WLS World AIDS Day With Michael Sutton - Part Two

In Part One of our interview with Michael Sutton for World AIDS Day, the acclaimed actor discussed taking on the role of HIV patient Stone Cates on GENERAL HOSPITAL, and the challenges he faced while doing this beloved story.  In this final part, we discuss current research and vaccine trials aimed toward eradicating HIV, as well as the toll this story took on him personally.

WE LOVE SOAPS TV: I am currently doing outreach and education for current HIV vaccine trials that are being conducted through the National Institute of Health. The biggest obstacle I encounter are younger people who don’t think HIV affects their lives.  What might you say to someone who doesn’t perceive HIV is a reality?
Michael Sutton: Unless you have some sort of religious ideas about abstinence, most people are sexually active.  I think that the responsibility that comes with that is to make yourself aware.  And with that awareness comes prevention.  I think it is only a minority of people that do not need to be concerned about this.  If you’re abstaining from sex then okay you fall into that category.  But if you are active, you owe it to yourself, your loved ones, to the people who love you, to get this information.  So it really does resonate for 99% of the population.

WLS World AIDS Day With Ilene Kristen

WE LOVE SOAPS TV had the great honor or speaking wtih actress/activist Ilene Kristen about her ongoing commitment to fighting AIDS, and the benefits of research and change. 

WE LOVE SOAPS TV: One thing I admire about you is how much you support this cause, often in ways that we don’t see publicly. How have HIV/AIDS causes become so important to you?
Ilene Kristen: Fortunately, people are now living with AIDS and not dying of AIDS. I lost so many people. Forty or fifty people, and really close friends. I have friends that are living it now and doing really well. So obviously the money must mean something. I know we don’t hear about a lot of other cases. But all the news, from what I’ve been seeing and feeling, is pretty good. But we have got to keep on raising money.

WE LOVE SOAPS TV: For someone who has been so active for so many years with this cause, it’s optimistic for me to hear you say you have seen some changes
Ilene Kristen: I have. When people were given AZT something told me it was not going to work, that AZT was not going to work. It was very discouraging. Because I knew that anyone who had been on AZT was not going to have long. People I knew who weren’t on medication were doing much better. They did these health purges and all sorts of stuff. Then when the cocktail [protease inhibitors] came along, I’ve been seeing extraordinary stuff. Like non-detectable loads. So far the news is good. I hope.

Editor's Note:  If you want to learn how to get involved with HIV vaccine trials, please go to Hopetakesaction.org or email Damon at [email protected]

WLS World AIDS Day With Anthony Geary

WE LOVE SOAPS TV had the honor of catching up with Anthony Geary at the 2010 Broadway Cares event. Here is what he had to say regarding HIV and taking action:

WE LOVE SOAPS TV: What is one thing someone who is reading this can do to help?
Anthony Geary: There are a lot of wonderful organizations you can donate to. It all starts with one person. The best thing a person can do if they can’t afford to donate is to change their attitudes toward the disease. People who have this disease are victims of a disease. They deserve our love and our compassion. The fact is that people can live with HIV now very successfully. So people should educate themselves to know that it’s no longer a death sentence with the right attention to medical care and taking of yourself. It’s like living with many other challenging situations. I think education is number one. And secondly whenever you can donate your time or money to any of the organizations, that would be a wonderful thing to do.

Damon L. Jacobs is a Licensed Therapist now accepting new clients in New York City. He is also the author of the popular book "Absolutely Should-less: The Secret to Living the Stress-Free Life You Deserve." For more information about scheduling an appointment, please email him at [email protected].

WLS World AIDS Day With Kristen Alderson

WE LOVE SOAPS TV had the chance to talk with ONE LIFE TO LIVE'S Kristen Alderson at this year's Broadway Cares event, and find out why education and prevention around HIV is important to her:

WE LOVE SOAPS TV:  Seeing you here is inspiring for me. I work for an agency doing recruitment for HIV Vaccine Trials in Union Square. I go out to bars and clubs and other events to talk to people about the trials. I often find that younger people don’t seem to know much or care much about HIV.
Kristen Alderson: My friend has HIV so it’s very close to my heart. And her mother died of it. So I’ve known about it for awhile. She is one of my very close friends. It’s a very serious subject that I think a lot of people need to be more aware of.

WE LOVE SOAPS TV: I agree. What would you say to a younger person who thinks this disease doesn’t affect them, or that it was something that happened to the older generation?
Kristen Alderson: It definitely affects everyone. It goes along the line with teenage pregnancy. I’ve worked very close to that. So, “Use protection. Be safe. Not just because you don’t want to get pregnant, but because of HIV and all the other STD’s. It’s very very important and serious.”

Damon L. Jacobs is a Licensed Therapist now accepting new clients in New York City. He is also the author of the popular book "Absolutely Should-less: The Secret to Living the Stress-Free Life You Deserve." For more information about scheduling an appointment, please email him at [email protected].

WLS World AIDS Day With Soap Writer Claire Labine

In 2009, legendary soap writer Claire Labine spoke with Damon L. Jacobs about her illustrious career in a fascinating seven-part interview. One of the topics was the memorable Robin and Stone AIDS storyline on GENERAL HOSPITAL. Here is what she had to say.

The degree of ignorance of AIDS in that era was stunning! People really thought you could catch it by shaking hands. I did feel impassioned about that story. I got the fastest approval for that story ever. We were at a retreat with Pat [Fili-Krushel, head of ABC daytime from 1993-2000]. We were at breakfast and Wendy said, “What we really need is a Romeo and Juliet story.” And it just came to me: “Stone is HIV positive and he and Robin become lovers and she’s infected.” Pat looked at me and said, “Can you really make a story out of that?” And I said, “You bet we can.” And she said, “Approved!” And she let us do it!

WLS World AIDS Day With Former Soap Producer Wendy Riche

Earlier this year, Emmy winning producer Wendy Riche, who is remembered fondly by soap fans for her nine year stint at GENERAL HOSPITAL, spoke with Damon L. Jacobs about her career in a five-part interview.  One of the topics was the AIDS storyline on GH.  Here's what Riche had to say.

I wanted to do a story about AIDS when I first got to GH.  AIDS was on the rise, a non-discriminating disease that didn't care who it attacked.  I felt it was an issue of great importance and wanted to find a way to interface many of the characters of Port Charles with the hospital.  At first, I thought it could be a story for A.J. Quartermaine.  I thought, what would happen if A.J. had another drunken night in college, one of many, and explore what would happen when a friend, a male friend, from college shows up at the Quartermaine mansion wanting A.J.'s help since his family threw him out because he had AIDS.  And A.J. doesn’t remember who had sex with who, and what he did during so many drunken orgies.

FLASHBACK: Strong Dose of Reality for ABC's ONE LIFE TO LIVE 1992

Strong Dose of Reality for ABC's ONE LIFE TO LIVE

The soap shows eight sections of the Names Project AIDS Quilt to conclude a summer-long plot examining homophobia and a gay teen character.

By Connie Passalacqua
Los Angeles Times
August 28, 1992

NEW YORK — One of TV's daytime soap operas, which daily feature characters having romances amid a backdrop of froth and fantasy, today injects a taste of bitter reality.

Today and Monday, ABC's ONE LIFE TO LIVE (which airs weekdays at 1 p.m. on Channels 7, 3, 10 and 42) rolls out eight sections of the Names Project AIDS Quilt as a conclusion to a summer-long plot examining homophobia and a teen character's public declaration that he is gay. The AIDS quilt has never been displayed before in any kind of commercial or entertainment genre.

WLS World AIDS Day With Soap Writer Thom Racina

Soap writer and fiction novelist Thom Racina is loved by soap fans and historians for his incredibly moving and memorable love stories on GENERAL HOSPITAL (1981-83), DAYS OF OUR LIVES (1984-86) ANOTHER WORLD (1986-88), GENERATIONS (1989-91) and SANTA BARBARA (1991-93).  WE LOVE SOAPS TV has had the privilege to talk to the prolific writer before.  In this new interview for World AIDS Day 2010, Racina revisited the groundbreaking AIDS storyline that played out on ANOTHER WORLD from September 1987 until March 1988.  What challenges did he face from NBC? Did Ken Corday really approve a HIV story on DAYS? Read on to find out.

WE LOVE SOAPS TV: It is so great to speak with you again.  We are acknowledging World AIDS Day this year by commemorating the stories on daytime that impacted the audience.  You were head writer at ANOTHER WORLD in 1987 when the Dawn Rollo story began playing out. 
Thom Racina: I’m a blank about some of it.  And maybe some of that has to do with the frustration of trying doing an AIDS story for so many years.  We were up against so many walls.  Maybe I blocked it out because it was such a bad experience [laughs]. 

WLS World AIDS Day With Michael Sutton - Part One

He was the central part of one of the most important AIDS stories in American history.  His portrayal of Stone Cates on GENERAL HOSPITAL made millions of viewers think about HIV in a way that they had never imagined before.  But how did the young actor cope with such an important role, and how did it change his life today? WE LOVE SOAPS TV honors World AIDS Day and Michael Sutton's contributions in this two-part interview.

WE LOVE SOAPS TV: It is wonderful to get to speak with you.  As someone who has been involved with HIV prevention work for most of the past 20 years, I am thrilled to acknowledge your contributions to AIDS Education and prevention in your role as Stone Cates.  As a young actor, what was it like to be handed this emotionally and politically significant story line?
Michael Sutton: To be honest with you it was a little overwhelming.  That was partly because I had just started acting.  I had been to film school, and I knew that when I got on a soap that the level at which I was able to manipulate the material was underwhelming to say the least.

NEWS: World AIDS Day 2010

Judith Light: I had to get involved
"The moment it all gelled for me was when I was filming The Ryan White Story and I heard Ryan being interviewed on the set. The woman interviewing him asked him what it was like for him when people found out he had AIDS and he said, 'Well, it was pretty hard. People were really mean to me. They would spit at me sometimes and call me a faggot.' I stood there listening to him and I had an epiphany. I said to myself, 'That is everything right there in that statement. That is Ryan. And that is my friends. And that is my family. And that is this country.'

CLASSIC CLIPS: AIDS Comes To Daytime

Here are a few small clips from the early AIDS storylines on daytime soap operas. There isn't much of the Dawn Rollo story online. It wasn't very long or that well written, but it was the first one that started. The Cindy Parker story was fantastic with Ellen Wheeler giving one of the best performances in daytime history. You can find bits and pieces of it online. The Jessica Blair storyline was well done by Bill Bell and only a small portion of it can be found online. The Stone Cates storyline continues to impact to this day (his ghost returned in 2010) on GENERAL HOSPITAL. Look for interview with Michael Sutton later today.

ANOTHER WORLD: A musical montage of Scott and Dawn after Dawn's death from AIDS in March 1988. Barbara Bush played Dawn Rollo. Dawn, who was a virgin, had contracted HIV from a blood transfusion she received from her prostitute mother. Read Scott's tribute speech here.

ALL MY CHILDREN: In 1987, Adam wanted Stuart to break things off with Cindy, who had contracted HIV from her drug using ex-husband. Later, Cindy and Stuart fell in love and got married before she died. Ellen Wheeler won a 1988 Outstanding Supporting Actress Daytime Emmy Award for the role of Cindy Parker.

THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS: In 1988, Cricket's mother, Jessica Blair, who had just married John, announced to the entire Abbott family that she was HIV positive, acquiring the disease while working as a prostitute. She later died. A few years later, in 1992, Nina's mother, Flo, convinces her to ask Ryan to get tested for HIV.

GENERAL HOSPITAL: On November 29, 1995, Stone asked Robin to step into the light and was able to see her one last time before he died. Stone had contracted HIV from a previous girlfriends had been a drug-addict. Michael Sutton was nominated for a 1996 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor for the role of Stone Cates.

Remembering Dawn Rollo: Daytime's First AIDS Victim

In 1988, daytime's first character with AIDS, ANOTHER WORLD's Dawn Rollo, died from the disease. On July 4th of that year, her fiance, Scott LaSalle, gave a speech in her memory at an AIDS benefit in Bay City. You can read it below.

I have a lot of statistics here, but that's not what this is all about. You know what it's all about. It's about you and me, and everyone of us everywhere. This disease has come into our lives and is effecting all of us, personally or indirectly, one way or another. It's an indiscriminate killer. It's taking human lives. It's taken pieces and chunks of our lives every day. Just think about it. It's taken away our music, our laughter, our hope, our friends, and our loved ones. I pray to God every day when I wake up no one remotely suffers the type of loss that I've gone through.

FLASHBACK: How TV Portrays AIDS 1988

How TV portrays AIDS // Soaps misconstrue facts about disease

By Deborah Rogers
The New York Times
September 6, 1988

Genoa City, Pine Valley and Bay City, the fictional sites of three popular daytime soap operas, have finally witnessed the arrival of AIDS, accompanied by accolades for addressing a significant social issue. CBS' YOUNG AN THE RESTLESS, ABC's ALL MY CHILDREN and NBC's ANOTHER WORLD have each woven the topic of AIDS into their story lines. Each depicts the disease differently; yet, they have in common one disconcerting element: All three AIDS plots on these television serials feature patients who are women - and women with no history of drug abuse.

World AIDS Day 2010

On December first, the global community observes World AIDS Day. World AIDS Day 2010 is all about raising awareness to tackle HIV prejudice and help stop the spread of HIV. WE LOVE SOAPS TV is dedicating today to the history of AIDS on soaps with flashback articles, classic clips and brand new interviews as well. Keep checking back all day as new features are released.

According to a new report by the Joint United Nations Program on HIV and AIDS, or UNAIDS, almost 63 million people have been infected with the HIV since 1981. And at the end of 2009, some 33.3 million people were living with HIV, including 2.5 million children.

"World AIDS Day is both a day of remembrance and a day of celebration," said U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, Ambassador Eric Goosby. "We must all keep in our thoughts those who have lost their lives to AIDS. It’s in their honor that we work every day to provide HIV prevention, treatment and care to millions across the globe.