Vicki and Karen visit General Hospital......

We arrived at the studio about 10am on Friday the 13th of February 1998. Our escort for the day was Wally Kurth. We had the winning bid at Wally's annual charity fan club luncheon.

It took us a few moments to collect ourselves after parking (spot F21). With all the Big Ugly Dishes it was easy to tell we were definitely at a TeeVee studio. As we approached the entrance to studio 54 where they film GH we saw Jonathan Jackson entering below our famous Hospital entrance signs. Henry at the front door told us to wait in the green room for wally and that Jackie Zeman was in there doing an interview. We walked past the dressing rooms and there are posters and pictures from GH's 35 years on the walls so we walked slowly to drink it all in. Ms Zeman has such a room filling personality. Of course we didn't interrupt the interview but sat patiently waiting to be taken to the set.

There were some extras there who showed us the day's call sheet. That's when we realized it was going to be a hellova day. The call sheet lays out the day's shooting schedule, kind of like a program or playbill. The room is all windows so we could see the cast members as they headed for the set. Mary Beth Evans was getting some coffee and she talked with us. What a lovely lady she is. Nothing like Katherine Bell at all! The topic was surgery (quite appropriate, no?) I think she said her husband was a surgeon. The coffee was so so.

Then the stage manager or one of the assistant directors took us to the stage. Rena was there with the girls and they were filming a big Quartermaine scene. Megan, wally's oldest daughter, is definitely a favorite visitor and little Rosie was so cute when she saw wally she let out a cry of Daddy! That little girl could melt Stefan's heart. Since vicki and I are in Leslie's fan club too, Leslie came over to say hi and take a picture with us. Then she brought Stuart d over. Probably my most embarrassing moment as I squealed "it's Prince Charming". Couldn't help it 8-) He was very sweet. He said something about being older so I pointed out I was older too. Ladies let me tell you he's still Prince Charming to me. billy Warlock also came over to say hi. He is a vision, sparkling eyes and so charming.

I asked wally if he would ask Nancy Lee Grahn if she would talk to me for a few moments to do a little interview for the b5fc mag. She was just lovely, graciously telling me about the heavy makeup and how she enjoyed working on Babylon 5, but not the headbone. During the interview the baby kicked, she was positively radiant. I couldn't imagine working that late into a pregnancy but she's a major trouper! Posing for a quick digital picture she was off to pay the contractors. I think everyone in LA is always rebuilding something.

Then we had wally to ourselves for awhile, yeah! He took us over to studio 57 to see the Port Charles set. They were filming a scene in the Recovery Room with Mike, Matt and Grace. It amazed me that the actors speak so softly while filming. I almost fell over a few times leaning in to hear what they were saying. I had more trouble recognizing the PC setups than the GH setups. I think the nurse's stations and elevators on both sets are permanent and all the other's are setup as needed. The GH set was at least twice as big as PC. The
costumer's on the set take Polaroid's of the actors to insure continuity with accessories and costume. The jewelry is put in baggies and labeled by character. Men on one side and Women on the other of the wardrobe cart.

Wally escorted us to the commissary but I was too excited to eat right then so I hung outside, talked to some of the crew that were enjoying the bright sunny day. I took the opportunity to call home from my cellular. All I remember from the call is the constant shrieking I did. Stuff like there's Felicia, v, and Lucy... There's Dara! Dara heard me and came over to say hi to my Mom and me. I told her I still had hope for her and justice and she agreed. wally appeared with Rena and the girls and we went into lunch. At a nearby table were Lucy, Kevin and Scott Baldwin. Lynn just loves the girls so she came over to our table to coo and greet us at the same time. It seemed to me that wally was very popular with the cast because so many of the actors made a point of coming over to say hello to us. They know that if wally has visitors it's for charity. He's so giving. I had salmon, Rena and Wally shared a turkey sandwich, Megan had a burger and Rosie loves those fries.

During the day there was other activity as they were doing interviews and such for the prime time special. That's when we spotted Jack Wagner and John Stamos. Wally introduced us to a wonderful lady named Sandy who does the sound for GH. She showed us all her gear and how she manipulates and creates the sounds we hear in the background. One thing, Sandy does her bit live as they're taping. Most shows add it in later. Her booth is right behind the main control room.

Everyone was very accepting of us as we wandered the backlot. One of my favorite pastimes is to talk to new people so by the end of the day I had conversed with most of the crew on GH and PC. So when Wally and Rena had to go do their bit for the 35th anniversary I knew where to go etc... you know where the bathroom was, the important stuff.

We watched Lucky and Liz do a scene at Mercy. I didn't know about the rape story yet but sensed it was a very emotional scene they were about to do. Both actors seemed very focused on their scenes. Rebecca Herbst's waist is smaller than Scarlett O'Hara's is. Brad Maule had already cut his hair, which I noticed but hadn't seen the scene he did it in yet. He seemed a bit distanced as well but I understand all that now that I'm caught up on the storyline.

At one point we went to the ladies room and that's where we met Robin and v. Being in a bathroom kinda brings down all the actor/fan walls, I talked to Kimberly about her stint in NY, turns out she was living in my friends building cross-town from me. Small world! My first question to Lisa was had she seen the v posts from RATSA as her character was very popular with the group. The answer was yes she has a friend who printed it all out for her and passed it on. Now if the talk on the group had been more like the stuff we see on Brenda I
wouldn't have mentioned it. But I felt safe as we all love v, don't we? This is also where I started to notice that ALL the actresses were perched high atop the highest heels ever. It was afternoon and the rest of the day they were filming the engagement party for Felicia and Mac at the outback.

We settled into a corner of the set and watched them block, rehearse, film and move on. This organization cooks. But they didn't say cut or action ONCE! They said hold and in 5,4,3,2...(point) 3 Cameras and it's all so smooth and quick. I never expected to see that much done in such a short time. The whole crew, everyone is super professional. And there were a few distractions too. There were interviews and on the set stuff for the 35th anniversary going on while they're filming the show. I was doing my interpretation of the "my broker" commercial trying to hear the dialogue. John J. York's family was there and Brad bought some girlscout cookies. But honestly my favorite person that I met that day was John's mom. She was so sweet and outgoing. Telling us stories and making John come over to take a picture with us. He's so lucky. I know exactly where he gets all that charm from. MOM!

Wally had to leave around 3 because he had a band rehearsal but we were told to stay as long as we liked. You guessed it we were the last to leave <g> But first he took us to the place where the props and sets are made and stored (got to touch the barstools from Luke's place and see the art up close, wally said Tony was responsible for the art) and then he signed some scripts for us and took picture's with us in the Quartermaine living room. We also snagged an extra script each (after asking first of course), Vicki got Billy Warlocks and I got Steve Burton's.

As the day grew late most of the actors were finished (nlg was finished at 11am can you imagine when she must have started). Then it happened. vicki and I were spread out along the stages that were dark when I saw Tony Geary coming our way. vicki slowed him down and I joined them. Tony asked if we wanted some coffee. Actually I did but didn't want to help myself, as I'm not cast or crew as the sign said. He was so nice stopping to talk with us. We had asked wally before he left if Tony would mind us talking to him and he said he thought it would be fine. FINE AND FINE! And I even look normal in the picture. Me and Luke, what a great picture! We talked a bit about Amsterdam and I told him how much I liked his work as Luke. No matter how strange the story somehow he always makes me believe it. We then shakily went back to hang with Mrs. York. That's when she made John come over to us. It was a hoot. He was doing a scene with just Felicia (it was shown the day before the party scene) and there was a break and Mrs. York screamed out "John" he shot back "What" it was so funny. Same inflection same manner same winning smiles.

Some of the crew told us to go get some of the cake, which had been set up for consumption by the coffee machine. That's when we got to hang with Lisa (V) Cerasoli who had a few stories of her own (and ate cake). I told her that I thought she was the only girl for Jax and I wished he'd get a clue. She said there was still hope he would realize this. YEAH, hope is good. Vicki was going to go to vegas on the weekend and Lisa agreed vegas is happening. Not my cup of tea though. At one point Lisa noted the strange name her character had. She said something like you ever heard a weirder name. I said yes Jasper Jacks, LOL! I took a digital of Lisa and promised not to post it if it wasn't perfect. I like it but not sure she will so I have to wait till I can send it and get the ok to post it. I promised. I always keep my promises.

We also made a return trip to PC and saw a very funny scene with Lark and Julie. The one about doing it in the ambulance, on the kitchen table, etc... Then they were doing the towel scene and the set was closed. Right before that Frank Scanlon gave me a wink and a smile. I melted right there! The crew was really nice to us. They let us take pictures all over the set and made a point of giving me all the script and script bits they could find. I got Kin Shriner's script so I was a very happy camper.

That was one thing I found very funny. I had seen kin lurking around most of the day and I must have been giving him strange looks. I had hoped he would stop and say hi as I didn't feel right stopping him. Well I really like the guy, I think he's cute, so I guess my face had been saying something like of course I'm undressing you with my eyes. He kinda gave me a smile and a laugh eventually. Kin spent a lot of the day hanging out with Jack Wagner, and I got the feeling those guys together are capable of some serious mischief.

At one point I turned a corner and Jack and Kristina were in a lip lock so I naturally backed up out of the room very quickly. All that blonde was very blinding 8-) We were treated wonderfully. We were made to feel like we had always been there and belonged there. I can honestly say it was the experience of a lifetime!

As for inside stuff, Anna Lee was not able to work that day and in the party scene that you don't see is an empty wheelchair that Amy Vining was pushing around and the big pink slippers Felicia had on in the scene with Mac and V. Can't blame her they filmed those scenes after the party scene and like I said they were all on the highest heels there are. My feet hurt and I was wearing sneakers. We were both very happy to not see Brendah.... and I was very impressed with Tony's suggestions to the director in that scene where he overhears Brad say to Jackie that he's leaving PC. Originally they had him too far to be able to overhear so Tony fixed it, made it more real as he always does. And yes I blinked and it was over. That fast!

Remote Control