GH: Classic Thread

[vetsoapfan]

 

OMG, you are totally right! I apologize for my senior moment. I have corrected my original post. Jane Dawson was indeed married to Howie Dawson, while Sharon was with Henry Pinkham. After the Jane/Howie and and Sharon/Henry relationships broke up, I believe that Jane and Henry got together and transferred to Mercy Hospital in 1975.

[vetsoapfan]

 

Right. By the late 1970s, Steve and Audrey had become more of a tentpole, supporting couple who mainly interacted with other characters, rather than being the center of their own storylines. At least we still saw them fairly regularly, particularly Steve. Jessie really dropped off the map for a while, although both Douglas Marland and Pat Falken Smith wanted to use her. (According to McLaughlin in a Daily TV Serials interview, ABC specially ordered Marland not to focus on the vets.) Pat Falken Smith gave Jessie her last real story: a romance with Dan Rooney. I thought it was sweet, but Mary Ann Anderson acknowledged that EM did not like the plot and it was dropped. After 1981, Jessie's importance and appearances on the show dwindled alarmingly. There were times in the 1980s when we did not see Jessie for months, and when she did appear, she only had a handful of lines that were so nondescript, they could have been given to any anonymous under-fiver. She was even absent from the annual Christmas shows, a fact which John Beradino once acknowledged disturbed him greatly.

 

She last appeared on screen in early 1991, I believe.

 

This may be her final show, Dawn's funeral from March, 1991. Someone correct me if you know of a later appearance.

 

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Edited February 3, 2018 by vetsoapfan

[SoapDope]

Was Dr. Pinkham strange acting ?

[vetsoapfan]

 

 I'd say he was more awkward than strange.

[SoapDope]

I bet it was creepy to see him have a love interest if he was that awkward ?

[victorlord75]

In my opinion, Jessie's last big story was Phil Brewer's murder.  Once the aftermath wrapped up from that, she never really had much to do anymore.

[depboy]

Oh my goodness, no need to apologize.  I am quite impressed with your contributions to the board.  I’ve only learned the early history of the show from years of research, and to have you as a first-hand source of information is invaluable.  I meant no disrespect.

 

As for Jane and Howie, I believe they broke up after the loss of their young daughter Joanne.  And you are exactly right that Jane did turn to Henry (as awkward as he was) and they went to work over at Mercy.

[vetsoapfan]

 

Right. While I applauded Pat Falken Smith's giving Jessie a new romance with Dan Rooney years later, that was definitely a minor story rather than a front-burner one. Still, I was beyond thrilled to see EM being used at all.

 

 

Thank you for the kind words, and of course I did not take your comment as disrespectful. I appreciate folks clarifying the facts if I make a silly mistake like confusing to whom Howie was married. The funny thing is, I knew it, but as I acknowledged previously, I was having a senior moment. Trying to recall events from 20, 30, 40, 50 years ago is challenging for an old brain! Sometimes I am shocked that I remember as much as I do.

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[Paul Raven]

Was Jessie's lack of airtime in the later years due to EM's ill health , as much as anything else?

 

Still, there should have been a tribute episode where Jessie is honoured with flashbacks etc.

[cassadine1991]

She should've had some children on the canvas.

I think it was 

[vetsoapfan]

 

Back in the day, the tabloids printed all sorts of rumors, but as it turned out, the stories about EM's alcohol problems were true. Her poor health did contribute greatly to her missed tape-dates and inability to work, but TPTB also mandated that the vets be backburned in favor of the younger characters who would appeal to the teens and 20-somethings.

 

I do believe that there should have been a tribute to EM/Jessie after the actress passed away. I would have settled for even just the final act of one episode, with Steve and Audrey remembering her with lots of flashbacks. But we got nada.

 

BTW, McLaughlin's daughter confirmed my suspicion that Nurse Georgia (pictured below) was originally hired as a stand in for Jessie, and used on the show when EM was unable to appear.

 

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Edited February 4, 2018 by vetsoapfan

[victoria foxton]

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[amybrickwallace]

Jessie did bear at least one child, who was stillborn. Did Emily McLaughlin's alcohol problems result from the tragic loss of her husband, Jeffrey Hunter? I've read in a couple of books and soap magazine articles that she took his passing very hard and fell into severe depression.

[vetsoapfan]

 

Jessie was pregnant twice, both times by her first husband Phil Brewer. She miscarried the first baby at five months. The second child, whom she named Nancy, died shortly after birth.

 

Her daughter wrote that EM never fully recovered from Hunter's death, and that years of loneliness led to her drinking. In 1988 she entered the Betty Ford clinic for seven weeks. She admitted that drinking was an anesthetic, and when she drank, she was slowly killing herself so that she could be with Hunter again. Towards the end of her life, at least, she was able to stop drinking.

 

Here's a piece EM wrote for JH:

 

"Talk to Me Softly"

 

Talk to me softly in the night

Tell me about another love

Laugh with me gently in the dawn

Tell me the things she did

But talk to me, 

Talk to me,

Touch my face.

 

Sing to me any songs you sang

Another time, another place

Tell me the way the wind came up

Tell me the way the sun went down

But talk to me,

Talk to me,

Touch my face.

 

So much of the time did nothing but pass

And, mostly, nobody happened at all

The days were weather and empty glass

Till you came, you came, now.

 

Tell me what time the birdsong stopped

Tell me the clock is across the room

Tell me all of what anything means

Or was nothing was--as in yesterday

But talk to me.

Talk to me,

Touch my face.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cassadine1991]

That's tragic.