Last week on General Hospital, Laura reminded Lulu that the late Monica attended Laura’s wedding to Lulu’s dad. “Along with the rest of the world,” Lulu chirped. A cute flex about how Luke and Laura’s wedding on November 17, 1981, was the most-watched American soap opera episode ever, with 30 million viewers. But did you know it wasn’t supposed to happen then? With GH pre-empted multiple times this week, now is an excellent time to hear from then-Headwriter Thom Racina about who forced this marriage, via the new book, Super Soap Scenes: A Time Capsule of Daytime Drama’s Greatest Moments.
Shotgun Wedding
We would never have married them had it not been for Elizabeth Taylor, who called up one day when word leaked that we wanted to push off the wedding for another six months, screaming in her high voice that she had, “…shut down many movie sets to watch Luke and Laura, and I’ll be goddamned if you’re not going to give me a wedding!”
I said we’ll give a wedding if you come, and she giggled, and the rest is history.
Last Minute Plans
But, overnight, Leah Laiman and I had to schedule the nuptials, plus write in a part for the most glamorous movie star on earth. I was handed the task to do all of Elizabeth’s scenes and came up with Helena Cassadine, widow of Mikos (John Colicos), who attends the wedding as a ploy to put a curse on Luke and Laura for all time, a story that is, I’m happy to say, still playing today.
Behind the Scenes
My most fun recollection was of Elizabeth being unable to say her character’s name. She pronounced Cassadine as Casa-deen, rather than Casa-dine. It’s great to watch it on the blooper reels now, but I remember her turning to me and saying, “Can’t we just change my goddamn name?”
How many takes did it… take? Find out all that and more in Super Soap Scenes: A Time Capsule of Daytime Drama’s Greatest Moments.
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