GH: Classic Thread

[titan1978]

Thank you for posting.  Even though GH was not originally a show built around core biological families like most soaps, it still had a strong sense of community.  The hospital was the family home that everyone came in and out of.

 

I miss scenes like this, and I miss these characters.

[OldGHFan]

 

Yea, this is so great.  Steve Hardy and little Robin Scorpio.  Doesn't get much better than this. 

[Dion]

I've been watching some 1981 episodes from February 1981 - the time period is of course Diana Taylor's murder. I think i've watched about 8 or 9 episodes so far and I am enjoying it.

 

Here are some observations:

 

- Anne Logan has spent episode after episode crying over Jeff and whining about Diana that even Steve Hardy is sick of her lol.

 

_ Everyone at GH is obsessed with those nurses' capes for the upcoming Port Charles Week & bicentennial.

 

- It took an awful lot to convince Jeff that PJ was Steven Lars, but once he was convinced, he became a man on a mission.

 

- Lots of night location shooting with Heather sneaking out of Forest Hills Psychiatric hospital and heading to Diana's apartment.

 

- Jeff, Rick and (separately) Heather come across the scene of a major car accident also filmed on location (and at night too).

 

- Anne's name in blood has been written rather neatly lol, and while its totally morbid, PJ/Steven-Lars is seemingly having the time of his life on his own while Diana is lying dead in the kitchen.

 

- Heather underestimated Sarah as Sarah already figured out that Heather snuck out of Forest Hills.

 

- It's nice to see Rick get jealous of Lesley's interactions with Bert Ramsey and Tony Cassadine Castle.

 

- I like the way Alan and Alex scornfully refer to each other as 'cousin'.

 

- The Disco scenes are always enjoyable, especially when a familiar song like Blondie's Rapture starts playing.

 

- Luke and Robert have great bromance chemistry and they are starting to become allies.

 

- I think in Alex,  Bobbie's now found someone she despises more than Laura.

 

- Lee and Gail have not forgiven Luke and Laura (and who can blame them).

 

- Not that much Q action aside from Alex and also Alan's affair with Susan.

 

- Diana's murder, the start of Luke and Robert becoming friends and possibly Jason's conception have all taken place on the same night (spread out over several episodes)

 

Unfortunately the episode from Feb 26, 1981 is not available so I won't be seeing the scenes where Alice and Howard finding Diana's body. I did manage to find the parade scenes from the same episode and they were nice.

 

-

[amybrickwallace]

 

Beautifully said!! I also loved when Alan took over the reading of the Christmas story after Steve Hardy's (and John Beradino's) passing.

[Dion]

I'm now mid way through March 1981 and a lot has happened!

 

Anne thought Jeff had committed the murder and so acted like a complete moron by lying to the police about being at Diana's apartment - even though she'd actually spoken to the seamstress making the capes.

Thankfully for Anne, the coroners report proved Diana was killed instantly, so Diana couldn't have written Anne's name in blood as an attempt to identify the killer.  So suspicion has already started to fall on Heather.

 

Sarah figured out that Heather drugged her and snuck out of Forest Hills to possibly kill Diana.

 

Rick was with Lesley when they learned Diana had been killed and drove her to the apartment, but in the next episode, Rick was "somewhere around the building" (probably due to an issue with episode quotas or something), so Howard was left to comfort Lesley.

 

Luke and Laura almost got together while Rotation by Herb Alpert was playing on the radio, but then the news cut in with reports of Diana's death. They ended up spending time babysitting PJ Steven-Lars.

 

Tony Castle is Anthony Cassadine! What a surprise lol. Meanwhile Alex is furious at Laura for speaking to James Duvall Kurt Wheeler at the parade, and Robert overheard them.

 

Luke's been interviewing taxi drivers to find the Ice Princess and has narrowed his search to Emma and Charlie Lutz.

 

Most of the characters have been given a moment or two to express their feelings over Diana's death - even Richard Simmons! They all gathered for the memorial in the Hospital Chapel.

 

Heather ended up gatecrashing the memorial after accompanying her psychiatrist to GH. Amy was the only one to defend her.

 

Jeff has figured out that Heather may have gotten a hold of her mother's copy of the keys to Diana's apartment and duplicated them - flashbacks show Heather persuading Amy to leave her on her own for an hour while out shopping at Wyndhams and Heather heading to get the keys duplicated.

 

Alan set up a telescope in the Q living room to look out at Susan's cottage where he can see Susan. Kathy (Heather's former paid companion who is now working for the Qs as AJ's nanny) has taken an interest in the telescope and has spotted Susan's cottage.

 

Joe also got Kathy to ask Amy some questions about Heather. Amy told Joe that she reckons Alice doesn't like Heather. Amy's really gone into bat for Heather and Amy's perspective actually makes some sense. Joe ends up tricking Amy into admitting she left Heather on her own at Wyndhams.

 

Howard is going to visit England to meet Dorie, his former flame.

 

Rick has suggested Jeff take Steven-Lars and move away.

 

 

Edited December 28, 2019 by Dion

[titan1978]

I’m not sure Monty ever cared about an episode quota.  Truthfully, until the 2000’s, I think almost every popular soap

star went above their episode guarantees, especially if you were on as much as these people were.  They just paid them the extra money.  And those that didn’t work to their guarantees were paid for it too.

 

This is such an interesting time on GH.  They lost Diana, Jeff, Laura, and even people like Howard all in a short span of time.   And they had one of the most outlandish stories coming up (David Gray), and yet they stayed at the top of the ratings.  

[Dion]

 

Hmmm, come to think of it, you're probably right. Perhaps Chris Robinson was unavailable for the shooting of those particular scenes, so they gave all of his lines to Richard Sarradet (Howard) as Howard was close to Lesley and could believably comfort the grief stricken Lesley.

[Dion]

Coming to the end of March 1981 now...

 

Jeff has now left Port Charles with Steven-Lars after having two separate farewells at first the Webber's and then the Hardy's. Lee and Gail attended the farewell at the Webber House, along with Luke and Laura, so it was awkward between them, but not as awkward as Heather turning up and learning Jeff was leaving. After having a moment with Steven-Lars, Jeff took Steven-Lars over to the Hardy house to say farewell to the Hardys, Joe Kelly and Jeremy Logan. Anne accompanied Jeff to the airport.

 

Heather later tried to suck up to Steve by pointing out that Jeff had told her that he was Jeff's father and thus her father-in-law.

 

Susan is pregnant, thus laying the foundations for Jason's domination of the show from the late 90s onwards. Monica is increasingly suspicious about Alan's behavior.

 

Amy is still Heather's staunch defender, Lesley and Joe managed to get Amy to admit that she may have told Heather about the Anne/Jeff/Diana triangle. Richard Simmons and Bryan have noticed Amy is not herself.

 

Joe is continuing to investigate Heather, but it's clear that he's attracted to her.

 

There was a brief storyline where Jessie was acting coldly towards Ruby because of Dan. When Bobbie pointed her behaviour out, Jessie apologised.

 

After Bobbie decided that she and Joe were better off as just friends, Noah Drake started working at GH and Bobbie is now determined to date him.

 

Emma Lutz put the Ice Princess away so when Luke and Slick searched her apartment, they didn't find it. Emma is considering donating the Ice Princess to the art auction.

 

Robert Scorpio is still competing with Luke over dating Laura.

 

Much of April 1981 is seemingly not available, so the next update will probably pick up towards the end of April.

[Paul Raven]

Thanks for these updates- really enjoying them.

Please register in order to view this content

[AbcNbc247]

Does anybody know what Pat Falken Smith’s original plans were for the Ice Princess story? I know she hated the whole Mikkos freezing Port Charles arc that was written during the strike. 

[Dion]

@Paul Raven - thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying them

Please register in order to view this content

 

@AbcNbc247 - I'd be interested in knowing that too actually.

 

As I mentioned in my previous post, most of April was unavailable, so we pick up three weeks later.

 

In the interim, Emma Lutz must have given the Ice Princess to Lila as Luke and Alexandria are now trying to figure out how to get it from the auction. Luke went to visit the auction hall and noticed the dumbwaiter leading down into the kitchen so is formulating a plan to smuggle the Ice Princess out that way. Meanwhile Robert and Tony have seemingly formed an alliance to get their hands on the Ice Princess themselves.

 

O'Reilly has come to visit Robert and she has been updating him with some stories about a caper involving a snake and some emeralds, and also hints that she was involved in the Iranian hostage crisis. This is the first confirmation that I've seen that Robert is really a spy.

 

Laura painted Luke's apartment a horrible Magenta colour. Luke and Laura are a lot closer these days and Laura is trying to find Scotty to get a divorce by placing ads in Mexican newspapers.

 

Hutch is in prison playing on the guitar after getting 25 years (8 years with good behaviour). Bert Ramsey wants him to snitch on more mob types to hopefully be able to get out of prison a whole lot sooner. Bert later tells Luke and Laura that somebody slipped a fictional newspaper clipping about Hutch's death into his pocket as a warning. Bert sends Luke to visit Hutch.

 

Joe Kelly has passed the bar and is now a lawyer in addition to a PI.

 

Susan's been sending flowers to herself under the name Arnold to throw off suspicion that she is seeing Alan. The plan seems to be working, Kathy saw the flowers and the card at the Disco and reported back to Monica that Susan is seeing someone called Arnold. Monica has also demanded that Alan find out what is going on with Alex and the ELQ finances, but Alex knows that Susan is pregnant and so holds all the cards.

However, a clever Alan decides to pretend to investigate ELQ but actually use that as a cover to visit Susan instead.

 

I've been quite hard on Anne Logan in the past but the past few episodes have made me a lot more sympathetic as I have realised her actions make more sense if you view her through the prism of suffering from some sort of anxiety disorder which obviously today we know a whole lot more about than we did nearly 4 decades ago. It was possibly unintentional but it's a far more nuanced portrayal of mental health then what you get with Heather and Sarah in Forest Hills.

 

Anne had a dream of Heather in her room pointing a gun at her and later freaked out when she saw Heather arrive at GH on day release. Heather went to visit Steve and eavesdropped on a phone coversation between him and Jeff and tried to trace the call but she was caught by Rick and Lesley. Heather threw a massive guilt trip on Rick and Lesley and pointed out that if she had a daughter who was missing and then was found but was taken away again (which is actually what happened with Laura) then Lesley would be doing everything to get her back. Heather later eavesdropped on Anne and Audrey in the nurses' locker room (Nurse Georgia actually sent Heather to the locker room to find Amy - like, do they just let anyone in there? lol). Anne later saw Heather again and after seeing her, she pretty much had a panic attack.

 

Heather's problem is that a deputy sheriff recognised her from the car accident site and erroneously thought she was Shelly Vernon, the nurse whose car Heather stole on the night of Diana's murder. The deputy tells Heather that she will be getting a commendation for her actions. Heather realises that if she doesn't show up then people will figure out that it wasn't Shelly Vernon at the accident site. So Heather tells Dr Nelson - the most useless shrink in the world - that she now remembers trying to drug Diana with LSD. Dr Nelson says that Heather's 'breakthrough' means she will be able to be released permanently. Heather now has to figure out how to avoid Rick at the ceremony, because he will be getting a commendation too!

 

 

Edited December 29, 2019 by Dion

[Dion]

One last update for this morning since it involves the very interesting episodes of Joe's surprise party (for his admission to the bar) and lots of different characters interacting:

 

Bobbie was jealous when she discovered Noah had asked Kathy out on a date  but in the end went with Noah to a surprise party at Kellys celebrating Joe's admission to the bar.

 

Heather was released and moved into Kellys with Rick (acting as a sort of guardian) and Rose. Heather was asked to stay upstairs in her room for Joe's party as the Hardys would be there.

 

Joe's party got underway with most of the canvas in attendance (even Alan and Monica turned up!), Bobbie set her scarf on fire so Luke could slip out and case the auction hall again without Robert following him.

 

Luke did a dry run of his plan to steal the Ice Princess, including climbing into the dumbwaiter and going down into the kitchen!

 

Tony Cassadine also attended the party and Robert told him that Luke had slipped out.

 

Claudia was mad at Amy for spending more time upstairs with Heather then downstairs at the party.

 

Laura and Heather had a scene where Laura told Heather about being in love with Luke. After Laura left, Heather prepared to self-harm.

 

Robert met with O"Reilly and another agent, confirming that his alliance with Tony Cassadine is a ruse.

 

Luke returned and whisked Laura off to the Versailles room, Lesley told Robert that Laura had left so Robert got O'Reilly to monitor Luke and Laura at the restaurant.

 

Kathy wasn't happy that Noah had blown her off to attend the party with Bobbie. Monica and Robert comforted her.

 

Bobbie gave Joe a kiss in an obvious attempt to get a reaction out of Noah. Just then, having cut her own hand, Heather dramatically gatecrashed the party and fainted!

 

Claudia and Amy almost had a brief spat about Heather while Heather was being treated.

 

Alan took the opportunity that Heather's scene had caused to talk to Susan and warn her that Alex knows about the pregnancy.

 

 

Edited December 29, 2019 by Dion

[Paul Raven]

Thanks again. You're giving details that aren't covered in summaries of the day that flesh out how characters like Amy and Kathy were figured into the stories, as they are seldom mentioned in synopses.

[Dion]

 

Yes, it is really interesting how they all fit in. For example, I never knew that Amy was Heather's staunchest defender.

 

Kathy is also an interesting character who I had never read much of before. Earlier this year, I did see a 1980 episode where Kathy was introduced as the paid companion of Heather when Heather was briefly released from Forest Hills the first time (Gail had recommended her to Lesley as she grew up in the same orphanage as Monica, which Gail stil has some involvement in). I had no idea she'd continue on the show as AJ's nanny. Monica is also quite fond of her since they have the same background and sees her as her only ally in the Q Mansion.

 

Oh and I forgot to mention the most important part of Joe's party - we saw Jessie Brewer there, in normal clothes!

[Dion]

Joe Kelly (who also lives at Kellys since he and Rose own it) found Heather lurking around Kellys early in the morning. Rick came in and learned about Heather's injury at the party. Joe then got called away to Forest Hills to meet Sarah who had suffered a setback. Sarah incoherently mumbled something about a gun but after becoming lucid, told Joe that she didn't know what he was talking about. After Joe left, Sarah went to where she had hidden the gun and wiped her fingerprints off it.

 

Luke and Laura got passionate after returning from the Versailles Room, but stopped short of making love. Luke then asked Laura to marry him and she accepted. The two went to Kellys and told Rick the news who reluctantly accepted it.

 

Robert and O"Reilly came up with their own plans for stealing the Ice Princess, which involved switching an item that Robert bought from the auction with the Ice Princess using identical tote bags ostensibly sent from GH. When the tote bags arrived at the auction hall, Lila thanked Dan, but Dan had no idea where they came from and wondered who on earth would organise such an expense!

 

Laura told Lesley and Bobbie about the engagement at the auction hall. Bobbie seemed happy for Laura, as did Lesley. Laura saw O"Reilly trying to case the auction hall.

 

Rose asked Bert if his ulcer was acting up again as Bert updated her on what was going on with the Diana Taylor case. Bert asked Rose out for dinner (in a sweet way, not sleazy at all) and she accepted. Joe then told Bert about his visit with Sarah. Joe theorises that Heather kept the gun to possibly use on Anne, but left the gun at Forest Hills.

 

Heather went to visit Sarah and tried to learn where Sarah had hidden the gun. Joe later told Heather that Sarah had mentioned a gun to get a reaction out of Heather. Heather tries to explain Sarah's statement away by saying that Sarah imagines that her friend Edie was shot to death when in fact Edie drowned while Sarah just stood by and watched. Heather tells Joe about her reaction on learning Jeff and Anne were involved and about how her father always used to slap her as a child and that when she grew up she used her looks to get men's attention but could never compete with someone like Anne.

 

Slick and Luke bought a (replica?) Egyptian sarcophagus (from henceforth known as the mummy case) and took it to the auction hall. Lila was quite impressed with Luke's generosity and left Luke and Slick to position it themselves, which they did in front of the main power switch. Bobbie and Lesley congratulated Luke on the engagement. Lila then told Luke, Bobbie and Lesley that she was annoyed with Alex and Edward for continually asking her about the ugly black statue (the ice princess). Bobbie later learned that Lila wants to move the mummy case to a more prominent position at the front of the hall.

 

Lila rings up the hospital to leave a message for Steve and tells Anne about the shopping bags and the mummy case. Anne tells Jessie, Audrey and Steve about the mummy case. Steve comments that Luke should not cross Lila Quartermaine! Later Joe comes with Heather to GH for Heather's shrink appointment and sees Anne.

 

Tony Cassadine is busy digging into Robert's past.

 

Luke gets Edward to intervene and prevent Lila from moving the mummy case.

 

Alan tells Monica that he's found out that ELQ is building a plant in Jamaica. Gail notes that Alan and Monica seem to be getting along better. Monica is still convinced Alan is having an affair with Susan. Later, Alan confronts Alex about the plans in Jamaica. Alex picks up the phone and rings GH and is about to tell Monica about Susan when Alan takes the phone off her and informs Monica that he is coming to pick her up for the auction.

 

Luke demands to know from Alex what the real deal is about the Ice Princess. Later Luke finds out that Lila has changed the order of the auction and moved the mummy case from the end of the auction. Luke smooth talks Lila into moving it back to the end of the auction.

 

Robert warns Luke that he is in over his head and cryptically warns him that the Ice Princess in the wrong hands is going to cause a whole lot of world problems.