Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, November 2, 1993 TAG: 9311020156
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Beth McLeod COX NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Luke and Laura. If you're over 27 you probably remember them. The atypically sexy guy with the frizzy hair. The girl with the gigantic smile. "General Hospital." Port Charles. The seventh-floor nurses station (OK, that's for hard-core fans only).
"In the annals of daytime, they're in a class all by themselves," says Linda Susman, who covers "General Hospital" for "Soap Opera Weekly."
Here's proof:
Twelve years ago Luke and Laura made the cover of Newsweek, and that was before Newsweek softened its edge. Millions sat in on their wedding, a two-day affair in November 1981 attended by GH fan Elizabeth Taylor in the flesh. Never have so many people watched an episode of a daytime soap opera.
So can you believe Ellie Richards? She was a General Hospital fan back in the '70s and '80s when her kids were young and she didn't work. She heard that Luke and Laura were coming back to "General Hospital," but there was just one small problem.
"I thought they were killed," says Richards, secretary to the principal at Forest Hill High School in West Palm Beach, Fla.
Let's clear this up right now. Luke and Laura are not dead. They've just been living in Texas.
Granted, less than a month after that big wedding Laura did disappear into the fog on a dark pier. She wasn't seen for a couple of years (remember Christopher Cross' plaintive ballad Laura?), but she came back. She wasn't dead. She had simply been held captive.
Of course, some people thought to be quite dead have made startling recoveries through the magic twists of soap plots, but Luke and Laura, we repeat, are not dead. They've just been living in Texas. And as far as we know, neither of them has amnesia. Neither of them shot J.R. Nor have the last nine years in Port Charles been a dream.
As promised in the spring and advertised through the summer, Luke and Laura return to "General Hospital" after leaving in 1984 for greater Texas. Their timing is perfect. They're back just in time for the fall sweeps.
"General Hospital" was the No. 1-rated soap when Tony Geary and Genie Francis starred as Luke and Laura, but is consistently third or fourth in the Nielson ratings. The Young and Restless has no close challenger for the No. 1 spot.
Will Geary, 46, and Francis, 31, an electric couple more than a decade ago, be able to re-create the magic?
"I don't think it'll ever be quite the same," says Susman. "But I don't think the actors or anybody else think it'll be quite the same because that was an extremely unique point in time. Things were different then. The whole soap opera business was different then. The viewers were different then. And characters were different then. So to expect it will be exactly the same or that there's going to be that kind of fan frenzy, I think is something that's not going to happen."
Things have indeed changed.
Cable wasn't a factor. More people stayed at home. No one had heard of political correctness.
Consider this: Luke and Laura's relationship began when he raped her at the deserted disco where she worked to buy law books for her husband, a law student. Viewers didn't dislike Luke for this violent act (Geary sent Francis a big bouquet of roses to apologize in advance for what he had to do).
The scriptwriters made you sympathize with Luke because it became clear that he was truly, madly and deeply in love with Laura. And she was nuts about him too - never mind the husband. Think that kind of plot line would make it in the date-rape conscious '90s?
The tremendous success of Luke and Laura can't be picked apart easily, but most give substantial credit to a natural charisma between the actors and the imagination and determination of then-executive producer Gloria Monty.
"She was a genius at working these two characters," says Kathey Truschel, who worked as the show's contracts administrator during the years Geary and Francis rose to stardom. "I don't know how anyone can be successful in resurrecting these characters. Gloria wanted to create something of the old black-and-white, madcap comedy romances."
She did. Then the show started creeping into the world of science fiction, and finally became too bizarre for many of its fans.
"At the time it was unique, but the audience got tired of that," says Susman. "It was new and different, but it played itself out."
While General Hospital changed some of its primary characters, Francis and Geary tried prime-time and movie careers. Neither soared. Geary had a round of bad movies and bad television shows before he returned to "General Hospital" in 1991 as Bill Eckert, Luke Spencer's brown-eyed cousin. Francis did a couple of TV miniseries before returning to soaps but not to "General Hospital."
When he returned in 1991, Geary said he would not re-create the role of Luke Spencer. Francis, at the time, was not interested in re-creating Laura Webber Baldwin Spencer. And without Laura, Luke would not work, Geary maintained. But this year, both agreed to a deal. Their salaries are rumored to be well in excess of $1 million each.
This time around, Luke and Laura are not alone. They have a child named Lucky (lucky he's alliterative). But before Luke and Laura settle back among friends and family in Port Charles, they will have a wild journey that will include a helicopter, parachutes, car chases, waterfalls, the mob and possibly the Army Rangers just in from Mogadishu and a few dozen Haitian attaches.
"The people who remember Luke and Laura are going to be thrilled," says Scott Barton, spokesman for ABC daytime programming. "The chemistry between them still exists."
Luke and Laura will fit into the '90s, Barton maintains. "They are not wealthy people but they are rich in their devotion to each other, in their optimism, determination, love and commitment to each other. We haven't seen them in the last 10 years of opulence and greed."
When ABC shot the adventure scenes on location in upstate New York this summer, Barton says, hundreds of fans showed up every day. "They were effusively happy to see Luke and Laura again."
Most daytime analysts expect at least a temporary surge in ratings, as the couple's return to Port Charles will take weeks.
Ellie Richards thought Luke and Laura were dead.
"Their electricity working together is excellent," says Richards.
But days of relative leisure, when "General Hospital" was part of his routine, are over for Brad Eppenbaugh. Back in '81, he and a couple of friends made sure work didn't interfere with their favorite soap. They had all gotten hooked on "General Hospital" in high school.
Eppenbaugh, now 30 and manager of an auto parts store in Boca Raton, Fla., worked seven days last week; six this week. "General Hospital"?
"I started working days, and I was never home. It got lost along the way."
He says he doesn't even remember much about it. But his wife remembers Luke and Laura very well.
"I heard they were coming back and I thought it was really neat. Genie Francis. Those teeth. I'd kill for teeth like those."
And that song about Laura. It became a favorite of hers.
You see, when Brad Eppenbaugh found his love, she was a Laura, too.
"It never occurred to me," says Brad.
Just one of life's little ironies. And no, they didn't honeymoon in Texas.
\ LUKE WAS MAYOR, AND OTHER `GH' FACTS
At age 14 in 1976, Genie Francis landed the role of Laura Webber, the love child Dr. Lesley Webber gave birth to as a medical student. Dr. Webber died years ago. Expect Laura to visit her mother's grave when she returns to Port Charles.
- Laura shot her lover, David Hamilton, when she learned that her mother was also his lover. Her mother took the rap and did some prison time.
- Laura Webber married Scotty Baldwin, son of a Port Charles lawyer and himself a law student. Scott Baldwin still lives in Port Charles. His second wife died recently.
- In 1979, Luke Spencer arrived in Port Charles as an unpredictable hoodlum. He was categorized as an anti-hero. He eventually took a job managing the disco where Laura worked and even became mayor of Port Charles. His sister, Bobbie, became a nurse at General Hospital and remains on the show.
- After raping Laura at the disco, the two began a romance that culminated in the 1981 wedding.
- Overwhelmed by the show's demands and her stardom, Genie Francis decided to leave the show. Laura was last seen in December 1981 on the end of a foggy pier.
- After brief appearances in 1983 and '84, Francis left the show and eventually played characters on two other soaps. Tony Geary also left. Before leaving the show, Laura announced she was pregnant. They were to settle on a Texas ranch.
by CNB