May 21, 1999: The Daytime Emmy Awards are held, at The Theater at Madison Square Garden (formerly known as the Felt Forum) in New York. Although any daytime program is eligible for an award -- except, as with the prime-time version, the Emmy Award broadcast itself -- most of the awards are given for "daytime dramas," a.k.a. soap operas.
All My Children premiered on ABC on January 5, 1970. On January 16, the character of Erica Kane debuted, as a symbol of series creator Agnes Nixon's wish to build a soap opera that could attract younger viewers. Erica was played by Susan Lucci, who, at 23, was already too old to be playing a 15-year-old. But she was such a good fit for the "headstrong and selfish" girl that nobody seemed to care.
Over time, Erica evolved into a "heroine-vixen" who still did bad things, but was also a character the audience rooted for. Her abandonment by her father when young led her to become a bed-hopper, searching for love as she understood it. By the time the show aired its last episode, Erica had gotten married 10 times to 8 different men, and had 3 children: Daughters Kendall Hart (who took up where her finally-maturing mother left off) and Bianca Montgomery (who did not take after her mother's selfish, scheming ways), and son Josh Madden (who did).
"I think of Erica as a go-getter," Lucci said, "someone who's impatient to have a terrific life and have it yesterday. I think a lot of people can identify with that." She always controls her business, whether involved with a man or not. Some of the jobs she has been given during her storylines include a high fashion model, a cosmetics tycoon, and a magazine publisher.
Charles Pratt Jr., the show's last head writer, said, "To me, she is the Scarlett O'Hara of the show, and she must always be that, be the center and the heart of the show. Challenging that character that way, making her the powerful woman she should be, is important."
Erica became the most beloved character in soap opera history; Lucci, the most beloved actress. And yet, she kept getting denied the Emmy Award for Best Lead Actress in a Daytime Drama. She was first nominated in 1978, but it was always someone else winning the award.
In 1989, in a commercial for Sweet One artificial sweetener, she said, "There's a sweet side to me," and that, with the sweetener, she said, "I've got everything I want. Except that Emmy. Eleven years without an Emmy! What's a person gotta do around here to get an Emmy?"
In 1990, she guest-hosted Saturday Night Live, with performers, writers and directors who had won Emmys, and she had to dodge an "Emmy fight," with foam objects in the shape of Emmy Awards being thrown around.
In 1999, she was nominated for the 19th time. Shemar Moore, then playing Malcom Winters on CBS' The Young and the Restless, read the names of the nominees, opened the envelope, and said, "And the outstanding diva is... The streak is over! Susan Lucci!"
The Theater erupted in applause, and Lucci got a standing ovation before she could stand herself. Agnes Nixon pumped her arms in acknowledgement of the triumph. Rosie O'Donnell, who had won for best talk show, and was a huge soap fan, had tears in her eyes over her friend's win.
Lucci was so overcome that she had trouble starting her acceptance speech. Finally, she pulled herself together, and said, "Thank you so very much. I truly never believed that this would happen. First of all, I want to thank each and every one of you in this room. This is a room full of such talented, hardworking people, and the fact that you thought that my work was worthy of notice 19 times is something that I will treasure, always."
She thanked God, her parents, her acting teachers, Nixon, the casting director, her castmates, her children Liza (also an actress) and Andreas, and her husband, Austrian chef Helmut Huber. (Unlike her character, she has only been married once.) And, finally, she thanked the show's fans.
The next year, she wasn't even nominated. She was nominated twice more, but didn't win. All My Children continued to air until September 23, 2011. Susan Lucci received 21 Emmy Award nominations, and she won one. But that one will never be forgotten.
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May 21, 1999 was a Friday. Football was out of season. The Stanley Cup Playoffs were between the Conference Semifinals and the Conference Finals. One game was played of the NBA Playoffs: The Indiana Pacers beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 97-86 at the First Union Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia.
And these Major League Baseball games were played:
* The New York Mets beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 7-5 at Shea Stadium.
* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Montreal Expos, 5-3 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. Ronnie Belliard doubled home the winning runs in the top of the 11th inning.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 5-2 at Fenway Park in Boston.
* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Texas Rangers, 3-2 at Camden Yards in Baltimore. Cal Ripken went 1-for-3.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the Atlanta Braves, 8-4 at Turner Field (now Center Parc Stadium) in Atlanta. The Cubs won it with 4 runs in the top of the 9th inning, including home runs by Henry Rodriguez and former Brave Jeff Blauser.
* The Tampa Bay Devil Rays beat the Anaheim Angels, 10-9 at Tropicana Field at St. Petersburg, Florida.
* The Florida Marlins beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 8-1 at Pro Player Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Cleveland Indians, 9-6 at Jacobs Field (now Progressive Field) in Cleveland.
* The Minnesota Twins beat the Oakland Athletics, 2-1 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. Doug Mientkiewicz singled home the winning run in the bottom of the 15th inning.
* The Seattle Mariners beat the Kansas City Royals, 5-2 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. Ken Griffey Jr. went 2-for-4 with a walk.
* The Colorado Rockies beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 8-7 at Coors Field in Denver. Larry Walker won it with a home run in the bottom of the 11th inning.
* The San Diego Padres beat the Cincinnati Reds, 5-4 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego. Tony Gwynn went 0-for-1, and then left the game with an injury.
* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 10-6 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Mark McGwire did not hit a home run. Fernando TatÃs Sr. did. Ray Lankford 2.
* The San Francisco Giants beat the Houston Astros, 4-3 at Candlestick Park (then named 3Com Park at Candlestick Point) in San Francisco. Barry Bonds got the night off. Mark Gardner was the Giants' starting pitcher, and hit a home run. But he couldn't hold the lead, and the Giants had to win it in the 7th, on an RBI double by Armando Rios.
* And the New York Yankees and the Chicago White Sox were rained out at the new Comiskey Park (now Rate Field) in Chicago. It was made up as part of a doubleheader the next day. The Yankees won the opener, 10-2. Roger Clemens was the winning pitcher. Jorge Posada, Tino Martinez and Bernie Williams hit home runs. The White Sox won the nightcap, 2-1. Mike Sirotka outpitched Andy Pettitte. Over the 2 games, Derek Jeter went 1-for-6 with 3 walks.
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