DAYS behind the scenes, articles/photos

[DRW50]

From the February 12, 1994 Soap Opera Magazine (SOM Publishing Inc).

The caption that was cut off says:

Louise Sorel: "The smoke and the smell was the worst part of the fire scenes for me. And the physical fighting. But emotionally, by a long shot, the previous scene in the operating room, being prepared for brain surgery was far more emotionally upsetting to me. Having my head in the restrains was terrible!" And that skin-head look. Yikes!

Edited December 20, 2010 by CarlD2

[Paul Raven]

Great articles! Particularly interested in the set design article. Marlena's penthouse was one of the few sets in any soap that had a decent staircase and upper level. Some of those 'mansions' on soaps that have those tiny,spindly looking staircases that barely rise above ground level always bug me.

[DRW50]

Thanks for reading them. I always wanted to know more about the penthouse too, as I've heard some fans rave about it. Whatever happened to it?

What did Julie's penthouse look like?

[DRW50]

From the November 26, 91 Weekly (K-III Magazine Corp). The text was too big to scan so I will type it out. The article was written by Janet di Lauro (photos by Alice B. Hall/NBC).

[Dr Neil Curtis]

I believe the last time Dougie's name was mentioned was around 1986/1987 when Doug returned to Salem without Julie. Dougie is mentioned in a scene between Doug & Hope. I saw the scene recently on youtube. It was several years before Doug learned that Dougie was his son, after Rebecca was killed (in a plane crash I believe). Hope & Dougie had been playmates when they were small, before they knew they were siblings. Rebecca & Johnny took Dougie away for awhile. I seem to recall that Hope missed her playmate & substituted her doll for a real baby in a carriage at a playground (and took the real baby home!).

I always wanted Dougie back in Salem with a past connection to Austin, Nicole or Greta. I always thought Carl Evans, Matt Crane, or Frank Grillo would have been good in the role.

[DRW50]

Pour yourself a margarita, get out the chips and salsa, and get ready for a Mexican adventures like none you've ever seen before. Beginning Wednesday, Nov. 21 - and continuing through Thursday, Dec. 12 - Days of Our Lives is taking viewers on a journey south of the border for a storyline full of startling revelations, frolicking on the beach, a hero vs. hero brawl and an incredible, romantic surprise.

The actors involved in the remote - Crystal Chappell (Carly), Staci Greason (Isabella), Deirdre Hall (Marlena), Drake Hogestyn (John), Wayne Northrop (Roman) and Peter Reckell (Bo) - headed to Chichen Itza and Puerto Aventuras, Mexico, in early October to tape the pivotal scenes. "Big things are coming up with this location - there will be some great things [happening]," assures Hall.

Hogesty says the big payoff for fans will come in the form of a long-awaited end to a mystery. "Questions will be answered, definitely," he notes. "Maybe not in the way some would like to see, but it will be the time [for storylines and characters] to expand and move on."

Although Days is sticking to its hush-hush policy of late, SOAP OPERA WEEKLY has uncovered a few highlights of those answers. There will be plenty of steamy, romantic interludes between Bo and Carly, whose relationship takes a new turn on this trip. One particular scene has the hopelessly in love duo rolling in the sand at the water's edge. "It's sort of a take-off of From Here to Eternity," Chappell admits. "What I like about Bo and Carly's relationship is that the producers and writers allow it to be fun as well as romantic," she says. "it's not all one or the other. We get to play around and flirt with each other, too."

Don't expect such frolicking for the formerly passionate Isabella and John. "Drake and I have really serious scenes," notes Greason. "I go around chasing him the whole time." But when she finds him, does she finally confess she's carrying his child? "Well, I don't know," she says coyly. "You'll have to wait and see." Greason will admit that some "interesting stuff happens between Isabella and Marlena," as the pair come to terms with one another.

Meanwhile, John is slated to unleash lots of anguish, frustration and rage, especially toward Roman, whose return from the dead has had a devastating effect on his life (John believed he was Roman). "It's gotten to the point where the house of cards is falling in on this character...Roman II, John Black...whoever I am," says Hogestyn. As John struggles with himself, Marlena and Roman try to handle his emotional explosions.

Fortunately things were much lighter for the actors offcamera. Hall recounts one scene in particular that had the entire cast in hysterics. "We were all standing at the base of this pyramid, while Al (Rabin, Days supervising executive producer) was circling above us with a camera in a helicopter," she notes. (Rabin shot all air-to-ground material, while senior producer Becky Greenlaw handled the ground-to-air shots.) "We must have looked like small ants on the ground. Anyway, Al was giving directions to Becky (via walkie-talkie), who was relaying them to us by bullhorn. All we could hear was this yelling," laughs Hall, raising her voice in an attempt to recreate the scenario. "[becky was screaming] 'They're coming around. Get ready!...Get ready!...And stay in character.' Now, at least twice a week, Wayne does a re-enactment of that on-location incident on the set."

Hogestyn recalls another memorable moment. It was a scene in which John went off on a tirade atop the Temple of the Warriors after nearly duking it out with Roman. "I'm up on this temple and Marlena comes walking across," he explains. "I say, 'If you want me to apologize, forget it,' and she says, 'I know it's been tough on you, but it's all going to work out.' Then I tell her, 'You said that yesterday, and the day before. You don't understand how much anger I have inside of me, how much frustration I have in me. I'm not like you people. I'm like them. She asks who, and I scream, 'Them. This temple was built for warriors. That's what I am - a fighter.'

"In between all this a buslaod of tourists came walking up the base of the temple, looking at this screaming maniac, he continues. "All they could see was this crazy American standing on the edge of this temple screaming at this woman. They couldn't see the cameras behind us. They're all pointing up at us and talking," waiting with baited breath for Hogestyn to toss Hall off the temple. "Yeah," laughs Hogestyn, "like the sacrifices they used to have off the temples. They're all figuring, 'It's going to happen - right here, right now, in front of us."

Needless to say, all the commotion demanded the whole scene be shot again. Controlling the crowds and communicating with tourists provided its share of problems for the Days brass. "We had a lot of [Mexicans] walking through scenes, which was fine," says Greenlaw. "We just asked them not to stop, stare or looking into the cameras. Since we had hired bilingual Mexicans to work on the crew, our stage managers would just go up to the people and explain what was going on before we started shooting. But we did run into communication problems with other tourists. There were some French groups, some Scandinavian groups. With them, sign language became very important," she laughs.

There was one phrase the entire Days team knew by the end of the trip. "Whenever we were ready to roll tape we'd say, 'Quiet on the set, or silencio por favor.' notes Greenlaw. Those words proved embarrassing to Rabin one evening while dining out with his wife, Laura, Greenlaw, and Chappell. "Al called the waiter over to ask for the check, but when he got to the table Al said, 'Silencio por favor'," recalls Greenlaw. "We all burst out laughing, and Al asked, 'What did I say?' I told him that basically he had told the waiter to shut up."

The remote wasn't all work and no play - the cast and crew were lucky enough to have a good deal of free time. Chappell even tried to join the local mariachi band. "I asked if I could shake the maracas and they let me," she laughs.

Hall spent her first weekend in Chichen Itza with her beau, Steve Sohmer. "He'd been in Boston for a couple of weeks on a business trip and was coming back to Los Angele on Saturday - the day I left for Mexico. So we were going to miss each other's flights. I didn't think I'd see him until the Thursday I got back home, but when we arrived in Mexico and cleared customs he was standing there. He had come down for the weekend to surprise me."

Chappell, Greason and Hogestyn explored some Mayan ruins. "I had fun walking up the pyramids and taking pictures," notes Chappell. "I sort of joined in on the tour groups and got to learn a lot about the history there."

Greason, Hogestyn and Northop spent one afternoon on a dive boat. "Wayne went diving, and Drake and I went snorkeling," says Greason. "I snorkeled at 45 feet," boasts Hogestyn, who now proudly displays photos of the adventure in his dressing room. "The water was so clear you could tell if a dime was heads or tails," he says.

The actors also explored the water sports, including swimming with dolphins. "That was extraordinary," raves Hall. "Drake and Staci did it, too. We lay back in the water with our feet stretched out as two dolphins came up to each of us and put their snouts on the balls of our feet. Then they jointly started to push us through the water, which was frightening, exciting and exhilarating. Near the end of the ride they accelerated.

"Another thing I did was lie in the water with my arms outstretched beside me," she continues. "The dolphins swam around to either side of me and moved their bodies under my hands until [my hands] rested on their fins. Once I grabbed on they took off and pulled me through the water. It was so much fun."

Shopping was another popular pastime. Chappell, Greason and Reckell hunted for sterling silver. "I bought some bracelets," notes Chappell. Although she admits she rarely wears jewelery, she says "everything was so inexpensive and beautiful I had to get some." WIth Reckell's help Greason found some silver wolf earrings. "I had a pair, but they broke when I got to Mexico. So we went shopping, and Peter found them for me. I got them for only $13." Hogestyn chose to purchase more cultural items. He couldn't resist a replica of the legendary jade jaguar. "The jaguar is what protects the temple of Kublai Khan," he explains.

"The bus rides between location sites provide a prime opportunity for the cast and crew to take pictures of their scenic surroundings. Hogestyn took full advantage of them to test his new, deluxe camera. "It does everything. It even makes coffee," he jokes. "However, I couldn't get it to do anything. So I let it to automatic focusing. Then I tried to experiment. I had the manual in one hand and was taking pictures with the other....and it looks like it. I didn't bring any of my pictures into the studio," he laughs. "Everyone asked, 'How did that great camera work out?'"

The cast also sampled traditional Mexican food. "Wayne kept ordering us all nachos," says Greason. "He kept telling us, 'It's all in your head. You can eat anything. You won't get sick."

The shoot was an excursion not soon to be forgotten, because it truly included everything. "The moon even came out," reveals one anonymous performer, who wasn't talking about the bright white one up in the sky. Instead, he/she was referring to the Days cast members (who must remain nameless to protect their privacy) who mooned the entire cast after one ultra-poignant scene.

[DRW50]

From the November 11, 1980 Digest (SOD Publishing Inc).

[DRW50]

[Titus Andronicus]

Some papers used to run huge soap columns in the 1980s and 1990s. This particular syndicated effort ran in the Syracuse Herald on May 5, 1985. Don't we wish for the same budgets today?

[DRW50]

I'm surprised at how they lay it out there regarding criticism of the Hortons being pushed out.

[DRW50]

From the August 19, 1980 Digest (SOD Publishing Inc).

[DRW50]

[jam6242]

Thanks for the new article! Some of the comments from Mrs. Corday about the cuts sound like the comments from her son when he made his cuts.

The Leslie James character was one of my favorite pairings for Chris Kositchek. I forget what happened to her. I had a big crush on Stephen Brooks. I had liked him in a show in the 70s called "The Interns." I think he quit show business again when he left Days. He was only in his 50s when he died.

[DRW50]

Thanks for reading. I don't know very much about Leslie (I don't think Josh Taylor mentioned her when he mentioned his leading ladies as Chris) or about Cassie Burns. Was Cassie a minor character?

I imagine people at the time must have felt a little patronized if they'd read this, especially since most of the new characters didn't seem to work out. But Mrs. Corday seems to be less condescending than most of today's soap producers.

That's sad about Stephen Brooks. I didn't know he'd passed away. I was hoping they might have brought Jean Bruce Scott back when Nick was on the show.

I didn't know Liz was a villain when she started out.

Edited January 13, 2011 by CarlD2

[jam6242]

Cassie has me drawing a blank! I guess Leslie wasn't a major character, but I always liked her. A coworker of mine remembers seeing her and liking her too. Of course, I was just happy to see Chris get away from Mary Anderson! I couldn't stand her.

I don't remember Liz being a villain exactly. She did have an affair with Don Craig while he was married to Marlena. Also, Tony put her up to spying on Doug & Julie. The Dimera's wanted Doug's Place because of the tunnels connecting the club with the Dimeras' previous mansion. I remember something about everyone thinking there were titanium deposits in the tunnel. Doug & Julie were investigating Stefano themselves.

I was hoping Jean Bruce Scott would come back too, especially when I thought they were giving Nick a multiple personality disorder.

I forgot to mention, Christopher Stone, who replaced Edward Mallory as Bill Horton, also starred in "The Interns" with Stephen Brooks.

Edited January 13, 2011 by jam6242