Storylines
For the show's duration, the stories either revolved around or touched upon Monticello lawyer (and former Monticello police officer) Mike Karr. As the show began, Mike Karr's relationship with Sara Lane (Teal Ames) reproduced the radio serial's Perry Mason/Della Street relationship. Adding a complication for Mike Karr, Sara's family was involved in organized crime. In the early years of the show, Sara's younger brother (Don Hastings) was drawn into the criminal world by corrupt uncle Harry Lane (Lauren Gilbert). Nevertheless, Mike and Sara eventually married. Their happiness was short-lived when Sara was written out of the show, killed as she saved the life of their daughter Laurie Ann, who ran into the street into the path of an automobile. By the 1960s, Laurie Ann was a teenager, supplying many plots for the show, and a young wife and mother by the 1970s.
Mike later married Nancy Pollock (Ann Flood), a journalist who helped in many of cases. Other important characters were Police Chief Bill Marceau (Mandel Kramer), who was one of Karr's best friends and shared a tremendous mutual respect, rare between a defense attorney and a chief of police (perhaps due to the fact that Mike had once been a police officer himself), Marceau's secretary (and later on wife) Martha (Teri Keane), fellow lawyer Adam Drake (Donald May), his client (and later on, his wife) television personality Nicole Travis (Maeve McGuire; Jayne Bentzen; Lisa Sloan), and wealthy socialite Geraldine Whitney (Lois Kibbee), whose fall down a flight of stairs (which put her into a coma for several months) provided one of the show's more memorable mysteries. Nancy had two siblings: Lee, who eventually married Geri McGrath, and Elaine nicknamed "Cookie."
Nicole Travis Drake has had a most interesting and bizarre history. An early storyline had her victimized by two different women who wanted her dead. She was then accused of murdering Susan Forbes (Bibi Besch). Adam Drake defended her and proved her innocence. He then broke away from Mike Karr's law firm as partner and opened his own law practice. He hired Nicole as his secretary and a romance began to blossom. When Nicole sensed his lack of interest in marriage she walked out and went to work for another lawyer Jake Berman (Ward Costello). She continued to date Adam until she told him if he didn't propose to her by New Year's Eve they were finished. She soon got another marriage proposal from her new boss Jake Berman, whose wife had died of an overdose. She didn't accept but moved to New York City with him when he was going to partner at an existing law firm. Adam then searched for Nicole in New York until he found her at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve and asked her "Will you marry me?" She ran into his arms, much to Jake Berman's jealousy. When Adam and Nicole returned to Monticello, so did Jake Berman determined to prevent them from every marrying. He plotted with ex-convict Johnny Dallas (John LaGioia) to frame Adam for attempted murder to prevent him from marrying Nicole. Johnny didn't show up but Jake was murdered by Joel Gantry (Nicholos Pryor) and Adam was arrested for the murder immediately following his and Nicole's wedding at the Karr residence. The day before the jury would find Adam guilty Joel Gantry was found by Kevin Jamison (Dick Shoberg) in San Francisco, who was really Edith Berman's son and convinced Jake had murdered his mother. Adam and Nicole were reunited and finally settled into married life. Sometime later, she was believed to have died in a boating accident in the Caribbean but was discovered alive 18 months later by Kevin Jamison (by this time played by John Driver) in Europe at the same time Adam proposed to Brandy Henderson (Dixie Carter). Adam and Nicole were eventually reunited once again and Brandy left town. But their marriage ended after Adam was murdered. In one of the foremost startling moments in this serial's history, the character of Nicole was replaced with a new actress and was subsequently de-aged a decade, a rarity for an adult character in the genre. Now younger and more vibrant, Nicole was suitable for a relationship with young doctor Miles Cavanaugh. Nicole was eventually killed off when her makeup powder was poisoned.
Another important relationship was that between Nancy and her younger sister Cookie, who was married first to Malcom Thomas and later to Ron Christopher, whose dealings with loan sharks affected Mike's good friends Louise and Philip Capice. In the show's later years, the Karrs' beautiful daughter Laurie Ann (Emily Prager), by now a young adult, was an important character. Her relationship with Jonah Lockwood, a sociopath, almost cost her her life, but he was revealed to be an alternate persona of Keith Whitney, scion of the wealthy Whitney family, nemesis of the Karrs and Marceau. Laurie subsequently married Mike Karr's law associate Vic Lamont (Ted Tinling) after he went to prison doing undercover work and his life was saved by inmate Johnny Dallas. Johnny was released from prison and became the owner of a restaurant The New Moon Cafe. Laurie (now played by Jeanne Ruskin) played the piano at the restaurant leading to her and Johnny falling in love. When Vic found out Laurie and Johnny were together in Chicago when he didn't show up to shoot and wound Jake Berman he walked out. Laurie and Johnny eventually married and Vic was murdered saving Johnny's life. Laurie (now played by Linda Cook) and Johnny had a baby they named John Victor. However, Laurie developed mental problems that led her to being placed in a mental institution and Johnny ran away.
One of the later major story arcs was about a train wreck and a prisoner, Draper Scott (Tony Craig), who had been unjustly convicted of murder, escaping from the train accident, much in the style of Richard Kimble of The Fugitive. Although in Draper's case, he also had amnesia, for quite a few months. There was also an interesting storyline in the mid-1970s involving a troubled woman (Nicole's cousin, Serena Faraday) who would change her personality to Josie as she donned a frizzy, black wig in perhaps a nod to One Life to Live's popular Victoria Lord/Niki Smith storyline. Another memorable character was Charlotte "Raven" Alexander Jamison Swift Whitney (Juanin Clay, then Sharon Gabet), a duplicitous coquette who became more stable and faithful in the latter years.
Near the end of the series' run came an unusual story wherein Mike and Nancy, after sleeping in twin beds for nearly their whole married life, decided to "go all out, and buy a double bed", thereby retiring their twin beds for good. It was one of the more unusual moments of the show.
Read more about this topic: The Edge Of Night