Checking back into 'General Hospital'

Longtime General Hospital fans wish the network and its sponsors understood how important seeing veteran actors and familiar characters are to them. The actors seem to know, though. So the Nov. 10 GH Legends event at the FairBridge Hotel and Conference Center in East Hanover, New Jersey, was your basic lovefest. Fans got to fawn all over their favorites and the favorites showed how much the support from the fan base means to them to this day.

I hadn't been been to one of the GH Fantasy Events before, so I didn't know exactly what to expect. The first thing I found out was the actors don't mind parceling out hugs. And they're good huggers. Ian Buchanan (Duke) was my first. It might have helped a tad that Liz Reilly told me to say "hi" to one of her favorite men in the world, but I kinda think I would have gotten the hug anyway.

There was kind of a gameplan going in, though. I hoped to ask for some brief interviews with Ian, Tristan Rogers (Robert) and Emma Samms (Holly) to use on my podcast for Sean and Tiffany's 30th anniversary. Mind you, I didn't know how the event worked and it quickly became evident that I wouldn't be able to get that done -- especially since the Legends were booked somewhere else for the night after the afternoon event.

Ian, Tristan and Emma said they were on board for the podcast, although ultimately Tristan was the only one I was able to wrangle for it. (The holiday season is a pretty tough time of the year to try to get that done.) Still, it was particularly sweet that Emma made sure the business card I whipped up with all the information was tucked away with her belongings. Then I was free to talk with them about being a longtime fan of theirs. When Ian was signing a photo of him with Kimberly McCullough (Robin), Beulah Quo (Olin) and John Reilly (Sean), Tristan leaned over and asked what year it was from. I responded it was from the John's 1995 farewell luncheon.

Then Tristan perused the Complete General Hospital Scrapbook I brought to get signed by the attendees, and he told me a great (albeit painful) story about having a broken foot during one of the location shoots. The show painted his cast black and still had him scale a mountain for one scene.



After fawning all over Emma and thanking her for being part of the video get-well card the online community contributed to for Sharon Wyatt (Tiffany) a few years back, the two of us waited for Tristan to do a photo. He was reading a caption in the book and Emma leaned over and asked about it. The platinum ticket was good for three autographs and a picture with each actor (such a deal!), but I accidentally beat the system and wound up with four from Emma, because I later saw she signed that page of the book too. I think I made Tristan laugh by giddily quipping, "Robert and Holly! Suck it, Anna!" during our photo.

I talked with Emma about her very first scene on the show, when Holly was skinny dipping in a lake and Luke Spencer happened upon her. "It was freeeeezing and there were fish in there too," she recalled. I also had a scrapbook page with four of her Soap Opera Digest covers on it and when she pointed out her favorite, I asked her to sign that particular one.
Over on the other side of the room, Kin Shriner (Scott) was holding court, kind of a bit away from the actual signing table. He was talking with the mother and daughter ahead of me on line about how his trip to the event was massively delayed, but that the flight attendants all watched soaps and treated them very well.

One of the things I had for him to sign was my treasured photo of Kin with Sharon. They were both dressed to the nines. "Are we holding hands?" he asked. "We never dated. ... We were good buddies." I was rearranging my photos and preparing for the next actors, when I looked up, straight into the face of Jackie Zeman (Bobbie). "Sorry, Jackie, I didn't know you were there," I said shyly.

The next person in line was the only actor I had met before, Brad Maule (Tony). We talked about the General Hospital Fan Club luncheon he played guitar at in 1997 at the Sportsmen's Lodge.

And the last -- but certainly not least -- was Lynn Herring (Lucy). Mom and daughter were still ahead of me and having a really animated conversation with Lynn when they got the move-along. So they wrapped it up and Lynn and I talked about the pink dresses in the photo I had for her, and how Sharon wasn't dressed in pink. She laughed that Sharon always went her own way and was so much fun. I also had a photo of her with Kin looking sideways, and Lynn quipped that she looked like she always did around him, borderline exasperated, as if to say, "Kin, what did you do now?"

So she finished signing for me and looked around and asked where the photographer, adding "Don't we have to move this line along?" Lynn almost cackled with glee. "Yes, Paige, I love it, that's driving me crazy," she said, clearly unhappy that she didn't have enough time in the day to finish conversations with people she was having fun talking with. I told her I learned how to be sassy from her and Sharon. The handler might have gotten the last laugh, though. That was the one photo that I didn't double-check after it was taken, and it wound up being a blurry one.

After a break, Kin came on board to emcee the Q&A. "We got a lot of actors backstage," he said. "I don't really care for any of them." He brought out longtime buddy Billy Warlock (A.J.) and they told stories of being long-time neighbors. Billy often beat Kin at basketball and pool and Kin would come over like Seinfeld's Kramer and take things out of Billy's refrigerator.

Then he introduced Lynn -- "Costello to my Abbott." She apologized for anything he would say ahead of time. And they were about to continue the banter when Ian appeared from the back and told Kin to move it along, because all the other actors were freezing in the back. They came out en masse, with Tristan adding, "It was like waiting for the tide to come in."



Kin made Emma blush furiously by repeating something she told him in the '80s: "I wouldn't go near you or touch you if you were the last man in the world." And his humor was "Kin-tagious." Ian got a lot of laughs for quipping, "We don't look bad for being in our '80s."

Billy Warlock (A.J.), who works as a ski instructor in Telluride, Colorado, was asked whether he gets recognized. He told us how Jason Bateman -- someone he knew from the actor's earliest years on Silver Spoons -- was there with his kids and spent the whole day staring at him, even though he had a nametag on. Billy said eventually he just went up to him and said, "Yeah, it's me."

Brad impressed the assembled by revealing he's a lecturer at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nagodoches, Texas. "All they did (on GH) was try to kill me every year," he laughed, before telling us about one of his favorite moments. "I was in a coma ... like normal. Jack Wagner was behind me and had a whole monologue. But the whole time, he had his finger in my ear. The director comes out and was like, 'Jack, that was brilliant, it's like Tony's coming back to life.'"

I thought one of the better questions of the afternoon was when the panel was asked how their kids have responded to seeing their parents' work. But both Emma and Tristan said their children haven't been interested in any of that. "They've never watched me in anything I've ever done," Emma said. "I want them to see me just as a mum."

Speaking of the dynamic duo, would they ever consider going back to put a cap on the Robert and Holly story? Tristan didn't really seem in favor of that idea. "They're a bunch of hacks," he said. "They're going to screw it up. I'd rather let it hang."

Since the event, Tristan has been recalled to GH for more shows. When veteran actors return during the sweeps' rating period, Kin calls them "Pop-Tarts." Ian didn't seem so willing to go back again, adding he's already been through "three generations of young people behaving badly and being rewarded for it."

Jackie and Brad were rightfully praised for the amazing story of BJ's death back in 1994. Jackie explained how the actress, Brighton Hertford, had been the show since she was just weeks old and it was difficult to let her go. But everyone's melancholia turned to laughter when Jackie repeated what Brighton said after the director called "cut" for her last shot. "Thank goodness! Everyone's dripping on me and I'm all wet!"

And the kudos continued to be doled out for that storyline, specifically when Maxie got BJ's heart. Brad's still amazed that people at every event always bring that up.   

Speaking of such surprises, Emma didn't realize until much later that coming on as Luke's love interest could have been rough on her, particularly after attempts to pair him up with Demi Moore (Jackie) and Janine Turner (Laura) went up in smoke.  "Luckily the audience were kind to me and more accepting. I wasn't fully aware. I didn't know Luke and Laura were on the cover of Newsweek. I think that helped. ... But it wasn't until Robert and Holly got together that they really got behind the character." And then she added that she went through something similar on Dynasty after replacing Pamela Sue Martin as Fallon.

I wasn't going to ask a question, mainly because I hadn't slept the previous night before attending the event, but I wound up doing so anyway: "Was there anyone you wanted to work with more who you didn't?"

Tristan said no, adding Robert was getting Luke's castoffs and his job with Holly initially was to "keep her warm until Luke came back. We did something that hadn't been done in daytime before. They liked to be with each other, that's why the relationship turned out to be as interesting as it was. A lot of affection was added, it wasn't in the original script."

Ian didn't have trouble picking someone, going for three-time Emmy winner Maura West (Ava), and Kin heartily concurred.

If you know anything about Tristan beyond who he's portrayed on TV, you know he doesn't mince words -- whether or not he's on the show. He's mightily disappointed in how the show doesn't care about catering to the audience that spends money on what's being advertised. "The average age of people buying their product is 50. The sponsor doesn't understand that," he said. "I want the entire writing staff fired. We need a head writer ... who understands balance. The veterans laid the balance for the show and now we are flushed away, fuck that. ... As you can tell, I'm not looking for a job."

Times have certainly changed. According to Jackie, the show films two or three shows a day now. "It sounds like fun. I'm so sorry I'm not doing this anymore," Billy said sardonically. "Ten pounds of shit into a five-pound bag. In the '80s, we had proper rehearsal. It was the best time."

Speaking of that, what were the legends' favorite location shoots? Ian chose Mount Rushmore -- and in years of chatting with Liz Reilly, I've come to understand why. As fun as that one was, Tristan never understood why it was necessary. "In that era, about every month we did a location shoot," he said, adding that the fabled San Antonio locale was his favorite. "Tony Geary and I were at our best. We never could top that one in terms of outrageous behavior and pure fun." One night they did a rain dance at the piano in the hotel ... "and the next day, Gloria Monty stomps in and starts kicking me. 'You wanted rain? You and your fucking rain dance!'"

Not that fellow actors didn't try to top them in the ensuing years. Lynn said Sam Behrens (Jake) and Jack Wagner (Frisco) attempted to during her first location shoot. And Kin and Anders Hove (Faison), in turn, tried to give them a run for their money in the behavior department the night before Serena's birth was to be filmed.

Tristan admitted he passed on doing Dancing with the Stars because it was too much work. "I decided it wasn't for me," he added. Ian quickly chimed in, "I wasn't asked, but I also decided it wasn't for me."

When one admirer said those assembled on the stage are the show's constant, Emma responded the fans really are the constant. Before the cast took photos with the platinum and VIP ticket holders in attendance, they conducted an auction with all kinds of unique Legends opportunities. When the actors came back on for one last picture and Emmy took a picture of the crowd, I called up, "That's $200, Emma!" She pointed at me and chuckled with appreciation.



I waited for my turn for a picture with the cast, asked Emma if I could lock arms with her and then kidded Ian for not resting his hand on my shoulder as he had with many of the others. I was just teasing, but he stopped the proceedings and called for another photo to be taken in which he did leave his fingerprints on my person.

It may be many years since I've watched the current incarnation of General Hospital, but meeting these people from the good old days will always remind me of planting myself in front of the television set every weekday at 3 p.m. I could never have dreamed of spending quality time with them and having them be so wonderful to boot.