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Suds, I've gotta object. Anything that brings the Hortons front and center is a big interest story. It's a crying shame they couldn't have gotten John Clarke to reprise the role of Mickey for the holidays; don't know if it was his health or if the show never thought to ask him back for a couple of days of shooting. Imagine the impact this story could have had if the original Mickey - who was on the first episode back in 1965 - had been shown interacting with Maggie and the rest of the family. It would have been a great, albeit cruel, reminder of the strong character Mickey had been before James E. Reilly sent him permanently to the back burner. Hearing about Maggie's love for Mickey wasn't nearly as effective as if we'd been able to see it for ourselves; his death would have been much stronger if we'd been given a couple of scenes of them together prior to his untimely demise. And that interaction with Lexie yesterday was just weird; it's as though they were quickly trying to establish a friendship that's going to be torn apart when Maggie has her inevitable plunge back into the bottle.

How sad that most of the people here have no idea what a great character Mickey was in his prime:

• He was involved in one of daytime's biggest love triangles with his brother Bill over Laura Horton. Bill raped Laura, and Mike Horton was conceived. Laura passed Mike off as Mickey's son for more than 11 years, and saintly Dr. Tom Horton altered Mickey's medical records to show that he wasn't sterile when it was impossible for him to have children.
  
• While married to Laura, Mickey had an affair with Linda Patterson, and he was thought to be Melissa's biological father. Even though Linda's ex-husband turned out to be the father, Linda eventually relinquished her parental rights so Mickey and Maggie could give Melissa a stable, loving home.
• When Michael confronted Mickey about the affair with Linda, he had a massive heart attack and a stroke that left him with amnesia. When he recovered, he walked out of the hospital, left Salem and ended up living on a farm with Maggie, who had a physical disability that required her to be on crutches. He and Maggie eventually married. A year after he disappeared, his family saw a photo of Mickey in a local newspaper, and they showed up on the farm. Mickey still had no memory, but his marriage to Laura made him a bigamist. He decided to stay on the farm, and Maggie had surgery at University Hospital to restore the full use of her legs.
  Spoiler [+]

  This is the backstory to the famous "red shoes" scene, which will be shown during next week's memorial service.
  
  
• Mike came to visit Mikey on the farm, and was crushed under a piece of farm equipment. He required blood, and this was how Mickey found out Mike wasn't his child. In the trauma of this discovery, Mickey got his memory back, shot Bill, and was sent to a mental hospital, where he was treated by Dr. Marlena Evans.
• When he was released, Mickey married Maggie, and they adopted Janice. When Janice's biological mother kidnapped her and demanded custody, Maggie started drinking. She eventually started attending AA, and got on top of her drinking problem. Janice would later return to Salem, have an affair with her "Uncle" Bill (ewww), and be stabbed to death by the Riverfront Knifer (Harper Devereaux, Jack's father).
  
• Mickey and Maggie had several happy years, and she eventually had a child via artificial insemination, Sarah. Sarah's biological father was thought to be Evan Wyland (it turned out to be Neil Curtis), who was killed by Stefano. Mickey found evidence that Stefano was responsible for Evan's murder, and Stefano held him captive on an island for more than a year, making everybody in Salem believe he was dead.
  
• After Stefano was captured and "died," Mickey was able to escape. He returned to Salem to find Maggie in Don Craig's arms, and promptly had a heart attack. After recovering, he and Maggie reunited, and they got pushed to the back burner, showing up for family holidays, weddings, and legal proceedings.
  

John Clarke left the role after Maggie's "murder" during the big serial killer storyline a few years ago, citing health concerns as the reason for his retirement. Though the role was recast twice, nobody was able to fill Clarke's shoes. Killing off the character was the right thing to do.

YouTube from 1983, with Mickey and many of the people who will be at his funeral this week. Quality isn't so hot, but it's some good stuff, including Maggie's engagement to Don after Mickey returned from Stefano's island. The stalker in the bushes is Nathan's father, Pete.





For those into such trivia, Jed Allen played Don Craig. He replaced John Ingle as Edward Quartermaine on "General Hospital" when Ingle came to DOOL to play Mickey after John Clarke left.