Happy holidays!

Happy holidays!

This was the Christmas card that was published on Suosikki magazine in the mid-80s. I thought it was sad to see Pam and Bobby in separate pictures. They were divorced on the show during that time, so I figured it was only fitting to put Bobby with his momma and Pam with her precious horse shoes... ;)

Moreover, it was appropriate that Afton should be in this card, after all, she was highly popular in Finland. Audrey Landers even visited Helsinki with her sister Judy in the 80s. Maybe, if Ken Kercheval had sang Manuel Goodbye wearing red glittery dress, he would have made it to this card, as well.

Nevertheless, with this card I want to say thank you to all of you for sticking with me and this blog.
I hope you enjoy the last days of 2016! See y'all soon!

Covers, covers... Linda Gray's relationships

Hello my dear readers,

It's been a while, I know. I apologize. It's been quite a summer and autumn, but now I feel it's time to get back to this blog business. So here we go!

Linda Gray's magazine covers definitely deserve their own post. As you know, I was a Pam-boy myself, but after Victoria Principal left Dallas, I began to see Dallas' other leading lady in a different light. Moreover, I thought that Linda Gray became more radiant and beautiful as she matured. She was also one of the best actresses on the show.

However, before Pamela's departure, I wasn't particularly fond of Gray's character.  When we used to play Dallas with the kids next door, we never had a JR, because nobody wanted to play him, and we also had to force my friend's little sister to be Sue Ellen. It was all about Pam, Bobby and occasional Lucy. We were a bit confused about Sue Ellen's name, though: was 'Sue' her first name and 'Ellen' her middle name, or was 'Ellen' her last name? Eventually we decided  it had to be her last name, after all, no one else on Dallas had two first names. So when the phone rang, our Sue Ellen, 7 years of age, answered accordingly: "Ellen residence, Sue speaking".

Those were the days.

It seems that Linda Gray had more cover stories in Finland than Victoria Principal, although I think it was the other way around globally. Linda seemed to be popular among certain kind of women's magazines, but she never appeared in rock magazines like Victoria, Charlene or even Priscilla.

Especially Linda's divorce seemed to be very popular topic, and particularly in 1983. Here's the first cover story of the year:

I think she looks particularly lovely on this cover. The title of Apu says "Success proved disastrous - Linda Gray gets divorced".

Inside, the magazine dives into Linda's bubbly life: "Nowadays Linda Gray enjoys her baths alone. Earlier she spent much of her free time sitting in the bubbles with her husband Ed".

"Linda caught the disease of Dallas - divorce is happening." Finnish press loved to talk about "the curse of Dallas" or "Dallas disease" when referring to miserable lives of Dallas' stars. I recall several other similar titles of the 1980s.

The story goes on saying Linda doesn't want to be a superwoman anymore. Now she wants peace and quiet. "Sue Ellen is so stupid", Linda is fed up with her. She wants her to be smarter, but obviously it doesn't fit for the story.

Next cover is from Anna later the same year. This is the first time the press hinted that Linda was having an affair with her co-star Larry Hagman:

"Scandalous romance of Dallas stars Linda and Larry!" This was also one of the favourite subjects of the Dallas stories during the 1980s. It used to make me frustrated, because no matter how I wanted it to happen, there were never articles about the scandalous romance of Victoria Principal and Patrick Duffy. It seemed so unfair. Sigh. However, in retrospect we know that these rumours weren't true. Linda and Larry were only good friends.

Next we have September's issue of Jaana telling us that "Linda Gray has fallen in love with a millionaire - even more passionate than on Dallas":

I wonder why they used this old photo of Linda. She already had her famous short look that year, so this old picture really doesn't do her justice.

The year goes on! October issue of Anna spills the T:

"Dallas' Linda Gray opens up about her divorce". Of course this was the time before internet, but it still seems a bit dated: Apu told us about her divorce in March and this is October. Well, inside the mag confesses that the rumours about Linda and Larry were false.

This is all for now. Enjoy and take care, my fellow Dallas fans!

Covers, covers... Victoria Principal Edition

Hello my friends!

Picture it. Northern Finland, 1982-83-ish. Dallas was the show among the 8-17-year-olds. Everyone was watching it and talking about it. 

Everyone except me. 

I couldn’t care less about those fictional characters on TV. After all, there were so much more interesting things to do on Friday nights! Like playing police and robbers outside. 

I don’t remember how I came to open the TV and actually watch Dallas for the first time, but it was all it took – I was completely hooked. Instantly.

I had heard about JR, of course, and I was eager to see what the bastard looked like. Then this gorgeous black-haired hunk appeared and I was like "who knew JR was such a piece of meat"? Of course, my dad told me that was not JR, but Bobby. What a relief!

However, when Victoria Principal appeared on my screen, I was stunned.

Stunned, I say!

I had never seen a woman so beautiful! I quickly learned that she was Pam and she was in a mental institute, because she couldn’t have children. Oh no! I only hoped that Pam and Bobby would be together so that those beautiful people could live happily ever after. I was devastated to learn that Bobby was in love with that Pamela-woman and therefore couldn’t be with Pam. You can imagine my embarrasment when I realized that Pam and Pamela were the same person. 

(Come on, I was only 10 and English wasn’t my first language! It was like those Tsekhov plays where every character has Russian nicknames and you never know who are they referring to... oh, well.)

Since those days Victoria Principal has been my absolutely favourite Dallas star and therefore the topic of this post, as well. J

It’s surprising how few Finnish magazine covers there are featuring her, given that she was probably the most popular cast member after Larry Hagman. I have already published a couple of her covers earlier, but here are a few more for your pleasure! (If you have more Finnish VP covers that I don’t know about, please let me know and we’ll be BFFs forever.)

The first cover from 1982 Seura has rather small picture of VP, however, it is the classic photo of her with Linda and Charlene. "The girls of Dallas return to our screens." This issue also has a complete family tree inside, however, they have Gary Ewing and Mitch Cooper mixed up. After all, they are both... well, men. Therefore, identical.  

The next one is 1984 cover of Apu declaring that ”Happy Victoria Principal wants to be a mom soon”. Nevertheless, this was not meant to be. 

The other cover from 1984 is from OK magazine. It says that "Victoria Principal destroyed Andy Gibb!" Oh dear. OK magazine was like a National Enquirer of the rock magazines. 

Funny thing about this cover though: it has a red heart over the pic of VP saying "Hundreds of pen pals". I always thought that it was Victoria Principal who had hundreds of pen pals and wanted desperately to be one of them. 

Another thing: Hanoi Rocks was a quite famous band from Finland, but I used to think that heavy rock and hanoi rocks mean the same thing. That's how much I cared about rock music.  

Fast forward to 2002: Victoria is on the cover of Katso magazine's Soap opera special. It was during the time she was on the short-lived Titans. It says "Age only makes a woman better" or something like that. 

Well, that's all for now, darlings.  #stillwaitingforthenextvictoriacoverinafinnishmagazine

Promises, promises...

Hello my friends!

So sorry I haven't updated this blog for a long time. I have been busy graduating from the University of the Arts Helsinki and working and generally being a busy bee. However, summer vacation is starting in a week and I'll have time to focus on more important things in life: Dallas and this blog.

I will be posting a new post soon. This I promise.

So, as an apology I give you this random Priscilla Presley -article from 1987. She is looking smoking hot in red. The text tells us, how she met Elvis when she was only 14, married him after seven years and now she is doing it for the second time. (And by 'it' I mean getting married; get your mind out of the gutter, will you!) Her second husband is a film producer Marco Garibaldi.

As it later turned out, the two never actually got married, but stayed together till 2006. They had a son together, Navarone.

Cover me badd

 Happy Easter, my dear readers! It's time for some chocolate eggs, bunnies - and magazine covers!

This time I'd like to spend a few moments with some supporting cast members of Dallas' later years. I realize these were not the golden years of the show, however, there were some bright spots here and there.

First: I give you hunky Jack Scalia a.k.a Nicholas Pearce on the cover of Katso-magazine in 1990. I had a huge crush on him. Oh boy! Of all the leading men in Sue Ellen's life - Peter, Dusty, Cliff, JR, Don - I liked him the best. Too shame they made him wear fat pullovers and sweaters, yet they gave Christopher Atkins speedos a few years earlier. Sigh. Why everything happens to me?

Title says "Jack Scalia saves a bad show" referring not to Dallas, but "Wolf". True or false, I don't know. Most importantly, I remember he had a nice, hairy chest, didn't he? Or was it just a dream I had...? Oh, well.

Next we have lovely Cathy Podewell. Year is still 1990. 

I was kind of excited that in the 1990s Dallas was trying to freshen up with these particular cast members. At the same time, I was sensing they were desperate to find same kind of charisma the original leading ladies had and that Dallas was sliding fast toward cancellation. So, I was praying they'd bring back Victoria Principal and Linda Gray to save the show. Sadly, they didn't.

Now, Cally was not every Dallas fan's favourite character, but I liked her. I wish they had done more with her. I would've liked to see her developing into a strong business woman like Sue Ellen did. But without her paintings, though. 

Title says "Dallas' enchantress Cathy cast a spell on JR". That's nice. (She had a smooth chest, by the way.) 

Last, it's wicked Michelle Stevens, a.k.a Kimberly Foster, in 1990. 

You know, it's funny how Dallas was still kind of hot in Finland in 1990. Three covers on Katso that year, which is not bad for a 12-year-old show. "Kimberly Foster is the newest baddie of Dallas". She surely was! Most importantly, she was the first female antagonist to have such short hair. I adored her style, it was very 90s look. With that look, she could be Justin Bieber's bitchy mom!  

Happy Valentine Girl!

Valentine's day may be long gone, but it's never too late to tribute my favourite Valentine Girl, Mandy Winger!

Oh, Mandy. You came and you gave without taking, but Sue Ellen sent you away...

Although losing Audrey Landers was a bummer, I liked Deborah Shelton equally well as Cliff's and eventually JR's new squeeze. "You'll hear from me again!" she whispered to Sue Ellen in 1987 and left Dallas. Despite her promise, she never came back. (Well, that's not true: she eventually did come back for a few minutes on TNT's new Dallas.)

Nevertheless, here are two articles from the 1980's celebrating her red-hot-beauty.

First one states rather sarcastically that "Deborah Shelton is here for the same reason she is on Dallas: as a decoration. Her fame has never reached the same heights as Victoria Principal's, Linda Gray's or even Priscilla Presley's."

The article goes on to explain how Priscilla has clout; she is now negotiating with the producers to get a real birthing scene on Dallas. "She, like her character Jenna, is pregnant." Priscilla's negotiations must have failed as we were spared from seeing a baby come out of Jenna's vajayjay. Oh, well.

(Same magazine tells us about a new series called Moonlighting starring someone called Bruce Willis. He has already started a singing career and is the coverboy at the moment.)

The second article is much nicer. It says: "Mandy is one fierce seductress, but in real life Deborah Sheldon (!) is the epitome of good mother: My daughter Tamara, 7, is the best thing that ever happened to me. Dallas comes second. Dallas has given me a chance to give my daughter the best possible education, which is more I ever dared to dream." 

Something Old...

Oh, the weddings of Dallas! They were always super-exciting. Of course, the press  - even in Finland - had usually revealed something about the upcoming event, so it wasn't a total surprise. Nevertheless, I was always beyond happy when they decided to have big, lavish weddings. Therefore, I felt betrayed if someone "eloped" or just went to the "city hall". This was before I understood anything about show business and budgets and stuff.

However, what fun times they were!

I used to love finding out what kind of wedding dresses the ladies of Southfork had chosen. More often than not I was bitterly disappointed. I have to say, out of all the weddings Dallas had, this dress was one of  my favorites:

The text says: "During her nightmare, Pam was remarried. However, when audience demanded Bobby back, the guy who played Pam's fiancé, John Beck, had to go." 

So sad. Naturally, Bobby was the king of stud muffins back then and I was ecstatic to see him back, but I liked Mark as well. I mean, who could resist his mustache-ious gorgeousness?

Pam's dress is tasteful and beautiful, unlike the true, spiky nightmare she was sporting when she married Bobby one year later. Yikes. *Shudder*

Another what-was-she-thinking -dress was this one:

(The mag also features the "famous Mayo-diet". Now what on earth is that?)

I had seen the pics of Sue Ellen's dress before the episode aired, but I was still surprised to find out the dress was actually long. And the eighties mullet didn't help one bit. However, Linda Gray is still gorgeous and the episode itself was amazing and memorable, classic Dallas.

Next, some clips of real-life Dallas weddings, Charlene Tilton's and Victoria Principal's second marriages from 1985 (not to each other, though):

We learn that "Charlene Tilton was married to scottish musician Dominique (?) "Nicky" Allen on Holy Thursday. Charlene says she and ex-beau Johnny Lee had totally different views of life.

Victoria Principal has been visiting italian designer Elvira Gramano in Rome. She is searching for the right dress for her wedding to Harry Glassman."

I like Charlene's dress, I think she looks radiant. Victoria's dress in this photo is not - thankfully - the one she chose to wear eventually. This is:

"The mid-summer bride of the whole world was Victoria Principal." The text also states rather cynically that "Victoria is not a newbie at the wedding game, she has also had time to drive Andy Gibb into mental break down." Now that's not nice. Victoria looks happy and beautiful regardless.

Ken Kercheval, a.k.a Cliff Barnes, was one of the stars who rarely was on the headlines. Here's one from 1984, however, featuring his wedding bliss:

His wife's name was Ava Fox, and they were married finally after all kinds of obstacles, including Ken's mother's illness.

Let's dive into the 90s. At the time there were only occasional stories of Dallas on Finnish magazines, which was sad. Dallas wasn't red-hot anymore. Here's something blue with lovely Sheree Wilson's wedding picture with her fiancé and their son, Luke. Her husband's name is Paul Derobbio: 

"From a funeral to a wedding. Now that we have said tearful goodbyes to Dallas' April, we are happy to learn that in real life Sheree Wilson is doing better than ever." Story goes on to state that "By the way, they are going to end Dallas. This is no surprise, since April was the only one of the show's current female stars to possess real charisma." This sounds about right. 

That's all for now. Take care, my dear readers! :)

Dallas vs. Dynasty

The most famous cold war in the 80s was not the one between the Soviet Union and the United States. It was between Dallas and Dynasty. Everybody was talking about it. 

Well, maybe not everybody, but, you know… me.

Dynasty began in 1984 in Finland, and the press wasted no time creating headlines about the bitter rivalry between the two super soaps. I personally preferred Dallas, of course. However, Dynasty was also one of my favorites at the time.

Here’s a bold article from 1984 ”Apu”-magazine about the rivalry. ”Which Pamela do you watch?” and (loosely translated) ”Battle of the breast size: Dallas vs. Dynasty”. Oh my. 

I remember being totally in shock after seeing this cover. It wasn't usual to a family-oriented magazine such as Apu to have bare-chested women on the cover, let alone mega-stars like Pamela Bellwood. Wow!

”Dallas leads over Dynasty! Two shows are fighting for the viewers wearing less and less clothes.”

Dynasty’s Pamela Bellwood (Claudia) is the one who has showcased her talents the most generously of them all. These pictures have been taken by her husband in Kenya. 

”First they were fighting over the best clothes. Now they are fighting without them. Priscilla Presley is pursuing a career as an actress quite diligently. She is the new attraction of Dallas. "

"Victoria Principal is following Jane Fonda’s footsteps. Sue Ellen (Linda Gray) gets a young lover on Dallas, while Alexis and Krystle (Joan Collins and Linda Evans) keep on fighting on Dynasty, although they are best friends in real life."(ß Really?)

"Originally Audrey Landers had only a small part in Dallas, but as her role grew, so did her singing career. Charlene Tilton has been having troubles in her personal life."

"JR wanted to have her own mother Mary Martin to play Miss Ellie after Barbara Bel Geddes left the show. Doris Day was also interested in the part. However, Donna Reed got it eventually. "