DAYS: Behind the Scenes, Articles/Photos

[Sindacco]

This was early in SSM's run, I liked this time period. Thanks for posting.

[Nate4]

Find this on Jason's site:

[DRW50]

September 1998 episode.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hwz7LjE5Ng

[Paul Raven]

Excerpt from a May 24, 1977 Los Angeles Times article by by William K. Knoedelseder:

The latest from NBC’s “Days of Our Lives” is that the chaste, year-long engagement of David Banning and Valerie Grant, daytime’s only interracial couple, is kaput. According to the script, the reason for the rift is David’s infidelity. But according to the actors, the reason is real-life racism.

“They’re breaking us up because the storyline is unpopular,” said actor Richard Guthrie (David). “The studio has been getting a lot of hate mail from people threatening to stop watching the show.” “When they get enough of those letters, they respond,” said actress Tina Andrews (Valerie). “One letter said: ‘I hope you’re not going to let that ****** marry that white boy.’ Apparently, they are not. I’m being canned.”

Andrews pointed out that her television parents, Ketty Lester and Lawrence Cook, already have been written out of the script. With both the black storyline and the interracial romance ended, she said, Valerie is expendable.

Spokesmen for NBC in Burbank and the show’s co-executive producer, Wes Kenney, confirmed the couple’s imminent breakup but denied the split was a reaction to unfavorable mail. Kenney said that although mail is read, analyzed, studied for trends in viewer response and discussed with the show’s writers, public reaction has not affected the long-term plans for the romance. “This breakup has been planned from the very beginning. There has been change of direction.”

Kenney said that while “Days” Nielsen ratings have fallen in the last year, from its perennial position in the top three to a current number 7 in a field of 14, the mail reflects a 50/50 split on the subject of David and Valerie.

Guthrie said his personal fan mail ran 50/50 during the “just friends” stage but grew increasingly negative as the relationship warmed up. Currently, he said, his fans are 70% opposed to the romance continuing.

“There’s a logic to the whole thing,” said Kenney. The logic, according to Andrews, is that Salem loses its last black character, daytime TV loses its only major black storyline and interracial romance, and she loses her job. She says she doesn’t need the soap financially. Her main complaint is the way David and Valerie’s story has been presented. What others have called a “delicate and tasteful” handling of the romance, she calls racism, written into the script and practiced on the set.

Six months after the couple became engaged, Andrews asked a writer why David could not kiss Valerie. “I was told it was some kind of policy. I went home that night and thought to myself ‘Kissing can’t be the problem. All the other couples in love on the show kiss. And David had kissed other female characters. What’s wrong with Valerie that would cause such a policy to be put into effect.”

“The problem is that Valerie is black. Well, so is Tina Andrews, black all the time, on screen and off. When you say Davod can’t kiss Valerie because she’s black, you’re saying Richard can’t kiss Tina for the same reason. That’s an insult to everyone concerned.”

“The kissing became a big thing on the set”, Guthrie said. “I remember the day Wes Kenney came back from a meeting with NBC and announced ‘You can kiss!’ It was like the earth shook.” The new permissiveness didn’t last long (three or four kisses over a period of a few months). Both Guthrie and Andrews said the mail was overwhelmingly negative and kissing quickly disappeared from the script.

“After that, we weren’t even allowed to touch,” said Guthrie. “Whenever we inadvertently worked it in, we were told to stop from the control booth. It was ridiculous.” Andrews said: “They would always say ‘Richard, don’t touch her’, never the other way around. Pretty soon we started getting scripts with stage directions like ‘They look at each other warmly, but they do not touch’, underlined five times so we wouldn’t miss it. That offended me as an actress, as a woman, and as a black person.”

Kenney admits the physical aspects of the relationship had been played down in the past, but said the couple had again been allowed to kiss in more recent episodes. Referring to the “no touching” remonstratives, he said if he had seen such directions in the script, he would have taken them out. As co-executive producer, Kenney often edits the scripts before they are given to the actors.

Former head writer Pat Falken Smith, the creator of the interracial romance, disagreed with the young actors’ assessment of the situation. The kissing and touching was played down as a matter of storytelling. “In daytime programming, the drama is much stronger when you don’t show intimate love scenes. If Richard and Tina thought it was unrealistic that a young engaged couple didn’t kiss, that’s tough. It was my story and gratuitous kissing was not part of it. And no actor re-writes me on the set, ever.”

[will81]

Thanks for the article Paul. Amazing still is that in the 90's interracial (mostly Black/White) couplings were still controversial on many shows. I tend to believe the actors on this one. I am sure PFS and Wes would never outright admit to anything the actors were talking about. I call utter BS on Pat for her remarks about not wanting a more intimate display for David and Valerie. Never happened on soaps, all couples back then kissed or at the very least touched and were affectionate unless it was clear for the story that a character had a reason for it.

[DRW50]

Thanks. That article is upsetting to read. And frankly, in daytime, little has changed.

DAYS could have done so much with Valerie.

[jam6242]

It is disheartening to read about what happened with the David and Valerie story. I was young and naive at the time so had do idea there was a controversy. I loved Valerie. She could have been a great heroine for Days for a long time.

[will81]

What is interesting is Pat Falken-Smith left Days around the time that article came out, does anyone know why she left. I had heard she wasn't happy with network interference, maybe this story was part of that. Can anyone confirm?

[DRW50]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZZ4_9gTPjs

[Paul Raven]

When Pat Falken Smith returned in 81, Valerie was one of the first characters she brought back.

[DRW50]

It's too bad that didn't work out. The show didn't seem to have any real interest (wasn't she with Abe?).

[DRW50]

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I still can't get past this stupid stunt at DAYS about casting soap stars to be gunned down. Why was this ever seen as a great marketing idea? Was someone going to tune in for this?

[Bright Eyes]

The Coronation Massacre was my very first soap disaster and I loved it. At that time, I didn't know about the others shows enough to even notice they were doing that.

[Paul Raven]

Valerie helped David when he was on the run and they touched on their past.Val was involved with Abe,who was much more bull headed then and she felt torn as Abe was looking for David. Danny Grant was also reintroduced.

Pat Falken Smith did a remarkable job in turning Days around in a matter of weeks.

[JAS0N47]

Here's the first page of the 1974 "Days" press kit released by NBC. For all the pages, please visit http://www.jason47.com/days/presskit1974.html