One Life to Live storylines (1968–1979)

One of the show's earliest and most controversial storylines was the one that played out between housekeeping director at Llanview Hospital,

The character of Carla, despite debuting in episode 61,[3] months after the show's July 1968 premiere,^[3] was conceptualized in Agnes Nixon's original show Bible,^[4] and as such is considered part of the story of Llanview from the beginning.^[4] Nixon has said she was inspired to create the Carla Gray character after seeing singer Eartha Kitt in a television interview. Kitt expressed her own frustration at facing prejudice from both white and black audiences because of her light-skinned complexion, and the feeling of not belonging to either group. (Even Carla's surname "Gray" reflects the in-between nature of the character, not "black" or "white".) According to actress Ellen Holly's memoir, One Life: An Autobiography of an African American Actress, Nixon based Carla's mother Sadie on a maid who worked for Nixon's family when she was growing up much the same way that Sadie on One Life initially worked as a maid for the Lord family. Nixon based Carla and Sadie's original story on the film Imitation of Life,^[4] in which a light-skinned Black woman denies her heritage and her darker-complected mother, and enters white society by passing.

The revelation that Carla Benari was actually Black did not come until Ellen Holly had appeared in the role on-screen for five months.^[1] It was to be revealed that Carla Benari was actually "Clara Gray", who was mentioned from the earliest episodes by Sadie as the daughter who was "lost to her". Anna Wolek and her family, and by extension the audience, assumed Clara was dead.^[1] Holly spoke about the historic episodes in a 2018 Television Academy Foundation interview:

[In] the fifth month in which everybody's invested all their energy in learning about these people for these five months, that day, on a Friday — deliberately chosen for Friday — the cameras started following a whole bunch of people during their daily [routines], including Carla and Sadie...And at the end of the day, five minutes before that, Sadie and Carla Benari meet in front of Anna Wolek's door. [Sadie's] visiting her neighbor. [Carla's] going there for some other reason. They stand there and they look at each other and Sadie looks at me and says, "Clara!" And I say, "Mama!" Cut to black! Well, everybody got on the phone that week: "Did you see that on Friday? Clara, that dead girl, that was supposed to...?" ...The world checked in on Monday to get the backstory. The backstory was that she was an actress and she wanted to be a big star and she went to the bright lights of the big city and found out nobody could give a damn, and also it wasn't helpful to be black, so she started passing for white, and that didn't do too well either, and she ended up on some lousy bus-and-truck tour that had come back to town.

— Ellen Holly^[1]

Carla chooses to live as "Carla Benari" for a little while longer, eventually becoming engaged to Dr. Craig, who was willing to keep her secret should she continue to want to live as "Carla Benari". The storyline eventually ended with Carla calling off her engagement and informing everyone in Llanview of her true identity, including to Price Trainor, who is furious. He tries to give Carla another chance, but it does not work out and he accepts a job offer overseas. While originally very heartbroken by Carla's rejection, Sadie regains a close and loving relationship with her daughter, who apologizes for her hurtful actions. While changing her surname back to "Gray", she decides to keep the forename "Carla". Ratings shot up for the then-fledgling soap, and as it was the first daytime soap opera to feature a Black woman, namely Ellen Holly, in a leading role,^[5] One Life to Live began to score high ratings in the African American demographic.^[6]

Larry/Merrie in love

Young

"Niki Smith"

Merrie's sister

Karen seduced Larry into marrying her, a controversial move in itself given that they were related (albeit several familial relations removed). But Karen, bored with married life and suffering overwhelming self-esteem problems, began turning tricks in the daytime with rich suitors in exchange for expensive 'gifts.' The sleazy opportunist Marco Dane (Gerald Anthony) discovered Karen's trysts and blackmailed her into becoming a housewife hooker, turning tricks for his clientele while Larry was at work. Karen was overwhelmed with guilt, and finally confessed to Viki her secret life. Viki helped Karen escape Marco's control.

Also appearing for the first time in 1978 was Viki's teenage ward Tina Clayton (Andrea Evans), introduced as the orphaned daughter of Viki's college friend Irene Manning Clayton (Kate McKeown) who asked Viki to be Tina's guardian before she died. Red-headed, free-spirited Tina seemed quite a lot like Viki's alter-ego Niki Smith, and was almost as troublesome. Nevertheless, Viki did her best to be a good mother figure to Tina. It would be years later that the two women learned how close their bond really was.

1979: Murder of Marco Dane

A

Viki's trial reached a thrilling climax when Karen took the stand for the defense. Karen had finally found Katrina. In exchange for money she needed for drugs, Katrina gave Karen the combination to a Post Office box, which Katrina claimed contained information revealing the identity of Marco Dane's killer. When Karen went to the

Viki received some joyous news when she discovered she was pregnant with her second child. Joe began suffering all the classic signs of a recurrence of his brain tumor. When Joe learned he had only a few weeks left, he treated Viki to a wonderful wedding anniversary. With time running out, Joe hand-picked his successor as editor of The Banner. He sent for the editor of a small but prestigious newspaper in Arizona. The man's name was Clint Buchanan (Clint Ritchie). Joe broke the news of his prognosis to Viki, shortly before succumbing to his illness. He beseeched Viki to move on with her life after he was gone. Viki poured her energies into working with Clint at The Banner, and fending off a takeover attempt by her arch-rival, Dorian Lord.

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