DAYS: Behind the Scenes, Articles/Photos

[Contessa Donatella]

11-11-65 Episode #4
21:29
Intro Same. Star Billing.

Quality: A few scattered white lines but good quality over most
Location: Bartlett's Dept. store, the Olson's house, the Horton's house, Jim's apartment in Boston
Cast: Ben, Addy, Mr. Franklin, Julie, Steve, Mickey, Alice, Jim, Tony
Ben is pacing the room, smoking a cigarette.
Addy - Please sit down. You're not doing anything walking back & forth but making me more nervous. Mr. Franklin is doing the best that he can.
Ben - Mr. Franklin better get this taken care of! He'd better be cooperative. If he doesn't, I'll go directly to his Board of Directors & he knows it.
Addy - But if the tape shows what he says it does & the machinery has been put into motion, what can be done?!
Ben - Imagine trying to entrap a teenage girl like that! It's probably unconstitutional. I'll check that out with Harry Grill, the best legal mind in the business.
Addy - Sorry? I thought we'd decided to let Mickey handle this.
Ben - Your brother may mean well but we don't see eye to eye. We absolutely can't continue ...
Franklin enters saying, "Well, I think we're all set. Modern techniques are a way of life. I think if you'll both sit down you'll have a good view.
Ben - We'll take a look at what you've got to show but if you think ...
Franklin - If you'll just look at the screen. Believe me, I know how you feel.
Addy - Now look, Carol & Diana are egging Julie on. ... Oh, no.
Ben - It's a joke. ... Well, it's entrapment. He was just waiting there to arrest her.
Franklin - I'm terribly sorry.
At the Olson house, Steve is listening to a record when Ben & Addy come in.
Julie comes in.
Julie - Hello, mother.
Ben - Don't be sarcastic.
Addy - Hello, Julie. I'm not feeling very well. Your father will explain.
Ben - We've been to Bartlett's.
Julie - Did you pick up any bargains?
Ben continues - Sit down. Over there. We've just seen you on closed circuit TV. Set up to catch shoplifters. We saw you steal. Like a common thief! You picked up a cheap fur & stuffed it in your bag like it was gold. We saw it with our very own eyes. On film.
Julie - Was it in color?
Ben - I'm telling you what we saw! (He leans down & puts his face very close to hers.) I'm going to teach you a lesson you'll never forget. Maybe what you need is an old-fashioned whipping. Maybe we didn't do enough of that. Now, we're going to set up a whole new set of rules & if you disobey ANY of them you are going to be punished. We've spoiled you. A common thief. You don't have any respect for others. As long as you live in this house you'll live by my rules. I'm not a violent man, Julie. But, you've gone too far. From now on, you're grounded. No going anywhere, no car, nobody can visit you, no radio, no record player, no TV. You'll be on a strict schedule: school, homework & housework. It's about time you helped your mother around the house.
Julie - How can I help her when she's never here?
Ben - There's plenty to be done. Now listen here.
The phone rings & Julie jumps up to go get it.
Ben - Your mother will get it, or Susan will. That's another thing, any telephone calls ...
Addy comes in, saying, "Ben, I won't have that.
Ben - This is out of your hands.
Addy - What are you saying? This is out of my hands?!
Addy tells him the phone is for him, someone from work.
Ben - Tell her I'm busy. He mentions someone's name who is there that she can speak to. I'm calling Harry Grill to handle this whole thing.
Addy - I won't have this. I want Mickey to handle this.
Ben - Julie's been getting away with murder because you're never here to disclipline her & guide her,
Addy - I will not have you blame me for Julie's behavior. What kind of father have you been? You're never home. We can never plan anything because of your appointments.
Ben - A good percentage of the bank's transactions are done during the dinner hour. You know that.
Julie - Shall I leave you two lovebirds alone? (mocking) Miss Olson, tell us about your family life?
Addy - What goes on between your father & me has nothing to do with you. We saw the tape. We know what you've done. We may squabble but your father & I are in complete agreement about you. And your behavior IS going to change. You can start right now by making a salad for dinner. And cook left an oven pan in the sink. I want it scraped & washed & put into the dishwasher, now, young lady.
Steve comes into the room & says, "Uncle Mickey is on the phone."
Addy - I forgot about Mickey. If you think Harry Grill would be willing to help but please I want Mickey to handle this. I trust him. They hug.
At the Horton's house, Mickey is on the phone with Ben.
Mickey - Yes, I know Grill. I don't mind if you ... alright. Let's just leave it at that. Goodbye, Ben.
Tom - He means well.
Mickey - Julie & Addie are one thing but dealing with that brother-in-law of mine, really!
Alice comes in.
Mickey - Dad, you've got to be kidding.
Alice - I like having you here. Except when you argue with your brother-in-law on the phone. They're doing the best they can. They're good people.
Mickey - Stubborn, blind. He thinks everything can be fixed. He doesn't realize that Julie's in serious trouble & I don't just mean this shoplifting charge.
Alice - I'm sure. He & Addy have taken this very hard.
Mickey - Mom, you know they've been far from model parents. Julie's defiant, rebellious & she lies. How can you defend her?
Tom - You were talking about Ben & Addy, not Julie.
Alice - Addy has her hands full. Ben means well. There's not a mean bone in his body. They've both got good sense. I'm sure they'll work something out. They're a good family. You can't say otherwise.
Mickey - Mom, I'm talking about values. They're concerned about protecting themselves not about ...
Tom - If you're so antagonistic toward Ben perhaps you shouldn't involve yourself in this situation with Julie.
Mickey - Addy wants me to. She asked me.
Alice - Well, of course she does. She wouldn't have it any other way, Tom.
Tom - Mickey isn't exactly impartial.
Mickey - Well, Dad, surely you agree with me about Ben.
Tom - Not necessarily. Ben is so busy making money that he doesn't have time to be a dad. And, to get love you have to be able to give it, be willing to give it & Ben isn't & doesn't. Don't you agree, Alice?
Alice - I hope he'll the time now. It's late.
Mickey & Tom decide to play a game of chess even though it's really too late. Mickey is going to stay over instead of going home to his apartment.
In Boston, at Jim's apartment, Jim is telling Tony about having been at a restaurant & having 2 beautiful women with him & how much they ate, like food was going out of style, and the huge steak he had.
Tony is unpacking. He takes out a picture of Marie, a portrait, and asks if he can put it out on the bookshelf.
Jim says of course he can & asks if he can see it. He remarks on how beautiful she is.
Tony agrees but then he is hit by a dizzy spell & almost falls.
Jim catches him & eases him over to the bed.
He's so dizzy he can't sit up & lies down.
Jim asks him if he should call a doctor.
Back at the Olsons, Julie takes a phone message for one of her parents.
Steve says he's sorry it's messed up for her right now but it won't last forever. They're mad at you right now but things will get back to normal.
Julie goes on a rant about how normal is just exactly what she doesn't want around here. She proceeds to tell Steve about her dream of moving to Chicago where this woman runs a modeling agency.
Julie - I hate it here & no one here cares about me. She talks about wanting to change herself in different ways.
Steve - I like you just the way you are.
Julie - With family like you, who needs enemies?!!!

Another woman, Stacey, and I are combining our 1965 & 1966 episodes, so we will each have more, not complete by any means, but more. She burns her episodes to DVDs & she likes to have detailed descriptions of what's on each. So, I said I would write detailed descriptions. 

[Contessa Donatella]

12-27-65 Christmas Day
21:05 The Intro is missing.
Quality: Good throughout.
Location: Boston Tony & Jim's apartment, the Horton's house in Salem
Cast: Lilene Miller (Lil), Tony, Craig, Tom, Alice, Marie
In Boston in the apartment, Lil & Tony are decorating a tree. Lil has bought steaks, potatos & wine. She begins to prepare dinner. Tony sets the table & opens & pours the wine. Craig comes in, it's a surprise seeing him. He asks Tony to return to Salem with him. Tony declines. They all 3 toast. Craig leaves to catch his flight back. Lil & Tony talk about Christmas & trees & dinner. 
Lil - There! How's that?
Tony - Perfect
Lil - Turned like that you can hardly see the bare spots.
Tony - It's a nice tree, Lil.
Lil - I have a thing about bargains, and this sure was a bargain. (turning to him) That's an old trick my Pop taught me about buying Christmas trees. Wait till the last minute on Christmas Eve, and the dealers practically throw trees at you.
Alice is on the phone with Addy who they're meeting later at the church for midnight mass.
Tom is looking forward to all the Hortons who will be sitting together.
Marie doesn't want to go. They talk her into it. She goes upstairs to change clothes.
Mickey calls & tells Alice that there's already a line forming at the church.
When Tom goes up to see if Marie's ready, she's changed her mind. 
Tom sends Alice on to the church. 
He stays home with Marie.
They talk in front of a roaring fire.
Marie - When you plan to share a life with someone & then they're not there ... 
Tom reads some scripture.
Marie - The Star of Bethlehem.
Tom - It was a beacon.
Alice returns home. She's in the dining room. Marie & Tom are seated. 
There's a knock at the door. 
It's Craig. 
They all toast to happiness in the New Year.
Craig turns to Marie. "Especially for Marie."
Marie - Thank you, Craig.

[asafi]

It's astonishing how little footage exists from the late 60's and 70's... truly a lost decade in terms of visual documentation

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[Contessa Donatella]

Arguably we have more of DAYS 1965 & 1966 than we do many other soaps' first two years. However, since supposedly DAYS never wiped & only lost one year to a warehouse fire, then, you'd think there would be even more episodes floating around.

[Maxim]

That's such good news! I can't wait to read all of them! 

[JAS0N47]

No one had VCR's until the late 1970's, so there's not much to be floating around. Somehow a batch of the original 1965 and 1966 kinescopes were eventually transferred to VHS. But other than that and the Doug/Julie wedding from the original feed (with time stamps) from October 1976, not much else is available outside of the NBC vault. The Marlena fan (and others) then started taping episodes when VHS became available in the late 1970's, but even they didn't save all the episodes from 1977-1983. At least since late 1983, everything is available!

[asafi]

I’ve noticed scenes from the ’70s popping up in flashbacks and special YouTube clips, which got me thinking - production could totally start releasing those full episodes to the public. Fans would absolutely love it!

For example, the flashbacks of Bill Horton’s jail time with Doug when he passed away, or when Susan Seaforth Hayes and Suzanne Rogers share their incredible history together. These moments are pure gold - releasing the full episodes would be such a gift for longtime fans!

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Edited December 21, 2024 by asafi

[Contessa Donatella]

Well, at first when we began to have videotape ability, the tapes were so expensive!  Many of us taped, watched & then taped over, so there wasn't really any way to keep. 

[allmc2008]

My dad remembers buying his first blank tape for 80 bucks.

 

[Maxim]

I think I was the last generation that adored VHS tapes. By the time I was 8-9 though... DVDs were all around and VHS was not needed anymore. I still continued buying new ones till I was 10-12 as I recall... I still remember my VHS collection that was... hundreds and hundreds of VHS tapes. All official movies bought from the store. My most treasured and expensive one was Titanic - I had to cry for 2 hours while I was outside with my mother and father, because I saw the tape on a promotional box outside the store... I cried the whole way back to home and they pitied me and we returned back to buy it... I would sleep with it when I was 3 years old. I would take the tape in my bed next to me. 

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And I had empty tapes that I would tape Bold and the sitcom ALF on. Had the entire ALF recorded from TV. That's my childhood. I was using VHS the moment I was born. Addicted to it. Now... I feel so nostalgic towards that era. Oh, sorry for the off-topic moment.

 

[Contessa Donatella]

TITANIC is one of those movie that I never saw, by intent. Other things that everyone saw that I didn't include: Game of Thrones, almost every movie Tom Cruise made, Seinfeld, I know there are more but I just can't think what they are right now. 

[asafi]

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[asafi]

Apart from Cruise of Deception and Jack-Jen (Matt & Missy), is it just me, or were the years 1987-1992 really quite boring?

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[Contessa Donatella]

'92 had that primetime "special event" ONE STORMY NIGHT. I thought it was interesting.

[Khan]

I thought 1987 and 1988 were okay years for DAYS - not great, but not entirely unwatchable either - but I definitely can see how folks thought Leah Laiman's writing was formulaic and predictable.

For me, the problems don't really begin until 1989, when Anne Howard Bailey takes over as HW.  That's when the whole "supercouple formula" that had defined DAYS wears itself out.  Once Bailey's gone, DAYS spends the next couple years in semi-course correction mode, with "Cruise of Deception" winding up as being '80's DAYS' last hurrah, even if it happened in the '90's, lol.

When Sheri Anderson returned as HW in '92 or so, I was really excited, as I thought she was the next best thing to Pat Falken Smith and Bill Bell.  And I definitely think she tried very hard to breathe new life into the show, too, creating new characters like Austin and Billie and the Lombards and so forth.  But whether it was due to BTS issues or just simply the changing times, I think it was clear DAYS needed something more.  Unfortunately, that something more turned out to be JER, lol.

Edited December 24, 2024 by Khan