Soap heroine hides out in Paris, Texas

PARIS, Texas - Victoria Lord Davidson of "One Life To Live" must be among the most resilient heroines in the history of television soap operas.

The character, played for 36 years by Emmy-winning actress Erika Slezak, has struggled with dissociative identity disorder and has survived breast cancer, a stroke, kidnapping, a brain aneurysm, a heart transplant and multiple husbands. One of her children has died of lupus.

Bless her heart, no wonder she needed a change of scenery.

This fall, the show's matriarch, a millionaire newspaper publisher, suddenly disappeared from her home in Llanview, Pa. E-mails to her dysfunctional family suggested she was living in Paris, France. She's really been living in Paris, Texas, working as a waitress.

"Oh, my, isn't that a hoot!' said Becky Semple, the Lamar County, Texas, tourism director. "We've gotten lots of calls; so far it's been very positive. "

Slezak's character has been living at a local motel and working at the fictional Bonjour Cafe. Her love interest has been a customer named Charlie.

Parisians who follow the daytime melodrama with interest are waiting to see what plays out in their East Texas town.

Joni Kincaid of Paris is too busy working to watch "One Life To Live" when it airs Monday through Friday. She waits on tables at Magel's Grill. But her daughter is taping each episode for her.

Is Kincaid surprised the soap-opera heroine came to Paris, Texas? "I'm surprised anybody ever comes to Paris, Texas," she said. "But really, there's lots of friendly people here." *