Sharon Case (Sharon, Y&R)
“The whole soap industry used to have a lot more parties and they were very glamorous. I remember the big Soap Opera Digest party at Raleigh Studios [in Los Angeles]. It was beautiful! People got really dressed up but things have gotten more casual. I think Hollywood in general has gotten a lot more down-to-earth, but I sure miss those days.”
Jacklyn Zeman (Bobbie, GH)
“When I first started on the show, we shot at the old Desilu Studios. [Executive Producer] Gloria Monty’s office was in a separate building on the lot. Every building was different — the dressing rooms were in one structure, the stage was in another structure, and the offices were in another, so if it was raining, you literally had to go out in the rain to get to the set to shoot your scenes, so you always had to remember to bring an umbrella. And we would go out to lunch every day. There was no commissary, so we actually got an hour and 15 minute break and we’d all get in our cars and go to lunch.”
Maurice Benard (Sonny, GH)
“Shows were different back then. The scenes were longer. We rehearsed more. We had more time with the material, and there were some really beautiful stories being told when I first started, and sometimes I’d tell Bryan [Craig, ex-Morgan] or whoever else that they should check out some of that old stuff online because you can see it all now. Go back and see how the medium has evolved.”
Kate Linder (Esther, Y&R)
“The show used to use cue cards, but those were eliminated a while ago and everyone is letter perfect with their lines.”
Leann Hunley (Anna, DAYS)
“Back in the day, when we had a full day and were there from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m., we had lunch hours and we could go out and we had a lot of rehearsals. We could jell. One hard thing about acting is that you have to make instant relationships with the people you’re on screen with, and one way to do that is to have a relationship personally with them. So I do miss a little of that personalization because they’re moving so quickly. You can go in at 6 a.m. and be out at 9. It’s a very different world. But that being said, it’s really nice to go home at 9 in the morning where you have a whole day open and your makeup done and you can go to lunch with other people.”
Jacob Young (Rick, B&B)
“That call times used to vary. Mostly everybody’s call times are in the morning, but when I was on ALL MY CHILDREN [as J.R.], it was staggered all day long, so you could potentially have a 4 or 5 o’clock call time. Now, we are all normally in by rehearsal time, which is 9 or 10 o’clock, then we’re on-camera an hour after that, and then we start shooting. On average, we’re usually a 10-hour day and there’s a 30-minute meal break. Back in the day, they used to do meals in the middle of the day but now the crew just continues to go through the whole day, and they take five-minute breaks at the top of every hour.”