1972

Tara stalled whenever Chuck brought up the subject of setting a new date for their wedding, telling him she didn’t want him to concern himself with wedding plans until he was completely well. What she didn’t tell him was that she and Phillip were secretly dating. Phil’s induction into the Army terrified her. She didn’t want to let Chuck down or cause a relapse, but she had an ominous feeling that every moment she spent with Phillip was precious because they didn’t have many left. Her fears were confirmed when he got his orders to leave for Vietnam.

View Complete Summary for "All My Children" 1972

During his final days before shipping out, Phil made his round of good-byes. Chuck was sorry Phil wouldn’t be by his side as best man when he married Tara. Feeling guilty, Phil wished his friend a speedy recovery. Phil and Tara couldn’t bear even the thought of hurting Chuck. With their love for each other stronger than ever, they didn’t want to say god-bye with their situation still unresolved. Finally, the night before he had to leave, Phil asked Tara to marry him. Willing to wait for him if she could do so as his wife, she accepted. They made a secret trip out of town to find a justice of the peace. It was a treacherous night; a blizzard had all but buried the roads out of Pine Valley. As they crept along in the storm, they noticed a tiny roadside chapel and went inside. It was as if they were the only two people in the world on the last night of their lives together. Heartbroken that their plans to marry had been thwarted, they held each other and prayed for an answer.

Then an idea came: they would perform their own ceremony. Phillip and Tara lit candles on the small altar and exchanged vows. With only God as their witness, they became husband and wife.

They spent the night at a nearby country inn and made passionate, tender love for the first time. The next day, Phil Brent headed off to war.

After a few weeks, Chuck had recovered enough to leave the hospital, but Tara told no one she considered herself married to Phillip. Soon she began to feel queasy and suffer dizzy spells. Tara realized she was going to have a baby: Phillip’s baby. She was eager to share the news with Phil but dared not tell anyone else yet. First, she had to tell Chuck she couldn’t marry him. She was scared and excited at the same time. Then Ruth Brent got the news: her son, Phillip Brent, was missing in action and presumed dead.

Tara was as devastated as Ruth. Phillip was gone forever. All she had left was his baby. Finally, she confessed the truth to Chuck. Putting aside his own hurt, he again found himself in a the awkward position of comforting the woman he loved over the loss of the man she loved. As they both mourned the loss of Phil, Chuck came up with the perfect solution.

Chuck proposed that he and Tara go ahead with their plans to marry. He suggested they tell everybody they had eloped a few weeks back, after his release from the hospital. When she had the baby, everyone would assume it was Chuck’s. He promised to love the child as if it were his and vowed to make Tara happy. Tara felt Chuck deserved better than being second best to her and her child. He only knew he loved her and wanted to take care of her. He insisted Phil would want this, too. So Chuck and Tara went ahead with their plans, announcing their marriage and her pregnancy.

Phoebe was ecstatic, and she toasted the happy couple with champagne. Phoebe’s fondness for a little drink now and then was beginning get out of hand. Charles accepted some of the blame for spending so much time at the hospital and leaving her with only a glass of sherry for company. Aggravating the situation was Phoebe’s upset over her daughter Anne’s relationship with the contemptible Nick Davis. Any efforts Phoebe made to end that union only brought the two closer.

Marriage was in the air in Pine Valley. Anne and Nick. Chuck and Tara. And, at long last, Joe and Ruth, who had already become the coupIe almost everyone in Pine Valley turned to for comfort, advice, and friendship. Even before they married, everyone took it for granted that one day they would. When Ruth moved into the Martin house, she was welcomed by Kate with open arms. Kate told Ruth it was her home now, and Ruth should feel free to run it as she saw fit.

Ruth, Joe and Kate helped Joe’s brother Paul deal with his unrequited love for Anne Tyler Davis as she settled into her marriage with Nick. Anne was on top of the world. Her business was successful, and hiring Erica had given her more time to devote to Nick. She felt he needed her even more after he received the news of Phillip’s death. Anne wanted more than anything to have a baby with Nick. She knew they would be wonderful parents, but pregnancy never occurred. Anne became increasingly despondent. Secretly, Nick consulted a doctor, who told him Nick’s sperm count was so low it was unlikely he could father a child. Nick knew that if he told Anne, she’d tell him not to worry about it. But he also knew how desperately she wanted a baby. It killed Nick knowing he could never give her one. All he could give her, Nick decided, was freedom to find someone who could give her children–someone who was more of a man than he was.

Driven by his feelings of shame and inadequacy, Nick began to provoke fights with Anne until they separated. Unwilling to give up on her marriage, Anne seduced him into one last night of love. Regretting the weakness of his resolve, Nick asked her for a divorce, never telling her why. Convinced that somehow Nick had fallen out of love with her, Anne was heartbroken and agreed to the divorce. She might have stopped it when she discovered she was pregnant, but she loved Nick too much to tie him down to a woman he didn’t love. When their divorce became final, Phoebe tipped a glass in delight.

Anne’s lawyer, Paul Martin, held her hand through her ordeal. He sensed she liked and depended on him and he had long been in love with her. Paul began to hold out hope even though he knew she was carrying Nick’s baby. He convinced Anne that Nick didn’t have to know about it. Instead, Paul offered to be her husband and the baby’s father. Anne was confused, but her mother had no doubt Anne could make a life with Paul. Phoebe rhapsodized about her hopes for their union and persuaded Anne, in her vulnerable state, to give in. The more Phoebe saw Anne and Paul together, the more she drank in triumph.

Phoebe had still more happy news: the birth of her great-grandchild. Tara had given birth to a little boy whom she and Chuck had named Phillip Charles Tyler. Phoebe questioned their choice of a first name, but Tara and Chuck were adamant. They wanted to honor their late friend Phil–much to Phoebe’s distaste. Phil’s mother Ruth, in turn, was overjoyed to rock her new step-grandson in her arms. She had learned the truth that Phil, not Chuck, was little Phillip’s father. When she looked in little Phillip’s eyes, she saw her son. She kept this secret from Joe.

Tara's brother Jeff was ecstatic to be an uncle, while his wife was than enthusiastic. Being a small-town doctor’s wife was no longer Erica's goal. Everything about Jeff bored her.

Erica's job at Anne’s fashion boutique had given her a taste of a far glamorous life than she could ever have with Jeff.

Erica always wanted more. On a buying trip in New York City, she met someone who could give it to her. From the moment Erica met Jason Maxwell, she wanted him to sign her up as a model at his agency. Jason wanted her from the very first moment, but not necessarily as a model. He flirted with her, and she flirted back. If he would work her, she was determined to learn. She was confident she could make money for his agency and persuaded him to give her a modeling assignment.

As Erica entered the fast lane, she made new friends. Margo Flax, an older woman whose best days as a model were far behind hert offered to teach her the business. By doing so, Margo realized she could keep an eye on Erica, because she had observed Jason’s more than passing interest in his young discovery. Margo had long ago learned to tolerate her competitors, but that didn’t mean she had to like them.

Jeff has his doubts about Erica's latest venture and her new friends but tried to be open-minded. Erica's mother wasn’t so willing. She wondered why Erica couldn’t be content with life in Pine Valley. Erica wondered why her mother could never be happy for her.

Mona wasn’t happy at all, and as she observed Jeff at the hospital, she saw he didn’t seem happy either. He confided to his friend and fellow resident, Frank Grant, that he was waking up to the fact that he’d married a very selfish young woman. But he loved Erica. Frank explained that his wife Nancy had a career, and they still had a happy marriage. Jeff wanted to believe he and Erica could live with her career. He just wished it didn’t take her away from him so often. When it did, Mary Kennicott’s company comforted him. Mary had fallen in love with Jeff and hated the way his wife took him for granted. But Mary could not bear to be the “other woman.” So, she remained silent, happy just to be near Jeff in his loneliness.

Nick Davis’s own loneiiness drove him into the arms of Kitty Shea, a new dance teacher he's hired for his studio. On the rebound after his divorce from Anne, Nick wanted companionship, and Kitty was a willing substitute. She had always had a low opinion of herself and was grateful for Nick’s attention. Even if he wouldn’t stop talking about his ex-wife, Kitty convinced herself Nick would come to love her. They fell into an affair.

Source: All My Children: The Complete Family Scrapbook


No 1972 Episodes / Clips Available