Created by writers Frank and Doris Hursley, General Hospital was one of two hospital-based daytime dramas to premiere on April 1, 1963 (The other was The Doctors). Though pre-dating the height of the feminist movement by several years, it nonetheless appealed to a female audience that enjoyed broadening its attention beyond the home by shifting the conventions of the soap opera from the kitchen to the workplace, and from a focus on the family dynamics to one on relationships between coworkers. The show's developers created the hospital staff as a large surrogate family, and wrote storylines that were in a constant state of flux between the personal and professional challenges presented to the main characters.

During its first few years the drama centered on the friendship of Dr. Steve Hardy and nurse Jessie Brewer, and on their complicated love lives. The self-sacrificing Brewer had suffered for years in...