Live From New York City
Even as I was driving up to New York from Virginia, I found it really hard to
believe that I was actually going to the Daytime Emmy awards. It's the biggest
night of the year for the soap industry and fans, alike, and, being an "awards
show junkie," I've always looked forward to just watching the event on
television. I had thought that maybe, some day in the far distant future, when
I was working in the soap industry, I might get to go, but here I was, on my
way!
The first adventure of the day was driving in Manhattan for the first time.
Although I grew up in the New York area, and visit New York City all the time,
this was yet-uncharted territory. Despite the obligatory "being honked at by a
cabbie for not mowing down pedestrians," I made it safely to the hotel, which
was right across the street from Madison Square Garden.
I met my internet friend, Karen, at the hotel, and we made plans to meet another
online friend, Lidia, who had won the abc.com contest trip and invited us to
join her in the limo ABC provided! We met Lidia and her friend at their hotel, had dinner, and departed in style for the awards ceremony. As we pulled up
to Madison Square Garden in the limousine, hordes of fans waved and peeked in,
to try and figure out who we were. We walked down the red carpet, right past
the E! cameras, and into a lobby, where we "hung out" a few minutes and saw
several actors, including Vincent Irizarry (AMC), Hillary B. Smith (OLTL), Erin
Torpey (OLTL), and others. Then, we were told we had to use another entrance,
so we joined the crowd outside, to see if anyone else would "walk the carpet."
We did see a few stars, including Robin Strasser from OLTL, and Doug Davidson
and Lauralee Bell of Y&R, but realized that most had arrived earlier for the
dinner, so we walked around to the other side, and entered the theater.
We peered through our binoculars to watch all the stars take their seats, but it
was pretty dark, so, unfortunately, it was difficult to see much. We were
calling out names, as we saw people we recognized, and asking, "Is that who I think it is?" over and over, again. Unfortunately, they also turned out the house lights
during the commercial breaks, so it was hard to see who was there and what was
going on. Dick Clark warmed up the crowd, and gave us some background on when we
were supposed to applaud, and then the president of the academy said a few
words, including a plug for the Knicks! Lidia had some empty seats next to her,
so we moved up a few rows near the beginning to get a slightly better view.
Oprah began the festivities by pointing out that it was the last Daytime Emmy
Awards of the millenium, and presented the first award to Rosie O'Donnell for
Outstanding Talk Show Host. In addition to seeing all the soap stars, it was really exciting to see Oprah, Rosie, Barbara Walters, and even Aretha Franklin
in a live setting!
It was, of course, an exciting evening for GH fans! We started almost right
away with a win for Jonathan Jackson - the roar of the crowd was so loud I
missed most of his speech, not to mention the clip they showed! GH ended up
sweeping the male acting awards, with wins for Stuart Damon and Tony Geary. It
was disappointing that Becky Herbst and Sarah Brown did not win in their
category, but I was so excited at the Outstanding Writing and Drama Series
awards, as GH had a fantastic year, with a couple of my favorite stories, ever!
The highlight of the evening, of course, was Susan Lucci?s win for Lead Actress.
The entire theater erupted ? everyone was on their feet, and the noise was
deafening. Experiencing that moment was the thrill of a lifetime, and made
everything it took to get there worthwhile. For the rest of my life, I will be
able to say that I was in the room when Susan Lucci finally won, after nineteen
nominations! They were trying to cut her speech short, but I think the entire
crowd agreed that, with all the years she's been waiting for this moment, she
should be able to say whatever she wants!
After the show was over, I followed Karen, who had gone forward, towards the
stage. We ended up going out the door into the area where the pre-show had
taken place, and we were suddenly surrounded by exiting actors! You can see
Karen's story for a detailed account of who we saw, but I have to reiterate, we
were in the right place at the right time, and it was a blast!
We even found Lidia and the limo, despite our fear that we had lost them, so we
re-grouped for a debriefing session at Planet Hollywood, and reflected on the
experience of a lifetime! The next morning, we topped it off with a visit to
Times Square to check out the new Jockey bra billboard, featuring the ladies of
ABC Daytime. All in all, attending the Daytime Emmys was a night I'll never
forget!
Story by LCiam
Attending the Emmys in Style
by LCiam
