Although I feel bad for having almost nothing to offer, I realized that GH was the only "current" soap (until now) that does not have a thread that can be used for discussing classic storylines, posting articles, etc. While never a personal favorite of mine, I do consider GH to be the second-most important soap in the genre's history (with ATWT ranking as the most important soap), given the fact that it was largely responsible for shifting the genre's direction away from the "traditional"/P&G method of storytelling to campy plots that were written in an attempt to capture the popularity of young America. (To be fair, Y&R was the first soap designed to blatantly appeal to youth. However, nobody was better at doing this--or was more copied than--GH was back in its 80's heyday.)

To get things started, here is a 1963 (partial) promo for the "new" soap:

<iframe width="420" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/QrCHlvQrnrs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Here's a 1963 opening (in poor video quality), with a very beautiful theme:

<iframe width="560" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/xGoM9CP1p2w" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

The iconic opening sequence that ran from the 1975 until 1993 had two themes (the first of which lasted just a year), as shown below:

<iframe width="420" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/qe8ZYMK1SiA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="420" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/jSPVL8HkPfk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Edited May 2, 201213 yr by Max

Given what a curse I think he became to GH, I was amused to find Sonny's first episode was Friday, Aug. 13, 1993.

(Also, 1993 is just as much of a revolving door year as 1991 was, just in slower motion.)

General Hospital - 1989 - Supercut

HLove Michele Val Jean's comment. This is how you build a soap couple organically!!

 

https://m.facebook.com/CadyMcClain/photos/a.135036933215173/3202460049806164/?type=3

 

Ha! This is framed and on a wall in my house. Kevin & Lucy were my couple. As in they weren't on anyone's radar as a couple till I went to Claire Labine and said what if Lucy decides she needs therapy. Not because she really believes it but because she thinks Kevin is cute. Claire loved it, told me to run with it and that was that. Gosh, I loved writing those two. 

 

  

9 minutes ago, victoria foxton said:

 

  

 

16 year old Laura...law student Scotty? How old was he supposed to be?

Laura seemed to be into older men, didn't she?   

"Lesley disapproved of her daughter taking up with the more experienced Scotty ..."

Just ask Rhonda Wexler.

6 hours ago, Darn said:

 

16 year old Laura...law student Scotty? How old was he supposed to be?

I've read somewhere that Scotty was 23, but I think that may have been in 1979 when he married Laura, who was 17 at the time, so nearly a six year age gap. They actually started dating when Laura was only 15, which I've always thought was a bit problematic (but may have been more common in the 70s? I don't know).

 

The only time when it was okay for a man of 21 to date a girl of 15 was during the Middle Ages -- and that's because, life spans were remarkably short; and if she wasn't married and with children by then, she was considered an old maid, cursed to spinsterhood for all eternity.

i guess the inappropriateness of Scotty and Laura's early relationship gets overshadowed by Laura's later storylines with David Hamilton (basically a story about grooming) and Luke (the rape at the disco).

Funny to think about now- Monty and Marland told Genie and her father that they wanted to use her to grab a younger audience.  And she was front burner from there until she left after the wedding, often in very challenging material for anyone, let alone a woman younger than 18.  So they wanted that audience but they did not fill Laura’s life up with peers her own age- she dated Scotty, dealt with David, her mother, Rick and Monica, Bobbie and Luke.  Nobody her own age except Amy was a major factor in her early years.

 

I have a lot of empathy for Genie, you can clearly see when she talks about it that while she loved the actual work, the rest was very difficult.  Maybe if she had an actual teen scene like they do now she would have felt less alone and the show wouldn’t have written her into so many problematic stories.

 

 

20 hours ago, dragonflies said:

HLove Michele Val Jean's comment. This is how you build a soap couple organically!!

 

https://m.facebook.com/CadyMcClain/photos/a.135036933215173/3202460049806164/?type=3

 

Ha! This is framed and on a wall in my house. Kevin & Lucy were my couple. As in they weren't on anyone's radar as a couple till I went to Claire Labine and said what if Lucy decides she needs therapy. Not because she really believes it but because she thinks Kevin is cute. Claire loved it, told me to run with it and that was that. Gosh, I loved writing those two. 

 

Rarely do I think you can credit a single writer for a couple but I think you can give MVJ almost sole responsibility for Kevin and Lucy. 

 

Mostly GH/1991 with bits of GL.

Leslie with OG Laura (Stacey Baldwin) and Barbara Vining (Judy Lewis)