Special Report: The GH Fan Club Weekend by Amy McWilliams

I went to LA for the GH Fan Club Weekend and stayed with a friend. We went to two events--the Kurth and Taylor concert on Saturday night and the luncheon on Sunday afternoon. Otherwise, we filled our time with GH related activities, watching videos of episodes and interviews and shopping for wardrobe from the show. The following is a description of the two events, along with the few pictures we took.

Kurth and Taylor

When we got to enter the room at about 8:30, we found that we were among the first people not in the fan club in line, so we found ourselves on the first row after the fan club members and their guests. We sat by Barry, who does the videotaping at all the events, and lamented the fact that a tall man had seated himself directly in our line of sight. I had hoped to video tape the concert, or at least parts of it, but that would be difficult.

K&T gave out several freebies--T-shirts from their recent kids' tour and photos large and small of the band. The hotel provided water, which was nice because it had been so hot in the line.

Wally and Rena arrived, and things got started at 9:00 with a question and answer period. Rena had apparently had a couple of beers, and Wally was teasing her about it. They talked about their nanny, a relative or friend of Rena's, I believe, and then settled in to talk about the show and their careers. Among the highlights:

Wally said that he was planning to sign on to GH through the year 2000, even though they weren't giving him much of a storyline. Rena commented that, with Vanessa Marcil (Brenda) leaving, there would be room for eight storylines. No offense, she said, she was a friend of Vanessa's. But it is true that Brenda has had a front burner storyline for five years. She pointed out that one of the reasons actors leave soaps is because they have a good storyline and then nothing. Wally added that we should all hope for the continuation of Alan's drug addiction, since it was the only source of scenes for him and Billy Warlock (A.J.). And when he commented on the lack of women at the Quartermaine mansion, Rena joked that perhaps Ned could become involved with Emily. Wally returned that he had decided that Ned should be the one to face the final addiction--the only one the Quartermaine family hadn't participated in yet. He said Ned should become a sex addict. Of course, that elicited great cheers from the audience. On a serious note, Rena said that they weren't giving Wally a story because they were afraid that the fans wouldn't accept him with anybody else. Most people in the room sounded off saying that they would, but the ladies behind us were definitely anti-Alexis.

As for Rena, she shared that she had received an offer that morning, but couldn't tell us what it was. When asked if it was daytime, she said that she wouldn't do daytime unless she returned to GH. Now it has been revealed that she'll be appearing on Melrose Place.

They also talked about their baby, Rosabelle. When asked if she had dimples like her parents, they said that she smiled all the time. Rena added that the child has perfect pitch already, and when Rena starts singing along to the book (one of those that plays sounds), Rosabelle turns away and frowns at her.

All in all, they were both very gracious and accommodating, and they answered questions for about an hour. They stood in several places down the aisle so everybody could take a picture, and then the band began to set up.

The band played for another hour, doing most of the new songs, some of the old, and some that are so new they're not on an album. The crowd enjoyed them all, and as a special treat, they performed the song Wally used to sing on Days of Our Lives. The sound was great, and it was a nice set. Rena, seated in the audience, sang along on every tune.

Rena, Wally and Christian Taylor then sat outside signing autographs for a couple of hours. When I told Rena how much I had enjoyed her as Lois and how I'd had to get past tapes to see their courtship, she declared, "Forget Luke and Laura! Ned and Lois forever!" Wally said she was punchy, leading to a cute exchange. Having been a fan of Wally's for about ten years, it was nice to get to tell him that I'd enjoyed his work for so long.

The Fan Club Luncheon

We started out in the courtyard, where there were pictures, souvenirs, videotapes, and raffle tickets for sale. Jonathan Jackson (Lucky) and Rebecca Herbst (Elizabeth) signed some autographs, but we headed inside to find our table and a good vantage point for the sake of the video camera. We were about halfway back, on the side, with no tall men in sight.

They began to serve lunch while they called raffle ticket numbers for all the prizes. Then they made introductions and John Ingle (Edward) announced each cast member as they entered the door just to the right of our table. He made derogatory remarks about the Cassadines as he introduced Stephen Nichols (Stefan), and Nichols promptly bit him on the neck when he got up to the stage.

The people who were there, by character name (and as best as I can remember), were: Garcia, Taggert, V, Mac, Nik, Stefan, Alexis, Katherine, Bobbie, Jerry, Jax, Brenda, Jason, Audrey, Gail, Mike, Tony, Lucas, Dara, AJ, Alan, Lesley, Lucky, Liz, Emily, Reginald, Edward. Executive producer Wendy Riche and writer Michelle Val Jean also attended. Wally Kurth (Ned) wasn't there because of the autograph signing the night before, and Anna Lee (Lila) wasn't there because of the Quartermaine brunch the day before--they had invited her whole family and flown them in as a surprise because it was her anniversary on the show, and she was worn out and they told her to stay home on Sunday. At first she had still intended on coming!

The QnA, led by John J. York (Mac) was pretty forgettable, with a few nice moments such as the comments between Real Andrews (Taggert) and Vanita Harbour (Dara). But the best moment to me was when Rachel Ames commented that, yes, she thought Audrey could have a new love interest--and looked at George Alvarez (Garcia) and Real Andrews (Taggert) as she said she didn't care whom it was. They were all in alphabetical order, which put Susan Brown (Gail) right next to them, and she added that it wouldn't be Lee.

Afterwards, they escorted the actors to tables around the room. As our table number was called, we were allowed to get in line for any actor we wanted, which made getting around to everybody much easier. I will note that both Jackie Zeman (Bobbie) and Nancy Lee Grahan (Alexis) brought 8x10s to sign for fans, and Zeman's line was consistently the longest of all, both because of her popularity and because she took the time to speak with each fan.

We greeted her first, and she was lovely to sign a second picture for Adrian (creator of The Bobbie Zone, this month's featured web site). We were also quite charmed by Julian Stone (Jerry) and Ron Hale (Mike). Everybody was, as always, more than gracious. The amusing thing was seeing the stars head to the bathroom with their escorts in tow, promising to come immediately back to the line, and announcing that they were very quick about such things.