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Cast:Donald May (Adam Drake), Maeve McGuire (Nicole Travis Drake), Robert Kya Hill (Sprite Captain).Tape Dates: Tuesday, May 14, 1974. Wednesday, May 15, 1974.
Scenes Telecast:Thursday, May 30, 1974. Friday, May 31, 1974. Monday, June 3, 1974.
Location: Oxford, Maryland.
Crew: Erwin Nicholson (Producer). Allen Fristoe (Director). Frank MacSpaden (CBS cameraman). Andy Eger (Makeup). Dale Denning (Boat Captain).
Background: When actress Maeve McGuire announced her intent to leave The Edge of Night in early 1974, writer Henry Slesar faced the dilemma of writing his most popular character out of the series. Rather than kill her off, it was decided Nicole would be lost at sea and presumed drowned following a deadly explosion engineered by The Mob, who wanted to stop Nicole's husband Adam from running for state senate. Although Edge had featured location shoots from its inception, this was by far the most elaborate -and spectacular- exterior sequence ever presented on daytime television.
To create the fictional Caribbean island of St. Anthony and its surroundings, the cast and crew of Edge traveled to Oxford, Maryland -about an hour's drive from Baltimore, at the end of Route 333. Chesapeake Bay doubled for the Caribbean Sea.
Shooting Schedule: Shooting began at 8 o'clock on the evening of May 14, 1974. The production crew boarded a dinghy and traveled to a lighthouse platform in the bay. The first scenes taped showed Adam and Nicole on The Sprite as it sailed into the sunset. Taping continued until 1AM, as cameras recorded Maeve McGuire and Don May in the ocean immediately following the explosion.
Taping resumed early on the morning of May 15, 1974. These sequences included additional footage of Adam and Nicole sunning and enjoying themselves on the yacht, prior to the explosion. Afternoon and evening shooting concentrated on Adam clinging to life on a piece of debris in the ocean and ended that evening with the character's rescue by motor launch. Total shooting time for May 15th was nine hours.
Trivia: The yacht used for the series was in real life named "The Sprite." The boat was owned by Dale Denning who piloted the vessel for location sequences.
Special effects for the bomb detonation and all interior cabin sequences were pre-taped in Edge's Manhattan studio.
Explosion effects included: A shot of the Drakes' cabin window shattering, accomplished by securing a flash-pot device below it. A massive fireball erupting from the cabin roof. The mast, engulfed in flames, swinging directly toward the camera.
The actual explosion sequence only utilized about ten seconds of airtime.
In Maeve McGuire's final scene, Nicole appeared very much alive, splashing in the ocean and screaming Adam's name.
