DAYS: "The Early Years" tribute now available

[JAS0N47]

The early years of "Days of Our Lives" have now been documented online for the first time. Complete yearly episode rankings are now available for 1965, 1966, 1967, 1972, 1973, and 1974. Partial episode rankings are now available for 1968, 1971 and 1975. More years will be released in the future. Also, photo galleries of almost every actor who appeared in at least five episodes during those years are now posted. Plus, check out some early promotional "Days" photos from 1965-1975 and enjoy a trip down memory lane with a complete "Days" wedding album from 1965-1979. All that and more at http://www.jason47.com

[MarkH]

Amazing historical reference. The pictures were incredible. I learned so much...like the fact that Carla Borelli and Brooke Bundy both worked on Days before Texas and GH respectively.

thank you so much for all you do.

[Paul Raven]

Wow!! This is amazing.I've just had a brief once over and already discovered heaps of interesting stuff.

Bravo to you for a great website.

[SteveFrame]

I loved Carla as Mary. She was very far different from Reena - even Reena on AW before Texas.

Brooke Bundy was wonderful as Rebecca. I always felt that someone down the line would bring back her son to the show since he is Hope's only sibling.

ETA:

I realized this morning while lying in bed that Dougie is Hope's only sibling by Doug. Steven and Julie are her siblings by her mother Addie. What an idiot to not remember that. That was a stupid mistake for me. LOL

[FrenchFan]

Biologically speaking, Julie and Steven Olson are also Hope's siblings.

[quartermainefan]

Is the Jane Keane who was on DOOL the same Jane Keane who played Trixie on The Jackie Gleason Show color episodes?

You have the best DOOL site of all!

[Paul Raven]

I never knew Jed Allan was on Days as far back as 71.Most sources list him as joining in 74/75.

He was on once in 71 and 8 times in 72,which leads me to believe he was recurring and then Bill Bell decided to make him a regular.

Also John Lupton as Tommy was on only a few times in 72.It seems Bill Bell had no interest in developing Tommy as a character after it was revealed who he was.

Looking at 1967,Tom,Alice,Mickey,Bill,Susan and Laura all had over 100 appearnces for the year,then Marie at 94.There is a huge dropoff to the 7th ranked character of David with 52.Those characters must have really carried the story that year.

Interesting that Tom and Alice had big numbers although they were not the lead players.Those were the days when older characters were given a point of view and visibility.

[SteveFrame]

I realized that this morning and was coming over here to edit it. I can't believe I made such a stupid mistake. I have know that for years.

[FrenchFan]

I'm sure you know. It is kinda weird to think Julie is Hope's half-sister. I understand why you forgot it.

[SteveFrame]

WEll see it never was weird to me. I know it is to those who didn't watch back then, but I watched it. So it never felt icky to me because I watched Doug's marriage to Addie. At first I hated them together but then they actually fell in love. It was heart breaking.

William J. Bell had such a way of writing that he even made you care for the alternate couple.

As much as I loved Doug & Julie and Bill & Laura, I equally loved Doug & Addie, Bill & Susan, and Mickey & Laura. They were all great couples.

And what else was so unique is that in all the relationships they did not include one person you could really hate. Most triangles today have the main couple being separated by an interloper that is conniving or you automatically hate. IN these stories there was not one.

You felt for all the interlopers in those stories: Don Craig, Mark Anderson, Scott Banning, Susan Martin, Addie Olson - they were all good characters and equally likable.

Boy do I miss those Days.

[MarkH]

I didn't see it back then, but this all sounds so "Bell-ian".

Of course, those DAYS haven't existed since the mid-1970s, eh?

[SteveFrame]

Well Pat Falken Smith and even Ann Marcus kept it going pretty good into the late 70's. Their triangles were still good and you did feel for the "third" party but none of the them really turned out to be great long term characters esp. the ones in the Don/Marlena romance.

Some of their best stuff I would say was the Neil/Greg/Amanda triangle in which Neil was supposed to be the "third" wheel but ended up being the best character even though early on he was often really bad with some of the things he did.

And they had a great young romance story with DAvid, Trish, Valerie, Michael, and Margot. There was not one character in that was "bad" - all were sympathetic. Of course you did have bad girl Brooke thrown in there but she was quickly escorted out of that story more into the Bob - Mary story.

The only thing they did was to speed things up a little more than with Bell. Their couples didn't have to wait 10 years to get together, but they kept the tradition that they didn't stay together happily. Of course some of them never got together but more so due to writer changes.

I guess that is one of the most frustrating things about the latter 70's is that people who loved David/Valerie, Mike/Trish, Don/Marlena, and Chris/Mary never got any fulfillment with the relationships. Only one of them married and they were quickly broken up and even though you waited for them to get back together later writers just didn't let it happen.

[MarkH]

I saw Pat Falken Smith's SECOND stint (after GH). I guess the "Brady-fication" had begun, but I remember really enjoying it too.

[SteveFrame]

I thought her second stint was okay. I didn't enjoy it nearly - even in the same ball park as her first stint. I know some on here feel it was great, but I still see her 2nd stint as the root of what lead Days down the path that took it far away from what it was and the show that was created by Corday, Chase and Phillips.

She had some good things, but it seemed just like while she was away working for Gloria Monty that she forgot everything William J. Bell taught her.

[Bright Eyes]

Word to the squared. It's one of the many reasons the Brady's annoy me LOL