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All My Children is one of the most highly acclaimed, not to mention most cherished, daytime drama serials ABC has ever aired. Within the framework of a traditional family drama soap, Agnes Nixon has created a show that incorporates young love, relevant social issues, and high comedy.

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The Early Years

The original main title sequence played up the classic traditional soap opera angle. The camera slowly zooms in on a leather-bound family album, and a woman's hand opens the book to reveal the title of the show in old fashioned Uncial calligraphic style lettering. During the first six months of All My Children's run, the woman's hand turned the page a second time to a photo of Rosemary Prinz, who as Amy Tyler was that show's "Special Guest Star."

After Rosemary Prinz left All My Children, the opening was shortened to just the shot of the woman's hand opening the family album to the page containing the title of the show. That title page now had a small sprig of flowers drawing in the upper right-hand corner that wasn't there in early 1970. This version of the opening would last until the end of 1989.

The original theme music was composed by Dina Dore Paul (Charles' wife) and her daughter Carlina. From 1970 to 1976, the opening arrangement of the theme was in E major with a melody carried by a solo flute accompanied by acoustic guitar and a small string ensemble. In 1976, the arrangement changed to a full orchestral setting in F major.

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New Look for the 1990s

All My Children was in a bad ratings slump in the spring of 1989, and it was also coming under fire for not contemporizing its cue and theme music enough. Even with four different primary composers during AMC's first twenty years--one for every five years of the show's run--the incidental music didn't jump on the pop-rock bandwagon as much as other soaps in the 1980s.

Enter new executive producer Felecia Minei Behr. She would be the one who would retire one of the longest-running theme/logo packages in daytime history in favor of a more contemporary look.

The new theme/logo package for All My Children debuted on January 2, 1990, just in time for the show's twentieth anniversary that week. Billy Barber and Bob Israel composed the new theme, an upbeat number in E-flat major. It starts quietly with a rather perky piano solo, then advances to a "hot licks" saxophone lead backed by electric guitars, strings and synthesizer.

The visual sequence has the camera traveling over tables filled with photographs of each cast member. The last photo is that of Susan Lucci (Erica), and that picture takes its place on the front page of the family album, which then closes to reveal the title of the show in modified Old English Gothic lettering. A forerunner of this 1990 opening was used as a closing "beauty shot" for a mid-1980s AMC episode.

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The 25th Anniversary

All My Children once again changed its opening in time for its 25th anniversary in January 1995. Felecia Minei Behr was still the executive producer, and she decided to expand on the theme of the 1990-1994 opening by adding shots of family heirlooms, house exteriors, and room interiors. Those additional shots, which were in black and white and filtered for a washed out effect, served as backdrops for mostly vignette headshots of each main cast member, starting with Susan Lucci (Erica). Near the end of the sequence, we see a glimpse of Agnes Nixon's handwritten epigram for the show (. . ."you are all my children"). In July 1996, the headshot stills of the cast members were replaced by full motion poses shot specifically for the opening.....