July 25, 2006

Recap:  The Green Room  

Make it another year of success for Debbie Morris and her annual General  Hospital Fan Event weekend.  The fans and the actors enjoyed themselves regardless of the weather.  Temperatures surpassed 100 degrees with paralyzing humidity.  It was hot!   

The Eye on Soaps staff managed to sneak some bonding time in between the events; a few went to Disney while a few others hung out and took advantage of a few hours of down time.  Kathy brought the requisite chocolate and Diet Coke and Katrina supplied us all with ID stickers (mine had a lovely picture of John York on it) and business cards.  Armed with chocolate soda, I was ready.  

We were able to spend time in the green room again this year but I chose not to conduct interviews.  Magazines and other websites asked question after question but the green room is a place for the actors to relax and prepare for the fan event so I didn’t want to subject them to additional questions.  So instead I looked, listened and learned. Here’s what I got: 

Greg Vaughan is beyond happy with his wife.  Sorry ladies, even though he’s the new “I Can’t Believe it’s Not Butter” man, he’s not going to be buttering anyone else’s bread!  He did manage to take off the hat he had on Thursday night.  Apparently it’s growing out, which makes me happy!  He’s one of the few men I think looks good with longer hair.  

John Ingle is thrilled to be back on General Hospital.  He said he walked on the set on his first day back and it was like he’d been gone for the weekend.  Nothing had changed and he fell right back into the groove of things.  He enjoyed his time at Days but his storyline quickly declined and he didn’t quite enjoy wearing the costumes they gave him (cowboy boots, etc.).  His onscreen son Alan commented on how much better he looks wearing a suit.  

Speaking of Alan  Quartermaine, Stuart Damon was as friendly as always.  I mentioned how I’d recently caught him playing Prince Charming and I had a hard time getting the image of him in tights out of my head.   He doesn’t feel he could fit in those tights anymore but he sure did look good in them ‘back in the day’!  

Jason Thompson didn’t appear as nervous as he did on Thursday night.  I imagine his popularity is a bit overwhelming.  He was friendly and seems to understand the way of the soap world.  He’s hopeful he’ll be ‘alive’ next year to attend the event again.  Based on his fan response, I don’t expect Patrick will get killed off any time soon.  

Kimberly McCullough brought her God-son who if there were a new Tarzan movie made, could play the toddler version.  He has this silky, long, brown hair, brown skin and the most gorgeous eyes…just as cute as can be.  If you’ve watched any of the Tarzan animated movies, you’d swear the kid was modeled in her God-son’s likeness. She had on a pair of interesting leg warmers, but not the 80’s type.  These were updated and hip.  They must have been hot though as she didn’t have them on during the event itself.  

Ted King came in his pinstriped suit and purple shirt.   I think he sleeps in suits.  I’ll have to watch the first season of Charmed and see if his character ever wore jeans.  He was charming and polite, as always.  Personally, I think he’s lost some weight because he looked thin!  Jason Thompson was also a skinny little thing…I hope the push to be thin in Hollywood hasn’t hit the men of the soap world now! 

Scott Clifton, Lindze Letherman and Julie Berman were as tight as they well, used to be on General Hospital.  Lindze made it clear that Scott cheated on her and that’s what ended their relationship.  Thankfully they were all buds and there was no true soap opera drama that day!  Julie is as sweet as you’d expect and seemed generally shocked about her success.  Scott was of course, always the comic, making one liners about everything. Lindze has really grown into a wonderfully charming young lady and knows how to smile!  She shows genuine appreciation for her fans and that just seems to make everyone like her more.  

Bergen Williams (Big Alice) isn’t big in the least. She’s tall and thin and that ‘maid’ outfit does the woman no justice.  She’s got a bit of a break she said, since her ‘true love’ is off on vacation (or is he on the run?) for a few weeks.  She’s hopeful her story line will pick up and she’ll get to work with Genie Francis once she’s on board again.  She brought her niece who was just happy to be there!  

I did not get to talk to Constance Towers, Jackie Zeman or Denise Alexander because they seemed to be tied up most of the time prior to the event.  The same goes for Steve Burton and Maurice Benard.

I’ll  get back to you with more info in the next few days!