Susan Seaforth Hayes’ Five Greatest DAYS
1976: MAKING TIME — THE MAGAZINE COVER, THAT IS
“That was a surprise, in a way. It was almost competitive, because we understood that they photographed every show, every soap opera. It was a toss up [between whom they would choose to put on the cover]. We got picked. We were amazed. We had done the interview. We had posed for the pictures. And time had gone by. Then, it happened. It was a great triumph for NBC publicity. THEY were thrilled. The gist of the interview was about the impact of the not always happy world you found on soap operas; the world in which everyone seemed to be in danger or longing for something and how a lot of good things didn’t happen. Yet, this was a world that fans, that people, WANTED to enter. They had interviewed (executive producer) Betty Corday. They had interviewed head writer Pat Falken Smith. The man who wrote the article felt the shows weren’t giving their full out cooperation, that they weren’t being honest about anything, which was funny. We WERE. The article misquoted our salary by thousands of dollars. I’ve been thinking about this for years. Where did they come up with that figure? I realize now it must have been Pat Falken Smith who gave a fun interview, apparently. I guess she wanted things to be as glamorous as possible.”
1977: THE LAND DOWN UNDER
“Bill and I got to tour Australia because of Doug and Julie. We played a nightclub act there. We were invited. We had gone to Australia to do the Logie Awards, which is their Emmy awards. While we were there an agent approached us and said, ‘How would you like to tour the country?’ So we put together a nightclub act. We took along a couple of people, Australians, to open for us and we toured the country. It was nuts. It was crazy. We played funny venues. All the cities are on the coast, and they are all beautiful. One place we played a boxing arena. We got up in the ring and did a show. One place Peggy Lee had just come through in front of us. Because of the strong unions there, they didn’t want to be bothered changing the lights. We said, ‘Well, it’s actually a different show than Peggy Lee’s.’ They said, ‘It was good enough for Peggy Lee. We’re leaving it that way.’ This tour happened while we were still on DAYS OF OUR LIVES. It was a ‘How I spent my summer vacation’ experience.”
1979: LET ME ENTERTAIN YOU
“We did some variety shows on DAYS OF OUR LIVES. During one of them, Julie did a strip tease, while Doug played the violin [in front of her]. He didn’t notice that she was taking off her clothes behind him and that that was why he was getting so much applause. Thinking back, I miss the music and all that showman stuff.”
1980: SWEET SERENADE
“There was one wonderful sequence where Doug sang to Julie dressed as Harlequin. He sang “Harlequin’s Serenade,” while she was [looking out from] an upstairs window in her little apartment. It was when Julie had divorced Doug, moved away and was having a hard time living by herself. It was just beautiful. It was lovely. Very romantic. Doug serenaded Julie. He was funny, beautiful, cute. It was the quintessential Doug and Julie as classy lovers.”
1980: CLOWNING AROUND
“Doug also came and sang and did a pantomime to the “Carousel Waltz,” while Julie was living in that same [apartment] set. Julie was heavily sedated at the time. She had been burned in a fire and was still having trouble with pain and depression. Julie wasn’t sure that Doug had actually been there. She thought she saw him, but she wasn’t sure. Doug was dressed as a clown. It was another beautiful ‘Doug trying to win back Julie’s heart’ moment.”
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