While we are on the subject of DS commercials, does anyone else remember Lara Parker for "Wink, the sassy one...from Canada Dry!" or Don Briscoe showering with Dial soap, during the "Aren't you glad you use Dial? Don't you wish everone did?" era. I know I didn't dream these. And they still sell Wink here in VA.

Still creaking in the recesses of my mind (and I can't vouch for its accuracy) is Roger Davis hawking The Dry Look hairspray.  Does anyone else remember that?

It calls to mind the days when it was square for guys to use the "greasy kids' stuff" and hip to "poof" our hair with blowdryers and hairspray.

Ben
(now trying to decide whether it's time for Grecian Formula)

:'(I'm devastated to read that DS will be ending----especially as it is ending incomplete.

In some ways, I felt that the original ending aired on April 2, 1971 was itself incomplete.  I always considered the end of the 1841 storyline to have more of a poignant, misty feeling that I usually associate with endings -- not unlike the emotional farewells between Dorothy and her new friends in Oz before she left to return to Kansas.

To continue the parallel, the 1841 ending was followed by the fleeting glimpse back into the present.

Ben

We miss ya here, John!  Hope you welcomed your new year in style. 

Ben

Annie, you have many friends on this Forum, and we're all rooting for you.  There's much wisdom and good advice offered in the preceding posts that I hope will help you.

Wishing you good results.  Please keep us posted.

Ben

He would have made a fine actor by today's standards.  He was such a natural at it.

I vehemently maintain that Henesy was one of the most talented child actors of any generation.  Seldom are children given more than a few lines at a time, and rarely are they at the apex of an emotionally demanding storyline.  The DS writers gave Henesy's David Collins both.  However improbable the storyline, his performances were always sincere, believable, and gripping -- occasionally eclipsing the acting limits of some of the adults surrounding him.

I'm forever touched by the wrenching scene in which David and Maggie (or was it Vicki -- how embarrassing for my memory to fail me when I'm trying to make a point) were battling the hold that the ghost of Quentin exerted over David.  Maggie/Vicki was on the stairs in the Collinwood foyer, imploring David to run to her safe, waiting arms.  The long scene ends in a payoff embrace between the two.  This would have flopped, but for the fact that Henesy effectively created and sustained the high level of tension and conflict that the scene demanded.

Ben

Hey Deron:

Anybody with a birthday near mine has gotta be cool. 

Happy Birthday!
Ben

Dear Friends,

Thanks so much for the b-day wishes!  I hadn't been on the board the last few days, and it was Bobubas who phoned this afternoon and nudged me to check out all your nice greetings.

Yeah, I wish I could have attended the Fest and be piano man for another night, but I just started the new school year with all my precious first-year law students.  For the first time, two of my sections are scheduled on Fridays -- including Friday night (not my idea).

But I'm enjoying all the pics you've been posting and can only imagine how ProfStokes as Maggie had to have brought the house down.  I do hope to get together with you all at a future event.

Thanks again, everybody!

Ben

Julia's legendary green suit is on the scene .. worn today, tomorrow and tomorrow and next week and next month . . ..that suit sees a lotta road and many days. .

LOL, Julia99!  I vaguely recall a scene in a much earlier storyline -- I think it was when Barnabas will still terrorizing Julia -- where someone (Barnabas?) broke into her room at Collinwood and opened her armoire.  It was at that point that we got a peek at her pitifully meager wardrobe.  I somehow recall seeing multiple copies of the same suit hanging on a little rack.  As for the multiple copies, maybe my imagination was having a little too much fun -- but we are definitely led to believe that Julia's wardrobe was spartan.  Does anyone else have a better memory?

Of course, at that time, she was still posing as historian "Miss" Hoffman, so maybe she was dressing modestly to avoid arousing suspicion.  But even after she became established as "Dr." Hoffman, her wardrobe remained rather limited, and not at the fashion forefront.  I always felt sorry for her whenever I'd see her next to the effortlessly elegant Liz Stoddard.

I can almost hear some of the production meetings: "Joan, here are some new outfits and a new hairstyle for the upcoming storyline -- don't you just love them?  Oh, and Grayson, be sure to get your green suit drycleaned!"

But then came the ultimate indignity: PT, where Julia was stripped of both her "Dr." and "Miss" titles, became simply "Hoffman," and was sentenced to wearing the same housekeeper's uniform with the mousey collar for every single episode. 

Ben