DAYS: Behind the Scenes, Articles/Photos

[jam6242]

Interview with producer Jack Herzberg, from December 1979.

 

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Edited December 4, 2020 by jam6242

[teplin]

 

It was even more boring on screen than it plays on the page. 

[victoria foxton]

@beebs Under a good HW's pen. The battle for Anderson could've been interesting. The only teens on the canvas are Jessica, Tod and Cassie. It makes no sense. That Days didn't keep Donna. I didn't realize Josh was so much older than Jessica.  Mike and David were in their mid 20's. And neither was being properly used.  Seems like Days was chem testing everyone. Was Sunny Liz's mom? Leslie was seeing Alex's mug. As She was talking with Chris

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 Kellum Chandler was a proto Steffy. Who never worked out. Kellum does give me Donald Trump vibes. The only bright spots are Liz. Who would take off. And spark with Neil. The little i've seen of Josh i like. But the whole mystery of Sunny's death. Sounds like a clunker. Would love to see Meg Wyllie as Mrs. Chisholm. 

Edited December 4, 2020 by victoria foxton

[Khan]

 

Donna really does remind me of OLTL's Tina: a "bad" girl, who isn't so much "bad" as she is impulsive, and prone to do the wrong thing but for the right reasons.  She definitely could have been interesting in a pairing with Tod Chandler.

 

TBH, I'm struggling to find the value in Alex and Jessica OR in making them integral parts to Marie's newly created backstory.

[victoria foxton]

Never made that connection. But i totally see it now. Donna would've made that bland teen scene lively. 

 

Marie's backstory was badly handled from the jump.  In spite of it. I still enjoyed what very little i've seen of Jessica and Alex.  

Edited December 4, 2020 by victoria foxton

[beebs]

@victoria foxton I am being a bit glib in saying that Josh was 40. The character was definitely meant to be a 20-something like Tod/Todd/Taud (anyone with confirmation on how we're technically supposed to spell his name? I'm running out of amusing misspellings). Just that the actor was so much older than the part he was playing.

 

I really don't get the logic of what Laemmle is trying to do here. The worst part is, after reading that article @jam6242 just posted, I'm reminded that Desmond, Byron's lawyer has also just vanished, even though he was clearly meant to be a big part in Lee's unmasking. It just feels like Laemmle couldn't be bothered to do her homework on what had just happened not six months prior to her arrival. 

 

Also nice to get confirmation that Kate Woodville's storyline for Marie was indeed dropped, and why. I wonder what Ann Marcus' intended direction was for that story. 

 

[Khan]

 

Well, I could take or leave Jessica, although I definitely don't see WHY they had to make her Marie's long-lost daughter.  (Did Marie even NEED a long-lost child?  Or an illicit, past affair that we've never heard about before?).  But, Alex...?  Like I said upthread, Alex is entirely too one-dimensional for me.  Even his scenes w/ Marie, the one woman whom he allegedly loves for realz, come across as smarmy and unbelievable -- and now that Kellam and Max have him over a metaphorical barrel with all the dirt they've supposedly dug up on him, he's become kind of a joke as well.

 

IMO, Alex needed a much better backstory than that of sleazy, masochistic lover and murderer.  He needed a real, rootable and relatable motivation beyond simply being a bastard.

 

For instance, he could have come originally from a blue-collar neighborhood in Salem, living with his mother, a homemaker; his brother, Ha(r)ley; and his father, an employee at Anderson Manufacturing.  When Alex and Ha(r)ley were young, their father was killed in an on-the-job accident.  Subsequently, their mother suffered a nervous breakdown and was institutionalized, and Alex and Ha(r)ley were sent away to live with relatives.  Even though Anderson was officially cleared of all negligence regarding Alex's father's death, Alex has grown up holding the company, and Bob Anderson in particular, responsible; and now that he's older, and wealthy, Alex returns to Salem to stage a hostile takeover at Anderson and avenge the destruction of his family.

Edited December 4, 2020 by Khan

[Franko]

YES!

 

Yet another parallel between DAYS' evil men and the White House folks who tried to pull off "Stupid Watergate" (thank you, John Oliver).

 

Would somebody please annul this damn marriage?

 

I initially thought this was another attempt at topical storytelling, but Claus and Sunny von Bulow wouldn't enter the public eye for another year or so.

 

On a whim, I read up on Liz's entire storyline. She and Neil barely had a moment of peace.

 

HAHAAHHAHA!

 

A staff psychologist is qualified to be the contact person? Well, I guess it is better than the candidate's daughter. *barely resists Ivanka jokes*

 

[SoapDope]

Since we are discussing the 70's. What did Tommy Horton do after the late 60's ? I saw John Lupton in cast photos through out the decade, but what did his character do onscreen ? He last appeared in 1980.

[beebs]

So, according to the recaps (which I think I may compile into a blog at some point), Tommy basically starts to reappear in 1977, starts dating Linda, who is only using him to make Bob (her real target, because she wants his $$$) jealous. Once she gets what she wants, Tommy is dumped, and is a talk-to for the next year, before vanishing again, only to show up for Tom and Alice 50th wedding anniversary party in March 1980, and then he vanishes, never to be heard from again. 

 

That's literally it. 

[Khan]

 

I don't even understand Kellam appointing Marlena the "staff psychologist," let alone spokesperson.  Is it common practice for political campaign staffs to have staff psychologists?

 

Was Nina Laemmle attempting to foreshadow Marlena's rape?  If so, I think she's doing an awkward and clumsy job, especially when she's muddying the waters by having Kellam become...infatuated with Julie.  Perhaps, Julie was intended to be Kellam's victim, but they changed course (perhaps, because Julie was already a victim of sexual assault).

 

 

In my mind, Tommy relocated to Maine, remarried and legally adopted his new wife's child or children.

Edited December 4, 2020 by Khan

[beebs]

Laemmle seems to be leaving everything open at this point. It feels like there's a lot of chem testing happening, and not a lot of clear vision. 

 

I'll agree that it seems like they were heading towards Kellam having an obsession with Julie/potentially raping Julie. I suspect once again, Laemmle didn't do her homework and that angle was vetoed because Julie had literally been raped 2 years earlier, so she just pivoted to Marlena...and yeah, it doesn't make sense. 

 

Honestly, I just get the sense that Laemmle didn't care about DAYS or its history. She came in wanting to write the show she wanted to write, and it was gonna happen no matter where she ended up, existing characters be damned. 

[Khan]

 

Same.  Tom suffers a stroke, and Alice and Marie fall out over how best to care for him.  Where on Earth CAN you go with such a story?  Was Marie going to fight Alice in court to have Tom declared incompetent, or what?

 

 

Perhaps -- and this is just speculation on my part -- the idea was to place Julie in harm's way in order to facilitate a Doug/Julie reunion.  But, heck, those two had their hands full with Lee and Brent and whatever THEY were up to.  Adding Kellam and the mystery of his wife's death to the mix is just plain overkill (no pun intended).

 

Gawd, even Dena Higley wasn't this messy, lol.

Edited December 4, 2020 by Khan

[SoapDope]

He was on and off since 1970, so his other appearances must have been short.

Here is a creepy 1967 photo of Tommy Horton (John Lupton) as a prisoner of war. He returns under the alias Dr. Mark Brooks (Bill Bell must have loved the Brooks surname as he would use it on Y&R). 

 

[beebs]

I suspect he was simply a talk-to between 1970-77, because he was mentioned extremely rarely in any Daytime Serial Newsletter recap before Ann Marcus arrived.