Soaps
by Michael Logan
DAD'S DIRTY LITTLE SECRET General Hospital will drag a sordid skeleton out of the closet this week when Lucky Spencer (Jonathan Jackson), the teenage son of Luke and Laura, finds out that his father raped his mother nearly two decades ago. While longtime fans remember that notorious 1979 episode, in which a drunken Luke violated Laura on the floor of a deserted discotheque, ABC ordered the rape whitewashed in the early '80s when Tony Geary and Genie Francis became the sensation of the nation, and it hasn't been acknowledged since. We spoke with the Emmy-winning Geary--who is still so hip and highly regarded by GH fans that he is referred to on the Internet simply as Da Man--to get his thoughts on this risky decision.
TV Guide: This could get ugly. Why bring up the rape after all this time?
Tony Geary: The intent is to drive a big wedge between Lucky and the father he idolizes, which is going to be brutal and painful for both of them. It's really hard to believe the writers are doing it, because this is a very scary can of worms that could eat us all. It's put me in a very vulnerable place. I come to work a little shaky, I feel sick to my stomach by the time I get to the stage, then I go home and cry--all of which is good. I haven't had reason to be shaken up on this show in a long, long time. And Jonathan has been extraordinary. He's got such a handle on the story that I just hang onto him. As actors, we're now on the same level. I'm not teaching him anything anymore.
TVG: The rape has always been a hot-button issue with you.
TG: It was played as a rape, desperate and dirty, and then there was a quick rush to rewrite it as a seduction. By the way, it was also child molestation--Laura was only 17 at the time--but that was never talked about. My biggest concern is that we don't rewrite it again to make it politically correct. Any man who takes a woman's body by force to make himself feel better is a monster. And we need to deal with that.
TVG: Some Luke fans will freak, especially those who don't know the history.
TG: I can't worry about the viewers, and I won't adjust the truth to make them comfortable. I don't think they should be comfortable. I don't want 'em sitting on the couch eating Doritos while they watch us. I'd rather they were on their feet screaming: "How dare Luke do that!"
TVG: This seems so incomplete without Genie [Francis left in May to have a baby and has thus far refused to return]. Then again, maybe it's a better story with Laura not around to smooth things over.
TG: Maybe so. If Laura were here, there'd be an awful lot of talk. Instead, we have Luke alone on the edge of the abyss in an existential crisis--and that's my favorite place to work from. But if they can get Genie to come back--and believe me, they're begging--there can be a very powerful second level to this. After all, Laura is the one who fell in love with her rapist. That's an even more dangerous story to tell.
Father and son: Geary, Jackson
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