All "Unmasked" Moments in Soaps

[Gray Bunny]

Love 'em or hate 'em, there's been plenty of rubber mask moments on soaps. We know DAYS probably gets the majority nods, with GH second in more recent years. We just had Nick's reveal wearing a JT mask on Y&R... 

 

A similar topic that probably deserves its own thread is the reveals where someone had plastic surgery to be an exact duplicate of another. 

 

Even though this was before my time watching, this DAYS 1984 Andre-as-Roman reveal is pretty good, with the creepy 80's background music used to heighten the mood: 

 

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[Khan]

But it's stupid to assume one could approximate another's face AND voice AND height AND build AND gait simply by donning a latex mask and wig.  It's insulting to the other characters' intelligence, and it's insulting to the viewers' intelligence as well.

 

And yes, I realize that's not the point of this thread, but I'm sorry.  I cannot condone any line of thinking that argues that plot twists such as these make for good drama.

 

[Gray Bunny]

I totally agree, but it's funny how it was "acceptable" in the 80's and 90's as plot twists that we just kinda went along with. 

 

Whereas in 1997, DAYS' Susan Banks impersonated Kristen on multiple occasions and even had sex with John, but years later on Y&R with Patti impersonating whomever (Stacy Haiduk's character), and you even had soap commentators like SOD's Carolyn Hinsey printing comments about personal details ("Jack didn't notice she had different nipples?" etc.) 

 

Considering Nick didn't ever talk and had a hoodie covering his head/hair, his JT mask reveal is actually the more realistic of them. 

 

Remember when DAYS' Eugenia wore a Brandon Walker mask around 2005? Ha! Then there was Sami/Stan, and later KATE was wearing the Stan getup! Haha. Oh dear, let's do a list of all of Reilly's mask moments on DAYS (and Passions, I'm guessing they had those too?) 

 

[soapfan770]

 

LOL I remember all of that! Sweeney and actor Dan Wells did a helluva job playing out the Stan/Sami mess. Wasn't that the big surprise twist of Days' 10,000th episode they were advertising at the time? LOL I just remember Alice narrating the episode. 

 

Yeah, Passions did something similar with Luis and a Luis mask. It was later ripped off on Days with Rafe. Conversely, Passions did do a similar Sami/Stan story when the lesbian antagonist ripped off her face to reveal herself to be Alistair, although it was a pretty disgusting twist. 

 

You probably can apply that to every plastic surgery story done on soaps as well. 

[Roman]

this was my time. grew up on this story and many more. tHAT was DOOL. 

[Antoyne]

The background music here is fantastic! It’s so 80s but still better than the garbage they use now.

[Khan]

 

I agree.

 

 

 

Please don't remind us, lol.

 

Yes, even the familiar premise of one character assuming his or her twin or doppelganger's identity is predicated on everyone else remaining clueless about the switch until the story calls for them to smarten up.  And I'm like, no WONDER even soap fans sometimes have a hard time taking these shows seriously.  Even on a mindless sitcom like "Three's Company," the jig is up within a half-hour, lol.

[depboy]

I remember being shocked when GH had dealer of fake art Constance Chapman (Patricia North) turn out to be Lucy Coe (a returning Lynn Herring) in disguise.

 

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[ghfan89]

AMC did a storyline around 1995 where Janet hired an actor to wear a mask to look like Will Cortlandt.

 

The unmasking scene is around 25:35

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Another GH one, Robert takes off his asian mask and reveals to Sean he's alive. FF to about 3 minutes in

 

[SFK]

I thought the fauxWill s/l was actually pretty interesting on paper. It was an unusual case of a plot being created through casting. I forget the gentleman's name but he came into read for a part and his resemblance to JPS was noticed and that's how the story came about.

 

On GL there was the Adam Malik/Roger reveal at Blake and Philip's wedding. Did the audience know who Adam was? I have a few episodes on tape, I can't imagine GL could've kept MZ being in the building from the soap press.

[SteelCity]

That 1995 video was my tenth birthday!

[Khan]

 

Well, that's certainly a better way to create a character than how Megan McTavish created Ryan Lavery, who, as I heard it, was "born" during a potty break.

 

Yes, at a certain point, the GL audience DID know it was Roger Thorpe behind the mask and (questionable) accent.  That's what made the climax so much more fun to watch, IMO; because once you knew who he was, and (especially if you were a newer viewer) you knew Roger's past misdeeds, you sat on the edge of your proverbial seat, anticipating the moment when everyone in Springfield, and especially Ed and Holly, would know the truth.

[Franko]

Does Alan's return on Guiding Light, during the masquerade, count? I always loved India's reaction -- she's about to burst with glee.

[DRW50]

 

I remember the '92 GL primetime special showing him at the ball. Wasn't Alex screaming? 

[Gray Bunny]

On DAYS, I remember two rubber mask incidents in the summer of 1996.  In Salem, John had captured Stefano and he was in jail. Soon later, a jail warden commented on how he was playing chess with Stefano and beat him, which prompted John to realize it wasn't really him. Sure enough, "Stefano" took off his face and it was some dude underneath. 

 

Then later that summer in Paris at the extravagant ball, one of their helpers for finding Stefano was a tall Parisian man. But we then see him capture some crown (?) (I can't remember what prized possession Stefano was after at the ball other than having Marlena as his trophy wife) and the man delivers the crown to Stefano, pulls off his mask, and suddenly the tall man with an accent is a short, chubby thug with a thick 5-o'clock shadow. 

 

Ooh - another 1996 moment on DAYS:  Towards the end of the year when Peter Blake "died" and we later find out he's alive, but who's in the casket? A dead Daniel Scott with a Peter Blake mask.