Mary and Joseph in Santa Barbara
By Isabelle Caron, Télé 7 Jours, 1988	Home   Cette page en Français

There was a city, and there is nothing anymore... Or it rather seems to come from time immemorial. A Martinez, the handsome Cruz Castillo who, every time I meet him, can not help but talk about his recent trip in Paris, smiles : "Santa Barbara gave its place to Bethlehem two thousand years ago. I am Joseph and Marcy is Mary." The audacity of the Santa Barbara producers was needed to dare imagining this set come out of the sacred history : a village, an inn, a stable and quite topical heroes : Jesus, the shepherds, the donkey, the lamb, the beef, and the three wise men bearing gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Marcy Walker looks at the baby Jesus with affection : "The birth of my first child is very close, I might even give birth on December 25 instead of February 14... I will be obliged soon to leave my friends of Santa Barbara a few weeks, but the writers were kind enough to create dialogues that allow me not to disappear too much from the soap."

I'm embarrassed, thinking of the letter of the faithful fans of Santa Barbara (in France) on TF1, to attend an episode they will not watch until at least Christmas of next year. But we must try to understand this episode like no other. It had to juggle between dream and reality. Brandon, played by Justin Gocke, is in a coma at the hospital and dreams of Jesus' birth. In his dream, all the characters of the crib look like the characters of Santa Barbara. "Brandon is announcing to the innkeeper, played by Jed Allan - C.C. Capwell and his wife, played by Judith McConnell - Sophia Capwell, that he saw a big star shining in the heavens and that the Savior, as expected, will be born there, tonight. The three wise men, sat at the inn, Lane Davies, Joe Marinelli and Franck Runyeon are listening. An old blind beggar Louise Sorel - Augusta Lockridge, goes out to see the star and recovers her sight... It is Brandon who suggests to the innkeeper not to send back this young couple who ask to be lodged, but to let them sleep in the cowshed where he accompanies them and lends them a blanket because Mary is shivering... There are the sheep, the donkey and, later, the angel. There is also a shepherd, Todd McKee - Ted Capwell, and a shepherdess, Kimberly McArthur - Kelly Capwell... But they both prefer Santa Claus' home, full of toys and decorations. Todd McKee gets on Santa Claus' sleigh for everyone's delight. "This set is magnificent," Marcy says. This changes a little of our luxury homes." "Bethlehem, Jesus, the wise men," says A Martinez, represent faith, hope and gratitude." He leans toward me and whispers : "I want to share my secret with Télé 7 Jours and its readers. My wife and I are expecting a child for the month of June. We are so happy." June ? But that means... "Yes, A laughs. It happened in Paris. Télé 7 Jours gave us more than a nice trip..." He does not want to know in advance if it is a boy or a girl. "It's not important." This Christmas will be one of the finest of his life. "It's been a while Leslie and I wanted to give a brother or a sister for our son, Cody. We had to go to Paris. It's really the city of love..."

All the actors want to talk to me about Christmas. Todd McKee who arrives from Paris wants as a gift "to speak French fluently and without an American accent !" Louise Sorel tells me that the best gift she could have received is her "return in Santa Barbara." Lane Davies dream that Santa Claus offers him, in addition of the show, a theater role and rather in a Shakespeare play. The producers, as for them, entrust me some exclusives upcoming developments. First the one who has raped Eden will be arrested soon, Julia Wainwright will fall in love with Father Michael Donnelly. T.J. Daniels will try to kill Kelly. As for her, she will end up a widow. There are still adventures, all the more incredible than the others, which are prepared between the halls of the TF1soap star. But we'll talk about them again...

Read also : Brandon's biblical Christmas