General Hospital's 42nd Anniversary

Thanks to Renee for this!

In April 1963, Lawrence of Arabia won seven Oscars®, President Kennedy officially proclaimed Winston Churchill an honorary U.S. citizen, and Martin Luther King was jailed for leading a civil rights march in Birmingham, Alabama. 

The Birds, The Beach Boys and The Beverly Hillbillies were all hot commodities on the entertainment scene. During that same month -- on April 1, 1963 -- a brand-new ABC soap opera called General Hospital premiered. 

In the show's early days, the action focused primarily on Dr. Steve Hardy (John Beradino) and Nurse Jessie Brewer (Emily McLaughlin), who were best friends and colleagues, but never romantically involved. For bachelor Steve, medicine always came first -- sadly at the expense of his dating relationships. For Nurse Jessie, marriage came first, which meant she usually wound up turning a blind eye to her no-good husband Phil's lies and cheating. 

Over the years, the GH canvas has expanded to include Spencers, Webbers Quartermaines and Cassadines -- and medicine is no longer the only game in town. These days, Port Charles has just as many mobsters as physicians, and the treatment of gunshot wounds has become a major hospital specialty. 

In honor of the show's upcoming 42nd anniversary, here is a list of 10 memorable moments that had a pretty big bang... 

1965: Dr. Steve Hardy marries Audrey March, a former airline stewardess turned nurse. Audrey's tough older sister, Lucille, is head of nurses at General Hospital and very disapproving of Audrey's flighty ways. 

1979: Mob connected Luke Spencer forces Laura Baldwin to dance with him, then rapes her on the disco floor while Herb Alpert's "Rise" plays seductively in the background. 

1981: Times passes; people change. Luke and Laura exchange vows in a glorious wedding ceremony that stops the presses and rocks the ratings. Guest star Elizabeth Taylor (Helena Cassadine) hovers ominously in the shadows and puts a curse on the royal couple. 

1983: Two years after wandering off into the fog -- and being mistakenly presumed dead -- Laura returns home. Where has she been all this time? Held hostage on a private island by Helena Cassadine's twisted son Stavros. (FYI: In 1996, viewers learn that during her incarceration, Stavros impregnated her, and she gave birth to their son Nikolas.) 

1985: Anna Devane -- a beautiful woman with an ugly facial scar -- reenters Robert Scorpio's life. Like Robert, Anna is a former WSB agent. Robert learns he has a daughter, Robin. 

1994: GH launches a new tradition -- the annual Nurses' Ball to benefit the hospital's pediatric AIDS unit. At the first gala, Stone and Robin reenact a tender love scene from Romeo and Juliet, Dr. Hardy performs a baseball skit, and Lucy's dress falls off while she's on stage. 

1995: After shielding his girlfriend Robin Scorpio from a barrage of machine-gun bullets -- and taking the hit himself -- a wounded Stone Cates reveals his devastating secret: He is infected with the AIDS virus. Although Robin tests negative at first, she is later diagnosed as HIV positive. As Stone's condition worsens, his eyesight fails. But just before he dies, he asks Robin to stand by the light in the window, and he sees her one last time. 

1996: With his drunken brother A.J. at the wheel, Jason Quartermaine nearly dies in a car crash. Suffering from permanent brain damage, he disowns his wealthy family, changes his name to Jason Morgan and goes to work for mob lord Sonny Corinthos. 

1997: Perhaps the worst -- and wackiest -- Thanksgiving in Quartermaine history. After the dogs eat the turkey, the snooty Q's are forced to order in pizza. Three deliverymen dressed as pilgrims, show up and proceed to rob them. Jason arrives with a cooked turkey, scares the muggers off, and saves the day. It turns out that Lila and Edward's disinherited daughter Tracy masterminded the heist. 

2004: A devastating fire destroys the Port Charles Hotel. Several residents are trapped inside. Zander's father, Cameron, dies in the flames. Sonny and Carly nearly perish. General Hospital garners critical acclaim for its special effects and life-and-death storytelling.

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