My Set Visit
It seems like ages since I last visited J.C. Studios, AS THE WORLD TURNS’s Brooklyn home, so I check my calendar, and indeed, it was way back on September 29. What’s funny is that the scenes I saw them taping that day still haven’t aired! (Although I expect to see them at the end of November).
I arrive to find the lobby teaming with babies — six, to be exact, along with their mothers, who are dishing excitedly about their children’s experiences in showbiz. Soon, Assistant Casting Director Lamont Craig comes out to carefully explain to them (and me, eavesdropping) that they’re looking for a new backup baby to play Rory/Billy or whatever Jennifer’s stolen kid is being called now.
The casting procedure is as follows: He will take each baby down the hall and into an office for a few minutes to make sure that he or she doesn’t cry while out of his/her mother’s sight. Craig makes sure the moms are comfortable with this; they are, though one asks, “Can we do it now, while they’re all in a good mood?” Everyone laughs as Baby Audition No. 1 gets under way. While waiting, another mom asks whether this is the show that Linda Dano was on, and I’m explaining that Dano played Felicia on ANOTHER WORLD (which taped here) as Michael Park (Jack) walks in and greets me after marveling at all the babies. I tell him I’m waiting for the publicist, Johanna Bradford, and I’ll meet him in a few minutes to conduct an interview with him and Maura West (Carly). Bradford arrives not long after Park leaves, and soon we’re all up in the green room together.
Park, not wanting to be the “bad” guy, sends her off with the task of waking up a napping West, as he and I chat with the man who’s sitting next to us. It turns out that he’s Gerald Minihan, whose wife, Angela, just won a makeover and a tour of the set. Park grills him about life back home in Washington state, his job and former gig in the armed services, then starts needling him to shave his beard to complete the romance of his weekend getaway with his wife, who is currently being dolled up in the makeup room. Gerald admirably stands his ground, especially when West arrives seconds later and declares him to be a handsome man just as he is. Finally, it’s time to start the interview, which goes extraordinarily well because Park and West are so close, they basically complete each other’s sentences. He even good-naturedly takes a verbal beat-down from West and me (The fans would kill me if I didn’t bring it up!) for Jack’s behavior during the amnesia/Julia period. When we’re done, I corner West for a few questions about the storyline to be used in a news story. Park sweetly (and expertly) answers for her when she gets stuck about what to say. “Thank God, Michael’s here,” she laughs, relieved. “You’re so much better at answering these questions than I am!”
Once West leaves, Park gets his first glimpse of Angela’s makeover. “It’s fabulous. Although I didn’t know her before, I wish I knew her now,” he praises, introducing himself and Terri Colombino (Katie), who walks up in a robe with wet hair. “You look amazing!” Colombino tells her, then chats with me for a second about the recent benefit for Hurricane Katrina, and promises to meet me later for some storyline talk because I’ve got to leave to follow the Minihans on their tour. Angela explains that she won the makeover from homemadesimple.com. “For the contest, you had to spot a Procter & Gamble product on a certain set. There were five different days and five different products. If you guessed them all correctly, then you were entered into the drawing … and here I am,” she says. “It’s amazing here, and I love the show. I’ve been watching since I was 13.” She also loves her new look, thanks to the hair and makeup departments. Key Hair Stylist Theresa Marra Siliceo embraced the first step of the makeover. “I don’t do them nearly as much as I would want to,” Siliceo says. “When I had a salon, I did that every single day — our reputation was for makeovers — so I love these contests. It gives me a chance to really make a difference in somebody’s life.”
For Minihan, Siliceo explains, “She told me that she’s a mommy and she also goes to work, so I wanted her to have something hot, sexy and quick that will look good whether it’s blown-dry or natural. She has beautiful, wavy hair, so I gave her a layered haircut with lots of texture so it’s not blunt and heavy. I kept most of the length and allowed it to dry natural. The only thing I did was blow out the hair on her forehead — not bangs. I gave her instructions about what products she should use and how to blot her hair when she’s drying it with a towel. My last resort with that haircut would be to blow it out straight. She can do many changes without picking up a blow-dryer. She’s a sexy mommy. She can go pick up the kids at school and all the other mothers will be jealous!”Siliceo instructs Minihan to visit her stylist at home and bring a photograph that so she can keep up her look. Next, I visit Key Makeup Artist Eldo Ray Estes, who describes the face part of Minihan’s transformation. “We wanted to keep it simple because Theresa gave her a fabulous haircut and she’s blonde, so we didn’t want to overpower her. We gave her a good concealer, a stronger brow and she has sort of smallish eyes, so we needed to open them up. Rather than just lining all the way around, I only lined the outer half. It’s a similar eye to what Jessica Dunphy [ex-Alison] had. If you only line half the eye, thicker in the corner, it gives the illusion of opening the eye up,” Estes says. “We took note of her nail polish, which is a fabulous mauve color, so I gave her a really fabulous glossy, grape lip color. It’s from M.A.C, and it’s called Grape En Drape [lipglass]. It looks great on her, and the [powder] blush I used is called Breath Of Plum, also from M.A.C. We kept it simple.”
Conversation
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