friday, September 25, 1981
page 12
daily nebraskan
Viewers find addiction cure in 'General Hospital'
Luke and Laura have made the big time.
The dramatic duo from ABC's daytime hit, General
Hospital, are profiled in this week's Newseek and pictured
on its cover. They are, of course, pictured embracing.
The two embrace - and kiss and tease and hint -throughout
much of the 18-year-old serial. According to
Newsweek this is exactly what makes the viewers tune in,
and in, and in.
The audience of GH - as addicts supposedly call it -numbers
more than 14 million. The show earns about SI
million each week for ABC. The popularity of the show
has made it the top soap in the country.
The attraction: Luke and Laura. Their appeal: Sex. No
qualms about it from producer Gloria Monty. Sex is the
drawing card, so she keeps on dealing it.
Mafia front man
For non-devotees, like myself, Newsweek supplies the
story line. Luke appeared on the GH set three years ago as
a former front man for the Mafia and owner of a disco.
Laura met Luke at the disco, where he later raped her on
the dance floor. From that point on, it's been a game of
kiss-but-don't-tell for the two, as they fall in out of love
during various escapades.
The story, naturally, has corollaries, but Luke and
Laura bring in the fans.
The magic of Luke (Anthony Geary) lies not in his
face; his frizzy blond hair and impish face are not much to
look at. He is, though, off-beat in both appearance and be
havior, giving him that unpredictability we women are
supposed to love.
Laura (Genie Francis) is average looking but oh, so
young. That, according to producer Monty, turns on the
men ("Sweet and innocent' thing) and the younger wo
men ("It could happen to me.")
Sex, romance, heartbreak
Monty is quite blatant about the show's sexual con
tent. She set out to attract anew teen-age audience when
GH ratings were sloping downward. According to Francis,
she set those ratings soaring with "a first-love story with
real-life sex, romance and heartbreak." Says Francis: "It's
every teenager's story."
Says who? Not me, nor many teenagers, nor, I'm sure,
many of their parents. At the risk of sounding naive, I
hardly think General Hospital is the place I'd want my
children, teen and pre-teen, to learn about sex. But when
they tune into GH, that's almost all they get.
Newsweek says researchers at Michigan State Universi
ty found that in 65 hours of serials, 80 percent of the
scenes in which sex was suggested occurred between un
married lovers.
The researchers also found the soap containing the
most sexual activity was General Hospital. The conclu-
Nebraska Union rocks to Ripchords
ft
Photo by Mark Billingsley
The Ripchords performed Thursday afternoon at the Nebraska Union. The concert was presented as part of
UPC Awareness Week.
Two local photographers exhibit work
Two Lincoln photographers are displaying their work
in the Loft of the East Union this week.
Steve Traudt and Bruce Wendorff have participated in
local area shows and have had their work featured in local
galleries. They are active members in the Photographic So
ciety of America and have received international photo
graphy awards through this organization. They also judge
international competitions.
Wendorff said he first began photographing wildlife as
a means to increase realism in his occupation as a taxider
mist. "When I was doing taxidermy, I began photographing
birds, squirrels and other wildlife because I needed some
more realistic poses for them in my work," he said. "I
now dont do taxidermy and have taken up my photo
graphy in a more serious nature."
Traudt has a wide variety of interest in his subject mat
ter, but prefers to concentrate on subjects with the gra
phic qualities of strong patter, he said. With this recent in
terest, he photographs landscapes and nature containing
these qualities.
"I have gone back to photographing nature and land
scapes," he said, "but I am also working on photograph
ing alleys in Lincoln for things like the shadow and contour."-
Although Traudt has been involved with photography
for 20 years, he said, he didnt become a serous photo
grapher until 1972.
"I had been serious about it in high school, but I didnt
do too much during college," he said. "Then I became ser
ious again and it took me four or five years to improve,
"The reason that it has taken me so long to get to the
point that I am at now is that photography is difficult to
adjust to. I feel that a camera is an extension of your feel
ings and until you know how to work a camera pretty
well, it is hard to accomplish this as a natural thing."
Wendorff said he has judged international competitions
of photography for the Photographic Society of America
during the last three years in Wichita, Kan. lie said there
are 600 to700 entrants from all over the world, each en
tering three or four color slides.
Three thousand slides are entered in the competition
and 500 make it into the final judging for the four or five
medals awarded, he said.
"The amount of medals awarded compared to the
number of entrants isn't very high, but with the amount
of slides in the finals, it isnt as tough a competition as it
seems. Making it into the finals makes it worth it,"
Wendorff said the competition has three judges.
sion: "Heavy exposure to soaps may warp adolescent sex
ual attitudes."
Lovers after rape
Besides the plain old sex in GH, remember Luke and
Laura became lovers after he raped her. And remember
Luke is the walking image of macho" when it comes to
how a woman should be handled. Neither rape nor macho
ism are healthy ideals to teach adolescents about men-women
relationships. ....
The youth appeal in General Hospital is hardly supri
sing. Consider other exploits of young sex: the infamous
Brooke Shields blue jeans advertisement, the Shields mov
ies "Endless Love" and "The Blue Lagoon"; and even
Shields herself.
She's made the pretty, pouting baby face a sexual turn
on and made 14-year-olds think they can behave just like
full-grown women.
I've heard the argument that teenagers are more sophis
ticated these days, that they're ready earlier to see sex on
the screen and handle it. But think back five or ten years.
Things haven't changed that much. Sex is sex, and
when you're 14 or 15 you giggle and smirk; you dont
"handle."
Sure, General Hospital is a lure. I can't walk by a set
without trying to catch up on the plot. But stop and think
about it. It's a sore excuse for entertainment.
Nonetheless, 14 million viewers have made heroes out
of a man who raped a young girl and a young girl who fell
in love with him over it.
Fogelberg ticket sales
exceeding expectations
Ticket sales for the Dan Fogelberg concert scheduled
for Nov. 1 have gone better than expected, but tickets are
still available, Martin Wood of the University Program
Council said Thursday.
"Just guessing, we've sold about 7,000 tickets," Wood
said. "We expected a nice crowd, but they (the tickets)
sold a iot faster than 1 thought they would."
Wood said few $10.50 tickets were left, and those that
remained were mostly single tickets. There are still plenty
of the $9.50 tickets available, which are plank seats with
out backs, he said.
Poitier plays Mr. Tibbs
in two detective movies
The University Program Council will present the Sid
ney Poitier Film Festival tonight in the Nebraska Union.
The two films, In the Heat of the Night, and They Call Me
Mr. Tibbs are presented as part of the UPC Awareness
Week activities.
In the Heat of the Night features Poitier as a detective
from Philadelphia who gets involved in a murder case with
a racist southern policeman, played by Rod Steiger. Lee
Grant also stars in the film.
While hi the Heat of the Night is first and foremost a
detective story, it is also one of the first efforts by Holly
wood to explore the issue of racism in the south.
They Call Me Mr. Tibbs is a sequel to In the Heat of
the Night. Poitier recreates Virgil Tibbs, the Philadelphia
detective, and Tibbs is sent to San Francisco to solve a
murder case. Martin Landau and Barbara Mac Nair co-star
in the film.
The film festival will begin at 7 p.m. in the Rostrum of
the Nebraska Union, and will end at about 11 p.m. Ad
mission is free.
" '
photo courtesy of United Artists
Sidney Poiter stars with Rod Stefeer and Lee Grant
in In the Heat of the Night, one of two films present
ed tonight in the Nebraska Union,