Stacey, "MY LIFE IS NOW COMPLETE! I never dreamed I would ever have the opportunity to visit the set of my all time favorite show - General Hospital! Through the kindness of friends (obviously very well connected ones!), I was invited to tag along on their set visit last October 16. They knew I had never been and how much I would love to go. I drove to LA that morning. Two of my friends were flying in from back east. They were due in at 10:40. I arrived at our meeting place, Fromin's. It's a great deli in Santa Monica on the west side of Wilshire. Since I was a little early I checked the flight info and discovered that their flight was delayed untill 12:49 because someone on the plane had a heart attack and they'd had to do an emergency landing in Texas! Then the brakes were too hot to take off again. We were due at the set at 1:30. Yes, we were all having stress attacks. For me, it still didn't seem real.

Their flight finally landed at 1:30. They jammed to the hotel where they were met with cheers and hugs. They literally drove in, left the keys in the rental car for the valet and we took off. Thankfully we didn't hit traffic and pulled up to the studio just before 3:00. I figured most everyone would be getting ready to go home that late on a Friday.

Seeing the ABC logo, I got chills. We drove in and parked. The outside of the set has the General Hospital sign - it was so cool! We signed in with security, and signed our life away not to reveal any storylines, so I can't tell you about the scenes they were taping that day (or I would have to kill ya - just kidding!). He called and told John J. York (Mac) that we had arrived.

First of all let me say, that he is one of the kindest, warmest people. He couldn't have been nicer! My goal for the day was not to be a total goober as I didn't want to embarrass my friends. We walked down to his dressing room. It is very homey and cute filled with pictures of his family. His wife called so we stepped outside to give him privacy. My friends went across the hall into the ladies room and I took the opportunity to look at the pictures hung in the hallway. I've always seen these on behind the scenes interview shows and they are a fabulous collection! While I was standing there, Stuart Damon (Alan) walked by. I thought he was going to ask what I was doing there or who let me in! He said something (can't recall what as I was so surprised to see him - don't know why but I just didn't expect it!).

My friends returned from the restroom. JJY (John J. York) joined us. Stuart joked a bit, and then Brad Maule (Tony) stuck his head out to see what all the commotion was about. I swear I had to remind myself just to continue to breathe so I wouldn't hyperventilate! Then JJY took us past the green room (yes it really is green, and a huge room - like a large hospital waiting room, filled with windows) - no one was in it. He then took us up to the studio. I don't know what I expected but I was blown away! Each of the sets is smaller than they look on TV but the actual stage was huge. It was like a long alleyway down the middle with a row of sets on each side. From what I understand they put up the sets that they will use and then take them down and put up others so all the sets aren't always up.

The amount of lights hanging from the ceiling was amazing. The rafters were filled. As we walked down the center of the stage, I saw Kelly's on the left. It was still decorated for Halloween, so I guess they hadn't used it recently. We got the call sheet for scenes to be taped on Monday, Oct. 20th - they would air on November 13th. So I figured the scenes we would watch would air on November 12th. They do tape quite a bit in advance that time of year to take time off around the holidays. We passed the darkened nurses' station - they weren't using these sets. The Quartermaine sets weren't set up. We would have loved to see them tape there with all the Q's or the Nurses' station with all the hustle bustle of the extras. Other sets were the Cassidine living room (it was very dark), the Webbers, and Alan's seedy motel room.

The first scene we watched them taped involved Elizabeth and Nikolas in the Webbers living room. It was fun to watch Rebecca at work. The scoops had been filled with Tony Geary's return, and we got to watch him and Jonathan tape some scenes. It was only his second day back at work! I really, really wasn't expecting to see Tony, but he was on the top of my list. When I realized who was sitting in the chair on the set I literally felt weak in the knees! It was amazing to watch them work!

The surprising thing was how softly they all speak. The mikes are very powerful. The cameras roll around and there are literally monitors everywhere so no matter where you are you can watch the scenes being taped on one of the monitors. To start, someone comes down to talk about the scene, the blocking, the feel of the scene, etc. Then they go to it. They taped pretty much everything at least twice, but some scenes took several takes. There was one scene that Tony had Jonathan cracking up over. It was so nice to see the humor between them after all the anger we'd been watching between Luke and Lucky. Tony Geary does change each scene just a bit to keep it fresh, but it never seems to phase Jonathan.

We were also lucky enough to see Kristina Wagner (Felicia) and JJY do some scenes. This was great! JJY was dressed for an undercover job and he looked too cute! They have a lot of chemistry and are very natural with eachother. Everyone was very professional. They worked quickly and knew their lines. It's amazing how much dialogue they each have to learn. We stayed untill almost 7:00, and also watched Brad and Stuart do a scene.

As JJY walked us out, my friends thought to ask if I could get my picture taken with him. Now, I have a rule to take two pics when its important because it never fails that someone will have their eyes closed or something. My pic with JJY is one of my all time favorites. It came out so good, (but the other one came out completely blurry!). Real (Taggert) walked by and JJY asked him to join us for the picture. Someone in the hall took a shot of us all together, (again one came out way blurry, good thing I asked for a second one). We went outside and, of course, had to have more pics in front of the GH sign!

All in all it was a day of pure heaven, especially getting to spend it with friends who don't mind what a goober I am over my favorite show and who were kind enough to include me - I will be grateful FOREVER!

Story by Stacey
3X5 copies of these pictures available at CurlyQgrl@aol.com

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