1983

Thanks to Ray Gardner, 1983 literally began with a bang. In his vengeful quest to destroy the Martin family, Ray set a bomb in the Martin basement to go off at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve. When Greg Nelson stumbled upon Ray hiding in the cellar, Ray was horrified by the thought that Jenny could be in the house, too. He grabbed his explosive device and ran out of the house, clutching the ticking time bomb to his chest. In an uncharacteristically selfless act, he died when the device detonated. Pine Valley’s most menacing character was gone.

View Complete Summary for "All My Children" 1983

Liza thought Jenny had broken off her engagement with Greg because of the stigma surrounding her family. But Greg was persistent, persuading Jenny to ignore Liza’s opinions. When Greg’s mother Enid learned of the engagement, she overdosed on tranquilizers and was rushed to the hospital.

Meanwhile, at Cortlandt Manor, Palmer continued his charade of a marriage to Donna. She was too busy raising her newborn son Palmer John to notice her husband’s flagrant and potentially scandalous affair with his ex-wife Daisy. Behind Donna’s back, Palmer wisked Daisy off to New York for a romantic weekend. Never able to resist an adventure, Daisy behaved abominably when the couple ran into Ellen and Lars at Nexus, flirting shamelessly with Ellen’s new boyfriend. Angry and embarrassed, Palmer left New York without Daisy. Their falling-out didn’t last long. Being away from Daisy wasn’t nearly as bad as being home. He begged Daisy to resume their affair. Within days, Palmer and Daisy were back together and their secret affair continued.

While Erica was busy trying to find a way to marry Kent, her devious sister, Silver, was already sleeping with him behind Erica’s back. Driven by a guilty conscience, Kent told Erica of his plans to start a new line of cosmetics called “Erica.” Silver fantasized about the day she could take Erica’s place with Kent both professionally and romantically. She started “Gas Light-ing” Erica, hoping to convince all concerned that her sister was becoming unstable and was slipping in her job representing Sensuelle. Silver, newly confident and coming out of her shell, actively began a modeling career of her own. When Erica caught Silver in a lie about a modeling job–Silver had told Erica she was visiting a sick aunt–Erica threw her out of the house. As she packed her bags, Silver vowed to get even with her sister.

Cliff and Nina’s marriage was barely hanging on. Nina continued to daydream about her sexual encounters with her lover, Steve Jacobi. One day, on an errand to Steve’s apartment, Cliff stopped before knocking on his door when he overheard sounds of an enraptured woman’s voice from inside. It was eerily familiar. He realized it was Nina, making love to Steve Jacobi. Cliff demanded a divorce, and within days he had one.

In 1983, Tad Martin came home to his grateful family, who had worried about his welfare in the months he had wandered aimlessly around the country. Joe and Ruth noticed right away that their little boy had changed. Living on the road had toughened him. He was wiser now, savvy and quite crafty. Tad had become a con artist.

Within days of his return, Tad was already causing trouble. To pay back nerdy Alfred Vanderpoole for spilling a milk shake on his new suit, Tad tried to embarrass him by switching a porno film for the Marx Brothers movie Alfred was planning to show at the University Film Club. That night, the students looked on in silent shock when naked, undulating bodies appeared on the movie screen. They erupted in screams when Jenny Gardner’s face appeared before them. Humiliated, Jenny bolted from the theater, pursued by Greg, who was trying to explain that he understood. Running to get away from him, she escaped onto a catwalk high above the auditorium. Greg risked his life to save her, but in the course of his heroics, lost his balance and fell from the ledge. Lying immobilized on the floor, he was alive, but Greg knew something was terribly wrong.

Greg had suffered severe injuries to his spine and soon learned he was paralyzed from the waist down. As time went on with no improvement, Greg broke off with Jenny to spare her the pain of living with a cripple. In time, he slowly began to regain the use of his legs but, spurred on by his mother Enid, kept the news of his possible recovery a secret from Jenny. Besides, he wanted to wait until he could stand up and take her in his arms. With determination, he started months of grueling physical therapy.

It seemed everyone but Donna knew Chuck Tyler was her baby’s father. When Daisy told Phoebe the truth of little Palmer John’s paternity, Phoebe ran to Donna with the news. Donna moved out of Palmer’s home the same day. Coming home to an empty house, Palmer became irrational and confronted Donna. He threatened her physically and swore he would ruin Phoebe. In the aftermath of her discovery, Donna was furious that Chuck had kept the truth from her. Donna was also furious when she discovered he also knew about Palmer’s affair with Daisy and kept it from her in an act of vengeance. Donna forbade Chuck from seeing their son. With this drastic action, Chuck realized how much John and Donna meant to him. When his wife Carrie left him, the non-traditional family grew closer.

Silver finally revealed a shocking secret to Erica when she admitted to having an affair with Kent Bogard. Furious with her “lover, Erica confronted Kent at The Founders’ Day Ball and carried their argument into Kent’s hotel room. In a struggle, the gun Erica had given Kent for his birthday discharged, and Kent slumped to the floor dead. Silver. who had witnessed the accidental shooting, lied to the police. She claimed Erica had murdered Kent in cold blood. After her arrest, Erica was released into Mona’s custody. When Erica learned she had no chance for an insanity plea, she ran, pausing only long enough to disguise herself as a nun in order to attend Kent’s memorial service. Never one to miss an opportunity, Silver turned to Lars and began pressuring him to make her the next American Beauty.

When a fugitive Erica found out Nick Davis was back in town, she arranged a secret meeting with him in his room at the Valley Inn. Brooke. now a journalist, spotted Erica on the way there, and struck a deal with her. In exchange for an exclusive interview, Brooke would keep Erica’s secret. When the landlady overheard Erica’s version of the story, she turned her in. Erica was arrested and jailed until her trial.

The plot thickened when Silver was told not to leave Pine Valley. since she was the star witness against Erica. When Tad Martin saw Silver’s picture in the Bulletin, he immediately knew something was amiss. He recognized Silver as Connie Wilkes, a grifter Tad had met in California. Once Tad identified Silver as an impostor, Erica was cleared of all charges. Connie was extradited to California, where she ended up in prison. But Erica paid a heavy price. Because of all the notoriety, Lars refused to re-sign her as An American Beauty.

Erica was down, but far from finished. She was about to embark on a whole new career. Retiring from modeling, she formed her own cosmetics company, Enchantment, designed to put Sensuelle out of business. She was in business again and gloried in her comeback.

When Jesse and Angie sneaked away to a motel room to consummate their relationship, Angie was so uncomfortable they decided instead to marry in order to make things legal. Together, they journeyed across the state line and tied the knot at a simple ceremony with a justice of the peace presiding. When they got home, Jesse and Angie both realized the enormity of what they had done and decided to keep the marriage to themselves. Soon after, Angie received the devastating news that she was pregnant. Given her stormy union with Jesse and her volatile relationship with her parents, Angie kept her condition a closely guarded secret.

After confiding the truth about her pregnancy to her mother, Pat Baxter, Angie went to Jesse to see how he felt about children. When Jesse said he couldn’t even think about it for a few years, Angie decided a divorce was the best answer to her dilemma and flew to Haiti for quick legal action

Meanwhile, Daisy had began an affair with Lars Bogard. Palmer vowed to win Daisy back by proving himself the more powerful of the two. In a drunken rage, Palmer headed over to Daisy’s with a shotgun, hoping to scare Lars off. Instead, he tripped on a doorstop and accidentally shot himself in the head. This miraculously minor injury stopped Palmer only momentarily from continuing his fight to win Daisy back.

Nina, with her strict, traditional upbringing, felt uncomfortable living with Steve without the benefit of marriage, but he told her he wasn’t ready for that kind of commitment yet. Palmer even tried to bribe him into marriage, but to no avail. Meanwhile, Cliff and Devon were finding they had a lot in common, both being single parents, and when she got a job in the hospital, their friendship grew even closer. One day, Devon’s daughter Bonnie almost choked. Cliff saved her by administering the Heimlich maneuver. As he was teaching Devon the same life-saving technique, the session ended in a kiss, and they finally revealed their feelings toward each other.

Despite Cliff’s love for Devon, Nina was still in his heart. During a fierce argument with her, Cliff ’s anger turned to passion and they ended up in bed together. Nina felt she had to tell Steve, who was hardly shaken. So Nina decided to leave him and go home to Cortlandt Manor. When Cliff told Nina they had made a mistake, she was devastated. After a time, Cliff realized he would never love Devon the way she loved him and told her he wanted to cool it for a while. Devastated, Devon, who was an alcoholic, almost took a drink. But she found support from her new friend, child psychologist Lynn Carson. Lynn was gay, a fact she revealed to Devon.

Tad’s pursuit of Liza Colby paid off when she finally fell for his charms. Tad began modeling along with his sister Jenny. When he was caught sleeping with a model in Erica’s apartment, his career was finished. Tad retreated to Pine Valley while Jenny stayed on in New York. Through her agent, modeling mogul Olga Swenson, Jenny met Tony Barclay, a strikingly handsome male model who was destined to be her partner in work and love. Or so it appeared. In truth, Jenny and Tony’s love affair was engineered by Olga purely for business and public relations reasons. It worked so well, Olga suggested they publicize a phony engagement to the press.

Back home in Pine Valley, Tad took a less-than-glamorous job at the Glamorama. Liza Colby’s mother, the sex-starved Marian, so enjoyed Tad’s shampoos that she suggested they meet again after hours. Before long, Tad was sleeping with both Liza and her mother. When Liza finally discovered her mother was the other woman in Tad’s life, she went on a self-destructive rampage.

Erica’s new business was going so well, she eagerly began work on her autobiography, Raising Kane . She was shocked that the ghostwriter, Michael Roy, had never heard of her but nevertheless found herself attracted to him when they spontaneously kissed after an argument.

Events turned tragic that summer in Pine Valley, when the whole town mourned the death of an innocent child. Chuck was called to the hospital on an emergency and brought Palmer John to The Chateau, where Donna was singing. When a fire broke out, the baby died from smoke inhalation. Donna, unable to accept her son’s death, became delusional, believing a rag doll was her son. She ran away to stay with her hooker friend, Candy.

Myrtle told Greg that Jenny and Tony’s engagement was a trumped up publicity stunt, but Jenny insisted it was genuine. Greg finally went to Jenny and admitted he never blamed Jenny for his accident. Jenny almost revealed the truth to Greg, but Tony arrived home before she could. When Greg left, Jenny told Tony the wedding was off and sent a letter to Greg declaring her love. Greg’s mother intercepted the letter and hid it from Greg in his art history book.

Mark continued his downhill spiral, finding himself unable to compose a single note of music without snorting cocaine. Then Ellen suffered a miscarriage, and Mark was so depressed he went on a dangerous binge. When Ellen found out, she started divorce proceedings, despite Mark’s promise that he would get help. Even after his rehabilitation, Ellen insisted he stay away from her. He was further rejected when he was turned down for a teaching job at the university.

When Angie first held her newborn son in her arms, she realized she couldn’t give him up. But her scheming father Les Baxter was so persuasive he eventually convinced her to sign the adoption papers. When Jesse learned about the baby, he rushed right to the hospital, but was too late. His son had already been given to the adoptive parents. Angie and Jesse began a desperate search for their son. They ended up kidnapping the baby andd escaped to Sea City, where they were married again by a justice of the peace. To their shock, they discovered they were wanted by the FBI for kidnapping.

Devon was growing increasingly possessive of her friend, Dr. Lynn Carson. Devon told Lynn how important she was to her. When Lynn’s ex-lover called and wanted see her, Devon felt so jealous, she was convinced she must be gay too. Devon told Lynn she wanted to be her lover. Lynn was stunned and flattered, but she turned her down, knowing Devon would always be straight.

Source: All My Children: The Complete Family Scrapbook


1983 Episodes / Clips: