Celebrating ‘Children’ Carol Burnett, Susan Lucci Help ‘All My Children’ Celebrate 25 Years On Daytime TV

For 25 years, the folks of Pine Valley have entertained daytime television watchers with tales of romance, adultery, betrayal, incest, murder and insanity.

Now, it’s time for “All My Children” to celebrate.

The ABC serial, which has attracted top awards and ratings to match, marks its silver anniversary with special episodes Tuesday through Friday (the Citrus Bowl pre-empts it today).

The show’s No. 1 fan, Carol Burnett, will make an appearance in her role as Verla Grubbs, who, she says, “makes Ralph and Alice Kramden look like a duke and duchess.” And on Jan. 15, Burnett will serve as host of a prime-time show called “All My Children’s 25th Anniversary Special,” featuring interviews with the serial’s stars and clips of memorable episodes.

How did Burnett get hooked?

“I was one of those soap-opera snobs,” she confessed. “I remember my grandmother listening to ‘Stella Dallas,’ ‘Backstage Wife’ and all of those serials on radio. It must have been 18, 19 years ago. My daughters were little and they kept disappearing at noon. I would find them gathered around the TV set watching ‘All My Children,’ eating their sandwiches.

“I said, ‘Come on, you guys, this is silly.’ In about a week, I was saying, ‘What happened to that Mary?’ That was the beginning. I was reeled in!”

Burnett began corresponding with Agnes Nixon, the show’s creator, who invited her to visit the show when she was in New York. Burnett became acquainted with the cast and, in 1983, she began her occasional appearances as Grubbs, “the illegitimate daughter of a con man who had a liaison with a snake charmer in a carnival.”

Burnett remains a steadfast fan and solid supporter of the cast. “I have seen some of the actors do scenes on the show that if they were on the big screen, they’d be nominated,” she said.

Susan Lucci has been nominated for Emmys 14 times as best actress and - to the dismay of her fans - has never won. But she has won almost every other award possible for a daytime star. She is the sexy, scheming siren who has almost as many screen names as Elizabeth Taylor has real ones: Erica Kane Martin Brent Cudahy Chandler Montgomery Montgomery Marick.

When Lucci began with “All My Children” on Jan. 5, 1970, she was still a student at Marymount College in New York. She certainly never expected to begin what is turning into a lifetime job.

“When I signed a contract for three years, I couldn’t imagine being in any job for three years. It was just so long to me,” she said by telephone from New York. “When I started, I just loved what I was doing. I continue to. I have not yet grown tired of playing Erica. I guess that’s pretty clear. Sometimes the schedule is a monster. But that’s all.”

“All My Children” appears five hours a week, 52 weeks a year, and Erica is an integral part of the plot. That’s a heavy load.

“I’m there about four days a week,” Lucci said. “For the production people and, in particular, the writers, doing an hour show a day is an enormous undertaking. Anybody in the business can attest to that.

“The average day is 12 hours. We start at 7:30 and finish at 7:30. But some days we go longer. And if you finish at 5 a.m., you’re still going to come back at 7:30 in the morning and start over. That’s when it gets tiring.”

Lucci begins her script study on Sunday, perusing the week’s material. Each morning, she memorizes her lines during the 1-hour commute from her Long Island home, which she shares with husband-manager Helmut Huber and two children, Liza, 18, and Andreas, 14.

The first “blocking” rehearsal is done with script in hand, “and that cements it, too,” Lucci said. She also lunches with the script.

“All My Children” fans are an enthusiastic bunch and include such celebrities as Burnett and Oprah Winfrey, the New York Knicks and Rangers and many rock musicians. Many of them work at night and need to fill a lot of hours in hotel rooms.

“People come up and talk to me all the time,” Lucci said. “I guess because you’re in their homes five times a week, they get to know you from every angle. They recognize your teeth.”

Can she stay with Erica forever?

“I never think of forever, as long as I’m having a great time,” Lucci said. “I have another year and a half to go on this contract. I re-evaluate each time. So far, I just can’t manage to walk away. I’m having too good a time.”