ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, November 19, 1996 TAG: 9611190076
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: BETH MACY
SOURCE: BETH MACY
They were the hard-core, they were the devout.
They could remember as if it had been yesterday - indeed, as if it had been real - the time 15 years ago when Victor Newman locked his wife's boyfriend, Michael, in a cage in the basement.
They know exactly why Jill and Kay have always hated each other: because Jill was hired to be Kay's paid companion, but fell in love with her husband, Phillip, and later had his baby - a few weeks after the man died in a car accident while drinking.
And they can recite the number of times detective Paul Williams has been married: Once, to April Lynch (while a teen thug, after getting her pregnant); again, to Lauren Fenmore (she left him because Turk said he would kill Paul if she didn't); and now, to Christine Blair (fashion model-turned-Legal-Aid-lawyer).
``I got to touch him on the shoulder as he came in,'' beamed Sandy McGuire, a loan specialist for the Veterans Administration and a ``Young and The Restless'' fan for 20 years.
McGuire was among the 1,000 or so people who stood in a meandering line among the sofas, dinette sets and reclining chairs at Valley View's Grand Piano & Furniture Co. on Saturday - all for a shot at rubbing shoulders with one of the soap opera's hottest stars, Doug Davidson, a.k.a. the suave detective Paul Williams.
No one mentioned that Paul once gave Nikki a venereal disease. Or the time Paul's policeman-dad had to rescue him from a cult.
While the throngs of pre-Thanksgiving Christmas shoppers packed Valley View, this crowd of ``Y&R'' fans postponed the reality of Christmas lists in favor of more escapist concerns.
Such as: Would Paul look older, fatter or shorter in person than on TV?
``He looks even better,'' McGuire said. ``I thought he'd have a lot of makeup on, but he looks great.''
Terri Ferguson, a 12-year fan of the show, agreed. She watches the show faithfully because, she insisted, ``it's not so bizarre and wild as some of the other programs.''
Ferguson approved of Paul's current status - his marriage to goody-two-shoes Christine - but conceded that it probably won't last. ``No one ever stays married in a soap opera,'' noted Ferguson.
She tapes the show while she's at work, examining claims for Shenandoah Life Insurance. If she forgets to record it, she reads the synopsis in the Saturday Spectator section of the newspaper.
When Michele Wright forgets to tape the show, ``she'll go out of her way to listen to the Clarence update on K-92,'' her husband, Stephen Wright, said, referring to the morning radio synopses.
Stephen initially denied his loyalty to both the show and Paul Williams - Michele said she had to drag him to Saturday's autograph-signing event after seeing an ad for it on TV. ``But don't let him fool you,'' she said. ``He's the one who got me started on this.''
Stephen eventually confessed: He became hooked on the show in college, when he made it his daily practice to retire to the student rec room after lunch. He claims he went there to take a nap. ``The cleaning ladies would come in every day at 12:30 to watch the show, and I would doze in and out catching parts of it,'' Stephen said.
``I did see the whole David Kimball thing, though,'' he added, referring to Nina's villainous husband, who met his demise after he discovered a quack plastic surgeon had written the word ``KILLER'' on his forehead.
For 2 1/2 hours Saturday, video recorders whirred and camera flashes popped as Roanokers tried to document the soap celebrity's visit, which Grand officials hope will boost business during the holiday season.
While fans shouted out questions - like, why don't you ever marry your faithful secretary Lynn? or why doesn't your meddling mother take up a hobby, like bowling? - Grand V.P. Fred Hill hoped they were also taking note of such buys as that Serpentine Back Sofa by Hickory Hill (now just $595.95).
Which, incidentally, would make for perfect reclining during those after-work sessions of Y&R on tape, the remote-control in hand.
``We had Victor Newman in to our South Carolina store in Greenville, and he brought in 3,000 people,'' Hill said, referring to the business tycoon played by Eric Braeden.
Victor may outrank Paul 3-to-1, but among the crowd at Saturday's celebfest, the detective reigned. Says Cheri Lambert, who watches the show daily with her mother: ``Paul's the best because he's good-looking and the best detective, too. When somebody gets into trouble, Paul always gets them out of it.''
As McGuire says, ``He's both a good guy and a lady killer, too.''
McGuire finds respite in her daily ritual of unwinding with ``Y&R'' after work. ``You get hooked on it because it's an escape from real life,'' McGuire says.
``I mean, no one does the dishes in soap operas. No one dresses like this,'' she says pointing to her jeans and sweatshirt. ``They're all dressed like they're going to the ball.''
LENGTH: Medium: 92 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Doug Davidsonby CNB