General Hospital’s 60th anniversary celebration earlier this month was a fun collage of bits and pieces of history that triggered nice memories from the long tenure of the soap we all love so much. But in the end, the 60-minute romp was a disappointment.
Instead of a examining why this iconic soap has endured for so long, the show treated us to something resembling a beauty pageant or a floor show. Did anyone really think this through?
It was kind of cute, for example, to see Kristina Malandro wearing the 40-year-old wedding dress her Felicia wore at her wedding to Frisco, and to chuckle at Lynn Herring in the red-hot number her Lucy wore when she married Alan. But who were these characters and what was going on with them at the time? We long-term soap fans know chapter and verse, of course, but it would have been fun to reflect on the show’s most memorable stories and remember how much we enjoyed them.
Unfortunately, shallowness and disorganization were the order of the day. Faces old and new flew by quickly and randomly. Some stars got to shine again for a moment, while others, like Vanessa Marcil (who played Brenda Barrett), were nowhere to be seen.
It was a real treat to see famous GH graduates like John Stamos, the star of prime time’s Full House. We remember him as Blackie Parrish, who is still in prison after all these years. And holy cow, isn’t that the rock star Rick Springfield? We were there to enjoy his acting debut as Dr. Noah Drake. GH has certainly produced some distinguished alumnae.
One especially bright spot was the happy reunion of Maurice Benard, who plays Sonny, and Max Gail, who played Wojo on the prime-time series Barney Miller and played Sonny’s father Mike in a devastating and terrific story line about Alzheimer’s disease.
Finally, how fitting it was to assemble the entire cast for a toast, led by one of the greatest soap opera stars of all time, our gracious Genie Francis. (I don’t need to tell you who she plays.)
Ironically, in the best tradition of soap opera, the story – in this case, the celebration – didn’t end there. The following week, all the episodes broadcast in GH’s afternoon time slot were dedicated to GH’s beloved Jackie Zeman, who died of cancer last year. She was a true soap superstar, known to all for 40 years as Nurse Bobbie Spencer, who was central to many GH story lines.
In a beautiful memorial twist, the GH team arranged to have Bobbie pass away the week after the anniversary celebration in a story line that harked back to one of Jackie’s greatest hits: the unforgettable story in which Bobbie’s daughter B.J. was struck and killed by a car. Bobbie and her husband, Tony Jones (played by Brad Maule), decided to donate her heart to Maxie (played by Kirsten Storms).
In a lovely flourish of classic soap opera style storytelling, who should return to grieve for Bobbie but Brighton Hertford, the actress who played B.J., cast this time as an Associated Press reporter named Angela. Bobbie, it seems, had been helping a human-trafficking victim, a story Angela had come to Port Charles to investigate.
The week was full of tears and hugs, sweet memories and painful regrets, love and loss, as can be delivered only by an iconic soap opera. This, finally, was the real salute to General Hospital’s 60 years and counting. And it wound up with one final kiss goodbye: Kelly’s Bar was renamed Bobbie’s.
A personal note: When I was a teenager, my aunt ran the box office at Brooklyn’s historic Fox Theater, which was a rock ’n’ roll venue in its final years. A main attraction was the shows put on by a loud-mouthed local D.J. named Murray the K. One of his go-go girls was a teenager named Jackie Zeman, whom Murray the K later married. I vividly remember the zest with which young Jackie danced. Her life force so enriched our soap world.
We won’t forget.
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