It’s All In The Details: General Hospital Set Visit

The last 50 years of General Hospital have been unforgettable with characters like Luke Spencer, Lila Quartermaine, and Jasper Jacks, but they aren’t the only ones who have a starring role. The art department on GH has been keeping up with an extreme shooting schedule, and created memorable props for every death, marriage, arrest, and event in-between. I grew up watching GH after school in the 90s, and getting a chance to look at some of the retired props from the series was like jumping in a soap opera time capsule. Here are some of my favorite props from the show.

The Port Charles Press featured the late AJ Quartermaine across the front page amidst his legal troubles. Every issue of the PCP is highly detailed with full stories and photos, even though the camera may never see the fine print.

Dr. Silas Clay’s business cards include an address, phone number, and e-mail address, but unfortunately, all of the details are fictional (including SilasClay.com, which I tried very hard to make work).

In her few short years at the hospital, Sabrina Santiago has stirred up Dr. Patrick Drake’s life, and though she was never named Mrs. Drake, their wedding invitation is stunning.

Luckily for Sabrina, she still finished her course as a student nurse, and graduated from the General Hospital School of Nursing.

In a file nearly an inch thick was Sonny Corinthos’s police record. Reports, fingerprints, and witness accounts are stacked high thanks to his antics over the last 20 years.

But surprisingly, Sonny’s records are mostly silly documents with made up characters and circumstances. Just in case the papers were ever seen on camera, the props department filled out all of the forms, but since they would never be read, they’re all a series of non-sensical events.

My mom’s favorite character was always Jax (Ingo Rademacher, hello!), and she was not excited about his wedding with Brenda. When things went awry, I know my mom silently cheered, and now 10 years later, all that survives of Brenda and Jax is a stack of cocktail napkins.

No hospital would be safe without an emergency exit map, but outside of the room it’s located in, the building doesn’t exist! No, there isn’t a General Hospital in Port Charles, but there is a massive sound stage where mansions sit across from the hospital lobby. I still loved seeing the practical set decorations like hand sanitizer stations and patient information monitors (that surely get used for Facebook surfing when the cameras aren’t rolling).

General Hospital

Weekdays at 2pm (1pm central)

2014 Nurses’s Ball May 8th-13th

I was invited to visit the set of General Hospital. All opinions are 100% mine.