Days of our Lives 40th Anniversary, SoapTalk Special

Announcer: Like sands through the hourglass, so are the Days of our Lives. Lisa Rinna: Today, we're celebrating the 40th anniversary of Days of our Lives. Ty Treadway: We've gathered together some of Days' biggest stars from the past and present to help us celebrate. Lisa: It's a party that you won't want to miss. Ty: So stay where you are.

Soap talk starts right now.

[Captioning made possible by ABC Cable Networks Group]

Announcer: Coming up next, it's Soap Talk... with Lisa Rinna and Ty Treadway. On today's show, we're celebrating the 40th anniversary of Days of our Lives, and you're invited. Joining us today are Deidre Hall, Drake Hogestyn, Kristian Alfonso, Peter Reckell, Melissa Reeves, Suzanne Rogers, Stephen Nichols, Charles Shaughnessy, Frances Reid, and Executive Producer Ken Corday. Plus, a special tribute to MacDonald Carey. And now, the hosts of the show, Lisa Rinna and Ty Treadway!

[Cheering and applause]

Lisa: Yay! Thank you! Thank you! Welcome to Soap Talk!

Ty: Welcome, everybody.

Lisa: Wow, what a nice audience. Wow.

Ty: Yeah, we got a full house here today. All Days fans. Crazy. This is--this is kind of the anniversary of your alma mater.

Lisa: Yeah, this is very exciting. This is a really cool show to be a part of, I have to say.

Ty: No question. What an honor to be able to sit here and honor a show that's such an important part of television history. 40 years. When you think about that--

[Cheering]

Ty: November 8, 1965 is a long time. How many great shows have come and gone--in both daytime and prime time--have come and gone? And yet this show has stood the test of time.

Lisa: It's really amazing. And when you hear that music, don't you just evoke all these memories from your childhood? I mean, I do. It's such great music. It's like music that you just remember your whole entire life.

Ty: You know, it's music that has bridged generations. I mean, 40 years is probably 3, 4 generations, I don't know. What's your favorite memory from being on Days of our Lives?

Lisa: It's funny because before I was on the show, I grew up watching the show. You know, like many of you, my mom watched the show so I watched the show from the time I was 8 or 9 years old. So by the time I got on the show, I was a huge fan. It was like somebody who was a fan of a show then getting on the show. So I was beside myself. I grew up and I thought that Peter Reckell/Bo--because he was Bo to me--I mean, he was my crush.

Ty: You had to relearn everybody's name instead of their character name.

Lisa: I walk on the set. You know, "there's Marlena and there's Hope." I mean, at first, I'm sure I was such a geek because--I mean, seriously.

Ty: Some things haven't changed, apparently. Anyway... no, I'm only kidding.

Lisa: No, it's true. It is true. But to actually get that job was so validating to me, not only as an actor to get on such a great show, but in my household, my God. When I called my mom to tell her that I got a part on Days of our Lives, I don't think she's ever been that excited to this day.

Ty: You were a very important part of that show. Well, you know what? We have an unbelievable lineup for you guys today, and we just couldn't do this show without our next two guests. So please, put your hands together. She's a true daytime legend, he's one of the most popular actors in soaps. Please welcome the one, the only Deidre Hall and Drake Hogestyn.

[Cheering and applause]

Ty: I need to get a little hug and kiss from this pretty lady.

Lisa: Ok, there we go. Wow. Welcome.

Deidre Hall: Hi, everybody.

Drake Hogestyn: This is ok, but I really like Hawaii.

Ty: You know what, for the 100th anniversary, we'll do it on the beach in Hawaii.

Drake: In 100 years?

Ty: 60 more years. So how does it feel--now both of you guys started out as short-term characters, and now here you are, Drake, 20 years later, Deidre 30 years later. How does it feel to be celebrating 40 years of television history?

Deidre: Grateful. I had done a little bit of daytime before, Young and The Restless before I did Days and was envious--was envious of that camaraderie, that closeness, that intimacy among the cast, and thought, "I just wanna have some of that. I just wanna have some." And then here I am 30 years later, having every bit of it.

Ty: Well, obviously, John and Marlena--hugely, insanely popular couple. Drake, I'm gonna start with you. I want to know your first impressions--

[Cheering]

Ty: Do you remember when you first met and what were your first impressions?

Drake: Yeah. I went in to read for the producers, and I came into the room and I was introduced to everybody and was introduced to her and I thought that she was a producer. And they said, "this is Deidre Hall." And I went, "ok, I can do this." [Laughter] "This will work. Ok."

Lisa: And Deidre, how about your first impressions?

Deidre: Mine was what everybody who saw him on camera the first time was. He's a dreamboat. We had a lot of people also well-known that were testing for it, and he walked in and owned the stage, owned the moment. He's physically breathtaking and there was no question who needed to be cast.

Ty: The other thing that happens when you work together for so long, you get to see each other grow both personally and professionally. How has--I'm gonna start with you, Drake. How has Deidre grown personally and professionally? And then I'm gonna go to that question for you.

Lisa: That's a heavy question, Ty. Ha ha! Sheesh!

Deidre: I wasn't given this list of questions.

Drake: In January, it'll be 20 consecutive years, and so...you get up at 4:30 in the morning, you go to work. A lot of times, you spend as much time at the studio if not more than at home. So in answering your question, it's like there is a trust that happens when you work together, and on days when you have a tremendous amount of dialogue, you just say, "ok, I know that if I'm not right on the mark or she's not right on the mark, we're going to be listening. We're gonna just pick it up and roll with it." And there's that comfort level that comes from trust and just familiarity.

Ty: Nicely said.

Deidre: You didn't get to ask me that question.

Ty: Deidre, I am going to ask you that question. How have you seen Drake grow both personally and professionally?

Deidre: In the beginning, Drake had done quite a bit of nighttime, and over the 20 years, he has honed the craft to such a fine art. I want to get it said because it's been such a joy for me and makes what I do so easy every day, because your work in the last year has been so different and such a quantum leap from anything I've ever seen anybody do in daytime. The relating to Marlena, the relating to Kate, the stillness, the desperation, the absolute adoration is a pleasure to watch every day. I tell you that every day, but I should say that in public.

Ty: One of the two of John and Marlena's biggest moments, from my memory, was the reunion on the pier.

[Cheering]

Ty: We've got a clip of that. We're gonna take a look at that right now.

>>> Marlean: Yes.

>> [ Sobbing ]

>>> John: Oh, God. Doc, it's you. Oh, my God, it's you. Oh, my God, oh, my God.

Lisa: I love how you're laughing.

Ty: I know. Lisa and I are watching and going, "oh, that's so great." You guys are giggling. What are you giggling about?

Deidre: You don't know. You can't know. Do you want to try it?

Lisa: Somebody please explain to us for giggles.

Drake: Ok, ok, that's a great moment. Now here's the truth behind it. As you saw, they had a shot where I'm over her shoulder. I'm like this, and I'm looking there and, all of the sudden, I do this with my hands like, "oh, my God." What she's whispering in my ear is "you're pulling my hair out!"

[Laughter] And I'm like--I stop. I'm like...and it reads as though, "my God, it's really her, her hair." But I'm thinking, "what does she mean I'm pulling her hair out?" Her hair was short at that time when she came back, and so she put some extensions in.

Deidre: No, no. Girl part. It was a halo, which was on a string which made your hair longer. And as he's pulling it, he's pulling it out of my hair, and I'm doing this. I'm saying, "my hair, you're pulling on my hair."

Drake: It looks like one of those dolls that has hair and you pull it. It gets longer.

Ty: We gotta take a quick break, but don't go away. We have more when we come back. So don't go away.

Announcer: Coming up next, Days of our Lives' Kristian Alfonso reveals how Peter Reckell came to her rescue in real life. Still to come, Suzanne Rogers tells why she can't keep her hands off Melissa Reeves. Plus, we're bringing back two of Ddays' hottest hunks, Charles Shaughnessy and Stephen Nichols, and the first lady of Salem, Frances Reid, stops by.

>>> Bo: You and I are gonna run away from here. Are you ready for that?

>>> Hope: You know I am. Bo, I'll go anywhere with you as long as it's with you.

>>> Bo: Ha ha! Oh, ok. It's just gonna be you and me. No more pretending. Everybody in the world is gonna know it's Bo and Hope. No more Maxwell Hathaway, no more Welch. Nobody's gonna get in our way.

>>> Hope: That's right, nobody.

Ty: We're back with Deidre Hall and Drake Hogestyn, celebrating 40 years of Days of our Lives, and of course, when you think of Days, you can't help but think of the supercouples.

Lisa: For over 20 years, Bo and Hope have been one of the most popular couples in daytime history. Please welcome Kristian Alfonso and Peter Reckell.

[Cheering and applause]

Kristian Alfonso: Hi.

Lisa: Hi, sweetie. How are you? Here. Come here. Welcome, welcome. Hi, guys. How are you?

Kristian: Great.

Lisa: How fun is this, 40 years?

Kristian: It's absolutely amazing. I never thought that I would be a part of something so magnificent.

Ty: Peter, what has Days meant to you?

Peter Reckell: Bill Hayes said something about Frances Reid when she had her birthday that so many American mothers just fashioned themselves after her, and to be part of something that is part of American culture is just an honor.

Ty: Especially Bo and Hope, one of the most popular couples-- supercouples ever in daytime. When did you guys realize--when did you go, "oh, yeah, we're popular"?

Kristian: I think, for me, it was-- Peter: When we got off the plane in New Orleans.

Kristian: Exactly. We were on the plane with Frances and a bunch of other actors, and I was like, "oh, my God, Peter, listen." They're playing our theme song. How ironic is that? And we got off the jetway, and they had a 10-piece band, and there were thousands of people at the airport.

Peter: We're looking around for, like, The Rolling Stones or something.

Kristian: "Who's here?" I never--my feet never touched the ground. I just remember Peter picking me up. I don't know how we got to the car. He just threw me in. It was just like, "oh, my God."

Peter: We got into the car. We're both shaking.

Kristian: It was absolutely amazing. I think that's when I first realized that--

Peter: We're in the studio all the time and we heard all this stuff from magazines, and this was the first time we went out and it was just, whoa. And you're that close to people. You just feel their energy. It was astounding.

Ty: Speaking of all the locations, you guys have done a lot of stunts over the years, too. Do you have a most dangerous stunt that you've done?

Peter: Scuba diving.

Kristian: We've done a lot of scuba diving.

Peter: Hot air balloons.

Kristian: "You're scuba diving in an hour. Jump in the pool, learn, 'cause you're gonna be in the ocean in two hours."

Ty: The Kern River one.

Kristian: The Kern River one. Oh, my gosh. Kern River one I almost drowned. I almost drowned because--what happened was they were gonna send me down without a boat. I was like, "ok, no problem."

Ty: You just said, "ok, no problem"?

Kristian: The stunt coordinator had brought me into the middle of the river, and he says, "ok, just remember to keep your knees up." But he slipped and he hadn't turned me around yet, so I was going down backwards and I was screaming at the top of my lungs, "help me, help me." I'd be pulled down and pop up. And Al Rabin was the executive producer at the time, and he was like, "oh, my gosh, she's doing so great." "No! No! She's drowning! She's drowning!"

[Applause]

Peter: That was an eventful remote.

Kristian: That was. Yes, yes, yes.

Ty: One of the most memorable Bo and Hope scenes is obviously when Bo stopped Hope's marriage to Larry Welch. We have a clip of that. We're gonna take a look at that right now.

>>> Bo: You're not gonna marry Welch. I'm not gonna let that happen.

>>> Hope: You can't stop me because I'm not gonna let you mess things up, Bo.

>>> Bo: Hope, will you just listen to me a minute?

>>> Hope: You left me. You didn't want me.

>>> Bo: I wanted you every minute.

>>> Hope: I don't want to hear lies! I don't want to hear lies!

>>> Bo: I'm not lying to you, Hope. Everything else was a lie, but what I feel, it wasn't a lie. Listen to me. Everything that I did I did to protect you.

>>> Hope: I don't believe you.

>>> Bo: Believe me, Hope. It is the truth.

[Applause]

Kristian: Oh, my God. My voice is so high.

Lisa: Do you all think that when you see those old clips? Are you just going, "oh, my God"?

Deidre: Was there ever a more beautiful bride than that?

Kristian: Oh, my God...

Lisa: We gotta take a break.

Ty: And then we're gonna bring out some more cast members. So don't go away, we'll be right back.

Announcer: Coming up next, Days of our Lives' Suzanne Rogers reveals how she surprised Melissa Reeves with some fancy footwork. And later, Charles Shaughnessy and Stephen Nichols reunite with their old cast mates.

>>> Maggie: Dancing shoes.

>>> Mickey: You were born to dance, Maggie. Do you like them? Course if you want a different color.

>>> Maggie: [Sighs] Marty, they're beautiful.

>>> Mickey: I can hardly wait to take my wife dancing.

Ty: Welcome back to our celebration of Days of our Lives' 40th anniversary. Where would Days of our Lives be without The Horton Family? Please welcome Maggie and Jennifer Horton--Suzanne Rogers and Melissa Reeves.

[Cheering and applause]

[Indistinct chatter]

Ty: What a great story line that was, The Red Shoe Story Line.

Suzanne Rogers: Oh, thank you.

[Cheering]

Suzanne: Thank you, thank you. It was.

Lisa: And then you spent how many years on crutches, three?

Suzanne: Three years.

Ty: Your first three years when you first got there you were on crutches?

Suzanne: It's a good thing I was a dancer and I had some coordination because I don't know how I did it.

Ty: Missy, 20 years. Who can believe it?

Lisa: How can that be?

Ty: Well, the fans have always loved you. They've always trusted you. They've even trusted you holding their babies at times. Were you guys there for this one?

Melissa: You know when you're in a public appearance and someone wants you to hold their baby? And of course, we're always like, "yeah, give me some baby." So I took the baby and I walked up three steps and I tripped with this woman's baby in my hands and went flying forward. I just thought--it was such a panic, and I held that baby like it was my own. I thought, "I am not gonna let this poor baby get hurt." The poor mom. She thought, "I'll never let some dumb actress hold my baby again!" It was awful. It was terrible.

Lisa: Now how about a favorite story line throughout the years?

Melissa: I love working with Suzanne. This is our thing. Every time Suzanne's in, I know when I go sit on stage--do it. She does this to me every time we work together. She rubs my back and she plays with my hair and then I can't remember a line I'm supposed to say. And they're counting down for us to begin, and I'm like this.

Suzanne: I know. I just love this person. I do, I do.

Melissa: She's so good to us.

Ty: Well, of course, everybody remembers Maggie and Mickey. What's your favorite memory of working with John Clarke?

Suzanne: Well, my favorite memory was, obviously, the story line that you showed the clip of, the red shoes, and it was wonderful. I mean, gee, what--you know, the rich dialogue that I had to play, and he gave me so much and it was wonderful.

Ty: Was there one moment that you went, "oh, yeah, we're just like a married couple"?

Suzanne: Yes. He would correct me if I would do something wrong. I mean, or...no... listen, I need to be taught.

Lisa: I'm sitting here and you've all been supercouples. You've all been a part of a supercouple. That's one thing that days does.

Ty: Days has done so, so well. So well. What's your memories of the wedding? The Jack and Jennifer wedding?

Melissa: This was when the show was going on all these fabulous locations. So we went, "ooh, Jack and Jennifer are gonna get married." And I remember matt saying, "can you just imagine where we're gonna be going?" We were dreaming of the most exotic places and we're going, "oh, it's going to be so good." And I remember Al Rabin, our executive producer at the time, he goes, "we're going to Universal Studios." And Matt and I went, "what?! What about England or the Caribbean?" And we had to perform some stunts at our wedding.

Ty: Every time all you guys get together, there's always blood somewhere. Something always happens.

Melissa: I always say whenever we put on a beautiful gown, you know there's catastrophe around the corner.

Ty: That's bad news. We have a clip of the wedding, actually, right now. We're gonna show it.

Suzanne: This is good.

>>> Jennifer: Jack, this marriage is gonna be an adventure. I can feel it.

>>> Jack: Well, I don't mind it being an adventure as long as all those things that only happen to me...stop happening to me. I mean, I just--I just got this feeling, you know. As long as nothing else goes wrong.

>>> Jennifer: Come on, Jack, what could possibly go wrong now? Jack, what is that?

Ty: The look on Matt Ashford's face is priceless.

Melissa: But the greatest story behind that is that we were sitting on this box. Do you remember that? But Matt--his foot pushed the button to make the house fall. But he pushed it and he took his foot off, and the house stopped halfway before it came all the way down. So we had to do it over and they said, "Matt, you have to hold your foot down all the way till the house falls completely over you." So it was halfway just shaking, and we're going, "it's broken. We broke the ride."

Ty: We're gonna take a quick break. We got some more cast members coming out--Stephen Nichols, Charles Shaughnessy. Don't go away, we'll be right back.

Announcer: Coming up next, Charles Shaughnessy and Stephen Nichols reveal why Patch and Shane weren't supposed to be heroes, and later, the celebration continues with original cast member Frances Reid and Executive Producer Ken Corday.

>>> Kimberly: Shane?

>>> Shane: Yes. Yes, it's me, Kimberly.

>>> Kimberly: Oh, no.

>>> Shane: Please don't turn away from me. Not me, not now. Dear God, not now.

Lisa: Welcome back to our celebration of Days of our Lives' 40th anniversary. We're here with some of the show's biggest stars.

Ty: Our next two guests played two of the most popular heroes in daytime, and today we're reuniting them with their former cast mates. Please welcome Stephen Nichols and Charles Shaughnessy.

[Cheering]

[Indistinct chatter]

Lisa: Stephen, hey, sweetie.

Stephen Nichols: Good to see you.

Ty: We just got finished talking about how nobody builds supercouples like Days, and here's a perfect example.

Lisa: You both came on as bad guys.

Kristian: You were my butler.

Charles Shaughnessy: Even before her butler, I was meant to be McShane Mystery Man. I remember the audition was McShane Mystery Man, and I was terrorizing Hope in her basement. And I get the script and I get the job. I get the script and I'm looking for McShane Mystery Man. I get a call saying, "he's not actually McShane Mystery Man, he's Shane and he's a butler." So I had practiced this kind of real tough bloke. "Watch out, Hope Brady. You're gonna die." And now I'm saying, "would you like to be served on the patio, madam?"

Ty: And, of course, Patch and Kayla. What another huge supercouple. What was your first impressions of Mary Beth?

Stephen: Well, Mary Beth is--well, first of all, she is the absolute most cheerful person I've ever known in my life and she lights up a room. We did the audition. It was a screen test and we'd seen, like, 4 or 5 people, and at the very end, she was the last one, and she did her thing and she started to walk away and she said, "well, that was--" I'm not allowed to say the "S" word.

Ty: You can say "dookie."

Stephen: "That was poo-poo."

Ty: There you go.

Stephen: And I thought, "my God, I love that." Because she was so guileless and so honest. Most actresses, if it was, they would never say it, and I fell in love with her immediately. Ty: Well, we have a classic clip of Patch and Kayla we're gonna show right now.

>>> Patch: I'm not very good with words. All I know is I love you. And we were meant to be together forever. What do they say? Till death do us part? You know what? I don't think even that's gonna keep us apart.

Lisa: Oh, Stephen.

Ty: We gotta let Peter say what he just said. You guys missed this one. Peter leans over and he says...

Peter: Is that the same coat? All males in daytime have a black leather jacket.

Lisa: And all three of you definitely have a black leather jacket. I've seen them all.

Stephen: Where's your motorcycle?

Lisa: Let's talk about memorable love scenes while we're at it.

[Cheering]

Ty: Let's start with you, Stephen.

Stephen: Love scenes. Well, Mary Beth and I did our first love scene on a rooftop and--remember that? And they wanted us to--it was supposed to be very hot. It was a hot night. We had glasses of ice water. At one point, Shelley Curtis said, "pour the ice water all over your body." And I was pouring water on myself, and then Mary Beth was pregnant at the time and they had a body double. And they would shoot with Mary Beth and I for a while and then, "uh-oh! Bring in the body double." Mary Beth just, again, was hysterically laughing the whole time. She's out to here. She's literally like 8 months pregnant.

Lisa: Didn't you have a hot tub scene when you were pregnant?

Kristian: I'm gonna let Peter tell that story because he tells it so well.

Lisa: Peter, please tell us.

Peter: You're very buoyant, I guess, when you're pregnant. And we go down in the hot tub and she'd pop up like a...

Kristian: And he was pinned up against the wall.

Ty: "Can we tie a couple rocks to this woman, please?"

Kristian: And my shorts kept blowing up.

Peter: So I'm, like, on top of her trying to--very romantic doing this.

Lisa: Now, Deidre and Drake, a memorable love scene?

Deidre: Um, we weren't asked that before. I'm gonna...

Drake: Go ahead. Go. Go.

Deidre: Talk about the airplane.

[Cheering]

Drake: Oh, the airplane. Oh, yeah.

Deidre: We had to--as John was leaving town--were you Roman then? I forget. He was leaving town and I knew I was in love with him and I didn't want him to go, and I came to try to persuade him not to go, and then we end up making love on the plane. But what happened was Tom Langan, our executive producer, came down and said, "you're not into it. You're not giving it your all. You're playing safe out there. Do it again." And he said it about three times until I was undone, and by the time the scene you saw on the air was done, I couldn't stop crying. It was a scene of absolute abandon.

Drake: She was shaking so hard. When she got into a really good shake, they said, "quick, John, get on."

[Laughter]

Ty: We're gonna take another break. Don't go away, we'll be back with more of the cast of Days of our Lives.

Announcer: Coming up next, the party continues with Frances Reid and Executive Producer Ken Corday. Later, a tribute to MacDonald Carey.

>>> Alice: A chill in the air. This hot coffee's going to taste good.

>>> Tony: Thanks, Mrs. Horton.

>>> Alice: How long are you gonna call me Mrs. Horton?

>>> Tony: What would you like me to call you? I can't call you Mother because I already have one real mother.

>>> Alice: And Mrs. Horton is entirely too formal for a future son-in-law.

>>> Tony: Well, what do your other children call you, Mrs. Horton?

>>> Alice: Well, they've called me Mom and Mama and Mommy and...they've even called me "hey."

>>> Marie: Ben called you Alice.

>>> Alice: Oh, that's right, Tony. Why not call me Alice?

Lisa: Oh, we are back, celebrating Days of our Lives' 40th anniversary. I mean, really, this 40th anniversary show would not be complete without our next two guests. They have been with the show from the very beginning. Please welcome original cast member Frances Reid and Executive Producer Ken Corday.

[Cheering and applause]

Ty: 40 years, Frances. How does it feel?

Frances Reid: I don't know. You know, it just went on.

Lisa: It just goes, right?

Ty: Like sands through the hour glass, would you say? There you go.

Frances: Absolutely.

Ty: Ken, your parents created the show 40 years ago. Do you think they ever imagined that it would still be going so strong?

Ken Corday: Oh, heavens no. They actually said to Mack the first year--my father asked him to be on the show, and Mack said-- MacDonald Carey--"how long do you think this is going to last, Ted?" My father said, "well, it might go a year or two."

Frances: Oh, really?

Ken: They said the same thing to Frances.

Frances: No, they didn't even say that.

Ken: They didn't?

Frances: No. They said, "oh, a couple weeks."

[Laughter]

Ty: In 1967, Bill Bell--you guys gave him--well, Days of our Lives gave him his first head writing job. What's your favorite memory of those days? Do you remember? 'Cause you were young then.

Ken: Bill was marvelous. He was a genius in his profession and we miss him now. He's been gone six months and there won't be another Bill Bell, and Bill really is the one that put Days of our Lives on the map. He created characters that are still going today and had that sense of family that still drives the show today. We miss him.

Ty: Well said.

[Applause]

Lisa: Now, Frances, you did a lot of comedy on the show.

Frances: Did I?

[Laughter]

Ty: Frances, I think you're still doing a lot of comedy on the show, I got to tell you. Do you remember doing a little driving down in New Orleans?

Frances: Yeah.

Ty: You remember that?

Kristian: There she is. She's driving.

Lisa: Oh, you're driving it.

[Applause]

Frances: I didn't get paid, I don't think.

Kristian: Yes, you did.

Ken: Yes, you did. You got paid for driving the trolley and being on the show as an actor that day.

Frances: Oh, that was good business, wasn't it? That was good. All right.

Lisa: You know, what I remember about working with you, Frances, is your honesty. You're just so brutally honest and you could always rely on Frances to come to you and say, "you know, darling, your hair doesn't look so good like that." And she'd be right! You would be right!

Kristian: I would walk on set and she'd say, "dear, you're not thinking of wearing your hair like that? And that outfit." "But, Frances, it's part of the story." "Oh, dear." Frances, I have to say you know how much I love you.

Frances: Yes, because I love you.

Kristian: And you've always been so incredibly kind to me. You've taught me so much. So, so much over the years.

[Applause]

Ty: We gotta take another quick break, but we will be back right after this, so don't go away. We have more with the cast of Days of our Lives.

Announcer: Coming up next, the cast of Days of our Lives pays special tribute to MacDonald Carey. If you're in the Los Angeles area and want to be a part of our studio audience, call... log onto... or write to Soap Talk... more Soap Talk when we come back.

>>> Tom: Darling, you've loved me for 50 years and looked out for me, watched over me. I think it's only fitting that I finally make an honest woman of you.

>>> Alice: Tom.

>>> Tom: Sweetheart, I don't know how I could ever have lived without you and I don't ever want to. I love you with my whole heart, my whole soul.

Ty: Welcome back to our Days of our Lives' 40th anniversary extravaganza. We're here with the best of the cast and crew, but there is one person that's missing, of course. Obviously not forgotten. That's MacDonald Carey, who played Dr. Tom Horton for 30 years.

[Applause]

Ty: Suzanne, we see you lost in thought. What are some of your most memorable moments with MacDonald?

Suzanne: Well, he knew that I had been a dancer, and he said to me, "you've been a dancer, eh?" And I said, "yes." And he said, "do you know this one?" And he proceeded to do a time step. And I said, "yeah, you mean this one?" And he said, "you're a dancer, you're ok." He was a lovely man. He was very giving, and all the way up to the very end, he came into work when I know he didn't feel well. But he just was--he was like a father to us all. We could go to him and talk about things and he was just very--just like this one right here. She was--she was--you know, we were a family and that's how it was. So that's how she is to me, too.

Lisa: Now, Deidre, you have a story--um, I think you do--about when you were leaving the set one night. I love this.

Deidre: There's been a long-time feeling that Mack has never actually left us, and we had wrapped for the year at one point. We had done our episodes. The tree was still up on some of the sets, and Mack's picture was on the mantle in your living room, and we're walking out at the end of the day. And lights were off and we turned back, and there was this beam of light on Mack's picture. And there was no source. It was just this light that his picture was lit up, but it was from nowhere. We both went, "oh, that's right."

Ty: We're gonna take a quick break, but before we do, let's take one more look at a great man.

>>> Tom: I can't wait to read you some of my standards. Soon as I get this stuff off, I'll recite some for you on the way home.

>>> Alice: I'm just delighted to have you take me home. Don't take off that garb. I have this urge to be with Norm de Plume tonight.

>>> Tom: Hold on to that thought till I got you home, Mrs. Norm de Plume.

Ty: We're back with the cast of Days of our Lives, celebrating 40 years of an incredible show. And of course, no party would be complete without a few tasty treats, right? So, Deidre, you brought a little present for all of us in the audience.

Deidre: I am the spokesperson for Bodega Chocolates.

[Cheering]

Deidre: I have my own Deidre Hall collection. Log on to marlena.com if you want more, but it goes great with your champagne.

Ty: Yes, it does. And of course, Charles, we want to talk because I think you're doing such a great thing. So I wanna talk briefly about your hurricane relief auction.

Charles: Yeah, thank you, Ty. We are collecting memorabilia from all the soaps and nighttime shows, movies, country music to put up on an auction on ebay, and then all the proceeds are going to go out to various different charities like Habitat For Humanity, the Humane Society to go down to all the people hit by Katrina then Rita then what else is coming--to help them rebuild their lives. There's so much work to be done.

Lisa: That's so great. Thank you.

Charles: Come to my web site or the Soap Talk web site. You can get information on either of them.

Lisa: We want to thank you all for joining us today. 40 years, and here's to 40 more. Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Cheers. Cheers.

[Captioning made possible by abc cable networks group]