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BEHIND
THE SCENES		  
Matthew Ashford:
My First Day Back

MATTHEW ASHFORD (JACK) WAS UP TO HIS NECK IN
mischief and props his first two days back on the Days of Lives set. First a towel, then a mustache and, finally, an upscale waiter's uniform. "Complete with epaulets," He pointed out .

Ashford arrived bright and early his first day back. "I have to rush out of here and over to Dharma & Greg. I'm filming a guest spot," he said.

But not before taping a shower scenes with Frances Reid (Alice). "You know how she has the ability to show up in places? I'm taking a shower, and there she is!" Alice tells Jack exactly when and where to find Jennifer. (When Ashford suggested running lines with the veteran star, she begged off. Reid busily perused her script solo.

While Ashford and Melissa Reeves (Jennifer) didn't share any scenes on day one, they did reconnect outside wardrobe. "I turned around, and there he was," smiled Reeves, who hadn't worked with Ashford since 1993. The two headed to makeup to catch up — "and laugh.... a lot."

Day two: Back on the NBC set, Ashford caught up with Drake Hogestyn and Peter Reckell (John and Bo). "Basically, we discussed how unchanged we all look. Young, vital and vibrant," Ashford deadpanned, heading for a cup of coffee. "Boy!" Things have stepped up around here. We use to have one kind of coffee. Now there are three.

After makeup applied a faux mustache and Ashford slipped into his waiter garb, he headed to Greta's coronation. "I have to duck away from people who might recognize me," he noted. Not that it worked, mind you. When Reckell and Kristian Alfonso (Hope) arrived at the party during rehearsal, both quipped: "Look! There's Jack in a mustache."

"I think I look like Jeff Foxworthy," retorted Ashford, slipping back into Jack mode. As couples danced behind him in the ballroom, Ashford swung his hips to the music. "All I have is my tray of hors d'oeuvres, so I'm dancing with them." And gobbling them up, per his script. "I've already had about a dozen," he noted.

After the cast broke for lunch, Ashford retreated to his dressing room for a quick protein fix: two hard-boiled eggs. An hour later, he was back on set dancing, dodging guests and offering up more canapés.

"Tyler Christopher wouldn't take any from me," Ashford confided, noting how familiar Christopher looked to Jack. "I even asked him, "Didn't I once see you at General Hospital?" (Ashford played Tom Hardy on GH when Christopher played Nikolas.)

Then Reeves arrived with her daughter, Emily, in tow. "Hey! I haven't seen you in a while," Ashford exclaimed, scooping Emily into his arms. Afterward, Ashford and Reeves ran lines. "This is the good part," he said with a smile. "We get to run over scenes enough so that by the time we get down to actually doing them, we don't just laugh. We've gotten past our initial giggles."

Finally, the long-awaited reunion of Jack and Jennifer arrived. Ashford wore kneepads and elbow pads to "protect myself from the scripted tumble. The last thing you wanted is to have some simple fall turn into 'I broke my knee.' Missy doesn't need any pads — she's going to land on me."

 As tape rolled, things immediately fell back into place. "We're right back to loving and hating each other," explained Reeves. It's classic Jack and Jennifer shtick: lots of yelling with Jack toppling to the ground. Indeed, Jennifer lands on top of him, and then Jack's mustache falls off. "It's so hard not to crack up," giggled Reeves.

The magic between the Days supercouple is definitely back. "We'll have to leave that up to the people who watch, but we certainly had a lot of fun doing it," Ashford said modestly.

"You just click with people sometimes when you work. And Matthew and I click really well. That makes it 100 times easier and so much fun," Reeves enthused. "There's a lot of drama in the middle of our storyline, but we get to do a lot of crazy stuff, too. That's what we looked forward to years ago when we did it. Hopefully, the audience will like it the same, and maybe some of the old viewers will come back to watch. We'll just cross our fingers and do our best.
JANET DI LAURO

Jack's back — but for how long?

AS PREVIOUSLY REPORTED, MATTHEW Ashford's return as Days' Jack was slated for a "handful of episodes," to tie up Jack and Jennifer's story. But head writer Tom Langan hints to SOAP OPERA WEEKLY that viewers may see Jack on the canvas for much longer: "We'll have to see if the magic is still there — or if Jennifer is primed to explore life without Jack."

Langan feels Ashford "brings an element to the show that people really enjoy. I'm excited about what I have planned for Jack and Jennifer. It's fun, but it's serious."

Langan originally planned to bring their relationship to a quick resolution.

"That changed, however, when I started writing for them," he says. "Now the storyline just goes on and on, and will draw in many other characters. If the story catches on, I'll be happy to write Jack and Jennifer for the next three years."

TC