My Set Visit Page 2
After asking a few questions about Jennifer and Carly’s much-sought-after looks, I move on to a short chat with the delightful Terri Garber (Iris). I confess to that my mother and I were obsessed with NORTH AND SOUTH back in the day. “Thanks!” she says. “I had soooo much fun doing that.” Soon, I get in a quick chat with Colombino as Brian Gaskill (BJ) arrives and proudly shows West and Park photos of his newborn daughter, Alabama. “Oh, she’s gorgeous,” sighs West as I try to concentrate on asking Colombino a “Roundup” question. “She has such a normal-shaped head!” Soon, I make my way back to Minihan’s tour, which Bradford is planning to take down to the prop room in the basement. In the cramped office, we all meet the Prop Department’s Dennis Donegan, who begins with a bit of a science project — a demonstration of the fake snow that they use on the show, which involves adding water to dried flakes, which then magically expand. (This is the stuff that was used to make Mike and Katie’s snow angels last year.)
Next, Donegan begins the tour of the secret parts of the studio. I remember doing a major exploration of the building when it was being renovated in 1999. before ATWT moved in, but at the time it was pretty much gutted. Since then, I’ve mostly stuck to cast-friendly areas, like the green room, hair and makeup, wardrobe, the dressing rooms and occasionally the basement (where West once showed me the secret “good” coffee machine). This place is like the sub-sub-basement, which basically feels like the bowels of the Earth, I realize, as we’re led through a narrow maze of broken-down sets (St. Genevieve’s Hospital, right next to John’s apartment!).
We soon wander into a cavernous room, filled floor-to-ceiling with steel shelves packed like an Ikea warehouse with all manner of furniture and large props. Over in an open area, someone has dragged out part of a padded cell for maintenance; we all get excited that this might mean an Oakdale resident is going nuts soon. (Donegan points out that it was last used for Julia Lindsey.) Next, we go to a small side room, which houses the smaller props, including several “prams” which make us chuckle, and an amusing table full of headstones: there’s Bryant Montgomery, David Stenbeck and Paul Ryan, plus one that simply says “Frank” (it takes me a minute to place the name: part of the Gabe and Ruby gypsy story a few years ago, I think). Hanging just next to them is the “Simon” coconut from Katie’s island adventure. Donegan shows us the oldest pillows (they belonged to Connor) and an entire glassware section, plus several shelves of all sorts of bottles and chotchkes — from perfume atomizers to sugar dishes — made of breakaway glass, which is used for safely throwing at or bludgeoning people.!).
Donegan asks us to be very careful because one breakaway wine bottle costs $25. We next wander into a character props room, where there are bins containing the non-wardrobe personal items for everyone in Oakdale (like cell phones, umbrellas, even a flask for Iris), plus huge extra bins overflowing with things like Oakdale PD badges and house keys, as well as many of the products that Minihan probably spotted. Next, we end up in the flower room, full of refrigerators to keep the arrangements fresh; Donegan kindly puts together a cute little bouquet for Angela as I fill in Gerald about some of the studio history I know. At this point, I’m completely lost, but somehow we’re back up to ground level, because there’s sunlight streaming in a huge open garage door-type thingie. Outside in a walled-off patio is a line of live plants, which will all have to be brought in soon because the weather is changing.!).
Before I can get more confused, we’re back in a familiar area: the stairs leading off to the wardrobe department. Minihan starts her tour of all the clothes as I break away to catch up with the super sweet and chatty Jennifer Landon (Gwen), who has just finished her scenes with Jesse Soffer (Will), who is changing into his own clothes nearby. I tell her that I caught a few seconds of the kiss that they taped today (which happens in somewhat dire conditions that I can’t elaborate on right now) from the feed on the green room TV. “They loooove each other,” she squeals in a high-pitched voice as the women in the room spontaneously break into a loud chorus of sappy, girly “awwws” — too much for Soffer, who throws up his hands and stalks off in mock annoyance. Landon changes her tune to farting noises as he’s going. “Jesse and I are like, super platonic, but it definitely fills a void in my life,” she jokes. “Today, we were kissing — and you start to get a little into it, like, ‘This is real!’ — and then a crew member or something let out a big burp! And I just burst out laughing.”After a few wild tangents about Halloween plans, alarm clocks, Napoleon Dynamite and how Garber is is “the best on-screen mom ever,” we discuss how neither Iris nor Barbara is a Will and Gwen fan. That’s when Colleen Zenk Pinter (Barbara) sneaks up and gives Landon a big squeeze. “No, but Colleen is a Will and Gwen fan!” she praises. “God, I know, it’s so weird to look in your eyes and hate you and then off-screen I’m like, ‘No! I didn’t mean it!’ ” says Landon. Soon, they’re sharing a chair, arms around each other (“I found another daughter,” gushes Pinter), and Landon is guessing that Gwen will win over Will’s mother one day. “Why? That’s no fun,” points out Pinter, and we break it to Landon that Babs never warms to her sons’ girlfriends. Landon grudgingly admits that her own mother has a somewhat similar reaction to her brother’s girlfriends in real life, then takes off, leaving me to hear all about Pinter’s Hello, Dolly! gig and ask a bunch of “Take Five” questions, which turn out to be awkwardly personal in the crowded room, but she’s a good sport about it anyway. By the time we finish, I’m exhausted. Bradford and I say good-bye to the Minihans and head out to the car to take us back to Manhattan.
Conversation
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