JASON47'S EMMY DAY IN NYC

7AM-1030AM: It was a very nice Friday, May 18, 2001 in the Big Apple. The day started by waiting on the standby line of "Live with Regis and Kelly." It just so happened that O-Town was there to do a post-tape, so there were tons of screaming girls overcrowding the ABC lobby, and thus I did not get in to see the live show, but they had the first audience leave, and the rest of us waited around until 10AM to see O-Town (the band which appears on ABC's "Making the Band") tape its two segments, which will air on "Regis & Kelly" on Friday, June 8th. They did a rehearsal first, followed by their song, and then a quick interview. After the taping, I spoke with and got an autograph from the show's executive, Art Moore. Regis had to leave quickly to get down to Atlantic City for his appearance with Susan Lucci.

1030AM-2PM: It was then about 1030, so I headed over to NBC to get ready to stand in line for the 12 noon appearance Drake Hogestyn (John) and Kyle Lowder (Brady) were making. As I was looking for the line, I realized I had forgotten Deidre Hall (Marlena) was there from 10-11, and she was just wrapping up. She signed about 10 of her doll boxes and then came over and posed for some pictures before she was ushered off. I thought I had missed out, but as I waited on the standby line (this year, NBC got greedy and made people buy something from the store to be on the "preferred" line). Already having most of the "Days" merchandise and not wanting to waste money, I waited on the standby line with about 10 other people. Dee came out the side door right in front of me and I had my "Days" book ready for her to sign. The same two security people with her from the store again said "no, she can't sign", but Dee was nice enough to take a minute and sign my book, right on the page where Drake and Joe Mascolo (Stefano) had previously signed. She then also stopped and posed for a picture with a young boy and his mother. At 130, the "preferred" line finally was done, and the 18 standby people were let in. Just around 2, I got the autographs: First up was "Passions" James Hyde (Sam) and Travis Schuldt (Ethan), who said the "Passions" book was "a great read." Drake was next and (same as last year) wrote "Jason rules" on his picture. Kyle was friendly and was pleased to be seeing all the fans. The NBC Store gave out Soap Bubbles, a larger container of them than they had last year. (I'm sure they'll be going up on Ebay soon for outrageous prices. I'll be saving mine. Just remember whoever sells them got them for free. Don't bid too much!)

2PM-6PM:  Break time. Went to Bagelfeller for a quick lunch, a roast beef sandwich. Pretty good. Spent an hour or so at the Barnes & Noble down the block from NBC but didn't find any new books I was interested in. Then it was off to Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum on 42nd Street. It cost $20, but it was pretty much worth it. They have tons of celebrity wax figures, and so many of them look identical to the real thing. Even the eyeballs look real. Got some pics of myself with Regis, the Pope, Ted Turner and others. They even had a worker stand in the hallway and act like a wax figure, and he would tap people on the shoulder as they passed him, scaring the wits out of many. Getting closer to 5PM, so I went to a place I found I think on either 45th or 46th St.: Rosie O'Grady's Pub. Made me feel like I was at Brady's Pub with Shawn and Caroline waiting on me. It's an excellent place which I highly recommend (and no, I don't own any stock in it). Of course, the prices are steep, my cheeseburger and two glasses of Sprite cost about $20, but having been on my feet all day, it was worth it.

6PM-745PM: Radio City Music Hall, main entrance. As usual, I waited with the fans outside waiting to see if anyone would pull up in a limo. Many limos and cabs passed by, but not one celeb was spotted the entire 90 minutes I was there. Many had went further down the block to appear on the soap opera channel's interview show. At 730, I walked over to the audience line, and got into the theater at 745.

745-1130PM: To my disappointment, for the first time in 6 years, my aisle C was not used by NBC stars, but ABC. Being on NBC this year, I guess they put their stars in the two middle aisles. Also, unlike last year, Radio City put up barriers in between each aisle, so we could not walk between as we did last year (in which I got over 40 autographs). Also, I was in the 5th seat in the row this year, not on the aisle, and thus was unable to get as many. However, around 8, the 4 people next to me had not yet arrived and I stood at the aisle, when I was transported back in time: I spotted Steve Nichols (ex-Patch) and a second later Mary Beth Evans (ex-Kayla) arriving together. I said I had been a fan of theirs since "Days" and they were both very nice, signing their names right next to each other on my program, before heading down the aisle to their seats. This year's snub award goes to: John Ritter of "Three's Company" fame. He was there as a nominee for his voiceover work on the cartoon "Clifford" but brushed me and the rest of the fans aside without a word and signed nothing. Then my row-neighbors arrived and I was pushed back to the 3rd seat and couldn't get many more autographs. I did manage a few more: Vincent Irizarry, Cameron Mathison, a very nice Linda Dano (her husband Frank saw me asking and nudged her to get her attention before she walked past), Jay Pickett (who had a brief stay as Dr. Chip on Days in 1991 and dated Julie), and "Regis" entertainment reporter Claudia Cohen. Dick Clark then was frantic as usual trying to get everyone to sit down before the show started and instructing us when to start clapping from commercial breaks (he likes us to start about 2 seconds before we return from commercial). We were instructed to watch the Kathie Lee exterior intro and wait for announcer Aaron May to say "Live from New York" before we started clapping. The 2 hour show went very quickly, time flies when you are having fun. Dick Clark was pleased and said the final award winner (ATWT) had 1 and a half minutes to thank everyone before being cut off. Back in the lobby after the show, some stars usually go out and sign for a few minutes, I got a few more non-NBCers: Sean Kanan and Larry Warton. Then, I saw a large group of people and wondered who I had missed: "Passions" very own dastardly Julian Crane, Ben Masters. He was on the top of my list as one of the NBC stars I had yet to meet. So I was excited to see him. I was ready with my program for him to sign, and thinking no one was in a rush, but then an usher came by and said he had to leave. She hurried him off with someone else's program still in his hands, but he was nice enough to finish signing it for her and getting it back to her. On the way out, younger actress winner Adrienne Frantz walked by, Emmy in hand, but I noticed her too late before she was surrounded by her "B&B" fans. On a final note, congratulations to my favorite host, Regis Philbin for finally getting the recognition he deserves in the industry. He won not only his first but his second Emmys for both his talk show and "Millionaire" game show. He started out as an NBC page right down the block from Radio City about 50 years ago and was finally awarded for his long service in the entertainment industry. I got less autographs than last year, but overall it was a great day!