in good graces with her adoptive family in Florida. Before making her exit from Pine Valley, she apologized to Erica, and mother and daughter, who had become sworn enemies, parted with a mutual understanding.  

            Kendall and Del moved back to Florida after she received word that her adoptive father had died.  They were married, and to this day Kendall has not made another appearance in Pine Valley, and Erica very rarely, if ever, speaks of her. 

ONE LIFE TO LIVE 

Q:       Is that minister who shows up for weddings and funerals, Andrew, someone who used to be on the show all the time?  If so, what is his story?

Bebe W., Macon GA

A:        Andrew has been rector of Llanview's St. James Church since 1991, and lives at the St. James Rectory.  Andrew’s father was Gen. Sloan Carpenter, who first came to Llanview in 1992.  Sloan had been suffering from Hodgkin's disease, and wanted to make peace with his estranged son. Andrew thought this would be a good time to pursuade his father to face the truth about his other son, William, who was gay and had died of AIDS years earlier.

                 Andrew met Megan Gordon, and the two became friends.  He helped her through giving her support while her husband, Jake, was being held in a Middle East prison.  Megan, who suffered from a deadly case of lupus, appreciated his kindness and advice, and together they shared a deep friendship. He did not try to hide his feelings from Megan, and told her how he felt right before she died in 1992, after risking his life to bring Jake home to see her before she passed away. 

               When teenager, Billy Douglas came to Andrew for counseling, Andrew became an innocent victim of some of the local bigots in Llanview.  Because Billy was gay, Marty Saybrooke, who was somewhat of a troublemaker, spread the rumor that Andrew was also gay and was making advances on Billy.  As the rumor spread through town, Andrew was being pressured to let it be known that he was not gay, but he refused.  He felt that sexual preference was not a matter of public knowledge. Eventually, Marty's lies were proven to have no basis.  

When Andrew arranged for the Names Project AIDS Memorial Quilt to come to Llanview, he found that many members of his parish were very hostile towards him.  He even met resistance from his own father, who objected his desire to add his brother’s name to the quilt.  Andrew had to reason with his father, and was finally able to convince him that it was the right thing to do.  In the end, he helped to change Llanview from a community of fear and hatred into one of tolerance and acceptance. 

Andrew later fell in love with Dorian Lord’s daughter, Cassie, and they were married in 1993. Cassie became pregnant, but sadly, she lost the baby, which affected her emotionally. They decided to adopt a child who had been abandoned by his mother on Christmas Eve.  They named him William River.   Cassie was so happy

  In 1994, Beth Garvey died of a deadly virus and River was returned to Cassie and Andrew.  Early the next year, Andrew lost his father to Hodgkin’s Disease. 

In the spring of 1997, Cassie and Andrew's marriage broke up after Cassie began an affair with co-worker, Kevin Buchanan. Cassie and Kevin tried to fight their attraction for months, but it was quite difficult, as they saw each other everyday. Finally, Cassie and Kevin made love. Cassie immediately confessed her indiscretion to Andrew, who quickly ended their marriage. Even though Cassie and Andrew divorced, they tried to remain friends for the sake of their son.  

Andrew befriended a troubled HIV positive teen named Eli Traigor. When Eli's mother passed away, Andrew took the boy in until a suitable foster home could be found. 

In 1998, Andrew came to Cassie's aid when Cassie was involved in a tragic accident and lost touch with reality.  She was ultimately sent to a psychiatric hospital in Switzerland, where she remains today.   Andrew still lives at the Rectory. 

Q:       My mom and I have a bet.  She says the character of Larry has been on the show longer than anyone and I'm betting on Viki.  Can you help me win this one so she buys lunch?  Cindy Morrison, SC 

	A:      It looks like you’ll be paying the lunch tab Cindy, because Mom was right on this one.  Dr. Larry Wolek, originally played by Paul Tulley on the debut of OLTL on July 15, 1968, was just starting out on a brand new career as a psychiatric intern at Llanview Hospital.
	And while Victoria Lord, (first portrayed by Trish Van Devere then Gillian Spencer, both in 1968), also appeared not long after, Larry appeared in one of the first scenes of the very first episode, which makes him the longest running character on OLTL.

            BTW, the characters of both Viki and Larry are the only original characters still on the show after more than 30 years.

GENERAL HOSPITAL 

Q:       Maybe you can solve this for me.  I work days, so I rarely get to see GH anymore.  Caught it on Tuesday and can’t figure out what the heck happened to Shell Kepler’s face!!  There is something very wrong with her mouth – I searched all over the Internet and can find no mention of it.  Do you know?  Thanks.  Lori Meyers 

Q:       I was wondering if you have any information in regards to what is going on  with Amy Vining's mouth these days..she looks almost like she was burnt and is now deformed.  Was it a bad plastic surgery job?  There has not been anything on General Hospital in regards to this.  Amy Jewers,  Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

A:        It’s obvious that many people have noticed a difference in her appearance, my daughter also pointed it out to me last week, but no official word has come down the pike as explanation for the change in her facial appearance.  If we here at EOS receive an official statement, we’ll let our reader’s know.

 Q:       If Stefan and Alexis grew up together, then how come when she came to Port Charles, no one knew she was really Natasha, Stefan’s half-sister?  How is this possible that he didn’t know who she was, they are always talking about when they were children.  Please let me know.  DreamGazer9 

A:        Alexis always thought of herself as a distant Cassadine cousin.  She didn’t learn about her true identity, as Stefan’s half-sister, Natasha, until 1997.  Alexis’ mother, Kristen Bergman, and Helena’s husband, Mikkos, had a love affair.  When Helena discovered this, she killed Kristen by slitting her throat, not only because of the affair with her husband, but also for daring to have his child.

 After Kristen’s murder, Mikkos demanded that she be brought to live with the family.  Helena agreed, only if Natasha was renamed Alexis, and brought up as a cousin, instead of a daughter.  She would allow Alexis to live as long as she never found out the truth about herself.   So, Alexis grew up thinking she was the poor orphaned cousin, with her only friend being her cousin, Stefan.  

            Stefan was a comfort to Alexis, as she was well aware that the rest of the family did not want her there. Stefan repeatedly saved Alexis from horrible punishments at Helena's hands. He also became Alexis’ only confidant and believed in her potential, and when the time came, he paid her way through college and law school. They remained close allies until Stefan made plans to marry Katherine Bell.   

Alexis thought that Stefan’s involvement with Katherine was getting in the way of the Cassadine family’s mission, so she came up with a plan to break them apart.  Knowing there were rumors of Stefan having an illegitimate sister, Alexis managed to convince him that Katherine was his half-sister, Natasha.  Stefan believed the proof that Alexis had manufactured, and broke off his and Katherine’s relationship.  When he finally discovered that Alexis was really Natasha, he banished her from the family. 

 
Q:       Do you remember when Jax left?  He went to look for Brenda.  Did Vanessa Marcil (Brenda) play the role of Brenda or was that a really, really good look alike?

A:      No, it wasn’t a Brenda look-alike.  That was Vanessa Marcil we saw in those dark Foster-Grants.  For awhile, no one knew whether Marcil would make this one appearance that ushered Jax out of the picture, or if there would be a look-alike cast.

Q:       When we saw Lily, the child beside her was that supposed to be the child that she was pregnant with when she died in the car bomb, and the child she was holding was that supposed to the child that Sonny and Carly lost?

A:        Katrina explained this to me when I asked her the same question a week ago. The child she was holding was the baby Sonny and Carly lost.  When Sonny visited Lily’s grave, he asked her to please take care of the baby for them.  The older child was Lily and Sonny’s unborn baby who was killed along with his mother when the car bomb exploded.