Special Wishes, Inc.
(See more photos of this event)
Special Wishes, Inc., was born out of love and compassion for children stricken with life-threatening illness. It tries to make at least one dream come true for children who no longer fantasize about growing up to be firemen and cowboys or nurses and ballerinas. For families that turn to Special Wishes, Inc., their children face the harsh realities of hospitals, chemotherapy, endless operations, and living their lives one day at a time. For many children, a "Special Wish" is all they have left. Contact:
On
Sunday, May 4, 1997, Thorsten donated his time to attend a luncheon in
Naugatuck, CT, held by the Connecticut Junior Women, Inc., to benefit Special
Wishes, Inc. He raffled off prizes and auctioned off a studio tour, raising
money and pleasing the crowd. Following are several accounts by fans who
were there. Photos of the event are available at the Special
Wishes Luncheon section of the In Pictures
page.
( Left: With Marrissa Lefebvre at the Special Wishes Luncheon.)
First Person Report
by Reina Riley
TK swooped in on his motorcycle about an hour and half late. All that was missing were his archangel wings as he took large strides into the room, gulping down a mouthful of beer apologizing to people at each and every table. His trip to CT started from upper NY state, took longer than he thought, had been given some faulty directions, etc. With a smile with enough lumens power to light up the entire room, he was upbeat, relaxed and happy.
Certainly I didn't mind the lateness at all because it gave me ample chance to get to know a number of people from this group most of whom are in themselves famous to me. Kathy, Christy, Pam, Joan, Patti, Suzie, Sue, a friend and I had no problem filling in the time. Everyone is high verbal, high on TK, high on Patrick and Marty, critical of the show, acknowledging the writing is crispier with the Labines but still not happy at all with the story. Because TK is leaving and I'll admit that there's no info to make us think otherwise (he said he was leaving), we felt ML wouldn't invest in the characters and it sure does look like they are now supporting players in a Todd-centered story. Our e-mail group friends are sharp, astute, know what they are talking about and I trust each one implicitly.
For the first ten minutes TK bounded from table to table. Wearing belted powder blue jeans, a classic Patrick-type cream-colored sweater, powder-blue t-shirt underneath, classic Patrick boots, he is loooooong in the leg, wide in the smile, soft curls in the long hair, intelligent, beyootiful eyes, wide-shouldered and *very* slender and young-looking. The camera does not capture the essence of Thorsten Kaye. You melt. He's a hugger and toucher, he had no problems having his picture taken hugging or being hugged. He seemed in a good mood.
Segue to question and answer period. Good questions yielded good answers. Some answers were not what we may want to hear. He is leaving. He is honest about saying that he and Maxine are not on the same wavelength regarding story. He had hoped to bring the classics to the soap audience through Patrick as was originally intended by MMalone. She doesn't agree. He is as disappointed as we are in the story of the past year and doesn't want to spend his time on screen telling Todd what not to do. Is thinking about going back to university to finish his Doctorate with a dissertation on how soap opera can be used as vehicle to bring the classics to the young. Smart? Very. Wants to continue acting? Absolutely!
Raffle was next. A beautiful five-six year old girl was with her mom in the audience and TK picked her up and did an airplane swoop with her so she could pick the winning raffle ticket. Prizes being autographed scripts, Serenity Springs t-shirt. Then an auction. Pamela kept bidding and bidding making the price of a tour go higher and higher and because she did that the charity will make big bucks. TK said to her why did you keep bidding, you're already coming to the studio this week. She replied that she did it to get real money for the charity.
There's so much more to tell. The autograph session was wonderful. A gorgeous TK pic autographed. He's humble. I had to talk him into signing my 80th birthday tribute to Laurence Olivier poster telling him his autograph would link two of my favorite actors. He didn't feel worthy. I love this man.
It's now 5 PM, we're all still there at the adoration of TK and his motorcycle. Now wearing a great leather jacket, ties his hair back, keeps on talking for awhile. He exclaimed as he drove away, "Later!" *Later* is absolutely one of my favorite closings and is commonly used by a lot of jazz musicians. This guy has more layers than mille feuilles pastry.
We leave the parking lot side by side. We share the road for a few miles. Each time coming to a stop light exchanging glances, smiles and wishes for a safe trip. He must think he's invulnerable for he wears no helmet. Zooming off into the sunset, he's a dream come true, a good human being, a person who loves his freedom and the freedom of the road. Not happy living in New York, it's OKaye in his mind to leave and go on to the next act. He must have a healthy ego because he's an actor, but he doesn't wear it on the outside. He is sweet. He is kind. He is talented. He is smart. He is beautiful. He is sexy. He is living the good life. He is my ideal. I'm happy for him. I'm happy for all of us who were there this special day. And I wish you could all have been with us. We're fortunate because we caught his character early on and are in it for the entire ride. He is irreplaceable. Apres TK, the soap world will be a smaller place.
First Person Report
by Suzy Zerbe
It goes to show you that when you want something bad enough......
It all started with a casual question to Kathy Brand about whether any of the Loopers were going to the CT luncheon. Kathy said that she, and Christy, and Pamela were going. That set my brain to thinking. How could I go? I had been burned last year when I sent for a $95.00 ticket to Fan Fair in Detroit that TK was to attend. At the last minute it was cancelled. So when I heard about this one, and realized this may be my last chance to see him before he left the show, I jumped on it.
I planned it around a free airline ticket I had, and a trip to Boston to visit my newborn nephew. I figured that way, no matter what happened, I could still have a visit with family.
I heard that Reina was driving so I tried to hitch a ride from Boston. Turned out that she was traveling with a friend that weekend, but that I could get a ride back with her. Then I realized Sue Morrison lived in Boston also and e-mailed her. She said she had wanted to go, but did not want to drive down by herself! So, the dye was cast.
I waited and waited and did not recieve my ticket to the luncheon. With only a few days to go before I was leaving, I decided to call Ray August and find out what was going on. He gave me to Chris who was with the Women's League, saying that he had turned everything over to her. I call her and she was FREAKING OUT. Turns out the thing had not been promoted properly. Neither she nor Ray knew that the OLTL luncheon had been the week before and that many people went to it thinking TK was going to be there. They had low ticket sales and were probably going to have to cancel. I now was FREAKING OUT. I e-mailed a red alert and luckily Pamela had Kathy's number and called her. Thanks to Kathy and a few very other important people (who wish to remain anonymous) the word got to TK. Chris from the Women's League also got a donation from a Corporation and we were back on the road. So, what could have been a large, non-intimate fan gathering turned into a dream of a lifetime. We were not only going to meet the mahn, but we were going to meet him in a small, intimate setting. I was THRILLED!
Sunday morning my sister took me to a pre-planned meeting place to meet Sue Morrison so we could drive to CT. Sue was very nice, and very easy to talk to and we had no trouble killing time yakking about TK and many other things on the short drive down. The sun was shining (it had been a rainy, dreary day, the day before) and it was absolutely picture perfect.
We got to the luncheon with a little time to kill. We went on in where we met up with quite a few people who were already there. I immediately recognized Christy and Kathy. I felt like I knew them, they were so warm and friendly. Then I met the famous brown penny sisters, Janice and Cindy. They were sitting at the same table as Sue M. and I. They are a lot of fun! Then I met Patty ( a very unique individual) and Reina, who is a riot, and Soapy, who is a legend and exactly like I envisioned her! Next the infamous and talented Pamela. Joan Fuest was adorable, very much like I had pictured her.
While we waited for TK I readied the present I had brought for him. Because I was staying at my sister's house and everything was upside down, and I was sick also, I forgot a few parts of my present. So I had to do some makeshift work on it and put it together at the table.
That done, I proceeded to talk to everyone, and Christy, Kathy and I looked at each other's kitty pictures.
Ray August got up to the microphone and announced that TK was not coming. Then he said "Only kidding". He said TK had called and he would be there in 10 minutes. That was the longest 10 minutes I have ever seen.
Two hours later we saw Ray August and Chris grab a cell phone and head out to a car. Aha, we figured, they were going to get TK!
We were right. About five minutes later the mahn appeared. We heard the roar of the motorcycle first and a few of us ran to the window. There we watched him get off his bike, pulling the tie out of his hair and shaking those famous locks loose. He did not look too happy. He was very animatedly saying something to Ray and Chris about directions. Finally he shook their hands and pulled himself together.
He strode into the room, a dashing figure. He took off his brown leather jacket and scarf, and then he proceeded to pull off his leather chaps. The man looks so much taller in person. And he is very slender. He then proceeded to apologize by going to each and every table and talking and kissing and hugging. He seemed to really take to the older ladies, giving them a hug or kiss (and of course, a thrill!)
When he got to the Web Digest table, I was standing up and somehow ended up having my picture taken with his arm around me. (My, how did that happen?) He then apologized again about being late, and I patted him on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry, we would forgive you anything."
After greetings all around, he went up to the front to raffle off a few scripts from OLTL and then he did an auction. One woman got a personally guided studio tour to the tune of somewhere around a thousand bucks. Pamela can be thanked for helping that bidding along! LOL! Sue>
Then came the question and answer period. The professor in him really came out then. He occasionally wandered out into the middle of the room while talking. He had been drinking a beer someone had handed him and he switched over to coffee. I was glad to see that, as I would not like to think of him on his motorcycle in anything other than a sober state.
He was asked about politics and he answered that he doesn't pay much attention to them, that they are "all a bunch of crooks." A little girl asked him what his favorite subject in school was and he said "phys ed." He was also asked if there was anything he missed about England. He said although there were a few things he missed about England, he would miss more things about America if he were to leave.
The next question was about what he liked so much about America, to which he answered "freedom." I asked him about how he felt about the soap opera genre, now that he had been in it awhile. I can't remember all he said, but the gist of it was that he felt like there were a lot of very talented people in it, but that the medium wasn't adequate to really do it in a constructive way. He said he couldn't understand what exactly it was that made people get involved with the soaps.
He also made a remark about how he liked CT because "they don't have a helmet law." That elicited a lot of remarks from the audience. One person asked how he could feel that way, having already had one serious accident on his bike. He said because that accident was due to the fact that he had done something stupid, and that he had learned from his mistake.
I can't remember the exact question, but he did say that he had talked to the producers time and again but that they just didn't hear him. He was very sorry to see what happened to his character, especially since his history had been completely changed. He seemed resigned to his fate. During this sequence someone commented ( I think it was Pamela) how she had seen his character morph into a different Patrick at least three different times. At this point his usual relaxed demeanor changed, he crossed his arms and stood back from the podium while he proceeded to talk. I think it took him aback a little. Maybe he didn't realize just how aware we all were of that, or maybe he thought he was doing a better job of hiding it! (LOL)
Next came the autograph session. Everyone lined up in an orderly fashion, and we all yakked while we waited in line. I was shocked at how calm I was. When it was my turn I realized (to may chagrin) that I really hadn't planned what I was going to say. So I decided to let my present do the talking.
Weeks before I had agonized over what I could give him that might mean something to him. I thought about the old adage, The way to a man's heart is through his stomach. I decided the way to TK's heart was through his dog. (Yes I was willing to stoop that low!) Being an animal lover like me, I decided to get him a doggie bowl for Graycie and fill it with treats. I looked at a lot of bowls and settled on a heavy crock bowl with Bone Appetit written on it. I wanted to put Graycie's name on it but I didn't know if there was any paint I could use that wouldn't wash off. After a day at different craft stores I finally found an enamel based paint that could be baked on. It was very hard to work with, but through much trial and error I finally got it on as good as I could. I wrote it in bright red with the i in Graycie's name dotted with a little dog footprint in blue. I filled blue cellophane inside the bowl with doggie toys and treats. The ones I thought TK would get a kick out of were little leather football chewtoys. When I pushed it towards him and told him it was for Graycie he was like a little kid. He asked me if I made it, and I said no, I hadn't made the bowl but I did put her name on it. I told him my dog was a no trick, no treat dog, so I didn't know whether Graycie liked treats. He said, "Oh yes, she loved them." He then leaned over the table and kissed me on the cheek and gave me a little hug. Unfortunately my mind went blank and I don't remember what he said. He said he was going to try to put the bowl in his saddlebag on his bike, but that he didn't know if it would fit. He proceeded to pick out a toy for Graycie to take home with him that night. I told him, not to worry about it, that Pamela, and Christy and Kathy had volunteered to take presents to him on Tuesday. Not wanting to hold up the line, I squeezed next to him and got a quick picture taken (thank you, Patty). Then I patted him on the shoulder and said "Please drive carefully on your way back home", to which he added, "don't worry, I will."
Later of course I thought about all the things I woulda, coulda, or shoulda said, but at the time it all escaped me. TK, as at home as he makes you feel, still seems to have that effect on women! (Later when I e-mailed Cindy of the brown penny sisters, she said although she and Janice had met TK many times, they always lost it!)
I didn't catch a whole lot after that. I remember seeing Cindy and Janice with TK's arms around them laughing. They had given him a Miami Dolphins dog leash. It was so cute because he yanked on it to test it's strength and added it to the stuff he wanted to take home on his bike.
One woman leaned in for a picture and said something to the affect that he was the greatest actor she had ever seen in her whole life. TK replied "You don't get out much, do you?"
The hour was getting late, and TK had to get going, but he saw each and every person in the line. He is such a doll.
It came time for him to go and he stood up and said "Go home, ladies". (Yeah, like we would leave before he did!) He said this two more times. Then he put his chaps on, and his jacket and at that point most of us went outside to see him off. The lighting outside was gorgeous, and the shadows playing on his face made him look even more achingly beautiful (if that is possible). He then got instructions from the promoter and put them in his jacket pocket. Chewing the gum that Patty had given him, he put his scarf around his neck. Then he waved to Christy, Kathy, and Pamela, and said, "See you on guys on Tuesday." With a last remark of "Stand back, this thing might explode," he started his bike right up, and roared off into the sunset. I missed him already!!!!
This is a transcript of how I perceived this wonderful day. As we all stood there watching him get ready to go, I think everyone realized how lucky we were to have been privy to this moment. Time stood still, and I saw the familiarity and ease with which he greets everyone. A regular guy, in extraordinary circumstances, dealt to him through hard work and fate. A man, whom if he was a friend, would enter your house and help himself to whatever he wanted in your fridge. A private person, who is willing to share his light and good fortune with those around him. Complicated, yet simple, self assured, yet humble. He is above all, something you don't see enough of these days, a decent human being. A beautiful man. An old soul. He is magic, and for me, my life was forever enriched by having met him.