GH: Classic Thread

[victoria foxton]

The channel's still up. Looks like the video's have been taken down by the creator. essmhtvny was asking him/her a lot of questions. essmhtvny likes to put private video's on his playlist. He might be the reason so many soap channels have been shutdown recently. Looks like ClassicGeneralHospital is trying to protect his/her channel. From this person.

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Edited March 3, 2021 by victoria foxton

[Vee]

Of course he is the reason. And as I said re: Y&R it's pretty obvious who he is.

Edited March 3, 2021 by Vee

[depboy]

@victoria foxtonthank you for clearing it up for me.  What’s the saying about one bad apple?  SMH

[vetsoapfan]

 

He is a vile, smarmy troll who feels powerful by stirring the pot and causing problems, alas.

[Vee]

I guess when one can't get it up anymore they'll use any other outlet they can find.

[victoria foxton]

From a not so classic era.

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[AbcNbc247]

I'll be waiting for Ron's salty response 

[Paul Raven]

GH's first foray into primetime 'Twist of Fate' aired Sat Dec 14 1996 at 9pm.

 

 #47 CBS Opryland Xmas special 8.7/18

# 61 NBC The Pretender 7.5/14

# 77 ABC GH 'Twist of Fate' 6.2/11

# 78 FOX America's Most Wanted 5.0/11

 

[victoria foxton]

 

 

.

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Edited March 7, 2021 by victoria foxton

[slick jones]

Awww   Scott's only son.......

[DRW50]

https://archive.org/details/general-hospital-march-8-1990

https://archive.org/details/general-hospital-march-9-1990

https://archive.org/details/general-hospital-march-12-1990

 

[Paul Raven]

Love her or hate her, she made her mark.

From Dec 81

 

Daytime TV queen 'Hospital's' Monty both lauded, hated By JON-MICHAEL REED Special to the American-Statesman

LOS ANGELES ABC knows where its bread is buttered. Recently the network hosted a reception-dinner in honor of Gloria Monty, producer of "General Hospital." Anthony Thomopoulous, president of ABC Entertainment, presented Monty with a Tiffany bowl, engraved to the woman "in recognition of your outstanding contributions to daytime television, through your creativity, direction and production genius that have resulted in making 'General Hospital' the most successful daytime program in television history." Thomopoulous amended the tribute by adding, "we should strike both references to daytime."

 

That's an understatement. "General Hospital" is currently the most financially lucrative show on television, day or night It earns an estimated annual net profit well in excess of $100 million for the network. This year there will be further millions reaped from licensing revenues for merchandise ranging from a hit record to coffee mugs and glasses to puzzles and assorted apparel. The series has been the top daytime ratings champ for two years. It has become a high-school and college-campus craze. It received more publicity recently than any TV show since the J.R.-"Dallas" hoopla. The wedding of Luke and Laura, abetted by appearances by Elizabeth Taylor, garnered ratings that literally "went through the roof' and were the envy of not only daytime producers, but most nighttime series producers as well. Monty has her detractors. Some of them are national TV critics who rarely, if ever, have viewed a daytime soap in their careers. They are uninformed and unqualified to judge Monty's considerable accomplishments in the medium. It's much easier for such critics to resort to stereotypical pronouncements about the "vapid and lugubrious" nature of soaps. And there seems to be a particular relish taken in speculating how long "GH" can remain at the top or whether Monty soon will lose "her golden touch." It's a peculiar mind, indeed, that delights in attempts to "dethrone" a reigning symbol of success.

 

Monty's naysayers aren't restricted to the press. Those who have worked for her often switch allegiances. Some describe her as a Medusa who insists on wearing several heads that control and dictate every facet of "GH," from bit-part casting to set designs to writing revisions. Some refer to her as a female Svengali who manipulates, cajoles, pampers and psychologically seduces underlings to her desires. Others call her an ogre, a slave-driver who is maniacally obsessive. But practically every negative is revised by such statements as "she gets the necessary job done perfectly," "she brings out the best," "I've never been more creatively challenged working for anyone else," and the universal amendment "but she's a genius." If there are such exalted creatures in the medium, Monty is one of them. And if Agnes Nixon, creator of "All My Children" and "One Life To Live," is the acknowledged "Queen of Daytime TV," Monty is the reigning "High Priestess."

 

"I was raised in a Catholic convent school in Fort Lee, N.J., until I was 16," remembers Monty, whose female aunts and cousins were predominantly in the medical profession. Monty received her bachelor's degree in drama from the University of Iowa and her master's from Columbia University. She and her husband, Robert O'Byrne, opened their own acting company in Manhattan, The Abbey Workshop, while simultaneously operating a Long Island summer-stock troupe. "Those were heady years," says Monty. "Years ' of working and studying with Stella Adler, Uta Hagen, Marlon Brando, Bea Arthur, William Saroyan and other guiding lights of the '50s theater movement Because of my roots in the theater, I've always tried to bring a repertory company spirit to my television work." Monty directed more than 60 plays during those years, but eventually "operation capital for our theaters began running out, even though we had quite respectable and encouraging critical attention."

CBS offered the "hot-shot" theater director a crack at TV directing. In 1954 she directed the pilot for "Secret Storm" and continued with that show for 10 years, including the short stint Joan Crawford did on "SS" for ailing daughter Christina, which is recounted in the book and film "Mommie Dearest" Next came a year and a half with another serial, "Bright Promise," followed by a series of late-night "ABC Wide World of Entertainment" specials, including the critically acclaimed "This Child of Mine" and "The Norming of Jack 243." "Doing those shows," says Monty, "gave me an invaluable experience to experiment with videotape and location shootings, something that hadn't been done previously for taped shows. "When I came on board 'GH' in January of '78, it had been on the air for 15 years and looked antiquated as its age. I realized that something rhythmically had to be done with the show to differentiate it from the other hour-long shows. I used the editing capabilities I'd learned on the nighttime shows to do fast intercuts within scenes, as well as to have constant swirling camera movements. I can't stand to see a scene take place with two characters sitting at a table for longer than a minute or two. The schmaltzy organ music was thrown out in favor of contemporary upbeat themes. I abhor all the standard soap opera shooting techniques, so repeated extreme closeups, monotonous flashback scenes and lethargic duologues were replaced by wider-angle shots so the audience could see bodies and settings, brisk, tighter pacing and more group-activity scenes." Monty admits that her dedication is consuming. "I don't have a private life. There aren't enough hours in the day. I do set high standards and I do demand nothing less of my cast and crew than I demand of myself. But most people want to do the best they can, and there's a rapport because no one is ashamed to be part of 'just a soap opera.' We're doing things to be proud of. We can all hold up our heads among the entire television community." -"

 

 

1.  

[j swift]

I'm reading summaries of 1983-1984 on Soaps of Yesterday's Tumblr, but I was wondering if anyone has a link to more information, or just a good memory, regarding the Tale of Two Grants.  I know Grant came to PC with Celia (a distant Quartermaine cousin).  During the Prometheus Disk plot it was revealed that he was actually an undercover Russian agent. 

 

Then, the real Grant Putnam comes to PC, and they start calling the other one Grant Andrews.  Putnam is secretly a psychotic maniac.  He kidnapped Celia.  Scorpio and Grant Andrews save her, Putnam is arrested.  He goes off to a mental hospital for a few years, then escapes, kills Philomena, and kidnaps Anna with his huge dog.

 

Here's my questions:

 

Did Celia first meet Putnam or Andrews?

How long before the move to PC did Andrews take over Putnam's identity?

Given that Putnam was responsible for his brother's death as a teen, did Andrews know that Putnam was a maniac when he assumed his identity?

Why was Andrews allowed to stay in PC after everyone found out he was a spy?

Didn't Andrews have another name besides Grant? (Was it an 80's thing that everyone decided his real name was too hard to say or spell?)

Was it plastic surgery or did they just happen to look alike?

How was Celia related to Alexandra Quatermaine? (and why did all of the Q cousins come to Port Charles rather than the family's home in Long Island where Edward and his brother were raised?)

 

It seems clear that Putnam was an afterthought used to keep the popular actor on the canvas, but it created a lot of plotholes to fill.

 

Edited March 21, 2021 by j swift

[Franko]

Curlyqgrl's summaries for 1983-84 may help you out, @j swift, but I'll try to answer some of these, too.

https://www.angelfire.com/tv/curlyqgrl/gh/eps/gheps1983.htm

https://www.angelfire.com/tv/curlyqgrl/gh/eps/gheps1984.html

 

Did Celia first meet Putnam or Andrews?

If I read it right, Celia and Putnam were a couple before the switch occurred, when Putnam was a med student.

 

How long before the move to PC did Andrews take over Putnam's identity?

1976. He was apparently left for dead.

(January 2, 1984)

When Grant's Dr's tell him he was found years ago at the bottom of a cliff, which in turn led to his stay at the sanitarium, he collapses.

(January 13, 1984)

Grant P has lunch with an old med school student he has not seen in 8 years. Grant P learns how his easily his imposter took his place. He even excelled the real Grant in top honors at med school. He's even more taken aback when informed that Celia even married the imposter.

 

Why did Putman return to PC?

Revenge.

(December 29, 1983)

The strange man in the hospital says his name is “Grant Putnam”. Real Grant reads the newspaper with reports of fake Grant's spy drama and goes crazy, his memories flooding back of what he had lost.

 

Given that Putnam was responsible for his brother's death as a teen, did Andrews know that Putnam was a maniac when he assumed his identity?

I'm pretty sure nobody -- nobody alive, that is -- knew Grant Putnam had issues.

 

 

Why was Andrews allowed to stay in PC after everyone found out he was a spy?

Grant Andrews worked hard to redeem himself over the course of late 1983 through 1984. He fought to keep his medical license, put up with menial work (even with Jimmy Lee as his boss) and wasn't fully welcomed back to GH until after Putnam was defeated.

 

Were they both really doctors?

Yes

 

Didn't Andrews have another name besides Grant?

(Nov. 1, 1983)

Almost from birth, Andre Chernin (Putnam) was trained by the DVX to be a mole in the USA. Though he never saw the real Grant Putnam, the phony Grant learned to duplicate his model's every move.

 

Was it plastic surgery or did they both happen to look alike?

(July 27, 1983)

Celia mentions to Bunny about Grant's plastic surgery. Bunny is intrigued. The Grant he knows had no surgery done.

 

Was Celia related to Alexandra Quartermaine?

Celia's dad was Quentin, son of Edward's cousin Herbert. For some reason, I'm thinking Alexandra was another of Herbert's children?

[Dion]

Apparently Alexandria was the daughter of an unseen and unnamed brother of Edward's.