GH: Classic Thread

[titan1978]

Clips like the one above just remind me how much your perspective sets the norms for being a soap viewer.

 

When I think about GH, so much of the things I remember were from Monty on.  Very little pre her.  Even the nurses station is the round one that I think Monty started.    And those things are so ingrained that it’s hard to imagine the days before.

 

I can’t stand that Rick either. He’s just seems wrong to me.  And I didn’t even see the show before 1983 that I can remember, and didn’t start actively viewing until Frisco pulled that hat off Felicia’s head.  But he is still not Rick to me.

 

[Franko]

I've always thought of Robin as a little bit Bette Davis-ish.

[titan1978]

All this talk about Mary O’Brien reminds me of this quote from one of Michael Logan’s interviews-

 

Geary: There was this actress on our show named Mary O'Brien — she played Heather before they cast Robin Mattson — and she was having trouble crying in a scene. Gloria came out of the control room and said, "You've got to cry! We need you to cry!" Mary tried it again and Gloria came back out and said, 'You're still faking it! I want real tears!" After another three or four trips to the stage, Gloria finally went ballistic. "You must be the worst actress I've ever hired! I don't know what the hell was wrong with me! The whole scene is hinging on this! You are ruining General Hospital!" And she went on and on until Mary started to cry. Then Gloria said, "Yes! That's it! Shoot it!" And she walked off the set.

[victorlord75]

Wow, what a story!  However, I would have to disagree with Ms. Monty about Mary O'Brien being her worst actress hire.  Though I will usually try to refrain from being critical to actors and actresses, I will make an exception here and list Gloria Monty's worst actress hire as the one who played Jennifer Smith#1, Lisa Marie.  She was a beautiful lady, but her portrayal did not click at all for me.  

 

I don't think I could have ever accepted Michael Gregory's version of Rick cheating on Lesley with Monica, so the recast of Rick sort of worked in the favor of driving story.

The place I seem to remember most from the pre-Monty GH is the little tiny medicine room right next to that big green window backdrop.  So much drama occurred in that little room!  Sometime after Tom Donovan took over as producer, even though the original 7th floor nurse's station was still being used, the medicine room stopped being used for scenes.  I recall missing that, strange as it sounds.

With perhaps, a bit of Veronica Lake thrown in!

[Soaplovers]

 

Hmm.. she seems very apathetic in that scene.  She seemed more controlled then outright crazy or OTT like the other two actresses were in the part.

[j swift]

Well there were a lot of issues with casting of Jennifer Smith over the years; remember when Roseanne played role?

[titan1978]

That medicine room is an iconic set for folks that watched the earliest days of the show.  My grandmother often talked about stories or scenes that involved the medicine room.  Even my dad, who caught a show here or there as a kid but wasn’t really invested used to tease my sister and I about our GH habits and ask if Jesse was still crying in the pill room in the 1980’s when we watched it as kids.

Edited June 15, 2018 by titan1978

[Soaplovers]

When did the focus move from the hospital to outside of the hospital?  Was it in the late 70s or more in the 80s?  And would you say Marland or Pat Faken Smith started the shift from the hospital to outside of the hospital? 

[victorlord75]

I remember that casting decision, and it was around the time of Luke and Laura's return in the early 90s.  Though I stand totally alone, I LOVED when Sally Struthers played her.

 

Even in the earliest days, there were whole episodes that took place outside the hospital, HOWEVER, I think the major shift took place in the early 80s, when it started to become fashionable on most soaps to have spies, secret agents, outlandish returns from the dead, and cartoon villians.

 

Looking back now, I am wondering if the medicine room went away when Bridget and Jerome Dobson were fired as headwriters.  They went through a series of writers thereafter who tried to create an almost entirely different show and knew nothing about what endeared the show to its loyal audience in the past and apparently, did not care.  The more things change, the more things stay the same.

 

Maybe so.  I will say this.  Out of all the Heathers, Heather#1 wins for best hair, though it doesn't show in the clip I shared.

Edited June 15, 2018 by victorlord75
clarity

[Khan]

Heather exasperates me, because I don't understand why she is (or was) the way she is.  I mean, even BEFORE her bad acid trip, Heather apparently had emotional issues -- but why?

 

Of course, since she was created by the Pollocks, I can't expect there to be a deep-seated reason for her psychosis, now can I?

Edited June 15, 2018 by Khan

[amybrickwallace]

Did Mary O'Brien ever act again?

[vetsoapfan]

 

What do you mean "again"?

 

She never even acted on GH!

 

LOL, sorry, I could not resist!

[titan1978]

Post Lesley Webber, the hospital seemed to have lost the drive it once had.  Sure there were scenes there, but stories didn’t really revolve around it like they did again during Labine.  You still had people like Monica, Alan, Rick (until 1986 ish), Bobbie and Tony working there.  It wasn’t until they reintroduced Audrey and Steve’s son that I felt they invested at all in new hospital characters during the spy era of the show.  And that was post Monty, and more about his relationship with Simone than revolving purely around the hospital.

[Marco Dane]

[Franko]

Marlena Laird directed that episode, right? I love Alan caught in the throng of well-wishers and drunk Tracy. "And you know what, for the good name of Quartermaine," indeed. My second favorite moment is Bobbie apparently not liking getting brushed off.