Greetings! I'm Stuart Howard, a Stage Manager here at "Days of Our Lives." The clever folks who run this website feel that I'm uniquely qualified to provide a peek behind the scenes; because to do my job, you need to have one foot in Salem and another in, well, Burbank!
Good morning, Salem! The Stage Manager is the first person on camera at the start of every taping day. Here I am displaying and announcing the "slate": a tradition that goes back to the earliest days of film and TV.
In a nutshell, the Stage Manager's job is to act as the intermediary between the Control Booth, where the director sits watching the action on monitors, and the Studio, where the action actually is! But I'm more than a walking two-way radio. I also help express the needs of the actors and crew to the director, and vice versa. Finally, I'm responsible for helping to keep things moving by encouraging everyone to concentrate and stay "on mission." Think of me as a combination of messenger, mediator, psychologist, coach, and drill sergeant! Here I am getting some of our cast and extras ready for a big scene in St. Luke's.
I'm not sure what subtle script detail I was discussing with Jay Johnson and Nadia Bjorlin in Brady Pub... but it must have been something serious!
There really is no business like show business. We're the luckiest people in the world; and we know it. I'm very fond of the people I work with. They make the long hours and hard work feel like playtime. Rachel Melvin is one of my favorites: my wife and I would adopt her if her parents would let us!
It's humble, but it's home... at least, my home away from home. It's my desk in the main hallway between Stage 2 and Stage 4 at NBC Studios Burbank. Everyone involved in "Days" passes this spot. I'd like to thank you for stopping by. Keep checking back on the Days Insider Blog for more behind-the-scenes stories – and of course, keep watching "Days!"
