The Days of our Lives by Ken Corday

THE TRUE STORY OF ONE FAMILY'S DREAM

AND THE UNTOLD STORY OF

DAYS OF OUR LIVES

Days of our Lives debuted on NBC back on November 8, 1965 with the opening lines "Like sands through the hourglass, so our the days of our lives" and was the first opera to be broadcast in color.  Now almost 45 years and over 11,000 episodes later, millions of people still tune in every weekday (that's over 260 brand new episodes a year) to see what is happening in the fictional town of Salem.

This book tells of the personal story of the Corday family, whose company has owned this show from the very start.  How Ted and Betty Corday met, their lives pre-tv and pre-Days, their big move west, the tragedies and triumphs, and all the behind the scenes work it took to get Days of our Lives on the air.  

It also gives an inside look of Ken Corday's life as he grew in this family and became the head of the family business when his mother passed away in 1987.  The book also explains what it takes to keep a show like this on the air for 45 years, the struggles and give and take that had to be made and why some of the fans favorite actors are longer on the show, or on only occasionally.

Ken also names his "Hourglass Ladies", the "Heros" and the "Dirtiest Half Dozen".  He also covers how when you die in daytime, most times you are not really dead, or dead forever.

This book gives you the true story of the Corday family, their dreams, and their pitfalls, and that sometimes no matter what you do, there are so many things out of your control.

You already knew I was going to LOVE THIS BOOK!!  Days of our Lives is the only daytime drama I still watch every single day and have watched it for as long as I can remember.

I am so glad Ken Corday wrote this book, it is great to know how things came to be, especially with the recent changes made on the show.  I was extremely upset with NBC and Ken Corday, but he explains in this book, the things that go on way behind the scenes, in the conference rooms, on the hundreds of phone calls, how in the last two years the show reinvented itself to still give us a quality show but to keep it within the financial restraints.  

For me the best lines in the book are in the last paragraph of page 239. "I do not see an end to our show anymore. I see this as a new beginning, as if the hourglass has been turned over once again and the sands are flowing anew."

There are also some wonderful pictures in this book, not only of the cast, but of the Cordays.  

If you are a fan you will love this book, if you were a fan but stopped watching because of the changes made over the years, you need to read this book.

On the show this week our beloved Grandma Alice Horten is dying, the great actress Frances Reid who has played Alice from day one passed away in February.  They are showing old clips from years gone by and some are real tearjerkers.  Everyone wanted a grandmother like Alice.  This is the perfect week to tune back in and enjoy this wonderful daytime drama.

The Cast Through The Years

A TRUE FAN!!!

This book was from my private collection for full disclosure.