Soap Opera Weekly, 12/29/98
East Coast by Pat Sellers

E-I, E-I, OW!

WHAT'RE YA DOIN' NEW YEAR'S, New Year's Eve? David Andrew Macdonald (Jordan, Another World) plans to stay home with his wife, Nicolette. "We'll drink champagne and watch a movie or read to each other. It's a rule of mine, which I've broken sometimes, that Halloween and New Year's Eve I stay inside."

The last time he broke that rule was New Year's Eve 1994, a night that lives on in memory. "I was in a bar, and this young Wall Street broker-type who thought he owned the place was being quite rude to people, so he was asked by the bouncer, who was a friend of mine, to leave. He tried to macho his way around, but he was escorted out, and the door was locked behind him. My friend looked out the little window over the door to make sure he'd walked away just when the guy's fist came through it, breaking the glass in my friend's face and cutting him rather badly. When the trouble first started I'd told my friend, who wasn't very big, that I'd help out if he needed me--I didn't mean violence, just some pleasant threats--and my friend said no, but after the window incident he opened the door and said 'He's all yours.'
Experience has taught David Andrew Macdonald (AW) that New Year's Eve is best spent in the comfort--and safety--of one's own home.
"The man was leaning up against a limousine at this point. He was quite drunk. So I walked out, and he threw a punch at me, and I stepped to the side and picked him up in the air and put him on the ground, folding his arms on top of him and basically pressing down on his chest. Then I engaged him in a one-sided discussion as to how he was being so stupid, that clearly he was on the losing end of this argument and he should stop it. At this point my bouncer friend, who was very stupid himself, came out with all the blood pouring out of his face and started yelling at this guy as if he, my friend, was victorious. Men are men. But he was bleeding all over my tuxedo, which bothered the hell out of me.

"Anyway, the police came along. They said I should let the guy go, so I did, and then they questioned me while they watched this man walk away. I said, 'Aren't you going to stop him?' and they said, 'Oh, we'll find him later.' That's when I got upset. I spent the next 10 minutes chewing them out, until they threatened to take me in. I said: 'You're going to let this criminal go and put me in? Please, just go away.' I mean, I've had great experiences with New York cops, but those two guys I will never forget." So, has this discouraged him from getting involved in the future? "No. I mean, if someone's pulling a gun, I'm not going to be stupid, but people need to be protected." Just not on New Year's Eve.