GH: Classic Thread

[Khan]

There's also an audio-only clip on YT where Gail lashes out at Monica after learning she had had an affair with her late husband (not knowing or understanding, of course, that, in fact, he had raped Monica).  I remember listening to that years ago and thinking, "Wow, now I see why Douglas Marland enjoyed writing for her!"

[Paul Raven]

GH 1976 Pt 5

Cam portrays the betrayed-and-long-suffering husband magnificently, telling Diana that emotional infidelity is as bad as the other kind. He then broodingly tells Diana that if he’s found gone over the balcony of the penthouse, it won’t have been suicide—Leslie will have pushed him. Or, more likely, she would find a less obvious method. But he can handle both their problems, he assures Diana. He reaches for the phone and in moments arranges for a plum job offer for Peter as a psychiatric consultant at one of Cam’s West Coast companies, with a lucrative salary to go with it. When Diana assures him that Peter won’t accept the position, Cam insists that it’s up to Diana to see that he does, for the sake of her marriage.

After a harrowing night with their patient, whose suicide attempt followed the loss of a baby, Leslie breaks down from both her patient’s agony and her own. But, as she tells Peter, she has to see Cam and end it now. She confronts him in the apartment and tells him that his actions were designed to take Laura from her and his complete disregard for her feelings have ended their marriage. Cam insists that he found Waverly out of love for her, which she doubts. But he  manages to convince her that he’ll sleep in the den, |so she won’t have to move to a hotel. He hopes this minor concession will give him time to make her realize what she’s about to give up. But in the morning he sees that she’s still adamant as she tells him things have to be his way or no way.

Ironically, this is the day Men and Women Magazine hits the stands with their cover feature story “A Unique Medical Team,” with Leslie and Peter on the cover. Diana, badly upset at Peter’s overwhelming concentration on Leslie’s problems, commiserates with Cam, who points out that the article “makes them sound like they’re married!” 

To Terri’s relief, Jeff is finally able to overcome his resentment of his brother and makes up with Rick. He reminds Rick that it is he, Jeff, who is the winner he has Monica, and she loves him. With Rick back on surgical service, Monica decides to specialize in surgery. Jeff is hurt when he learns that Steve has approved her transfer to surgical service, as he feels that Rick’s surgical success magnifies his own failure as a surgical candidate. To compensate, Jeff deliberately fondles Monica whenever Rick is around, as if to remind him that he won in the long run. But Rick can only suppress so much, and when Monica loses a young patient and cries in his arms, Rick kisses her with great passion and confesses he never stopped loving her and wanting her. Monica, in turn, explains that she fell in love with Jeff only out of her grief over Rick, and has never stopped loving him. Monica is frantic when Rick tells her they can’t hurt Jeff and he’s moving out of their apartment because he can’t sleep twenty feet from her and his brother without someday having the situation explode and destroying Jeff.

Heather Grant, a young girl who followed a General Hospital intern to Port Charles after he told her he was a doctor on a singles’ cruise, sees the answer to her determination to “better herself” when she recognizes Peter from the magazine cover and learns that his wife has just lost her baby-sitter. With references her mother helped forge, Heather gets the job, and immediately she promotes a live-in position by claiming her mother will insist she go home otherwise. Peter, initially reluctant, comes to see the advantages and agrees.

With her emotional problems solved, Audrey decides to accept her friends’ advice and look to the future. She goes to Steve’s office and tells him she loves him. To her joy, he replies, “I’ve always loved you, and never more than at this moment. And this time we’re going to live happily ever after.” But their happiness is shattered when, moments later, Steve falls down a flight of stairs and suffers an occipital skull fracture and internal injuries. Audrey,constantly at his bedside, knows she never stopped loving him but just didn’t realize it. Steve comes to after twenty-four hours, but finds he has no feeling in his legs and can’t move them. Dr. Marriner, chief of neurosurgery, finds that Steve has a fracture of the seventh thoracic vertebra and surgery is almost impossible due to the risk to the spinal cord. Explaining that these things sometimes heal themselves, he suggests that Steve accept confinement to a wheelchair for a year, to see what happens. Audrey optimistically insists that their wedding will go off as planned, but Steve informs her that he won’t marry her unless his full functions are restored, including his ability to perform sexually.

Since Steve was a good friend of their father’s, Rick and Jeff’s relationship is totally restored in this  crisis, leaving Monica to feel that their closeness shuts her out. To keep them both close to her, Monica begs Rick to change his mind and not move out, but he assures her he’s not a masochist and won’t subject himself to more of this for anything. When none of her machinations can prevent Rick from leaving, Monica decides she’ll find him an apartment and set it up as a love nest for the two of them.

Cam has to fly to New York, as embezzlement has been discovered in his corporate books, and Cam is shocked to learn that his right-hand man, Mac, is the culprit. When Cam fires him without severance or recommendation, Mac warns Cam that he will someday get his just reward. Cam, angry and bitter, arrives home to find Leslie packing to leave him for good. When he accuses her of never having been a real wife to him, Leslie retorts that he too is admitting there is no marriage. Furious, Cam informs her that she doesn’t respond to patience and gentleness, and then he rapes her. Afterward, he forces her down to the car and shoves her in, driving off toward their mountain retreat. When Leslie begs him to let her go, he tells her he never relinquishes what he owns.He explains he’s going to make her ‘into the kind of wife he wants and she will respond —in ways she never dreamed existed. When she asks  if rape is part of his instruction plans, he savagely replies, “If necessary.” In terror, Leslie grabs for the wheel, and they struggle as the car, out of control, crashes. Leslie is later found dazed and in shock, wandering in the woods. At the hospital she is able to remember enough coherently to send the police to the area. They find Cam dead in the wreckage at the bridge. When Peter tells her Cam is dead, Leslie immediately blames herself, claiming that she killed him. Peter reminds her that she was in the hands of an evil and dangerous man.

[DRW50]

Thanks @Paul Raven 

Amidst these terrible stories I see we get the arrival of Heather. I never knew Alice forged references for her. No wonder she later became a murderer. She was a criminal all along. 

The Jeff/Monica/Rick story always seems so brazen and so depressing all at once - I can't imagine how people would have talked about it in the Internet/Twitter era. 

I don't understand the choice to put Audrey and Steve through even more misery after they had been separated for almost a decade.

The sudden inclusion of magazine stories is fascinating...and I'm not sure if it is ever a huge story narrative for GH after this point, even when characters on the show ran magazines.

The end of the Leslie and Cam story did not need to be like this (and feels a little rushed).

Had every woman on the canvas at this time been raped? 

 

[MissPalmer]

Thank you Paul!

Recently, I have been reading the stories from 1965....the kidnapping of little Jessie by her real parents, the trial that was held, dr Noel and Brooke...and Meg.... 60 years now!!!!

I have been searching the 1965 Thanksgiving episode that I think it exists in Youtube, without any luck....does anyone know if this episode exists or it is simple a trick of my mind...it must be so powerful see it!!!

The other scene from 1965 is Steve and Audrey's wedding in February 1965! 

I wish we can see these classic episodes in streaming one day ... Most of these actors must be dead, I hope we as fans don't die meanwhile we are waiting for this day!

 

[Khan]

That was my thought as well.  I realize Cameron Faulkner always came across as controlling and manipulative, but good lord.  They made him do everything short of killing a puppy on his way out, lol.

[MissPalmer]

And a question about GH in 1965…did Lee have a son called Chuck?? And what happened to him?? In March 1965 Chuck had pneumonia…did he survive? Meg and her two children (Brooke and Scott) arrived in summer 1965.

[Paul Raven]

GH 1976 Pt 6

Cam’s death has raised specters in Diana’s mind, fears that she will now lose Peter to the grieving young widow. Wisely, she confides her fears to Peter, who assures her he loves her. But Diana’s real peace of mind comes when Leslie calls her to her hospital room and explains that any romance between Peter and herself was an ugly creation of Cam’s evil mind, an attempt to destroy Peter’s career in Port Charles. Diana understands and can accept Peter’s assurances now.

Rick suggests Steve call in Dr. Mark Dante as a consultant on his case, as Rick was very impressed with Mark’s neurological skill in Africa. Marriner is very upset at this, as he and Mark have been enemies since Mark’s internship. Mark arrives at General Hospital and soon reports that Steve’s bone fragment could be approached by using an antro-lateral incision. When Marriner runs into Mark in the hospital, he bitterly reminds him that he’s nothing but an ex-con who managed to get a parole-board member, Judge Lowell, to back him. Dante is married to Judge Lowell’s daughter Mary Ellen, who has been in a sanitarium for the past two years and refuses to speak to him. He assures Marriner that he’s paid the judge back.

When Steve insists on the surgery, Marriner refuses to take the risk, so Mark will perform the operation. Rick will first-assist and Jeff will. second-assist. The procedure is long and involved, with many complications requiring additional time and attention, but the team work well, and Steve survives. The outlook is  good, Steve is soon on the road to recovery, and Audrey, as his physiotherapist taskmaster, presses him to rapid strides on his road back to mobility. Dr. Marriner, feeling that his position has been irreparably damaged by Mark’s overriding his medical decision in Steve’s case, resigns, and Steve offers the post to Mark. Mark tells Steve he has to know about his past before he can be sure he wants an ex-con on the staff, and explains that he killed a man when he was seventeen, beating to death the man who had killed his father. Mark, a Golden Gloves boxing champion, was found guilty of using lethal weapons. Steve assures him that this makes no difference and presses Mark to accept.

Dr. Rex Pearson decides that after five years of widowhood, Terri has been deprived of a man in her bed long enough, and takes it upon himself to correct that situation. He remains in the club after closing and surprises her with an attempt to force himself upon her. But Rick drops by to take his sister home and beats Pearson badly. Determined to settle the score, Pearson learns that Monica never reported a previous injury on her young patient who died. Since this old injury caused the embolism that killed him, Pearson suggests to the boy’s mother, Mrs. Galvin, that Dr.Rick Webber covered for her and she should consider a malpractice suit against both of them. Steve informs Rick and Monica that such a suit has been instituted, and Monica panics, telling Rick that their relationship will be revealed. He tells her their love will die, if she’ll only let it. But Jeff, eager to help his wife, learns that Mrs. Galvin herself prevented Joey from being treated for the original injury, and the suit is dropped. With his father-in-law’s approval, Mark accepts the Chief of Neurosurgery post and, at Terri’s suggestion, has Mary Ellen moved to a sanitarium in Port Charles. She begins to respond to the new therapy, directed at her artistic talent, and will now speak to him.

While Mark and Mary Ellen were driving—he was behind the wheel—they had an argument over her wish that he enter private practice, and there was an auto accident, which resulted in Mary Ellen miscarrying. Terri is glad that Mary Ellen is responding, but realizes she is falling in love with Mark herself and tries to avoid him. But when she’s asked to be Mary Ellen’s contact with the outside world, Terri finds she can’t refuse.

Since Diana’s hysterectomy after Martha’s birth prevents them from having children, Peter and Diana investigate the possibility of adoption. Learning that it could easily take years, they follow a fellow doctor’s suggestion of a Switzerland adoption, and an infant is found for them. They eagerly leave for Switzerland, but their hopes are crushed when the teenage mother, the daughter of a banker, decides after holding her baby that she wants to keep him. Upon their return, the Taylors find that Heather has been caring for Tommy during a family crisis of Audrey’s, and Martha likes having the attention of an older child. With this in mind, they return to the adoption agency to inquire about an older child.

During the Taylors’ absence Heather’s ex-husband, Larry Joe, shows up and tells her he wants her back. Heather, whose sights are set on Jeff Webber, refuses, and nixes his consolation suggestion that she steal from the clinic’s drug supplies to finance a business for him. But Larry Joe steals Monica’s purse, and Heather finds it. Getting rid of him by promising not to turn him in, Heather finds the letter Rick sent Monica before he left for Africa, Heather returns Monica’s purse without the letter, which she slips into Jeff’s hospital mailbox.

[DRW50]

I have a feeling Irna went on to haunt the Pollocks.

[!@#$%^&*] hell. Barely in town and someone tries to rape her. Remember Goldie Hawn's friend in Foul Play who spent the entire movie convinced men were there to rape women? She must have been a GH viewer.

This is also such a tortured way to write that this sicko tried to rape Terri.

Thanks as always for these writeups. 

[Spin865]

Heather already had an ex-husband by 1976, but will give birth to her only daughter during the George W Bush administration. Soap characters lead interesting lives.

[j swift]

Here's a question for the ages.  After they defeated the mob, together, as a team, why the Quartermaines offer Luke an executive job, and Laura was a receptionist?

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[Paul Raven]

GH 1976 Pt 7

Jeff, meanwhile, has been upset because Monica has rejected his suggestion that they have a baby. He assumes that her refusal is due to her own upbringing as an orphan and a lack of security. Actually, she admits to herself, she wants only Rick’s baby, and she rejects Jeff’s offer of a house of their own as an anchor for her. Monica sees a divorce lawyer to find out about no-fault divorce, but is thwarted to learn that Jeff would have to agree, since there are no grounds. Monica manufactures small incidents to keep. Jeff on the defensive and moves out of their bedroom. Hurt and frustrated, he begins a vicious cycle of sleeping pills followed by “uppers” to get through the day. When Jeff grabs her arm while trying to talk to her, she pulls away, causing a bruise, which she exhibits later to Rick, Terri, and Audrey as proof that Jeff is not the sweet guy everyone thinks he is.

Jeff is crushed when he finds Rick’s letter; now he’s convinced that Monica never really loved him at all. She won’t discuss it or anything with him, and he takes more pills to face this. Finally he has a reaction to them. Heather’s there when the suffocating attack occurs, and she helps him through it, assuring him that she won’t tell anyone. When Jeff, miserably upset, drinks too much at their anniversary party, hosted by Terri, Monica puts on a long suffering wife act to impress Rick.

With Steve’s recovery almost complete, he and Audrey begin their wedding plans. But Tommy presents a problem when he tells his mother that he doesn’t have a father and stepfathers can’t be trusted. Audrey and Steve help him gain a sense of identity  by seeing where his real father, Dr. Tom Baldwin, worked in the hospital, and Steve prepares to adopt  Tommy as soon as the marriage is performed. There should be no problems, since they have a coroner’s report of Tom’s death in Mexico. But Tom Baldwin isn’t dead. Convicted of a murder he didn’t commit and sentenced to life imprisonment in a Mexican prison, he arranged for forged death papers, to save his infant son from a life as the son of a convicted murderer. He assumed the nurse took Tommy to Audrey, and has no idea that she kidnapped the child, who was later recovered by his mother.

But Tom now has hope, as an attorney, Ramon Hernandez, has an eyewitness to the real killer and is starting the machinery of rescuing Tom. But since Tom is legally dead, the judge won’t reopen: the case. Tom’s only hope is the nurse who was with him in Mexico. He writes to Florence Anderson for help, and she goes to the park to take Tommy’s picture, but is afraid to go to Mexico to testify about the forged papers.

After a cruise to restore her health, Leslie comes home to have her suspected pregnancy confirmed. ‘Knowing now that Cam was a truly evil man, Leslie fears that his child, conceived by rape, could be just as evil. She considers abortion but rejects it immediately, as she did when she was pregnant with Laura.  However, when Cam’s secretary offers her a letter of | Cam’s in which he embarrassingly and very fully contrasts his wife and his mistress, Leslie buys her off (for a thousand dollars, to match Men-Women Magazine’s offer) and decides that abortion may be the right choice after all. Peter assures her the child will be whatever she raises it to be—if it has love, it will be loving—but Leslie has a nightmare in which her child turns out to be a devil, and she secretly arranges for an out-of-town abortion, asking Terri not to tell Rick, whom she insists she’s not attracted to.

Terri’s attempt to help Mary Ellen, called Mellie now, fails miserably when Mellie, instantly jealous of Terri, hysterically tells her what Mark did to her in the accident. Never having heard of the story, Terri is helpless, and has to call the doctor to treat Mellie.  Terri is furious at Mark for not preparing her, but soon accepts his apology, understanding that he was reluctant to admit what had snapped Mellie’s mind. Mellie runs away from the sanitarium and is hit by a car. Feeling that she is now suicidal, Mark has her father come to take her back to Boston. Terri goes to Mellie and pleads with her to forgive Mark, because he loves her. Mellie asks her father whether, when one has enemies, one should try to keep them. in view or ignore them. He replies that one should watch them, then asks Mark about this. Peter suggests that enemies can be things as well as people, and agrees to accept Mellie as a patient when Mark decides she should stay in Port Charles. Realizing that Mellie needs attention, Peter suggests that Diana befriend her. Mellie isn’t overly enthusiastic about this.

Monica is furious at Steve’s anniversary gift: a week’s honeymoon in Florida. Jeff tries to force their acceptance, hoping they can salvage something, but Monica fakes flu, canceling the trip, then makes a miraculous recovery.  When Rick’s former surgical adviser, Dr. Pierre Namath, arrives in Port Charles, Monica promotes an invitation to join him and Rick at his farm. Rick refuses for her, explaining that she is now his brother’s wife, but Monica, undaunted, arrives at the farm by bus, assuring Rick that she left Jeff a note explaining where she is.

Heather, however, who has seen Monica buy the bus ticket, manages to mention it to Jeff, who consoles himself with more pills and liquor. When Rick’s car breaks down on the way back, they have to spend the night in a small town, and Rick calls Terri to explain, learning that Jeff had no idea where Monica had gone. Monica manages to pull a fast one and turn herself into the object of pity, winding up in tears, which precede a romantic and passionate embrace. But Jeff goes after them in fury, and Rick, warned by Terri’s call, takes another room, so all is seemly when Jeff arrives. When Monica coldly asks him why he didn’t read her note, he apologizes humbly. Monica manages to dash off a note and drop it on the floor at home for Jeff to find, citing the note as proof that their marriage was a mistake. The next day Monica tells Rick that Jeff told her their marriage was a mistake.

[DRW50]

@Paul Raven Thanks again. I guess this is the "demon fetus" story I remember reading about. I wonder if the dream plays out any better onscreen.

And of course Tom Baldwin is back for more Steve/Audrey misery. I wonder if Lee returns in time to interact with him again.

Mellie - I was going to ask if Shonda Rhimes was watching but she would have been 6 around this time. You never know...I probably started soaps around then.

Speaking of Lee:

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[Contessa Donatella]

Remember when we used to talk about homoerotic subtext on GH? Like this Bromance? Sonny & Jason! I remain somewhat amazed that ABC used it as a promo
https://www.instagram.com/p/DH3fKzjJyy4/
 

Edited yesterday at 10:31 AM by Contessa Donatella

[DRW50]

Someone making that must have had a laugh.

I have to admit I never saw any chemistry between them. 

[Contessa Donatella]

I mean I really hope so. Still kinda amazed though that it would get by Standards & Practices.

A pair that was talked about that I could see it was Jacob Young & that guy who kept changing what name he went by Someone Martines at least part of the time, but at any rate Jacob was playing Lucky & this other guy was playing Nikolas.