Five Things That Happened On October 29 In Soap History

In 1981, James Reynolds made his Days of Our Lives debut as Abe Carver. "Something I can help you with, Counselor?” were his first words of dialogue. Abe would go on to become the longest-running Black actor in television history. Reflecting on the paucity of Black characters on daytime when he started on the show, Reynolds told Soap Opera Digest in 2021 (the year he celebrated his 40th anniversary on DAYS), "Back in those days, unless it was a character [specifically described as Black], you pretty much weren’t going to get in to read for the role. It was pretty bad. In daytime, most shows had one Black character, and eventually most had two Black characters because they brought on a love interest, but that was it. And those people were usually gone within their first contract. It was, for actors of color, a really difficult time."

In 1993, Matthew Ashford exited Days of Our Lives for the first time as Jack Deveraux, ending a run that kicked off in 1987. Ashford returned to the show in 2001 and has come and gone multiple times since. On air, Jack left town after coming to believe that he was responsible for his baby girl with Jennifer, Abigail, contracting aplastic anemia. Ashamed and convinced Jennifer would never forgive him, he slipped out of town.

In 1991, one of the signature couples of As The World Turns, Lily Walsh (Heather Rattray) and Holden Snyder (Jon Hensley) swapped vows for the first time. Some fans lamented the fact that at the time the ceremony was scripted, the previous (and actress most associated with the role) Lily, Martha Byrne, was not playing the character. Lily and Holden picked a fall day in 1991 for their traditional wedding at the Luther's Corners church. While mingling outside the church before the ceremony, Holden held his "nephew," baby Aaron, in his arms. The infant had been adopted by his sister Iva, but the groom was in the dark about two things: Aaron was conceived when an inebriated Holden had a one-night stand with Julie Wendall, who was married to his brother Caleb at the time of the indiscretion. The other thing the groom didn't notice was Julie lurking nearby. Though Julie rode away without spoiling the big day, Holden eventually learned the truth.

In 1993, Genie Francis and Anthony Geary returned to General Hospital as Luke and Laura Spencer, and Jonathan Jackson made his debut as Lucky Spencer, Luke and Laura's son. Geary had come back to the show two years prior, but as Bill Eckert, Luke's look-alike cousin, while after ending her own original GH run, Francis had gone on to work in prime-time and on other soaps, playing Diana Colville on Days of Our Lives and Ceara Connor on All My Children. Jackson, meanwhile, was only 11 when he landed the role of Lucky. The show traveled to Rochester, NY to film on location for the splashy scenes reintroducing the couple to the canvas.

In 2003, Macy (Bobbie Eakes) passed away on Bold and Beautiful. Macy had landed a singing gig at Ozzz, a hot new club owned by Oscar Marone. Mobsters hit up Oscar for protection money and when he refused to play ball, the crooks rigged a chandelier to fall on Macy during her performance. As Macy serenaded a packed house full of family and friends with a rousing rendition of “The Greatest Love Of All,” Oscar spied one of the criminals in the rafters. He rushed to save Macy but he was too late: The chandelier became unhinged and fell on Macy, who was rushed to the hospital and lapsed into a coma. With no signs of a possible recovery, her mother, Sally, made the difficult decision to remove Macy from life support.