''Days of Our Lives'' gets into bed with Kleenex

First Revlon was cast as Erica Kane’s fictional cosmetics rival on ABC’s ”All My Children.” Now Kleenex will lather up the soaps as sole sponsor of the misty May 1 ”Days of Our Lives.” Tissue boxes will appear as props, and 10 Kleenex ads will air during the show, in which Kristian Alfonso’s Hope and Peter Reckell’s Bo give up the switched-at-birth baby they’ve raised.

”Fans are going to be devastated,” says NBC exec Sheraton Kalouria, who notes that having one sponsor will add six minutes of content. ”We said, ‘Let’s go for broke…. Make it a three-hankie weeper.”’ Apparently tapping the waterworks isn’t a challenge for Alfonso, preggers in real life. ”She’s capable of crying at the drop of a hat,” says Kalouria. Alfonso says she’s learned from Hope’s ordeal: ”I told my husband, ‘Sweetie, the minute our baby is born, follow it wherever it goes.”’