Wednesday, October 31, 2012

THE GHOST OF HALLOWEEN PAST

Living in New York City, obviously the plans that I had for Halloween a week ago, have been changed.

For instance, this piece I wrote on the best NYC places to go trick-or-treating in, is no longer relevant, as many of them are currently under water, and even huge events like the annual parade have been cancelled.

Also, this self-made costume of my son's - an NYC subway car - is now ironic, as the subways aren't running.

Rain is predicted for this evening, and it's still not safe to go outside unless absolutely necessary, due to the danger from falling branches and other debris.

But, you know what?  My family is safe, we have plenty of canned food and water to get us through till the stores open, and we are much, much better off than some, who have lost their homes and possessions.  So I'm not complaining (and God help my kids if they do).

Maybe this year's Halloween won't be the best ever, but there are future ones to look forward to and past ones to remember fondly.

Plus, to cheer us all up, in honor of the holiday, a flashback to a soapy Halloween classic....


Originally published on 10/31/11

A WOLF IN SOAP CLOTHING...

In honor of Halloween 2011, an excerpt from the interview I did with Michael Corbett for Soap Opera 451: A Time Capsule of Daytime Drama's Greatest Moments where he talked about his Young & Restless stint as David Kimble, and the challenge of portraying a character already in make up who puts on more make up who puts on a wolf disguise...

MC: It was a lot of make up. It was really difficult. A lot of hours because, in addition to having that whole set of KILLER make up (ed. note: a presumed dead David kidnapped a plastic surgeon and tried to force him to make David look like David Hasselhoff. Instead, the surgeon carved KILLER into David's forehead. David later returned to town incognito), I would have days where, as the storyline evolved, David went to a make-up artist to become another character, Jim (who married Flo). I’d have the whole disfiguration make up on and I’d do those scenes in the morning, then they’d have to strip all that off and put on a whole other set of prosthetics. My skin was just cracked. It was really hard because, sometimes, we’d have to go from the KILLER scars to the Jim make-up, then pull all that off with acetone, and then go back to the scar make-up.

Later, the masquerade ball was a great, amazing thing. We shot for so many hours, it was such a long process, there was a lot of downtime and long days, but the end product was really great. It was really exciting because the storyline was fantastic. The whole cast was at the giant masquerade ball, it was a big event; long, long hours, but really beautiful and a lot of plotlines were woven together, as the Bells are so good at doing. It was the big climax of a lot of storyline all in one place.

For more from Michael and dozens of other soap opera actors, writers, producers, and experts, check out Soap Opera 451: A Time Capsule of Daytime Drama's Greatest Moments at: http://tinyurl.com/SoapMomentsEBook.

Meanwhile, enjoy a clip of Genoa City all dressed up for Halloween 1991 (exactly 20 years ago!), below:

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