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The Return of Luke and Laura: Part 4




The day they were taping the scenes of the cliff and them jumping from the plane, and the helicopter coming to pick them up was a very, very technical day. First, the place they were shooting it was 2 hours from my home. But that wasn't going to stop me from going. Also the park where this was being shot is a very BIG place. So I left really early in the morning with the hopes of being there before they got there. But, the crew had already been there for hours. They had shot the scene where the helicopter picks up L&L and they dangle on it until they land in the pool. Let me start by saying the stunt people were SO NOT L&L. The lady who stunted for Genie had a blonde wig on her dark hair. She looked nothing like Genie. The man who stunted for Luke, really did have the curly blond hair. And in some "strange" way he did look like Tony. From what I was told, this guy had stunted for Tony before. Anyway, when I got there, no one could (or maybe wouldn't) tell me where GH was filming. So I drove around and finally saw all these trucks and trailers. I saw some of the technical crew driving around in golf carts, bringing different things down to where the filming was going to be. The guys told me that Genie and Tony were in their trailers. Of course they didn't stop me from going over there. But when I got there they weren't. Apparently they were down where they were shooting.


Now when I say they were down there. I am talking about a mile down into this BIG forest until you reach the water. There were trails to follow, but there were a LOT of them. Would you believe that these great guys driving the carts said they would take me down there. They told me to tell anyone who asked that I was a sister of the guard from the park. So down I went. And "there" was a mass of wires, ropes and people. Purposely I tried to stay as far as I could in the background, but still be able to see what was going on. This man in a suit came over to me and ask who I was. Of course I said I am the sister of the guard. He laughed and told me he was an agent. Did you know that agents can talk and talk and talk. He went on about all the people he represented from GH and also some other ones in NY and CA. He sounded pretty important and he named a lot of names of people who are still in the business and some who have since left, and have never been heard from again. Now before you say it, or even think it, yes, I know he was hitting on me. But that didn't bother me. In fact, I used it to my advantage. As long as he was by me, no one was going to ask who I was.


At this time, the crew was getting ready for the part where Genie/Laura is in the water and Tony/Luke is in the raft/boat trying to find her. In this scene, it looked so much like Laura was going to go over the waterfall and Luke was almost going to go over the waterfall before he reached Laura. The waterfall you saw was really fierce and it wasn't usually like that. Apparently they had let the dam out so the water would look stronger.


Some other tidbits. Genie/Laura and Tony/Luke were never near the waterfall. They had Genie on a log in COLD, VERY COLD water, several yards from the waterfall, where the water was very shallow. Tony was on the raft/boat and was about 10 feet from Genie. He also was in shallow water. But poor Genie had to be in the water, and remember what I said about the water, it was COLD. She had a wet suit on, but who knows how much that helped. One other thing is that both Tony and Genie were on ropes during the whole shooting, just in case.


Now back to me. LOL I was standing in the background, seeing some things but not everything, when all of a sudden this lady comes over to me and asks me who I am. I tried the sister of the guard story, but she didn't seem to believe me. So then I tried flattery. Saying to her, "Oh, I know you, you are Claire Labine" This was the first name to pop into my head. With the look on her face, I realized, that she was not Claire. Finally the name came into my mind. "No," I said "You are Wendy Riche, the producer of GH." She smiled and said yes. She looked at me somewhat strange and asked me, "Have I seen you before?" I said that I had once or twice been there when they were shooting scenes. Not sure if she believed that or not. She told me that I would have to leave, so I started to beg. "Please, please let me stay." "No," she said "it is dangerous for you to stay." "Please." I said again. "I will stay far away from the danger." "No," she said again "you have to leave, but you can stay until the dangerous stuff happens." I thanked her, but after all that, I only bought myself maybe a half an hour. As much as I tried to move where she couldn't see me, but she did find me to tell me it was time to leave. So I started walking back to the top. But I got lost. So here I was walking around and around, getting lost more and more. And then it happened. They were filming L&L walking around in the trees, finding Laura's "bag" and eventually finding their house. (Though the house was not where they were walking. The house they used was in a completely different place. And the owners were just about to fix the outside up, until GH came and paid them not to do it yet. ) The question of being lost in the woods didn't mean anything to me then. I just crunched down and watched from afar. Unfortunately, the fear of snakes, and other little creatures got to me, and I left. Got back to the right trail and found one of the guys and he took me back to the parking lot. And I went to my car and went home


That was it. They packed up and the cast and crew went back to LA. I did send letters to Genie, Tony and Jonathan and even Wendy Riche.

The only one to reply was Jonathan, who sent a very nice little letter with a picture.


My memories will last me forever. It will always be one of my best experiences in my life. All that I saw, all that I talked to, all that happened, showed me how nice people can be. How close Genie and Tony are.

How cute and adorable Jonathan is. And last but not least, how much I love General Hospital and my Luke and Laura


Kathy


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