GH: Classic Thread

[DRW50]

I'm not sure when exactly they started but I remember Chris Schemering claiming they wrote the Rick/Monica/Jeff stuff as he said this type of melodrama later found them success on Dynasty but did not work on GH. He mentioned dialogue between Rick and Monica like, "You're my heaven and my hell," and, "I have a fever in my blood and you're the cure."

(presumably the next line was not about needing "more cowbell.")

Edited Wednesday at 08:30 PM by DRW50

[DRW50]

You can see a few clips of Terri in these videos:

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Here's a brief promo of her at about 16 minutes:

 

[janea4old]

 

Thanks! so maybe blonde or maybe reddish-blonde, but hard to tell.

Edited Wednesday at 10:33 PM by janea4old

[janea4old]

May 2025 Kirsten Storms interview with Stephanie Sloane
on the 20th anniversary of her debut on GH
https://www.tvinsider.com/1193169/general-hospital-kirsten-storms-maxie-jones-best-storylines-romances-interview/

[Paul Raven]

GH 1976 Pt 4

Cam tracks down Miss Clifford, the nurse who verified Leslie’s story at the custody hearing, since Miss Roach had died. He offers her ten thousand dollars to tell Leslie that she made up the whole story to get her hands on some of the Faulkner money, but now her conscience won’t let her rest until she confesses. Since Miss Clifford has a serious heart condition, they plan to have her say that she is afraid of dying with this sin on her soul. Cam then locates one Russ Waverly, who had dated Barbara casually before her marriage. Since she stopped dating him when she found that she was carrying Jason’s child, Waverly is to say that Laura is his daughter, not Jason’s. Cam arranges for Waverly to be available  when needed.

On cue, Miss Clifford agrees with Steve’s request that her story be confirmed by a cardiac examination and a psychiatric screening. And she. passes the tests by Peter and Rick with flying colors: She does have  a heart condition, and she seems sincere in making amends. But Leslie doesn’t see it that way. When she hears Miss Clifford’s story, she angrily insists that the woman is trying to get money from them and orders Cam to throw her out. After she’s gone, Leslie tries to blow holes in Miss Clifford’s story by pointing out that if Miss Clifford is telling the truth, then Laura isn’t Jason’s child, and Barbara would have admitted this in court rather than risk losing her daughter. Cam, who pretends to Leslie that he thinks Miss Clifford is a charlatan, is relieved to find that Barbara is visiting a relative and Leslie can’t reach her for confirmation. Cam gets to Barbara first and tells her that if she and her family aren’t out of Port Charles by tomorrow, he’ll tell Jason that Laura is another man’s child. Barbara insists that this isn’t true, but Cam brings Waverly in, and Barbara realizes that he’s got her trappedthere is too much contradicting her for Jason to believe the truth.

When Cam tells her he has a job waiting for Jason in Canada and hands her twenty five thousand dollars for “expenses,” Barbara can’t fight any longer, and she agrees to his terms. When Leslie goes to the Vinings’, she finds the house deserted and up for rent. Cam sympathizes with Leslie but stresses that if the story is true, Barbara needed to get Jason away before the truth came out. Leslie starts to believe this, until she sees Laura’s favorite doll lying in the deserted house. This suggests to her that the child has been kidnapped, and soon she is hysterical. To calm her, Cam assures her he will hire a team of crack investigators to track the Vinings down and find Laura. But Cam still has to connect the Vinings’ sudden disappearance with Miss Clifford’s story, so he orders her to tell Leslie that she told Barbara she had blown the whistle to Leslie. The strain of this extra pressure is too much for Miss Clifford’s heart, and she has an attack. Cam is relieved when Leslie is refused admittance to the woman’s room, but his respite is shortlived when he learns that Leslie is talking to her.

Leslie’s meeting with Miss Clifford leads to suspicion more than confirmation. Miss Clifford claims  Barbara admitted that she had a lover, but Leslie notices that the woman describes Barbara as sarcastic and abusive, two traits not in Barbara’s makeup, and she mentions the wooden door of Laura’s room a door which Leslie knows is glass. Realizing that Leslie isn’t taken in makes Miss Clifford even more nervous, and Peter decides she is showing the tension of carrying out a pretense. When Cam, seeing the possibility of his plan being blown, arranges a hasty ambulance departure from General Hospital for Miss Clifford, Peter shows his suspicions over Cam’s involvement. So Cam, who has been growingly resentful of Peter’s close working relationship with Leslie as well as her increasing reliance on Peter for emotional support, decides that Peter has to be eliminated from Leslie’s  life too.

Diana has been trying to follow Audrey’s advice and let her love for Peter guide her trust of him. She assures him she will bring all problems to him and not build suspicions on conjectures and bits of miscellaneous information, but Beth’s continuing indictment of all men isn’t helping her sense of security. Peter misses Martha’s birthday party because of a hospital patient’s threatening to jump from a ledge, and Diana lands on him when he arrives home emotionally spent, bitterly suggesting that he would have been home on time if Martha was really his daughter. It’s too late for Diana to take back her spiteful words when she learns why he was delayed, and Peter responds that her assurances of trust and faith were merely lip service; her lack of trust has gone too far. When Diana confides her latest disaster to Audrey, she admits that she realizes there are self-destructive tendencies within her that she cannot control. Audrey upsets Diana by suggesting psychiatric therapy, but Diana later realizes this may be what it will take to save her marriage and asks Peter to arrange it for her. He is pleased by this effort to save their relationship and is encouraging.

Diana’s optimism is shattered when she agrees to be interviewed by Kimberly Hughes, the reporter for Men and Women magazine  who is writing an article on the Free Clinic. Peter initially refused, but later agreed, as the publicity will benefit the clinic. Diana is horrified when Kimberly questions her, using the very words castigating Peter that Beth used earlier- obviously her sister has been spilling her venomous contempt to the reporter. Diana is thrown and can’t continue. Later, when interviewing Peter, Kimberly tells him about her abbreviated interview with Diana and angers him, as she had promised the article would be career-oriented, without personal intrusion. He coldly asks her to leave and refuses further cooperation.

And so, knowing that the Taylors’ relationship is increasingly rocky, Cam intensifies things by conveniently not telling Diana that Peter called to say he and Leslie are going to be late because of a clinic emergency. Instead, he plies her with champagne and then confides his personal “anguish” that his wife and her husband are heading toward a romantic entanglement. Believing this, Diana goes straight to Peter’s office, where she finds her husband sympathetically massaging Leslie’s neck after a trying session with a difficult patient. Believing that this proves Cam’s contentions, Diana bitterly accuses her husband of being unfaithful. Leslie, hearing Diana’s words, instantly senses her husband’s fine hand ‘behind this, and this is confirmed when Diana admits that Cam said nothing about a clinic emergency’s causing the delay. Leslie now has to admit to herself that a side of her husband is emerging that she never saw before: a cruel and vindictive nature.

Diana’s first session with her therapist, Dr. Langley, is disastrous, in that she emerges believing that Peter finds her socially inferior to him. She desperately asks Leslie to release Peter from Free Clinic responsibilities so he can be home with his family, where he’s needed. Peter is horrified that she took it upon herself to interfere in his career this way, and tells her he won’t leave the clinic. Embittered, Diana informs him that she has canceled future sessions with Dr. Langley, as there is no “hangup” to be solved. Peter replies that there is, but it’s not a problem of other women but rather of her total inability to trust him. Diana lashes back that the real problem is Peter’s thinking that his wife has no breeding, inasmuch as she’s a former waitress without social background. Peter realizes that Diana’s outburst is based on her own insecurity and delays a final pronouncement on the subject, but later he tells her that she has to understand that his medical career is separate and apart from his family life and no one can tell him how to. run it. He will not sacrifice his professional independence. Diana finally begins to see just what Peter’s work means to him as a person and what her interference has done. She realizes she must make the concessions in this area.

Cam learns that Leslie has hired a private investigator to find the Vinings, and moves quickly to cover their tracks. Then, to persuade her to give up, he stages his coup de grace. He has Waverly confront Leslie, claiming that he rejected Barbara when she told him she was carrying his child, so she wrote Jason a “Dear Daddy” letter, which he fell for. He tells Leslie he came forward so she wouldn’t go on “eating her heart out for his kid” and leaves. Leslie, in shock, is devastated when Cam matter-of-factly tells her she can now wipe her hands of the whole mess. She bitterly screams, “Yes! I can finally believe Laura’s not my daughter! Are you happy now, Cam?” When she hysterically accuses him of isolating her rather than protecting and supporting her, of needing to own her and ruthlessly destroying anything that stands in the way of his possession of her, Cam shows a violent streak by sweeping a set of crystal goblets off the bar. Leslie realizes that his blazing anger is actually meant for her, and she walks out.

Leslie goes to Terri and confides in her what Cam had done and what she now understands about him. Peter and Diana are at Terri’s Place for a celebration of their new-found relationship based on Diana’s understanding of her husband’s priorities, but Diana’s enjoyment of the evening is dimmed when Peter sees Leslie and insists that she join them. Shortly after, an emergency call comes in for Peter, and Leslie, e reminding him clinic patients are their patients, insists on going along. This shakes Diana’s tenuous confidence, and she recalls Cam’s pronouncements. Impulsively she calls Cam and announces she’s coming to see him. 

 

[DRW50]

Thanks again @Paul Raven 

It shows you just what a unique and memorable performer Denise Alexander was that I can see her in these moments and hear her even though I've never watched any of the material. On paper it probably wasn't up to much, but I do wish I could see her playing it.

Meanwhile, the Diana material continues to seem like one plate of ass after another...I was thinking she had finally been able to move on with the therapy breakthrough, but then we're right back with her believing Peter and Leslie are having an affair. I don't know how much further off the material is that made Valerie Starrett leave, but I can't blame her. 

I see less and less of Jessie anywhere in this - is this when Emily's health troubles were starting to phase her out of story?

Going a few summaries back, writing out Lee, Caroline, her son and his wife seems so rushed. It's a shame Marland, or whoever, killed off all of them (aside from Lee), as they might have given Lee some story down the line. Or maybe the daughter-in-law survived too - I can't remember.

Edited yesterday at 05:02 AM by DRW50

[Vee]

Marland killed them? I thought that was someone else.

[DRW50]

Oh you are probably right. I thought Marland brought him back but that must have been an interim writer. Tex somebody...?

[Paul Raven]

The Hollands obviously had long term story in place for Lee/Caroline/Bobby etc but when the Pollocks arrived they quickly wrapped it up with the new diagnosis and sent them packing.

That could have been it for Lee but I think the Elmans brought Lee/Scotty back in their short stint. 

Somebody must have regretted dumping Lee.I'm sure Peter Hansen was happy to get the call to return.

[Vee]

Am I wrong or was Gail (and putting her with Lee) a Marland addition?

[Paul Raven]

Gail was around months before. I think she was added by the Elmans, who introduced Scotty and David Hamillton, Lamont and Katie Corbin and Alan Quartemaine, all characters Marland worked with and developed.

The Ellmans were only around for 6 weeks or so but introduced some major characters.

Unlike other writers who come in and have mass cast changes, Marland worked with what was there.

[Vee]

I thought that might be it. Thanks.

[janea4old]

Was Gail Monica's foster mother? One site said she was Monica's adoptive mother but I'm sure that's wrong.  I sort of remember that the backstory was that Gail was a social worker who had mentored Monica when Monica was a youth, but they didn't have a legal relationship?
And then eventually when Monica was an adult, Gail served as mentor, friend, and mother figure to Monica? Kind of an older sister/ best friend ?

Edited yesterday at 04:03 PM by janea4old

[j swift]

Agreed, Gail was Monica's mentor, but they didn't have a legally binding relationship.

For the record, Gail also had the tightest perm in daytime.

Edited yesterday at 04:23 PM by j swift

[victorlord75]

I think one mistake that later writers made with Gail was to make her either Lee's angelic wife or the therapist that was an easy dupe for evil characters that required treatment.  Under Marland, there was a series of scenes where Tracy goaded Lee to drink, Jessie witnessed it and spilled the beans about what she saw to Gail.  Gail, then, in turn, ripped Tracy a new one.  I wish that Gail and Tracy scene still existed on YouTube.  It was glorious not only to see evil Tracy be put in her place, but to see some real fire from Gail.

Edited 3 hours ago by victorlord75
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