Oakdale Holi-daze
Kelley Menighnan Hensley (Emily): “One was when Emily was invited to the Snyders’. That was funny because I was with Jonny (Hensley, who plays Holden and is her real-life husband) over the Butterball turkey. To be in that set is just the best. The other one was in the old studio years ago, when the church burned down and everybody was outside holding hands and singing. Peter Parros‘ character [Ben] was helping rebuild the church. I’m a sap when it comes to stuff like that. It was a very long day, but I remember finishing it going, ‘This is what the spirit of Christmas is all about.’ ”
Ellen Dolan (Margo): “I like the year that we were singing Christmas carols by candlelight and Martha Byrne’s (Lily) hair caught fire. It was 10-12 years ago. She looked down and she was on fire. We got it put out before the camera panned to her, so everything was fine. It was a little stinky, but everyone kept on singing.”
Jon Hensley (Holden): “It’s always fun to pick up the script and see if they’re going to continue with the Hubbard squash tradition [at the Snyder Thanksgiving]. They never miss it. I’m waiting for the year that they don’t do it and I don’t have to get out the saw and saw it in half with Michael Park (Jack). No, it’s actually fun. It seems every year we have different people who are there. This year Dusty was in the Snyder kitchen, which was very strange. You get to have characters in there every year that don’t necessarily belong there.”
Michael Park (Jack): “Every Thanksgiving in Emma’s kitchen brings up memories from my childhood, when I watched the show with my Grandma Felicia in Canandaigua (N.Y.). Then, to actually be part of the Snyder clan as an actor — I can’t imagine what that is like for my grandmother. To be a part of the traditional Snyder Thanksgiving blows me away every year. The first time I cut the Hubbard squash — are you kidding me? I was extremely honored.”
Benjamin Hendrickson (Hal): “We were singing ‘I’ll Be Home For Christmas,’ which has either, ‘You can plan on me,’ or, ‘You can count on me.’ Half the cast said ‘count,’ half the cast said ‘plan,’ and there was this huge argument about which was the right line. It went on tape that way, with half the cast singing one line and the other half of the cast singing the other line.”
Colleen Zenk Pinter (Barbara): “My favorite holiday memory was when we [taped at the studio] on 76th Street. It was the tag scene of the New Year’s Eve show. Barbara and James were on the run and we shot up in the scaffolding of the light rig. The tag scene of the end-of-the-year show was Barbara shooting James. I thought that was appropriate — ending the year with a bang!”
Martha Byrne (Lily): “I remember Lily struggling with whether to spend Christmas with her mother (Lucinda) or at the Snyders’. I also remember the big Christmas trees at Lucinda’s house. She always had a lot of Christmas trees. Also, the Christmas after Rose died and Lily saw her face in the Christmas ornament and it dropped. That was really cool.”
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