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Viewing Single Post From: As the World Turns Discussion
Matt	Feb 19 2011, 02:40 PM
Classic Soap Fan Posts: 12,560 Group: Contributor Member #214 Joined: August 5, 2007 Favorite Soap Opera of All Time Another World Twitter ID kyleo71	sunset_leaf Feb 19 2011, 11:55 AM Anyone remember Barbara Ryan giving Paul away to a woman when he was born, then having to fight for custody and get him back? I'm trying to find it online and can't find anything about it. :hmmph: :hail: I think that was an early 1980s story that tied into the 1st appearance of James Stenbeck. Barbara first appeared as a character in the early 1970s when Jennifer & Bob married (along with Barbara's brother Rick). Rick (a doctor) didn't approve of Jennifer's remarriage to Bob and caused trouble. I believe Barbara was written as being in her late teens or so at the time and dated Tom who, I think, was also involved with Carol (who Tom would later be Tom's 1st wife). Barbara was played by several different actresses before being written off as leaving town to attend art/design school. When they brought her back to town in the late 1970s, she was a designer and played by Colleen Zenk who played the role ever since. James & Barbara's affair and the birth of Paul was said to have happened during the period in the mid 1970s when Barbara was out of Oakdale. The following is transcribed from the Julie Poll ATWT Family Scrapbook coffee table book from the 1980 section... Quote: ...Tom Hughes cooled his relationship with Sheila Winston and grew closer to Barbara. But it soon became evident that Barbara had a secret life prior to returning to Oakdale, and it was coming back to haunt her. One day Barbara got a call from a man named Raymond Colfax. He told her "his" condition had worsened and she should come to Philadelphia immediately. Barbara went, and when she returned, she got a call from Raymond's wife, Claudia. The little boy was fine, but Raymond had lost his job and was drinking again. Barbara felt close enough to Tom to tell him she had an illegitimate son. His name was Paul, and he was three years old. She had given him up for adoption to her good friend Claudia. The boy's real father didn't know about him and didn't want to. Tom advised her to sue for custody because it didn't sound like a safe place for the child. He tried to convince Claudia that if she let Barbara take the boy, it might save her marriage. When Raymond saw Tom and Claudia together, he thought they were having an affair and decked Tom. Later, a distaught Barbara told Tom she'd seen bruises on Paul's face. Claudia had been married to someone else when she adopted Paul, and Raymond thought the child was hers. Tom suggested that if she told Raymond the truth, he might let Paul go. The plan worked, and Paul came to live with Barbara temporarily. Later, Barbara explained about how she'd conceived Paul with an heir to the Swedish throne (James) and James came to town (thanks to Brad Holister), then discovered the truth about Paul (after both Barbara & Claudia kept the ruse about Paul's parentage, a suspicious James bribed Raymond into telling the truth). Meanwhile, Tom & Barbara were planning to marry (and adopt Paul as their own), but James wanted one last meeting. It when then that Barbara learned that both she and James had been manipulated and James had never known about Paul (or the abortion she was supposedly forced into have, which she didn't). As Barbara stood at the altar to marry Tom (but still emotionally reeling from the revelation of the truth and her reemerging feelings for James), James stopped the wedding, which was then canceled.


As the World Turns Discussion · Soap Opera History & Discussion