GH: Classic Thread

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Digest photos of their SOAPY Award winners at GH's peak of popularity (1981).

Do you think they should have kept Alexandra around?

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[quartermainefan]

wow, TG was a real fashion victim in those photos.

[Juliajms]

It was the 70's. Have some mercy.

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March 1974 TV Radio Mirror

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could he really be convincing in his worry about whether he would survive, if he knew the script was going to have him live? The writers for the soaps just think it's better to keep the actors in the dark because then they don't give anything away - whether in gesture or in nuance.

Being identified with the character one portrays on a daytime drama is one of the disadvantages of being a star on such a show - as John Beradino points out. "I'm referred to constantly as Dr. Steve Hardy by viewers of the show I meet in the street," says John. "Very seldom do I encounter a viewer of the show that knows my real name."

And then there are the gifts that the fans send to their favorites on the series. Many are cheap and useless - but not all of them. A lady in Georgia once sent Emily a very expensive and obviously very old silver tea service. The actress wrote back insisting that the gift was much too valuable for her to accept. The elderly fan replied that the tea service had been in her family many, many years and that she wanted Emily to have it. It was her way of saying thanks for the years of enjoyment she'd gotten from the show.

Then there are those who, for one reason or another, come to the decision that General Hospital really is for real. A man from Bakersfield, California, recently wrote the producers saying that his father, an elderly invalid, "has a fixation that the show is about true people and events and once in a while he feels he needs to get out and warn one of the characters of some impending danger...He gets so excited about the need to warn them that I'm afraid he might have another stroke that could prove fatal.

"Television is his only vice," continued the concerned son, "and we can't deny him from watching but (also) we can't convince him that it is just a play.

"He has said that if we could get a script of some of the coming programs he would be convinced that it was just a story.

The producers of General Hospital broke a hard and fast rule and sent the man a script of an upcoming segment.

The approximately one hundred people involved in turning out some 260 segments of General Hospital each year are deadly serious about their work. They have to be.

When Emily McLaughlin arises at five A.M. each working morning in her San Fernando Valley home and begins preparing her first cup of coffee, several crew members are already at work eleven miles away at the ABC Hollywood studios, preparing for taping that day's segment of the program.

When the actors, the directors, audio and video engineers, the costume designer and various other personnel arrive on the sound stage to begin work at seven in the morning, the crew has already dressed the set; everything is ready for the first rehearsal of the day.

The first run through, lasting from seven until eight-thirty, is rather casual. "It's when the actors have their fun and it gives them a chance to get loosened up," says Al Rabin, one of the three directors who works on the show. "They work out all the kinks in the first run through. When we tape this afternoon we'll have the script down to perfection." It's very rare that one of the actors blows a line on this show in the final taping. But, of course, they're just about as a professional group of performers as you'll find working anywhere."

True. And the same can be said of the crew. But there is a lot of horseplay during that first rehearsal. One recent morning John Beradino, as Dr. Steve Hardy, was required by the script to try to convince Jessie Brewer to have more tests done to determine what the spot on her lungs might be. Jessie then brings up the subject of cancer. John replies that Nurse Jessie is "a woman, never smokes and therefore the possibility of cancer is extremely remote." The cast and crew broke up. Emily McLaughlin is General Hospital's resident chain-smoker.

A few minutes later Denise Alexander, as Dr. Leslie Williams, and Peter Hanson, who has played the Lee Baldwin character since 1965, are sitting at the table in the restaurant set, discussing his wife's recent stroke. The script calls for them to order wine and ponder the problem of what one might feed the snake Baldwin's son is bringing home from camp. Denise makes a face and looks as if she might be ill. More laughter. It's still only seven-forty in the morning.

At eight-thirty the cast and crew of General Hospital take their lunch break. Lunch at ABC at that time of the morning, when most people are just arriving at work, is really breakfast. The crew has time to linger over their coffee and rolls but the cast has to gulp their "lunch" and get back to the set. They have to be in makeup by nine-thirty. Director Al Rabin makes a few script changes during the nine-thirty run through. There will be several such changes made before the morning is over - and the script is pared down to split -second timing.

General Hospital, produced by Jim Banks, was created by the husband and wife writing team of Frank and Doris Hursley, who live in Chicago. The Hursleys still plot all segments of the show but their daughter now does much of the actual writing.

The show made its debut April 1, 1963. Two members of the original cast, John Beradino and Emily McLaughlin, who, along with newcomer Denise Alexander, might be considered the "stars" of the show, have been with it since the beginning. Roy Thinnes was the original Dr. Phil Brewer, now played by Martin West, who joined the show in 1968. Lucille Wall signed on in July, 1963, only thirteen weeks after the show's debut.

In the beginning Jim Banks directed every segment - five a week - and McLaughlin, Beradino and Wall appeared in each and every one. "It was anywhere from six to ten hours a day, five days a week that we all worked then,"" recalls Kiley Masterson, associate producer of General Hospital.

"I really don't know how we - and especially the actors - did it." The actors agree. "It was pure hell," says Emily McLaughlin, who now is required to be on the set only three days a week. The daytime drama stars may have as many fans and get more fan mail than stars of prime time programs but they seldom have time to join in the Hollywood social whirl.

"You soon learn that you have to pass on most party invitations," says Denise Alexander. "When you have to be on the set at seven in the morning and ready to work you just don't have time for a lot of social activity."

A member of the crew recalls that there have been actors who came on the show from series where they shot only one thirty-minute and an hour-segment a week who just couldn't cut it. "Our actors have to work at least three times as hard as do actors on nighttime series," says Rabin. "And they have to be prepared. Once they get in place and that camera starts rolling, nothing short of an act of God stops it. Many actors, and we've had some of them on General Hospital, just can't take the pressure. Or they refused to discipline themselves to the work. Our actors are dedicated to the show and they have to be. Our time schedule doesn't permit much temperament and it is impossible for us to tolerate an actor that hasn't prepared himself. Fortunately we're seldom faced with that problem."

By the time of the eleven o'clock run through - their fourth of the day - the actors have themselves completely in character. It's been almost five long hours since Emily McLaughlin left her home in Van Nuys; she's no longer the actress who lives there is a large house on a tree-shaded street. She's now Jessie Brewer, Nurse, General Hospital. From here on it's serious business. The horsing around on the set has ceased; the onstage crew now speak in whispers and stay out of the way of the actors.

The actors are ready. Up in the control booth the crew can now relax a bit. When the subject of the spot on Jessie Brewer's lung comes up again someone starts singing a parody - "The Shadow on Your Lung" to the tune of "The Shadow of Your Smile." Now it's laughter time for the people behind the camera. Fortunately the actors can't hear them.

"It's all so very heavy and serious," a crew member said, referring to the story, "and we work under such tension that we have to poke a little fun at it now and then. Otherwise we'd go bananas."

The audio engineer goes a bit bananas when, during the twelve o'clock dress rehearsal, Emily McLaughlin walks on set in a white party dress to confront Lucille Wall in pink stripes that also looks white on camera. But only for a moment. A twist of half a dozen or so dials and Lucille's dress is the pink it should be and he's also reduced the glare from Emily's gown. Those nurses uniforms that look so crisp and white on television, by the way, are beige. A dingy glareless beige.

Virtually none of the actors are on the set during the thirty minutes between dress rehearsal and the actual taping of the show at one o'clock, nor is there any of the banter between cast and crew. At zero hour everyone is in place and scene by scene the show is taped like clockwork in exactly thirty minutes and exactly as it will be shown. There have been times when an actor blew a line and the scene had to be reshot and edited into the segment. But it doesn't happen very often. As Al Rabin said, nothing short of an act of God stops that General Hospital camera once it starts rolling for the one o'clock taping. Not even a fire on the set.

Recently, during a scene at the nurse's station, Rabin noticed that there was a fire in the wastepaper basket. The actors noticed it too but went right on with their lines. Rabin had the cameraman pull in for an unrehearsed closeup while a member of the crew ran onto the set, but off camera, grabbed the wastepaper basket and took it outside.

It's one-forty-five, the actors have wiped some of the makeup off their faces and changed into street clothing. I've been with them since seven in the morning and I'm exhausted just watching them work. At this time on a primetime show everyone would relax, perhaps go out for a drink. But not on General Hospital or any of the other daytime dramas. Those who will appear in the show that is to be taped the next day have their new scripts in hand. They will rehearse until four in the afternoon and sometimes longer.

I take my leave of them with a newfound respect and admiration. And with a sure knowledge of how viewers might come to think this ABC serial is all "really for real."

- RAYMOND FRIDAY LOCKE

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April 1984 Daytime TV

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The return of Jefferson Hutchins Smith would definitely add spice to Rose and Jake's romance. As an attorney, Jake could serve on the parole board could serve on the parole board that would have to rule on Hutch's release from prison; or Hutch could simply escape from jail again. He'd hide in the basement of Kelly's Diner, eating all the special Passover foods that Rose has stored there, hoping to surprise Jake with. Or what if Hutch disguised himself as a priest - Rose's cousin perhaps? - to avoid the cops? He'd try to prevent Rose and Jake's marriage, using trumped-up religious reasons, while really trying to win back Rose for himself.

Hot Stuff!

Sometimes storylines get cancelled because the two actors don't click, but even when the chemistry sizzles, problems occur. Scorpio and Holly were hot stuff from day one - on occasion perhaps a little too hot. A sauna-room scene between the passionate police commissioner and his cool-as-a-cucumber bride had to be censored when Holly's towel nearly slipped too low, and occasionally lives have to be cut from Scorpio's dialogue because of inadvertent sexual references.

On primetime TV, love scenes can be far racier, of course, but daytime has stricter rules. And speaking of primetime - racy or otherwise - whatever happened to all those plans to spin-off some of General Hospital's main characters in a nighttime series of their own? According to one version, Bobbie and D.L. Brock would move to New York and face life, love and tragedy in a swanky Manhattan high-rise; in another version, Blackie becomes a celebrated rock star and goes on tour with his band, his manager (Bryan Phillips), and his press secretary (Amy Vining).

But the best spin-off idea of all just surfaced recently. It's a low-keyed comedy that stars Slick Jones, Bert Ramsey and Emma Lutz who all band together after leaving the battle-scorched docks of Port Charles. This GH spin-off is called AfterLUKE and airs on Monday night right after The Scarecrow and Mrs. Spencer.

[Mr. Vixen]

I love how they misspelled Bobbie's name.

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From a May 1998 Weekly catching up with former soap names.

[Paul Raven]

From the craziness of Hollywood to the craziness of preachin'...

[reallyhateskateonlost]

Q's Thanksgiving. Duck!.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8oc0PnWtc8

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GH promo at about 3 minutes in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rh4DP0FW2zA

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GH promo at about 3 minutes. Remember that shi!!y Faison return story? The highlight was the actor trashing the show to the press.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMjY2jDMBF4

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQ4tsqcCbbE