Q:        I didn’t watch General Hospital in the old days and would really like to know how Lee and Gail, who are now on PC, met and fell in love.  Lashaun, NY 

A:        In 1977  Dr. Gail Adamson joined the psychiatric staff of General Hospital.  She already knew one of the doctors, Monica Webber.  Gail first met Monica when she was very young and living in a foundling home in St Louis. 

Attorney Lee Baldwin returned to Port Charles at this time, to counsel his brother, Tom, in the Tommy Hardy custody battle.  Lee looked forward to seeing all his old friends in Port Charles, but looked forward to returning home to Florida where his wife, Caroline, and her son, Bobby were waiting for him.

            While in Port Charles, Lee received very tragic news that his wife and son had been lost at sea.  He returned home to make all the funeral arrangements, and realized that with his family gone, there would be no reason to stay there, so he came back to PC.   He opened up a new law practice and found companionship with Gail.

Gail, who had recently lost her husband, could feel Lee’s pain and together, they were able to give each other support.  She decided it would help if Lee had family with him, so she called his step-son Scotty, who was in NY studying to be a lawyer, and asked him to get in touch with Lee.  Scotty came to Port Charles, was reunited with his father, and took a job at General Hospital, where he met Laura.

            Lee and Gail fell in love and wanted to make a life together, but Gail was having a very difficult time getting over the death of her late husband, Greg.  After finding out that Greg once had an affair with Monica, Gail became so depressed that she broke up with Lee.  Devastated at his loss, he broke his Alcoholics Anonymous pledge and started to drink again.  Because they truly loved one another, they found their way back together and finally made it to the altar.

Q:        I’m confused!  I thought Eliot ran over and killed Brooke’s daughter Laura, but now I hear that she’s in China.  Can you please straighten this out for me and give me some details?  Rachel Dunn, MN 

A:        Allow me to clear up your confusion, Rachel.  Years ago Brooke had a daughter with Tom Cudahy, whom they named Laura.  She was killed when struck by Josh Waleski (Eliot), who had been driving while intoxicated.  This loss left an emotional scar on Brooke, and the memory of that day still haunts her.

            In 1996, Laura Kirk, a homeless teenager , came to Pine Valley from New York.  When she was arrested for shoplifting and taken to jail, Brooke found out she needed help, and because she had had experience working with parentless children, she took Laura under her wing and moved her into her home.  Over the months that Laura lived  

with Brooke, they became quite close and on Christmas Day, Brooke told Laura she wanted to adopt her as her own daughter.  The adoption went through and Laura became Brooke’s daughter on January 16, 1997. Because the events that followed were of particular interest to many fans, I would like to give you a replay now:

(In 1997,  con-man/child pornographer/arsonist/just plain bad, Jim Thomasen came to Pine Valley to stir up trouble for many of its residents, including Brooke and her newly adopted daughter, Laura Kirk.)

            In October of ’97, Brooke, Edmund, Maria, and their baby, Mattie, were on a return trip from New York City on TransGlobal Flight #149.  The plane crashed and everyone was killed except for Brooke, Edmund, Mattie, and Jim Thomasen.

            Jim immediately went to Brooke’s aid and helped her through the entire ordeal.  In Brooke’s eyes, he was a real-life hero.  What she did not know was that Jim had taken lewd photographs of Laura Kirk, a few years earlier, when she was living back in NYC with her mother. 

          When everyone was found and returned to Pine Valley, Jim set out to make himself a very important part of Brooke’s life.  As every day passed he and Brooke grew closer, which eventually led to them having an affair.

            One day Tim Dillon told Laura that he had found some pornographic photos of her on the Internet and Laura panicked.  Soon after, Laura was kidnapped by Ricky, the man she had posed with in the photographs.

            Brooke received an anonymous phone call telling her about the photos.  She also received a ransom note demanding that she not inform the police.  She told Jim that she was going to give the kidnapper the money and deliver it herself.  At the drop-off site, Jim saved Brooke from Ricky and chased him away.  Making himself even more of a hero, he also brought Laura home to Brooke. Laura told Brooke the story about how she was forced to pose for the photos to earn money to help her mother.

            Laura remembered Jim as the photographer, but she declared a truce with him and they agreed not to tell anyone who he was. 

            Later, Jim thanked Ricky for helping him look like a hero again and they split the ransom money.  Ricky threatened to tell Brooke about Jim if he did not give him more money.  Later, Ricky collapsed from a drug overdose.  When he was found, he was taken to the ER, where Derek asked Laura to identify him.  Laura told Derek that Ricky was the kidnapper, then he later died from the overdose. Derek had suspicions that Ricky had been murdered.

            Jim started working with Brooke and Edmund at Tempo magazine. When Adam offered Tempo to Brooke she told him she would accept his offer if she could share it with Edmund and Jim.  Edmund, dubious of having Jim as a partner, told Brooke he wanted to find out more about him first.

            Brooke and Jim’s relationship continued to heat up until one day when she found evidence linking him to the plane crash.  (At first it  was Adam Chandler who was under fire, as he owned the airlines and had been accused of using faulty equipment)  Brooke asked Mateo if he would help her to uncover more facts about Jim.  Hayley and Mateo began their own investigation into Jim’s background.  When he found out their intentions, he decided to kill both of them by pumping carbon monoxide into their bedroom. They both survived, but Mateo fell into a coma.

            It wasn’t long before Jim’s past started to catch up to him.  Information was coming to light that showed that the plastic explosives used to blow up the plane were only manufactured at four plants in New Jersey, close to Jim’s old haunts.  Brooke found out that he was a child pornographer and the man who had taken the photos of Laura. 

At the same time, Jim, worried about what Edmund might find on him.  He took Edmund hostage and handcuffed him to a pipe down in the viaduct, by the ocean, leaving him there to die with the first high tide.  When Jim returned to Brooke’s home, Dimitri was there.  Later, when Jim left, Dimitri followed him, and found his brother handcuffed to the pipe.  Dimitri and Jim had an altercation and Jim managed to get away.  Dimitri tried to catch up to him before he padlocked the gate, which was their only way out, but he was too late.  So the two brothers remained there, helpless.  Then Edmund reminded Dimitri of the pocketknife he always carried.  Using that, and a lot of ingenuity, Dimitri managed to get both himself and Edmund out in time.

            Meanwhile, Brooke, now knowing what an evil man Jim was, decided to put an end to his reign of terror in Pine Valley.  When she talked to him on the phone, she asked him to meet her at Stuart’s art gallery.  Brooke would be waiting for him with a handgun.

            After Jim arrived at the gallery, Brooke unveiled all the photographs he had taken of Laura.  Then she began questioning him.  She asked him what happened to Flight #149, and then she told him it would be his last chance.  She went on to tell him she also knew about what he had done to Ricky, and to Mateo and Hayley.  Then she demanded to know what he had done to Edmund and Dimitri.  Jim laughed and told her he must have misplaced them.  Throughout her questioning he continued to taunt her, telling her she was no better than Laura’s slut of a mother. (Jim was also an arsonist, who had been responsible for the death of Laura’s mother)   He kept verbally taunting Brooke until she could not listen to him any longer.  He went to turn and walk away and she shot him in the back.  Jim fell, looking up at her he uttered, “You Bitch!”, then she shot him two more times.  Brooke was in shock at what she had done, even though she had planned it.  She neared the body to feel for a pulse, and he grabbed her, then he died.  Dimitri showed up at the gallery and found Brooke, with Jim lying dead on the floor.

            The police were notified, and at the station Brooke told them everything Jim had been responsible for, and all the people he had hurt.  Brooke was charged with murder and  later released on bail to await the trial.

            During the weeks ahead, as the trial progressed, Brooke became more and more afraid of what would happen to Jamie if she was sent to prison.  One night Dimitri came to see her and they talked about her dilemma.  Dimitri talked her into taking Jamie and fleeing the country.  He would give her the use of his private jet and they would be safe.  So Brooke told Jamie to pack a bag as they were going on a spontaneous vacation.

            When Tad arrived at Brooke’s house, he found only Dimitri.  It didn’t take long for him to comprehend what had happened to her.  While he was there, Dimitri received a call from Brooke aboard the jet.  Tad grabbed the phone away from him and pleaded with Brooke to return home, but she hung up on him.

            In order to delay the trial and buy Brooke some time while he tried to get her to return to Pine Valley, Tad told the judge that Brooke was very ill and had been admitted into the hospital.  This plan of Tad’s became more and more complicated, but he did finally manage to get Brooke and Jamie back home before the court found out about it. 

            During the final days of the trial, Jim was shown to be a murderer and a child pornographer.  Brooke was finally acquitted.                       

 Because of what happened with Jim Thomasen and the photos of Laura being on the Internet, Brooke decided in order to protect her from any further harm, she would send her to China to live with friends for a few years.  Laura is still there. 

Q:        It amazes me that you know so much about all the ABC soaps!  Can you give me some information on Pat Kendall and how she was written off the show?  I was out of the country during that time and missed her exit!  Did she leave with Tony Lord? Gracie

 A:        Let’s start with some background information for reader’s who may not have been watching back then.

            Pat Ashley Kendall and Tony Lord once had an  affair in Rio de Janeiro, and Pat had a son, Brian, from this relationship.  Neither Tony nor Brian knew that they were father and son.  In 1976, Pat, who was still in love with Tony, wanted to continue their relationship, but he eloped with Cathy Craig.

            When Tony found out that Cathy was mentally ill he convinced her 

Pat Ashley and Tony Lord

to get psychiatric help.  Cathy kidnapped Viki and Joe Riley’s  infant son, Kevin, but when the police caught up with her, she had no recollection of ever seeing the baby or ever being married to Tony.

            Pat supported Tony through Cathy’s illness and he realized that he still loved her.  They gave in to their feelings and made love.  

           Months later Cathy’s memory returned and she told the police where they could find Kevin.  He was found and returned to Viki and Joe.

            When Cathy recovered from her illness, Tony resumed their marriage, although he did not love her.  During that time Pat told Tony that Brian was his son, but they agreed for Brian’s sake, not to tell him, as it would be too traumatic.  Cathy agreed to give Tony a divorce and he and Pat made plans to be married.  The night before the wedding, Tony was critically injured in an automobile accident.  As though this wasn’t enough, Pat then found out that her husband, Paul Kendall, who had been presumed dead (isn’t that always the way?) was actually alive.  For her son’s sake, Pat told Tony the news and moved back in with Paul, but they continued their affair behind his back.

            In 1978 Pat finally broke down and told Brian that Tony was his father.  Brian took the news very badly and said he hated Tony. He ran out of the house and into the street just as Karen and one of her “customers” were driving down the street.  They were in the middle of an argument and didn’t see Brian run out in front of them.  The car hit him and killed him instantly.  From then on, Pat and Tony’s relationship deteriorated.

            Pat divorced her husband and began focusing her energy on her new talk show.   Shortly afterward in 1979, millionaire Adam Brewster became romantically involved with Pat.  It wasn’t long after they were married that Pat discovered her new husband had put all moral considerations aside to get his financial empire back in order.  She had the marriage annulled.

            After their breakup, Pat turned to her TV producer, Dick Grant, for support.  Dick was charming and outgoing, but Pat was unaware that he was developing a psychotic crush on her.  When Samantha Vernon found out that Dick had plastered photos of Pat all over his apartment like a shrine, he kidnapped her and then Pat, before the police apprehended him.

            Pat’s next romantic interest was with Clint Buchanan, but because her sister Maggie was infatuated with him, Pat decided, to avoid hurting her sister, she would  not have anything else to do with him.  Knowing that Clint preferred Pat over her, Maggie came up with a plan to steal her sister’s identity.  She thought that by impersonating her sister, she could have Clint all to herself.  She locked Pat in the cellar and was planning to kill her.  Clint, finally becoming suspicious that something wasn’t kosher, went to the house, where he found Pat with a gun, standing over Maggie, who was dead on the floor.  Pat became deeply traumatized by what had happened.  She broke ties with Clint, but was soon drawn to his younger brother, Bo.

            Pat traveled to Paris and made a new friend, Nicole Bonard, who was actually Asa Buchanan’s wife, Olympia.  When Bo went to Paris to visit Pat, Nicole saw him and told Pat that he wasn’t a true Buchanan.  Years earlier Olympia (Nicole) had an affair with ranch hand Yancy Ralston and she became pregnant.  During an argument she killed him.  When Asa found out, he sent her to Europe and told his children that she had died.

            Now, in 1980, Asa saw a photograph of Pat and Nicole in Paris and he panicked.  He worried that she could ruin his empire and the relationship with his sons.  Nicole disappeared mysteriously while in Paris with Pat.  Asa had her flown back to Llanview and kept her imprisoned.  He hired his nephew, Rafe, to guard over her, telling him she was insane.

            Pat and Bo fell in love and became engaged, though Asa did everything he could to separate them.   He went so far as to force his mistress, Mimi King, to seduce Bo, but he resisted her charms.  The relationship between father and son became so bitter that Bo made the decision to break ties with his family and start his own company, Lone Star Records.

            In 1981 Pat hired private investigator Ed Hall to find her missing friend Nicole.  On the day Asa was to marry Samantha Vernon, Nicole escaped and hid in the church, armed with a gun.  Just in time, Rafe found her and quietly managed to get her back to her confinement.

            Tony Lord returned to Llanview that year and became friends with Clint.  Meanwhile, Pat and Clint came to the conclusion that Asa was the one holding Nicole prisoner, somewhere in Llanview.  Again, Nicole managed to escape.  Dressed in a gown identical to Samantha’s, she attended  the Buchanan Ball wearing a mask.  When all the guests arrived she pulled off her mask to reveal her true identity.  Nicole got Asa alone and shot him.  Samantha struggled to get the gun away from her and Nicole tripped on the balcony, falling to her death.  As she was dying she managed to utter three words to her son, Bo, “..Pat…your father...”  Bo went to Pat and asked her to explain.  She then told him that Asa was not his real father.

            In 1982, Pat became jealous when Bo started dating Georgina Whitman, a scientist who had come to Llanview with Tony on a  top-secret project involving a rare mineral which they hoped could be used as a cheap alternative to oil fuel.  Bo’s romance with Georgina didn’t last long and she left town.

            Pat finally came to accept Tony’s adventurous lifestyle and the two were married.  One day in 1993, Pat received the news that Tony had been killed while on a dangerous assignment in war-torn Lebanon.  Having nothing left in Llanview, she decided to leave town in order to accept a new job at a Chicago TV Station.

Q:            Whatever happened to Kevin’s psychotic brother, Ryan?  Is he still lurking around, or in prison or what? Kathy H., Orlando FL

A:        Dr Ryan Chamberlain, Kevin’s twin brother, had a relatively short (3 yrs) life on GH, but he made the most of it.

            In 1992 Ryan became infatuated with Felicia, whom he met in Texas while he was using the alias of Todd Wilson.  While she was in Texas, Felicia saw him kill a woman.  Felicia knew he was a murderer, but when she returned to Port Charles she was mugged, and as a result suffered from amnesia so she did not remember anything of what she had witnessed.  Kevin followed her to PC and continued to stalk her.

            During 1993, Ryan convinced Felicia to join him for a weekend in a mountain cabin.  While she was there with him she regained her memory.  Felicia panicked, as she remembered very clearly seeing Ryan as Todd, kill an innocent woman.  Ryan showed her 

Jon Lindstrom played Kevin Collins and his psychopathic twin, Ryan Chamberlain

a wedding dress and a ring, and asked her to marry him.  Knowing she had to get away from him, she tried to run from the cabin, and Ryan went crazy, throwing the wedding dress into the fireplace.  As he went to grab her, she tried to defend herself by grabbing a knife.  Meanwhile, Mac knew she must be in trouble because she had missed her daughter’s birthday celebration.  He drove to the cabin just in time to see Felicia standing over Ryan’s body.  Ryan was taken to GH where he survived, but Felicia was charged with attempted murder, found guilty and sentenced to 5-15 in the State Mental Hospital.  Mac, Scott Baldwin, and Sean Donnelly promised that they would find proof to help her.

            Felicia went through hell while she was in the mental hospital.  Ryan made numerous unwelcomed visits, and one of the guards even threatened to rape her.  Mac was desperate to help her, and planned her escape through the air ducts. 

            While they were fleeing the authorities, they were able to check more into Ryan’s past and found that we was a serial killer.  They also tracked down a friend of the woman Ryan had killed.  When she realized that Ryan had murdered her friend she tried to blackmail him, and was never seen alive again.

            In one last effort to make Ryan confess to what he had done, they tried to drive him crazy(er).  With the help of Sean’s girlfriend, Jessica, Ryan was led to believe that Mac and Felicia had been in a car accident in Texas and Felicia had been killed.  Ryan headed to GH, where he saw Mac recovering from his injuries.  Then he went to the funeral parlor and saw Felicia in the casket.    He was heartbroken that the love of his life had been killed.  Soon after he started receiving phone calls from her, telling him she was now with his mother.  Mac and Felicia managed to push Ryan as close to the edge as he had ever been.  When she confronted Ryan as a ghost, he cringed and asked her why she was haunting him, since he didn’t kill her.  Felicia started naming off names of all the women he had killed.  Ryan was crying and told her that he killed them because they wouldn’t stop criticizing him.  Felicia was so stunned by his confession that she tripped and cut her elbow, making Ryan realize that she wasn’t a ghost.  He went for her but she was saved by Mac, and Ryan got away again.

            The next morning Ryan showed up at Audrey Hardy’s home.  He called her his mother and Audrey knew he had gone off the deep end.  Steve came in and told Ryan to leave, and went to the phone to call the police, but Ryan ripped out the cord from the wall and knocked him unconscious.  When Steve awoke he found Audrey had been beaten very badly by Ryan.

            Finally Mac tracked Ryan down in Texas and was able to capture him.  Ryan was convicted and sentenced to the same mental hospital as Felicia had been in.  It wasn’t long before he started planning his escape.

            Ryan’s chance for escape came one day in ’94 when his brother Kevin came to visit him.  Ryan knocked Kevin out and switched places with him.  He knew that Felicia and Mac were going to be married, and showed up at the church wearing a bomb.  Ryan managed to fool everyone into thinking he was Kevin, until Kevin showed up.  Cornered like the rat he was, Ryan threatened to blow everyone to kingdom come, until Mac got the bomb away from him and tossed it to Paul Hornsby, who detonated it safely away from the church.  Mac captured Ryan once again.

            With Ryan back in the mental hospital, Kevin decided to visit him one more time.  He told Ryan the difference between them was that he could love and Ryan couldn’t.  Then Ryan asked him how Felicia was doing.  Kevin replied that she was pregnant with Frisco Jones’ baby.  By the time Kevin left, Ryan was determined to get out of the hospital one way or the other.

He became friends with his occupational therapist, Connie Cooper, who enjoyed teaching him how to crochet.  She saw that this improved his mood and she continued to visit him everyday.  It wasn’t long before Ryan was able to talk her into helping him escape.  He convinced her that if he stayed there he would be killed, so she arranged to make it look as though Ryan had died.  Kevin was notified of his brother’s demise, and went with Lucy to the hospital’s morgue.  There they saw for themselves that Ryan was indeed dead.  Later they saw him in his coffin, and watched as he was buried. 

            After everyone had gone from the gravesite, Connie began to dig a very much alive Ryan out of his grave.  She was worried that the medication she had given him to slow down his heart, might have really killed him.  When he rose out of the coffin she hugged him in relief.  She started talking about how wonderful their life together would be, but before she could say another word, Ryan pulled out the scarf that he had crocheted, wrapped it around her and snapped her neck.  Then he buried her in his grave. 

            The first place Ryan went was to Kevin’s to get some clothes and money.  Then posing as Kevin once again, he went to GH, where he kidnapped Felicia’s newborn baby girl, Georgie.   In the car, the baby continued to cry and Ryan could feel the rage building inside of him.  He loved children and didn’t want to hurt her, so out of desperation he called his brother.  Luckily, the call was traced by the police and it wasn’t long before they were after him.  In the car, Ryan’s mother appeared to him and started criticizing what he had done.  He knew he had to get away from her, so he drove to a deserted amusement park.

            Ryan laid the baby on the carousel and hid in the house of mirrors.  When Mac, Lucy, Kevin and Felicia finally arrived they were relieved to find the baby unharmed.  When Lucy and Felicia began searching, Ryan caught them and tied them up.   Kevin found the girls and let them go, but he had to contend with Ryan.  The two brothers fought in the house of mirrors.  Suddenly a gas pipe broke and Ryan set fire to the building.  As much as Kevin hated all the unspeakable things that Ryan had done, he was horrified as he watched his brother fall into the flames.  Ryan was finally dead. 

E-Mail Naomi with your questions and comments!

View Naomi's Archives

August 7th	August 14th
August 21st	August 28th
September 4th	September 11th
September 18th	September 25th
October 2nd	October 9th

View Naomi's Profile