Congrats on the 48th year GH!! Tomorrow, April 1st marks the big day!! First airing 1963, the soap was 30 minutes long. Some facts and fun stuff you might not know about your soap:
1. In 1976, General Hospital went from airing 30 minutes to 45. I remember being able to catch the last 15 minutes after school, that's how I got hooked. It went to an hour in 1978.
2. In 1964, a spin-off was created called "The Young Marrieds"-- It was canceled after 2 years.
3. At first, the soap opera was set in a "General Hospital," there was no name for the city. Finally, in the '70's they christened the town "Port Charles"
4. In 1963, a young Leonard Nimoy played "Bernie" on the soap
5. The USC Medical Center's front gates was used for years in the opening sequence of GH
6. The Haunted Star was a wedding present to Luke and Laura
7. Scrubs and Liz Webber live in a suburb of Port Charles called "Queen's Point"
8. The Q's, Kate Howard and Sonny all live on Harbor View Road.
9. Luke was only mayor of PC for 2 short months
20. A kangaroo with an Aussie flag sat on Robert Scorpio's desk when he was police commissioner of PCPD.
21. Luke arrived to his wedding to Laura in a red 1909 Studebaker.
22. Jason took his last name from his Grandmother Lila Morgan.
23. Carly once owned "The Cellar" a restaurant located below Kelly's
24. When Lucy Coe was first introduced, she was a librarian
25. Because she went joy riding with Stone, Robin was given the punishment of not getting her driver's license until the age of 18.
26. Lila Quartermaine was actually a bigamist, having married Edward without first divorcing her husband Crane Tolliver.
27. "General Hospital" was going to be called "Emergency Hospital"
28. Elizabeth Taylor made $2000 during her stint on GH--she donated it all to charity
29. Michael had an imaginary friend named Jodie, he created after AJ Quartermaine died
30. Lucky and Sly started a worm farm to make money in the '90's
31. Meg Bennett, soap writer and Mrs. Bob Guza played Allegra, the woman who forced Sam to learn how to dance.
32. Luke was originally set to die in Laura's arms when he exited the show after 13 weeks.
33. Ami Dolenz joined the cast of GH in 1987, she is the daughter of Mickey Dolenz, of the Monkees
34. Jackie Zeman, who plays Bobbie Spencer, was a Playboy bunny at the NY Playboy Club in 1972
35. Stuart Damon was born in...Brooklyn NY
36. Rick Webber was killed by Scott Baldwin with a candlestick.
37. Prospect Studios, where GH is filmed was built as Vitagraph Studios in 1915
38. Laura killed she and her mother's lover, David Hamilton when she pushed him down the stairs. Laura was 16 years old when this happened.
39. Monica's maiden name is Bard.
40. Emily's mother Paige died of breast cancer, then the Quartermaine's adopted her
41. Shawn Cassidy played Dusty Walker, a singer at The Outback.
42. Genie Francis owns a home decor store in Belfast Maine called "The Cherished Home"
43. 2001 was the last year of the Nurses' Ball
44.When Anna Devane first appeared on GH, she had a long scar going down her face. This eventually disappeared, much like Mac's Aussie accent did.
45. The budget was in such trouble during the early years, John Beridino (Steve Hardy) was asked to take a pay cut on his $1,500 weekly salary in order to build sets.
46. Denise Alexander (Leslie) was on Days of Our Lives before joining GH
47. Tony Geary grew up in a town of less than 300 people (Coaltown Utah)
48. The soap "The Doctors" (NBC) premiered the same day (April1, 1063) as General Hospital (ABC)
7th FLOOR Nurses' Station!!
THANK you very very much! Look back remembering. Loved & watched since the beginning. Margie
ReplyDeleteI thought Jason took his name from his mother, Susan Morgan. Also, was Anna's scar ever real? I thought she used it like a scarlet letter for what she did by being a double agent.
ReplyDeleteJason mother name was Susan Moore.
DeleteWOW I can't imagine Lucy being a librarian - I miss Lucy.
ReplyDeleteI also forgot about Michael's invisible friend.
Jason's biological mother was Susan Moore, not Morgan
ReplyDeleteLaura actually killed David Hamilton with a small sculpture or statue. After Laura learned of his two-timing her with her own mother, he was taunting her and had her in a forceful embrace. She reached around him, grabbed the sculpture and bopped him on the head.
ReplyDeletegreat job Karen - oh to bring back the "good ole days" when writing, editing, etc was great. I was there almost at the beginning, but quit when they screwed up Brenda's return along with everything else they've screwed. I just keep in touch through your blog. Thanks again Karen
ReplyDeleteYeah, I seem to remember Laura conking David H on the head with something and killing him. That might be one of the earliest storylines I remember.
ReplyDeleteCool facts!
#30. His name was Sly Eckert, not Spike.
ReplyDeleteRight, anna wore the scar as a penance for something she had done, being a double agent I think.....
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed the trip to great writing.I miss the beginning of the old GH
ReplyDeleteAnna s scar was fake cause she felt quilty about betraying robert.GH started on radio than tv for 15 min show than 30 than 45 than a hr(omg I am soooooo old)
ReplyDelete1963: I was 18 years old and in college ...tried to get my mom to watch with me...she gave up, and I'm still standing, lol...It has just become a part of my day..win lose or draw, I'm here to the end. Doesn't mean I won't complain, but I won't quit either, lol
ReplyDeleteNot only was Lucy a librarian, she was a MOUSY librarian...she was truly one of the great, fun characters of GH past...
ReplyDeleteIt was a "whoa" moment in the scene where Lucy came home all mousy and within 10 minutes turned into a vamp for her lover. Major shock. She was such a witch then. Love me some Lucy
ReplyDeleteBatgary
I am one of the many that started to watch during the Luke and Laura Casadine island days. It makes me so sad what they have done to this show. And I am sure that Guza and Frons are getting a kick out of all the publicity and spike in ratings.
ReplyDeleteThey go for the wow factor, a spike in ratings, but those rating go away really fast. They do not realize that good stories, that incorporate the whole cast and do not involve block taping will bring people back.
There are so many frustrated GH fans out there. Those that have stopped watching and only keep up by looking at a blog/ spoiler site.
I want the show that I fell in love with so long a go back.
I loved Lucy Coe's duck Sigmund.
ReplyDeleteAh, Luke called him Spike
ReplyDeleteomg Karen this was awesome!!!
ReplyDeleteI loved Sigmund! That duck had better writing than half the characters today!!!
ReplyDelete