Hot off his first Las Vegas concert performing new music from his upcoming country western album, Jacob Young (Rick, B&B) has a new nickname from his pals. “My middle name is Wayne, so they call me Jacob Wayne Newton,” Young chuckles. “I had a great time doing it. I had so much support from my show. Some of the cast and producers came out to see it, which was awesome. I didn’t expect that. It’s really nice when your friends are behind you in that way, so it was very special.” Young sang one of the tunes from his record on Hallmark’s HOME & FAMILY. “It’s a song I wrote about meeting my wife, Christen, called, ‘We Danced,’ ” he says. “It’s funny because when you write a song, you have some ideas about it going in, and it can take a while to get it right, but this one was just so clear to me. I wrote it in 25 minutes. We tweaked it while I was in Nashville [recording] and it was actually longer than what it is now, but it’s obviously a song that’s very close to my heart.” Christen’s verdict? “She likes it!” he enthuses. “That was the most important critique of all.”
When Daya Vaidya checked in to Port Charles as Martina, she forged a fast off-screen bond with scene partner Maurice Benard (Sonny). “Maurice is such a sweetie and we connected right away about boxing,” she reports. “I found out he loved boxing and I was like, ‘What? He likes boxing?’ I immediately went up to him, and on the first moment meeting him, I went into that. ‘Who do you like?’ He said he loved Bermane [Stiverne] and I was like, ‘What? I like Danny Garcia!’ and we went into talking about the fight that just happened like a week prior. I could riff on it, he was riffing on it, and that was it. ‘Done. You and I are buds.’ ” Their rapport translated easily to the set. “Maurice and I clicked immediately when it came to the work because we were on the same page when it came to acting, thinking about the scenes and approaching the character. That made me really happy, because I think it was important to the story that he and I click.”
“I adore Eileen [Davidson, Ashley],” declares Y&R’s Marla Adams (Dina) about her on-screen daughter. “She’s absolutely beautiful, and so is Melissa [Ordway, Abby], who plays my granddaughter. They’re both tall women and at my age, I don’t wear heels anymore, so when they put on those 4-inch or 5-inch heels, I look like an ant next to these gorgeous statuettes. But it’s good for the lighting because I can look up, which is more flattering. Ray, the lighting guy, has been taking very good care of me. I’ve known this crew for decades. Some of them have been here when I started in 1983!” The 78-year-old soap vet has also shunned plastic surgery during her career. “I’ve never had work done ever in my life, nothing. I don’t even dye my hair,” Adams admits. “If someone wants to do it, that’s fine, but it’s very nice to come on a show and be the aging woman because it’s real and it’s natural, and I’m thrilled to be able to do that.”
Ask Lamon Archey (Eli, DAYS) to name his favorite Horton family member and he doesn’t hesitate. “I would have to say Julie ... and Doug,” he enthuses. “I love when I have scenes with Susan [Seaforth Hayes] and Bill [Hayes]. They are both really sweet people, and I love working with them. I could actually just stare at them all day. I hope they don’t catch me looking at them.” Archey has spent a lot time getting to know the twosome, but admits he didn’t realize they were married in real life for weeks. “It’s so funny,” he recalls. “One day we were having this conversation in between scenes. I asked Susan how long she had been married on the show and in real life. Then, I asked Bill the same question. They were both telling me their story. I didn’t find out until later that they were together for real. When they were each telling me their stories, I thought they were talking about two completely different people. When Susan was talking about her husband, I thought she was talking about someone else. I thought Bill was talking about someone off the show, too. Then, I happened to be on Twitter one day and someone was talking about the two of them. I was like, ‘Wait a minute. They’re together in real life?’ I felt like an idiot. I was sitting there listening to their story and didn’t know they were talking about each other.”