DOOL-Frances Reid/Alice Horton

[Paul Raven]

Frances Reid recently celebrated her 94th birthday.

Let's hope it was a good day for her.

It seems unlikely she will ever appear onscreen again.

My gripe is with the producers of Days who have ignored the character of Alice.

Obviously,as the years have gone by, Frances has grown weaker,but the writers have basically pretended that Alice is fine(unless iIhave missed references to her well being on the show)

Seeing how Y&R have broached the subject of aging with Katherine,it would have been great if Days had have had the foresight to tell this kind of story with Alice a few years ago when Frances was stronger.

Perhaps Mickey and Maggie decide to move into the Horton house to care for Alice or ,even better,Marie returns to Salem to care for her mother.Alice could talk about entering a new stage in her life,and the realisation that now she must be cared for.

Alice is a much loved character and this story could have been sensitively told and provide viewers with a sense that Alice was well cared for and loved in her final years.

As it is,Alice is offscreen and barely mentioned.When the sad day comes that the character dies,I think the story I mentioned would have played into this much more than the sudden announcement that Alice is gone.

What do you think?

[David_Vickers]

I agree. I think there should be some mention of Alice not being as well. Maybe have Doug & Julie move in with her to care for her. I miss Alice & Tom's house sets.

[jcar03]

Frances Reid's birthday is December 9th. So she turns 94 next month.

[Gray Bunny]

I had hoped for the same thing; that Mickey & Maggie or Doug & Julie could move into the Horton home. That house set has been there since the very first episode, and if no Alice onscreen, we can at least see the surroundings of her home, plus it's realistic that someone would be caring for her at her age and condition.

I remember that they did write in Alice's/Frances' need to use a cane around August of 1999 when they had a few scenes with Alice, Maggie, Mickey, and Mike (it was right around when Mike left town after the whole Ali McIntire story), and Alice admitted that one morning she woke up and realized she had had a mild stroke and Maggie had taken her to the doctor and she would now be using a cane. But that was a good 9 years ago and Alice can't even walk now or keep her head up!

[SteveFrame]

I for one dread Alice's funeral for two reasons. First and most important she and Frances Reid will both be gone, but 2nd because the show has neglected to deal with Alice's children none of them can return but Marie and with the new Mickey.

Since Alice never appeared with the new Mickey they will lose all flashbacks of Mickey and Alice - all to cast someone as Mickey that they don't even use and only brought him on to prop EJ.

Tommy and Bill can't return for the funeral and some lame excuse will have to be made as why both aren't there - since all the ones who portrayed these 2 sons are gone.

I guess it will be up to the grandchildren to fill in the gaps and a lot of early history for the character will have to be ignored.

[Bright Eyes]

Well Tommy won't be mentioned at all since he has been erased. Marie probably wouldn't come back either since they did that tribute to Lanna Saunders and Ed Mallory under Hogan's return which many felt was a subtle way of saying the characters were dead. If it were me I'd say to hell with it and use John Clarke flashbacks anyway. Maybe he would come back for at least one episode. Plus they probably wouldn't even ask Lisa Trusel back which would be a travesty. Hope, Jenn and Melissa were most connected to Alice in terms of her grandchildren.

[DaytimeFan]

It's so morbid to predict a funeral.

But when Frances Reid departs this world and goes on to the next world I think they should say "To Hell With It!" and run every flashback with every Mickey they please. Frankly, Mickey and Maggie should move into the Horton house. Suzanne Rogers is the longest tenured actor on the show, aside from Frances Reid, who is still on contract.

I wonder if we'll get to see Alice at Christmas...

[SteveFrame]

No Julie would really be the most connect grandchild of all of them. She was raised by Tom & Alice and Alice was always more like a mother to Julie than a grandmother. Then I would say Melissa, Jenn and Hope.

In the 70's you would have to include Mike too but later writers moved Mike in and out of the show so some of the connection was lost.

The 2 of course with the most distance were Sandy and Steven who both grew up away from Salem. Sandy got mad at the way the Horton's treated her mother and left town. She later returned twice and the rift seemed to have been forgotten.

Of course David and Jessica they didn't really get to know until later in life and both have been gone from Salem so long most fans don't even know them. And same with David's son Scotty.

Beginning with the writers in the 80's the Horton family has been treated very shabby - a family that was once the core and heart of the family have been torn apart. And even now when you do have family scenes it is hard to buy the connection because the family is ignored so much of the rest of the year. It is hard to even get into scenes with Hope and Julie as they only bring Julie on about twice a year now. The rest of the time when Hope is having troubles her parents are not even seen.

That is sad for a family that once was so close and connected.

[Bright Eyes]

Oh I always forget Julie is grandchild just because of her age. I meant that generation of characters.

[quartermainefan]

I don't know, I think it would have been in poor taste to do a story about her getting this old.

"Hi Francis, you're 90 now, so whaddya say we do a little tale where you get old and everyone talks about how old you are?"

This is just a topic best left alone I feel. GH ignored it with Anna Lee, AMC ignored it with James Mitchell and Ruth Warwick..and there is just no good way to tell such a story without it being awkward for the actor who probably has enough on their mind as it is.

Days has this right I think, if she is ever good to show up and say a few lines, great. If not, they just ignore the whole topic until such time she is or they have to deal with her death.

[DaytimeFan]

I'm with you. It's just too awkward and awful for the actors. A bit of sensitivity goes a long way.

[SteveFrame]

See that is another area where the foreign soaps excel over American soaps today - when it used to be the opposite. The foreign soaps do deal with things like this and the foreign actresses and actors are not so caught up in looks and things to care either. They have dealt with aging as well as loneliness and even suicide in the elderly. And they were awesome stories that people tuned in for.

As to the aging part I don't think it is any awkward than Eileen Letchworth or Jeanne Cooper dealing with age issues months before they had their facelifts on air. I think if Agnes Nixon had actually been writing more of the show she may have even approached the subject with Ruth Warrick as it is something that Agnes would do.

The reason it hasn't been dealt with in the last few years with many of these actors is that the current crop of writers don't want to write for older characters at all. Look at how fast they bailed out on the Alzheimer's story at ATWT after Douglas Marland died. It is only a writer like Marland who writes for all ages that you will get a story like that. Marland had a long story planned for Mac and Nancy on ATWT but it got scrapped when Marland died as the writers didn't want to deal with it.

I don't see age anymore than dealing with Lily's weight as Martha Byrne was going through it after returning from maternity leave. or with Kathy Brier, Beth Maitland, Caitlin Van Zandt or even the actress that played Nancy on Y&R in the 70's. Or even with Suzanne Rogers who had to deal with her facial paralysis from Myasthnia Gravis when she returned to work on Days.

The perfomer needs to be on board with it, but I don't see a big deal about dealing with the issue.

[Paul Raven]

I agree with Steve.

The story doesn't have to be exploitative,just an aknowledgement of a real life situation.

The soaps need to mix the over the top storytelling with heartfelt tales representing all generations.

Y&R is firing right now with Katherine on the front burner.

Unfortunately,very few shows now have performers over 50 on screen,let alone in any kind of story.

[Gray Bunny]

When I think of Marie Horton, I picture Maree Cheatham, because she was the original in the pilot and she played the role the last 2 times Marie visited (1994, 1996). I forget though what tribute was done for Lanna and Ed?

[Bright Eyes]

Maybe a tribute wasn't the right word but the episode where Hope and Bo find Lexie in the tunnel Doug and Julie end up mentioning Bill and Marie, showing flashbacks of both Lanna Saunders and Ed Mallory. They did it in such a way that made it seem like the characters had previously passed off-screen.