Mood:
luckyPriscilla helped me remember everything that happened at the tour last night, and to get it in chronological order the best we could. LOL, and Ben, don't listen to her saying I kept her up five extra minutes the other night because she kept me up an hour last night!! We had a great time trying to remember every detail, so you can imagine what fun we had on the tour and at lunch!!
Priscilla and I arrived at the gate at 10:45. Our tour was at 11. The security guard looked up our names, but didn't really have anything written down for us, so he called my contact person at Passions, Carri, and everything was fine. He gave us nametags to wear with our last names on them. We headed to the administration building. A guard had the door open for us. The downstairs there was large and spacious. We took an elevator to the second floor, and began going in circles. The Passions offices looped around the floor, and we tried to read the names on all the doors, but we never saw "Passions Publicity Department" so we weren't really sure where to go. Finally we asked a couple people, and that helped get us there.
We met Carri in the office. She was very nice. While there, Pris and I glanced at the weekly actors' schedule. She saw that Ben and Tracey were working, both yesterday and today. In the publicity offices, they had clippings from the mags hanging up on bulletin boards. I saw Ben’s recent “Julian” interview and Tracey’s dressing room article on there. There were some great Eric pics up too (Tam would have loved it).
Carri led us outside, and we began the tour. What surprised me a little was that we spent most of the day outside…that it’s not one big indoor place…there are separate buildings, so the actors and crew come and go outside, and that is where we met just about all the actors we saw.
We went to wardrobe first. It is a huge building, with more clothes than you can imagine. The building, which is really like a warehouse, has two long sections of clothing, with an aisle in the middle. Every cast member has their own row. Their character’s name and actor’s picture is on the outside of that row. Pris and I took each other’s pics by the Eve and Julian clothes. I had to find one of Ben’s tan suits, of course. I asked if the non-contract actors’ clothes, like Endora’s, were housed there too. They showed us where her clothes were. We got to see all the cute little dresses she has worn, like her Thanksgiving one. The wardrobe gal said she loves buying clothes for her. She has a longer dress that she knows she’ll grow into. It was beautiful. Carri asked if BamBam’s clothes were all gone. They were, but they had a lot of pictures up of him in some of his amazing costumes. They told us some cute BamBam stories, and said how sweet he was. They miss him.
We went back outside and headed across a short distance to hair and makeup. Hair and makeup were in three connecting rooms (I think) located on the first floor of a neat Spanish style building. The top floor was the casts’ dressing rooms. Each one is entered from an outside entrance. We went into the hair entrance and saw someone working on Cathy’s hair. Cathy was really nice. Pris immediately spotted Liz’s wig sitting on the counter and pointed it out. Cathy and her hair stylist said, “Yeah, that’s Liz’s wig.” We went on into the makeup room, and Carri explained how the makeup is sprayed on, all of it. Every actor has a bottle there with his or her name on it, and the makeup is applied pretty easily, it seems, by spraying it on. No one was in makeup when we went in. We then cut through an additional hair room, I think (unless I was turned around backwards, which happens. ) Carri pointed out the wigs on the table there. We saw Ivy’s.
As we exited the hair place, Carri said, look, it’s Mr. Masters. He saw me before I saw him and he greeted me and hugged me. I introduced Pris and he gave her a warm hug. Ben is so sweet. He was in this old, muddy cowboy get-up. I said cowboy, but it was more caballero, I think. LOL, that was what Tracey later called it. Ben was getting ready to portray a donkey handler in a fantasy of Rebecca’s. He looked so cute. He asked us if Tracey was there yet. (She had an 11:00 call, I think, so she was just getting there). We said not yet. He mentioned to Carri something about showing us the set. She said she would take us to the part they weren’t taping on yet. While he went to tape his scene, we walked along the sidewalk area by the main building and met Emily and Dylan. She came over and shook our hands. Dylan passed by and waved.
Carri took us to the part of the set that was ready for taping in the afternoon. It was set up with the Crane mansion foyer/staircase, the Crane living room, and on the other side, a jail cell and the wharf. We got some pictures of us on the staircase and sitting on the mansion’s couch. That was neat.
We went outside then and saw Ben again a little ways off. I think he was done taping. Tracey came from the other side with Bryce. We were so glad to get to meet him. Boy is he one great-looking teen! Pris and I agree, he could be a model. He looks so much like Tracey, with those gorgeous eyes and cheekbones. Tracey hadn’t been to makeup yet, so she wasn’t wearing any, but she was drop-dead gorgeous, such a natural beauty. Her hair was pulled back (which Pris says was so smart in that heat), and she was wearing a white sleeveless top and a short brown skirt, Pris says. I didn’t notice the skirt. I am not good with clothes! She came over and greeted and hugged us. LOL, when I introduced her to Pris, and Pris went to hug her, she stepped on Tracey’s foot and kind of fell forward into her. She told me not to mention that, but I felt compelled to. Tracey told us lunch would be a little short because they both had a 1:00 call for blocking. Tracey and Ben greeted each other and shared a little kiss. He asked her about traffic. Then she went to her dressing room real fast, we think, and Ben headed back to the set.
Carri took us for a little walk of the grounds, and showed us the only remaining slice of the Gilligan’s Island outdoor set…this little round area of vegetation covered by a cute little bridge. When we walked back from that, we saw Rodney coming. Carri was surprised to see him there because he wasn’t supposed to be taping that day. He stopped to talk and asked where we were from. He got excited when I said I was from Ohio. (He is from Cincinnati). He asked how I got the set tour, and I told him about the auction. He asked how much it cost me. LOL. After Rodney left, Tracey came outdoors and walked over to us, and then Ben joined us, still in his costume. They shared a little kiss before Tracey went into the hair/makeup room.
Ben asked Carri if we could go on the set. She said she wasn’t allowed to take us there. About then, Tracey came out of the hair room and rushed toward wardrobe because they had called her name on the loudspeaker (she was late – LOL). She mumbled something, jokingly, about them already hating her. Ben headed off to change out of his costume. I wish we had gotten a picture of him in it!
We went back over near the hair/makeup rooms and saw Charles. We talked to him for a bit. He was really nice. He said he had been to Pennsylvania, but not Ohio. He had heard Cincinnati was nice though. He mentioned he wished Heidi was there, since she is from my state. He said how much she loves Ohio. Danica came out while we were talking to Charles. The poor girl was dressed in a purple bra and little red nightie and was wearing the makeup of a prostitute. She had a blanket wrapped around her. She looked embarrassed at her outfit, but talked to us for a little bit. I asked her if her scene was in bed. Charles said no, it was in jail. She went off, and as Charles was leaving, we remembered we hadn’t gotten any pictures of the stars yet. He heard us say that and asked if we wanted pictures. We each posed with him, separately and together. He was sweet.
We sat down on some chairs on the sidewalk area at that point and talked to Carri. Ben came out wearing blue jean shorts, a gray t-shirt, and his loafers. His sunglasses were hanging on his shirt collar. He looked so hot. He sat down in an empty chair and talked to us. Pris told him I kept her up the night before, We talked about the traffic, and later Ohio, and the conversation turned to the Amish who live near me. Ben told Pris about Witness, a movie dealing with the Amish that she has never seen. Ben talked about the boards, and how he used to log onto Coffeerooms every morning to read JSP’s First Edition. Priscilla remembered that, but it was before my time on the boards. LOL, technology comes late to eastern Ohio. At one point Ben realized I was sitting in the sun and helped me pull my chair into the shade. LOL. We were there for probably 20 minutes till Tracey got done in wardrobe. She joined us and asked Ben if he was entertaining us. We headed over to the commissary. Ben and Tracey walked ahead, with their arms around each other. They were so cute.
The commissary had a wide variety of food. It had a salad bar, sandwiches, and lots of drinks. The special that day was Mexican. Pris got grilled chicken with salsa and romaine lettuce. She flirted with the cook while she was there. Ben got a cheeseburger without the bun and a small salad. Tracey, Carri and I all got salads at the salad bar. While they were waiting for their food, Pris mentioned to Ben that she was on a controlled low carb diet. He said he was on a low carb one too. Tracey asked what we wanted to drink. We both said water. She got bottles out of the cooler for us. They were really large bottles. Ben bought us all lunch. They are both so sweet.
We all sat down at a table near the window. Tracey realized Priscilla and I had plastic forks. Ben went and got us metal ones. LOL. We ate and talked about lots of stuff…our flights, Pris’ apprehension of flying, the packed freeways, what we had seen so far out there, and what else we were planning to do. Carri asked if we were going to the beach. Ben mentioned Venice Beach and kind of smiled. Carri said Santa Monica Beach was better. She told us about some of the cool things going on in that area. Priscilla said she wanted some sushi, and Carri, Ben and Tracey all mentioned some good places for it in Studio City. Tracey probably thought I was a little weird when I said I had just tried Calamari for the first time this summer, and I wasn’t ready yet for sushi. Priscilla talked about her diet and how much weight she had lost, 44 pounds. They were impressed. I told them I had lost 40, but gained back 20 of it. LOL.
Ben then asked us if there was anything we were supposed to ask for the board – he knew there would be. That’s when I asked him if there was some good news ahead, and Pris said, “Let me rephrase this. Are there anymore nauseating things that we need to be aware of?” Ben said, “You mean when Eve remarries TC?” Oh boy, there were three of us whose eyes got large and mouths dropped open with that comment! LOLOL. Ben started laughing. Then he talked to us about the show. LOL, we discussed Teve a bit. Tracey admitted it was hard to go from TC calling her those names to five minutes later, him wanting her back. She said she knows there are abused women who get out of the hospital and go straight back to their husbands. But she agreed with Pris when Priscilla asked, how could there be any decision between Julian and TC?
We discussed the kiss that aired this week. Tracey asked if it appeared to be a romantic kiss. She said she took it as a kiss of gratitude, they were grateful they were alive. I told her I got yelled at for posting about it. Priscilla told her she thought the smile Tracey had after the kiss looked forced. Tracey asked her if she was critiquing her acting and laughed. Insert foot in mouth, Pris. LOL. Pris told her no, it just reminded her of when kids have to take nasty medicine…you don’t want to, but you have to. LOL.
While we were eating, Passions’ new publicist, Scott Barton, came over and introduced himself. He wanted to meet the gal whom the baskets could never get to. He joked that they must be sitting in a post office somewhere, and someone will probably have a good little auction.
Carri took a picture of us at the table. It didn’t turn out because of the lack of flash, I guess, but you can make it out a little.
As we were heading toward the trashcan, the conversation turned to cooking. Tracey said she doesn’t cook, but Ben likes to, and he does the cleaning up too. I told her I don’t cook either really. On the way out of the commissary, Pris showed them pictures of her children on her cell phone. They said they were cute.
We headed over toward the sets to take some more pictures. We ran into Kim outside the hair/makeup rooms and shook hands with her. She teased Tracey about hitting Orville with her car. As we were walking into the sound stage, I told Tracey that some people think she killed him even. She mentioned the sweet scene where he came to her house and talked about her paying for him to go to the retirement home. She said no one seems to remember that scene. LOL. I told her I do, and she said thank you.
The four of us sat on the Crane living room couch, and Carri took our pictures. They turned out great. Ben mentioned getting some taken in the jail, but then Tracey said how about the wharf. Phideaux, one of the directors, came in, and we met him. He took a picture of us on the wharf with Pris’ camera. Then Carri snapped some more. John Reilly walked onto the Crane living room set at that point to block a scene with Kim. We walked out quietly. Ben and Tracey had to get ready for their blocking call, so it was time to say goodbye. We got hugs and kisses. As we headed out, Tracey mentioned something about coming to the fan event.
We went back to the publicity department and Carri got my basket for me (that was part of the auction). It was loaded with Passions goodies, including a Passions nightgown, t-shirt, hat, drinking cup, CD holder and cast photo. She gave Priscilla a t-shirt and cast photo too. Then Carri walked us to the security gate. She told us how to get to Santa Monica Beach. (We went today, and it was awesome). We left then, and Mike pulled up within a few minutes to get us.
Priscilla and I had a wonderful day on the Passions set. Thank you to NBC, Passions, and Clothes Off Your Back for the auction, to Michel at Clothes and Joel at St. Jude’s Medical Center for all their help, to Carri for being a terrific guide, to the cast and crew, for being so warm and welcoming, and most of all, to Ben and Tracey, for going out of their way to make it such a special day for us. Thank you so much!!
