Days in Motor City!

On Friday, November 13, hundreds of Days' biggest fans and aspiring actors lined up at the MGM Grand Casino in downtown Detroit, Michigan, to try for their chance at stardom, or just a trip to Hollywood to visit the set of their favorite daytime drama. Five popular Salemites - James Reynolds, Bryan Dattilo, Nadia Bjorlin, Shelley Hennig and Shawn Christian - were on hand to sign autographs. And on Saturday, November 14, they were there to read with the acting finalists.

Days' biggest fan was called with the good news on the evening of Friday, November 13. The winner, Christina Jones, was thrilled and excited that she was the lucky winner of the trip to Hollywood and visit to the set of Days of our Lives.

On Saturday, November 14, the acting finalists got their chance to read with one of the stars of Days. Afterwards, the judges, who included Days' Casting Director Marnie Saitta, Vice President for Drama Programming Bruce Evans and Manager, Daytime Programming Rebecca McGill, both from NBC, and Greg Meng, Senior Vice President of Production and Development, Corday Productions, Inc., and Executive in Charge of Production, Days of our Lives, sat down to discuss their choices. When the six finalists were called to the stage, Marnie Saitta mentioned that, at one point, each one of them had been the winner. The level of talent was just that strong. As Greg Meng stated, "the talent in Detroit just blew us away."

Gary Clayton and Henri Franklin. Photo: Brian Lipchik.

It was, however, a contest, so there had to be a winner. Or, in this case, two winners: Henri Franklin and Gary Clayton. Both local boys, they were beyond excited to have been chosen as winners. After his name was announced, Henri Franklin talked a little about how he'd gotten the drive to win. "I just kept saying 'it's mine, it's mine, it's mine. Take it, take it, take it.' There was no doubt in my mind. What I want to say is, whatever it is you want, you form it in your mind first. You believe it more than anyone else. You are your biggest supporter." And he followed that up with a heartfelt "wow!"

Gary Clayton, who was equally jazzed to have won, shared with us the spirit we had all felt in Detroit. "I want to thank everybody. Normally, in competitions, everyone is at each other's throat. This one wasn't like that. Everyone just wanted to be friends. It was kind of cool."

Very well said, Gary. The whole week was kind of cool, for everyone from Salem who was lucky enough to be there.