September 13, 1977: “Soap” Premieres

September 13, 1977: Soap premieres on ABC. As narrator Rod Roddy says at the start of every episode, "This is the story of two sisters: Jessica Tate and Mary Campbell," who were played by, respectively, Katherine Helmond and Cathryn Damon.

This parody of daytime soap operas featured a lot of stars in the making. On the Tate side: Robert Mandan, Jimmy Baio (Scott's brother) and Diana Canova. On the Campbell side: Richard Mulligan, Ted Wass, Billy Crystal and Robert Urich. Crystal's Jodie Dallas was the 1st openly gay character to be a regular on an American TV show (who nonetheless later married a woman and had a child). It also had Sal Viscuso, better known as the never-seen public address announcer on M*A*S*H.

Creator Susan Harris would spin Benson off from this show, with Robert Guillaume's character quitting as the Tates' butler (replaced by Roscoe Lee Browne) to run the Governor's Mansion after Jessica and Mary's cousin, Gene Gatling, was elected. Soap actors (as different characters) who appeared on that show included Inga Swenson and Caroline McWilliams.

Soap ran 4 years, 1977 to 1981; while Benson ran 8 years, 1978 to 1986. Although Soap was set in the fictional town of Dunn's River, Connecticut, the State of which Gatling was Governor was never specified. The house that stood in for the Governor's Mansion was in Pasadena, California: One mile in one direction is the house that was Wayne Manor on the 1966-68 Batman series, and one mile in the other direction was the Aaron Spelling mansion that served as the Carrington mansion on Dynasty.

Harris would also create The Golden Girls and its spinoff, Empty Nest, which would star Mulligan and also have recurring Soap actress Dinah Manoff.

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September 13, 1977 was a Tuesday. Singer Fiona Apple was born. And these Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox, 4-2 at Yankee Stadium. Rookie Ron Guidry went the distance for the win. Mickey Rivers, the Yankees' leading hitter for batting average (he would finish at .326), but not a power hitter, hit a home run. Reggie Jackson went 0-for-4.

The Red Sox had led the Yankees in the American League Eastern Division most of the way. But this opened a series with a win for the Yankees. The next night, Jackson broke up a dual shutout with a bottom of the 9th home run, and that pretty much knocked the Sox out, despite their salvaging the series finale.

* The New York Mets lost to the Montreal Expos, 8-5 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. The Expos scored 5 runs in the bottom of the 8th, to come from behind to win.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 2-0 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Jim Rooker pitched 7 2/3rds innings of 5-hit shutout ball, outpitching Jim Kaat. Rich "Goose" Gossage, his only season with the Pirates, finished the 5-hit shutout. Willie Stargell did not play. Mike Schmidt went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* The Houston Astros beat the Cincinnati Reds, 13-4 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. César Cedeño went 4-for-5 with a home run and 3 RBIs. Bob Watson went 2-for-4 with a home run and 4 RBIs. For the Reds, George Foster hit his 47th home run, on his way to 52. Pete Rose went 2-for-5. Johnny Bench did not play.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Minnesota Twins, 6-1 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Oscar Gamble (not a surprise) and Jim Essian (a big surprise) hit home runs for "The South Side Hit Men," while Roy Smalley hit one for the Twins. Rod Carew went 3-for-4, raising his batting average to .379. He finished at .388.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat their arch-rivals, 3-1 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* The California Angels beat the Texas Rangers, 12-7 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres, 18-4 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. The Dodgers scored 10 runs in the 2nd inning. Despite their onslaught, Dusty Baker was the only Dodger with a home run. He was 2-for-3 with 5 RBIs. Glenn Burke went 4-for-5 with 4 home runs. Steve Garvey went 3-for-3 with 3 RBIs. Dave Winfield went 1-for-4.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Atlanta Braves, 8-7 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Bill Madlock singled Darrell Evans home with the winning run in the bottom of the 11th inning.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Seattle Mariners, 6-5 at the Kingdome in Seattle. Don Money hit a home run in the top of the 10th inning. Robin Yount also hit a home run.

* The Baltimore Orioles and the Toronto Blue Jays were rained out at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader the next day. The O's swept, 6-5 and 4-2. They did this despite Eddie Murray, soon to be named American League Rookie of the Year, going 0-for-8 with a walk over the 2 games. Mike Flanagan and Rudy May were the winning pitchers.

* The Cleveland Indians and the Detroit Tigers were rained out at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader the next day. The Tigers swept, 5-3 and 2-1. In the nightcap, Ron LeFlore drove Tim Corcoran in with the winning run in the top of the 10th inning.

* And the Kansas City Royals and the Oakland Athletics, the former Kansas City team, were rained out at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. As the next day already had a rain-forced doubleheader scheduled, this game was made up as part of a doubleheader the next day, September 15. The Royals swept, 7-6 and 5-4. Both games went to extra innings. In the 1st game, Pete LaCock singled Willie Wilson home with the winning run. In the 2nd game, Al Cowens led off the bottom of the 10th with a home run.

May 21, 1999: Susan Lucci Finally Gets Her Emmy

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 Tatís 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.

April 1, 1963: "General Hospital" Premieres

April 1, 1963: General Hospital premieres on ABC. It becomes the longest-running, and perhaps greatest, soap opera in American history. It is easily the longest-running show, in any genre, ever to air on "The Alphabet Network."

The series takes place in Port Charles, New York, a fictional city located roughly where the real-life city of Rochester is, and it has all the adventure and difficulties of any port city. From 1997 to 2003, ABC aired a spinoff series titled Port Charles.

It's worth noting that, when Luke Spencer (played by Anthony Geary) married Laura Webber (Genie Francis) in 1981, 30 million Americans watched it, more Americans than have watched of any episode of any soap opera ever -- and more Americans watched that wedding than any other in that year, including that of Charles and Diana, the Prince and Princess of Wales.

In real life, Geary has never been married. Francis has: Since 1988, the native of Englewood, Bergen County, New Jersey has been married to Star Trek actor and director Jonathan Frakes.

As of April 1, 2022, the series is still on the air, one of the last surviving classic soap operas. Every weekday at 3:00 PM Eastern Time, viewers still tune in to the goings-on at the hospital, and in the Cassadine, Corinthos, Jerome, Quartermaine, Scorpio/Jones and Spencer families.

UPDATE: Geary died in 2025. With some irony, it was revealed after his death that he was gay.

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April 1, 1963 was a Monday. Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. And the NBA and the NHL were both between rounds of the Playoffs. So there were no scores on this historic day.