All About The Soaps, issue 8., V. 1

[factsoflife]

All About The Soaps
Issue 8, Volume 1.
“Unforgettable storylines: Part one- Marty Saybrookes Rape, One Life To Live.”
Written By: Matthew Cormier.



As a soap viewer I will be the first one to admit that soaps can often times get melodramatic and hard to watch. But when the genre is at the top of its game it can be nothing short of awe-inspiring. That is what this article is about, those moments, which were so stunningly well down and emotional that they simply left you speechless. The moments that you’ll never ever forget as long as you live. Sometimes these moments are a combination of good writing, great acting and stellar direction, other times it’s simply a matter of two great actors having undeniable chemistry that transcends the writing and becomes something much more. That was the case in 1993 on “One Life To Live” when the series began its most sensational and poignant stories ever, the rape of Marty Saybrooke. This was a story like no other, a story that would consume “One Life To Live” for years to come, and remains to this day a part of its history and a part of the fabric of each and every characters life. Marty was a motorcycle riding, boozing, troublemaker on a path of destruction. She had once even lied to the police when she said that Reverend Andrew Carpenter had sexually molested teenager Billy Douglas. The truth was that the good reverend had been consoling the young teen on how to come out of the closet, and Marty had been hurt when her feelings for the reverend were not returned. And Todd, well there wasn’t a bad thing that Todd hadn’t done. These were two people that had deep seeded problems and no one, the least being them, had any idea what an impact they would have on each other’s lives. It was at a drunken frat party at Lainview University; in the spring of 1993 that each of their lives was forever changed. Marty the ultimate party-girl had just broken up with boyfriend Suede Pruitt, and started drinking so heavily that she was totally intoxicated; I mean dancing on tables intoxicated. This behavior got a rowdy, uproarious reaction from the frat brothers, well all except for good-boy Kevin Buchanan, who felt bad for Marty and when she couldn’t walk anymore, offered her a ride home. Marty rejected so Kevin brought her upstairs to sleep off all the alcohol she had just consumed. Meanwhile, Todd Manning, and his fellow frat brothers, Powell Lord III and Zack Rosen followed Kevin and Marty upstairs, conspicuously of course. What happened next was just chilling to the bones, and changed forever the live of everyone involved. Marty asleep and drunk was brutally gang-raped, first by Todd, then by Zack and then by a very reluctant Powell. Because of the party going on downstairs, Marty’s screams could not be heard, and Kevin sitting on the front porch having no idea of the act taking place in his very own bedroom had no way of stopping it.

This was no ordinary act of violence; it was rape, an act seeded in revenge on Todd’s part. Todd resented Marty because he blamed her for his failing grade which resulted in his being kicked off the football team. Marty had tutored Todd, but it was to no avail as he still failed his class. This was a brutal rape, as Marty was tied down to the bed and her mouth stuffed with a headband, a sweaty, dirty, headband.


After the act took place Marty was in a state of shock and confusion. This state would come back to haunt her, as she would falsely identify Kevin as one of her attackers. Kevin found Marty in this state of shock and she wrongly believed that he had been one of her attackers. She filed charges against Todd, Powell, Zack and Kevin. It was much later that Marty realized that Kevin was not among her attackers, and she exonerated him. This story gets more complicated as we add in moral and fair attorney Nora Buchanan to the mix. Nora a moral and decent women agreed to defend the three accused rapists after hearing Todd insist that Marty had wanted to have sex w/ them. Nora did her very best at defending the boys, and she was winning, especially after her damaging cross-examination of Marty in which her drinking and partying came to light. The boys were confidant that an acquittal would come their way. However when Nora learned that Todd had a previous past with rape, and had raped former co-ed Carol Swift she knew that the boys were guilty. What was Nora to do? Was she going to honor her professional obligation or her moral ones? Nora being the quick thinker she is gave a powerful, emotional and guilt-ridden summation that pointedly declared her clients guilty as sin. This act causes a mistrial. These scenes were so emotional and intense that in the hands o armatures would have come off as overly dramatic and clichéd, however because of the great restraint that actress Hillary B. Smith showed, they were nothing short of brilliant. Also the stunned looks on the faces of the three boys, and of victim Marty were so hauntingly real that it was as if you were right there with them in that courtroom.

While this storyline continues and the characters of Marty and Todd meet again and again, the point of this article is what a profound impact this story has had on “One Life To Live” and the genre of soap opera in general. This story was so riveting that “One Life To Live” received its highest ratings in the history of the series and the most acclaim it has ever seen. Because of this story in 1994 “One Life To Live” swept the Daytime Emmy Awards, winning Drama Series, Writing Team, Lead Actress, Drama for Hillary B. Smith (Nora), Outstanding Younger Actress for Susan Haskell (Marty) and Outstanding Younger Actor for Roger Howarth (Todd). Aside from awards and acclaim what this story did was set the fabric for every story “OLTL” would tell after that, as the Marty Saybrooke rape story would come into play with every single story following it. The characters of Marty and Todd became fixtures at “OLTL” for the next decade and the character affects of that story still play out to this day- for example the intense hatred between Todd Manning and Kevin Buchanan exists to this day, as Kevin still blames Todd for his almost going to jail. The affects of his relationship with Marty have shaken Todd to his very core; through the years he has learned many lessons from Marty, including forgiveness, as Marty was able to forgive Todd. In fact this very story came into play this year as Todd’s current ex-wife Blair suffering from a rare neurological disease where she has black-outs falsely accused Todd of raping her. A trial occurred, in which Todd’s lawyer, Evangeline Williams calls a surprise witness, Marty Saybrooke. Marty once again being played by Susan Haskell, spoke eloquently of her experiences with Todd and her up most belief that Todd had changed so severely that he was no longer capable of rape against any women, none the least his own wife, Blair who he loves more than life itself. This was a story so sensational at the time that many stations across the country threatened to pull “One Life To Live” from the air, and many stations moved it to a late-late night timeslot. However the series did continue to air and brought a brand new awareness to the subject of rape, something daytime had not done before, yes the topic of rape had been covered before, however it had never been done before in such graphic and intense detail and reality. Because of “OLTL” I’m sure that many women were able to confront their own rapes and get out of very difficult circumstances. I for one applaud “One Life To Live” for such a brave, real and poignant portrayal of rape, hatred, revenge and ultimately forgiveness. At the end of the day this was a story about people, and the complications of human behavior. It was a story that needed to be told and was done with such vibrant reality that it was nothing short of brilliant.



Until Next Time,
Matt/Factsoflife


Ps. As always feedback is welcomed, in fact encouraged so if there are any stories that you believe should be covered in a future “Unforgettable Stories” column please share with me, and in as much detail as you can describe the story. I am only one person and cannot possibly cover every worthy story without some help. So feel free to share the stories you think are simply unforgettable.


Also i have All the previous articles save so anyone intrested in viewing them let me know and i'll email it to you faster than you can say "Eden Riegal Was Robbed".

[factsoflife]

Two Corrections: Susan Haskell won Supporting Actress, not younger and OLTL won writing team not Drama Series when i wrote it i put the coma in the wrong place so it accidently read "Drama Series, Writing Team" instead of "Drama Series- Writing Team" as it should have. I need to start proofreading before i post these things.