GH: Classic Thread

[victorlord75]

Sharon was a good person, but a constant thorn in old-school Lucille's side.  She had a gift for saying the wrong thing around Lucille and one funny story toward the end of Sharon's run was when Sharon got bitten by the acting bug and came to work wearing her nurse's cap--and an orange dress, rather than a white one like a traditional nurse.  Wearing the dress was a way for Sharon to express her creative metamorphosis.  The orange dress drove poor Lucille the Stickler nuts.  I have seen a picture of Sharon in that dress in this thread somewhere.  Sharon was funny and pleasant, but without being a cartoon like so many characters are made to be today that have a lighter touch about them.

[victorlord75]

You are very blessed to have compared notes with someone from that time of doing a soap.  While we will look at footage from Sharon's era and think that soap stories were simple and basic, they did not have technology on their side back then, thus making their work very, very difficult.

[amybrickwallace]

Yes, and toward the beginning of her stint on GH she was also making several appearances on ABC primetime - Bewitched. She played a secretary at McMann & Tate, and got to display her comedic chops. 😊

[victoria foxton]

Thanks Victorlord75 i started watching GH in late 1987. By that time most of the wonderful characters that populated PC in the 60's and early 70's were long gone. I would love to see this stuff.

Edited February 2, 2018 by victoria foxton

[victorlord75]

I'd love to see them all again, too.  They started to purge alot of the characters in 1975, and by 1977, my mother, who was a faithful GH viewer, stopped watching.  She took no interest in the brand new Webber brothers and their sister Terri.  She said, "I don't know all these new people."  She never returned to watching either.  My sister and I continued, off and on through the years.  1987 was actually a good year for GH, in my opinion.  H. Wesley Kenney and Ann Marcus came aboard as EP and HW, and actually, under Ms.Marcus, the vets like Steve, Audrey, and even Jessie had more scenes, but even by then, it could be clearly seen that Emily Maclaughlin was ill.

[titan1978]

Was Kenney the EP during the Anna kidnapped by Grant Putnam and Satan the dog story?  Because I thought the show was great then.  Tom Hardy JR came back then too, and the beginning of his story with Simone was then if I’m remembering correctly.   Steve and Audrey were much more integrated and present when he came back as an adult.

 

[cassadine1991]

Yep

[Franko]

Vetsoapfan, could you shed some more light for me about what made Sharon unique? I'm imagining her as not too far off from Amy Vining, but I have the feeling that's not doing Sharon justice. I did love Amy, BTW.

[amybrickwallace]

I loved Amy as well, and never was able to figure out why Shell Kepler never got a real story in the entire 23 years she was on the show. It was under JFP's watch that Shell was unceremoniously dumped and Amy was never seen/referred to again, right? 😠

Edited February 3, 2018 by amybrickwallace

[vetsoapfan]

 

GH was such a mess in the mid-1970s, that I actually welcomed the Webber family to Port Charles. All the actors were attractive, charming, and talented. But I NEVER wanted the spotlight to drift away from the veteran characters like Jesslie, Steve, and Audrey, who were the heart of the series. I am like your mom (and most soap fans, I think), who all hate strange newbies appearing out of nowhere and taking over.

 

I had a long conversation once with Mary Ann Anderson, McLaughlin's daughter. Due to her health woes, EM had been unreliable on set for a long time,  and  in the late 1980s was only able to tape half of the shows stated in her contract. She was finally taken off contract in 1989 (although the show still paid her a whopping $3500.00 per episode as a day player.) As quoted in Anderson's book about her mom, Emily said, "I had pride in the show and in being one of the reasons for its success. I could not let go emotionally as I grew older, as I did not look well and my part grew smaller. My pride was terribly hurt. I felt fear, resentment, envy of the younger people who had come in at large salaries and under good conditions we had created....My fear of losing the show completely was the constant in my life. There was resentment toward the producers who played games of uncertainty with us, with me...I lived in constant anxiety, which interfered with my work."

 

Anderson continued, ""It was not until the arrival of producer Joseph Hardy that we saw the return of Jessie...viewers now saw (her) back at the nurses' station on average once a week." Unfortunately, as EM's health deteriorated even more, her appearances as Jessie dwindled again.

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Here's a poem, written by McLaughlin and published in Anderson's book:

 

"Malibu I"

I am scrubbed by the wind,

Timed by trhe Tide.

My mornings are early,

My afternoons wide.

The sun melts my being,

The moon scatters the sea.

And, I am alone with my center and me.

 

 Sharon was a sweet girl who just did not always fit into a little "nurse's box" of expected behavior and attitude. Audrey's sister Lucille, who was a crusty old broad and a stickler for the rules, would be driven around the bend by anyone who did not acquiesce--and acquiesce fast--to her authority, but it was impossible to dislike the effervescent Sharon.  I would say that Sharon was more mature than Amy, and was able to keep her mouth shut, LOL, which Amy never seemed to manage.

Edited February 3, 2018 by vetsoapfan

[titan1978]

Yes, JFP was the EP when we last saw Amy.  What I loved about Amy over the years was she was a great nurse.  And a busybody.  It added some fun, and she played off different people really well.  I do barely remember her one storyline (beyond stuff from when she first came on the show), where she fell in love with a boxer I think?

[depboy]

The poem Emily wrote is lovely, if not haunted.  

 

And I may be wrong, but I think you may be confusing Sharon and Jane Dawson.  Sharon was married to awkward Dr. Pinkham, Jane was married to slug Howie.

[amybrickwallace]

My great-grandparents watched AMC and GH in its early years. They'd eat lunch and then settle down to watch the stories. My great-grandmother absolutely loved "Nurse Jessie". 

[KMan101]

What time frame did it become apparent they weren't using Jessie, Steve and Audrey very much?

 

It always disappointed me they ignored Jessie after McLaughlin passed and they ignored Amy after dumping Shell Kepler. Sigh.

[titan1978]

My dad, who only saw the show in bits and pieces as my mom and his grandmother watched it used to joke all the way into the 1990’s when I watched as a teen “Is Jessie still crying in the pill room?”

 

In that prime time GH anniversary special in the late 1990’s, I remember Rachel Ames saying Steve and Jessie were the two people that should have been together, but never were.

Like many a soap romantic couple, they started to have storylines revolving around their sexy children and then dropped off the storyline map.  

 

When you read yearly recaps, it seems around 1976-1977 was Audrey’s last real storyline of note until Ryan attacks her in the 1990’s.  While we saw her a lot during Tom Jr’s return and relationship with Simone, it wasn’t her storyline really.

 

They got got remarried in the late 1970’s, Jeff Webber became Steve’s son, and Steve is pretty much just chief of staff after that.

 

I think Jessie’s time of the frontburner ended before Steve and Audrey’s.