Across the Beer Bar with Liz and the Original Super Couple

Liz:  Oh Em Gee. Seriously, I am like, bouncing up and down in my seat here, getting as close to a squee as I will allow myself (remember: I sell beer. I do not squee. I usually curse).I have at my Tap Room Beer Bar, none other than Doug and Julie! I mean, (ahem) Bill Hayes and Susan Seaforth-Hayes, one of the big time super couples of daytime romance AND the ONLY daytime stars to ever appear on the cover of Time Magazine.
Now allow me to preface this with my own memories. Long about 1976 my family moved from Alabama to Kentucky where my dad was head of the music department of a small college. I was young and old (enough) to really be unhappy about moving from my friends and had settled in bound and determined NOT to like it, NOT to make any new friends and to get back to Alabama as fast as I could eventually.  My mom was home with my baby brother, trying to keep him calm and settle a recalcitrant daughter into school. Yeah. Right.
It was about this time I discovered Salem, and the Hortons and Bradys and I let myself get sucked into the extreme romance of daytime television. I won't kid you guys, watching your lives unfold helped me adjust, and I made friends with other girls just as obsessed and, but for a brief flirtation with GH (boo—hiss) Days remains my favorite. I don't watch it like I used to but I keep up, trust me.
So, let's get started. Guys, welcome to my beer bar! What can I pour for you to start?
Hey, great to visit in your charming pub-site! [Susan settles onto a stool.] This very morning we are celebrating the launching of our debut novel, TRUMPET, and the arrival three hours ago of our eighteenth great-grandchild! It may sound as though we hobbled in, but actually we are quite spry, and let's say… rich in life experience. A brew like champagne is welcome. Susan: "Do you have any Spotted Cow? That's a local beer we slurped down in Milwaukee last year." [Bill shakes hands with all the customers and sidles over.] Bill: "In honor of the British setting of TRUMPET, I'll have a half-pint of lager. With a little head. Lager is perfect with a little head." 
Liz: Okay well done. But first I should clarify. I only sell the beer we make on site. So "no" to spotted cow although that is a lovely option whilst in Wisconsin. No, we are home to the Craft Lager Revolution and have 9 different versions of that German style of beer on tap.
And Bill, (pats his hand and winks) that is a lovely way to ask me. This Beer Wench always gives perfect head. So, here you go…slides 2 glasses across to her guests. For Susan, a Wolverine Dark Lager, roasty and delicious. And for Bill the clean crisp perfection of my flagship brew: Wolverine Premium lager.

You are not here to discuss your lives as Doug and Julie (pumps fist) but to talk about your new project. You have written a book! And one of my publishers has released it this week.  Tell us about how the whole thing came about.
We wanted to create a heroine facing all the challenges of today, but set in the licentious world of Regency London. Our first book (LIKE SANDS THROUGH THE HOURGLASS) was a double memoir (sold well!). We had a great experience writing together, so we plunged into fiction.  Whew! Fiction is another cat entirely. TRUMPET allows us to examine parallels with a romantic age and our own more brutal one. In fact, both are pretty crazy!
Liz: And Your heroine? Lizzie (pumps fist again).  This is her story, right?
Lizzie Trumpet is not a Jane Austen lady, but a feisty girl breaking into the colorful world of the stage.
Susan [leans  over her frosty mug.]: Elizabeth was my mother's name; she was an actress at fifteen, then a soap opera writer. I started acting at four. Being actors, Billy and I wrote what we know and researched the history for seven years.
Bill  [looks over the room.]: (we) Traveled all over the world, Egypt, Waterloo, London, Charleston. Spent all our money. We were nuts!
Susan [calms him with a smile—Liz tries not to swoon instead fans herself and keeps saying Doug and Julie Doug and Julie like an mantra] Yes, darling." Well, to become an actress in 1803 made you an outcast, no matter how brilliant your talent. Our plot takes the gorgeous Lizzie from the heights of fame in London to the insides of the pyramids of Egypt and back again. It covers eighteen years of English history and many real historical figures and delicious men along the way. There definitely are romantic moments.
Bill: [eyeballs his second beer] Could I have a little more head next time?


Liz: (motions for bartender to try the pour again) How do you write—sitting at 2 different computers and coming up with separate scenes? One of you typing while the other is the muse?
Susan: Separate inspirations; then we edit each other. If I discover a fascinating happening from 1812, it will turn up in our character's life. And three of Bill's dreams are in it, word for word. Real emotions and snappy dialogue are very important to us. We read all our work aloud.
Bill: [looks up, foam on his lips—once again Liz is struck dumb the surreal nature of the moment]  There's a minimum of screaming and yelling.
Liz: Yes. Leave the screaming to us.
 Susan [shifts shyly on her seat]: Creating a work of art," …and that's what TRUMPET is to us…, creating a book has entwined us more closely, and this after thirty-seven years of marriage!
Liz: Oh look, empty glasses….what can I pour for you next?
Susan: More of the same.  Maybe some chips?
Bill [hopefully]:  Got any bangers and mash?
Liz: Bill, for you anything. But, ah, no. No food. We are just a "beer bar" but after we are done here I will take you down the street for a killer meal at Zingerman's Roadhouse. Okay seriously the "big pink sausage" thing…Susan. That rocked…
Our Lizzie meets people Bill and Susan know in real life. One is the pianist, conductor, voice coach we call Carlo Tomassi. To sing well he advises Lizzie to open her mouth nice and wide as though swallowing a big pink sausage. Picture it. Some of the best lines are from our friend, once spoken to me, including, "Darling girl, when you take that breath, no floppen-titzin!"  We wonder: will actors from DAYS OF OUR LIVES recognize themselves? Answer: we'll see, won't we?
Liz: I think I just had a heart attack. Seriously.
I always tell people who like to watch daytime drama that what I write (contemporary romance) is pretty much that, only in book form.  The enduring popularity of both forms of entertainment is telling I think about how people do like to see "real life" people with their "real life" (mostly---all that coming back to life stuff is not so great to my mind) problems.  Are you  guys big readers? If so, who are your favorite authors.
Susan: We read constantly.
Bill [ponders as he sips]: Since I was a teen I've loved THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO by Dumas—cliff hangers, rich characters, romance and adventure…a great story of vengeance.   Our Lizzie tussles with vengeance quite a bit.
Susan:  Bill is currently re-reading GONE WITH THE WIND, eating it up.
Bill: We both love the work of Patrick O'Brian. LOVE it! [Some old codgers in the back of the bar, guys over sixty in captains hats, nod approvingly.]  Susan is also  moved and inspired by Ann Pachett (BEL CANTO) and Kaye Gibbons. We haven't  read much romance; we admire the folks who grind it out, but have spent most of our time with other writing.
Liz:  How did you come to work with Decadent Publishing? 
Last summer we met Heather Bennett at a book signing for the DAYS 45th anniversary coffee table book, where our memoir was on the table. Heather: "Say, I didn't know Doug and Julie wrote." Answer: "Well, we do." "Got anything else?" "You betcha." "Get back to you in ten days." She did, and signed us up. This breezy beginning led to a grinding rewrite with Decadent editors, who live far far away and only deal in romance. We had never dealt in romance per se, just performed it and lived it for decades. So,…it took a while to speak in the same language. [Susan shakes her head, sighing deeply.]
Susan: "How about another beer?"
TRUMPET is not strictly a "romance novel," the genre Liz knows so well and produces by the case, where hero and heroine overcome obstacles and end happily in bed. Our story is a great, ambitious read, full of adventure, spice, facts and humor. It's the kind of book with memorable characters we love to get lost in.   
Liz: Okay, well, someday you will read mine dear hearts (pats their hands) and see NONE of my books end very neatly with happily ever after. And in defense of "romance" (at least the stuff I write) if it's well-crafted it WILL have complex characters, adventure, spice and all of the above. But we'll save that for another discussion (raises and eyebrow and tries not to get defensive with publisher glaring at me from the corner)
We have several connections…the most recent of which is we share an editor at Decadent. How has that process been for you? It can be a little brutal…

Bill: Yes, we had to take a tutorial in 'point of view' and 'head-hopping.' That slowed our progress during the editing phase.
Susan: We enlarged our editor's awareness of archaic vocabulary.
Liz:  And Bill and I could be related…one side of my family is from Western Kentucky originally, the other from Louisville (GO CARDS---sorry, I have basketball Tourettes).  Share that connection with our no-doubt eager readers.
Bill:  Yes, Kentuckians are very close. Liz Crowe lived in Owensboro, KY, for several years. And my dad—William Foster Hayes II—was born and raised in Owensboro, lived on Parrish Avenue. Susan and I went to see the house a few years ago, met the folks who lived there. It was great to walk through the home that my father and his family lived in. Family means a lot to me. I'm William Foster Hayes III, and my great grandson is William Foster Hayes VI. My Granddaddy—William Foster Hayes I—a lawyer, wrote the history book SIXTY YEARS OF OWENSBORO. So, if Liz and I aren't related, we should be.
Liz: Oh hell, now I'm not mad at you anymore about that "romance novel" thing.  (blinks rapidly)
And finally, guys, I'm just telling you now, you are my second fav super couple. I love me some Bo and Hope…just sayin.  Can you share one really outstanding memory from your time on Days of Our Lives? (pretty please)
Susan: Once upon a time at NBC Burbank. DOOL taping. A wedding shower scene. Entire female cast assembled. Take One: Dignified Sister Marie enters the party set, trips, and falls on her ass, legs in the air. Hilarity results. As we are setting up for Take Two, Suzanne Rogers (Maggie Horton) says, 'When Marie hit the floor, I peed!' Hopeless hysteria followed. Had to take a twenty minute break. Ah, those were happy days!
Bill: I have many.  Doug and Julie wedding #1 (1976). Doug and Julie wedding #2 (1981). The variety show (1979). Tom and Alice's anniversary party. Singing at Doug's Place. But the one that really is vivid to this day is the scene at the Hessian Inn. Doug and Julie had been separated for a couple years, were on a buying trip, tried soooo hard to not get involved. But it all was too romantic; heart trumped head; Doug picked Julie up and laid her on the bed. Oooooooh!
Liz:  (sighs and wipes a tear….God I loved that show) And  now, the nightcap!  What is your poison?
Bill: I've had enough. I'm starting the think of limericks and toasts we used to laugh at back when I was in the Navy.
Susan [says someone nonsense about a brandy drink but is cut short by Liz who presents her and Bill with a small glass of her carefully aged Imperial Dark Lager from Kentucky Bourbon barrels---the whole bar claps with glee]: It was great getting to know Liz, whom I remember from those writing exercises about the guy in the plane with the miserable headache and the lady drooling over him. [She slugs back her drink.] Really, Liz turned out to be a lot of fun.
 Bill: Time to go, sweetheart. [They help each other off the stools and sway towards the exit. High fives from the codgers and old time fans. Susan turns back dreamily.]
 Susan: I loved the snug atmosphere. Thanks for the cheer, Liz!"
Liz: (faints as her bartenders keep asking "who were those people?")
AND NOW folks, it's prize winning time.
Leave a comment with YOUR BEST DAYS OF OUR LIVES MEMORY (no matter what generation of Hortons and Bradys you know). We have several kick ass prizes to share:A copy of Bill's CD: "This is Bill Hayes" (autographed)A copy of their memoir "Like Sands Through the Hourglass"A Beer Wench tee shirt (priceless, really—sending Susan hers too)A copy of your choice of Liz's Decadent backlist (one of the Turks in anticipation of the upcoming pequel: The Diplomat's Daughter OR Caught Offside—soccer HEAT, yes indeedy.

I'LL NEED SNAIL MAIL ADDRESSES EVENTUALLY BUT START BY LEAVING ME YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS AND I'LL CONTACT THE WINNERS DIRECTLY ON SUNDAY: April 1, 2012.

TRUMPET, by Bill Hayes and Susan Seaforth-HayesAvailable NOW from Decadent PublishingBuy Link:  http://www.decadentpublishing.com/product_info.php?products_id=504&osCsid=2o85cijavocg3ptecdinkncif3

Blurb:Brilliant and sassy Elizabeth Trumpet fantasizes starring on the London stage, but to become an actress in 1803 is tantamount to losing her virginity in the most debasing way.

After watching her mother die and her father lose his mind, the courageous sixteen-year-old must find a way to save her family. She scores her first acting job as a fencer—the deadly skill she learned from her brother training for the military. Blessed with talent and a rare singing voice, Lizzie pursues her career, learning from theatrical characters high and low.

When reckless actor Jonathan Faversham sets eyes on Miss Trumpet, he knows he's found the partner of his life. But Faversham carries ruinous baggage from a dark past. Entangled in lust and ambition, Lizzie gives him her heart and they reach the heights together. Until Lizzie gets more applause than he…

From the magnificence of Regency palaces and the Theatre Royal Covent Garden to the sun-baked pyramids of Egypt and the arms of a real-life Samson, Lizzie is never far from trouble. As her brother rides to glory with Wellington in the Napoleonic Wars, great events threaten her survival. Danger lurks behind stage curtains, when a madman sets fire to take her life and she lifts a sword in revenge.
Excerpt:"Listen child, I know what to do. Dress to look adorable and present yourself at the Sadler's Wells Theatre. They'll be putting together the summer spectacle now."
Lizzie looked dumbfounded. "Sadler's Wells? Auntie, that place is for acrobats and dancing dogs."
She had never been allowed near the Wells, because of its rowdy reputation. Secretly, Georgie had once crept into a show and enthralled his sister with what he had seen: bawdy singers, a knife-thrower, dancing girls and, most wonderful, the brave-hearted collie Moustache leading a troupe of performing dogs.
Drury Lane and Covent Garden audiences, though noisy, were completely out-shouted by the unbridled behavior of Sadler's Wells crowds. In the rural suburb of Islington, spectators were gleefully raucous and sexually uninhibited. The ambience was so casually iniquitous the Wells management offered escorts after dark, to conduct patrons in safety to the center of London.
"Besides, Aunt, if Covent Garden refused me, where they know me for William Trumpet's daughter, what would I do at the Wells? Be a barmaid?"
"I'm certain you're superior to all those acrobats and dogs you mention, but the fact is you've never walked across any stage except in your imagination. Your mother was so set against your being an actress she stopped you playing a fairy in a Christmas panto when you were but three. I remember well. What a lot of screaming that led to!"
Lizzie could just recall the screaming, getting slapped by Jessie and slapping her mother back. She quickly dismissed the recollection. "Papa said Sadler's is infamous, no better than a raree-show with music."
"And just down the road, too. As good a place as any to learn performing, and isn't that what you want?"
Lizzie had hidden her dreams of the stage from her mother, but Peg was not so easily misled. "I have no stage training."
"They'll train you! You are young and pretty as a petunia!" Peg slapped the table. "Ye'll keep a smile on your face and your big yap shut. Look sharp and be willing. Not too willing, mind. The Wells is not quite a brothel, despite what happens in the bushes every night. But that's life, darlin'. Men will take their cocks out in a lively atmosphere."
Lizzie had heard such salty talk from her aunt before, but never in regards to herself. It was sobering. But exciting. "And if I fail to be chosen, no one will ever know?"
"You'll be chosen, darlin', if ye but try."







SUSAN SEAFORTH HAYES began acting at age four with the New York Metropolitan Opera inMadam Butterfly and has been performing ever since. Born in California to an actress mother, she attended Los Angeles City College focusing on history. Cast as "Julie" in NBC's long running Days of our Lives, Susan received four Emmy nominations for best actress in daytime and married the man of her dreams, co-star Bill Hayes. Their romance produced the best-selling autobiography Like Sands Through the Hourglass and forty years of theatrical adventures together.

Hayes has addressed the House Judiciary Committee, served on the board of the Screen Actors Guild, been a docent of Western History, and traveled the globe as a cruise ship lecturer. She lives in Studio City, continues to play "Julie," attends the opera, and always keeps a good book handy.

BILL HAYES has been a singer/actor his entire adult life, performing in all forms of entertainment—hundreds of recordings, topped by Best-Record-of-1955 'The Ballad of Davy Crockett;' over a hundred plays and musicals, including Broadway (Me and Juliet, Brigadoon), and a national tour(ByeBye Birdie); films (Stop! You're Killing Me, The Cardinal); literally thousands of hours of television (Your Show of Shows, Days of our Lives), and a surprising list of variety, dramatic, game, and talk shows); concerts and cafes (solo, also with Florence Henderson, Ann Blyth, Gogi Grant and wife Susan).

For four years, Hayes was spokesman for Oldsmobile. He has earned Bachelor of Arts, Master of Music, and Doctor of Education degrees, written songs, and--with Susan--published a successful memoir called Like Sands Through the Hourglass. His five children produced twelve grands and eighteen great-grands.

He still goes to tap-class.