Greetings,

thanks to a friendly tip from Darren and the MB (see NoDS thread), I've been reading the NoDS script published in the DS Movies book back in 1999.

When I first saw NoDS (on the CBS television broadcast around 1973, I think--the movie only played my town for one week, and it was when we were away on a trip), my "read" on the story was that Angelique really was a Witch. Her death certainly could be regarded as an injustice (not to mention being technically illegal--not to put too fine a point on it, in the events depicted in the complete script, she was lynched by a mob consisting of a stump preacher and some deluded local stable boys, under the direction of certain of the local gentry who had a score to settle with the lady).  I was surprised when I began to read online fandom back in the mid 90s to find that many fans' take on it was that Angelique, although a scheming adultress, was technically innocent of Witchcraft.

My current reading of Sam Hall's screenplay reinforces my original impression, that we're meant to understand that Angelique isn't just "witchy," but actually a Witch.  Many of the scenes that clarify her "uncanny" abilities of course fell victim to the cutting room floor.

I hope to go into more detail later on, but am just curious what other fans of NoDS think about the matter.

G.

This past weekend, I rented from an unusually well-stocked local store the vol. 6 DVD collection of the popular Patrick McGoohan series, Secret Agent (British title Danger Man), whose US theme song was such a huge hit on the charts back in 1965.

I was surprised in the third episode on the disc, "Have a glass of wine" (original US air date: August 28, 1965) to spot a strangely familiar looking hatchet-faced old lady yelling at McGoohan in one brief scene when he came bursting into her farmhouse.

A careful examination of the credits revealed that she was none other than our own Bathia Mapes, Anita Bolster, here credited as Anita Sharp Bolster.

I had no idea that Bolster worked in the UK.  Was she English by birth?

G.

A friend sent me this link, and I noticed that on the far left of row 2 on this page, there is a small photo of the Barnabas Collins Halloween costume:

http://www.retrocrush.com/archive2003/costumes/tv.html

I seem to recall reading about this costume years ago, and how impossible it is to find.  I would think that the cheap, rapidly deteriorating materials these costumes were made of would put a fairly low ceiling on their market value, but apparently that is not the case.

There are some weird and tacky attempts at costumes here, including several from other TV shows that I know are popular among DS fans, such as Samantha from Bewitched, Morticia from The Addams Family, the Groovy Ghoulies (shown on another page,) etc.  Everyone will have their "most bizarre" item--I think my choice is for the truly frightening Laura Ingalls Wilder costume.  The weird "Greg Brady" outfit is a close runner-up, I have to say.

G.

For at least a month now, I've been meaning to share the news that Barbara Steele (who played Dr. Julia Hoffman in the 1990 remake of Dark Shadows) is credited as a producer (I may be wrong, but I think she's what is described in the Industry as a "line producer") for the new camp hit, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, on Bravo.

I really hope that Barbara was not involved in the detestable "Boy meets boy."  I watched a few episodes of that, and I wouldn't like to think of her being part of something that so shamelessly manipulated an individual's emotional life.

On the other hand, who in their right mind signs onto a reality show in the hope of finding a boyfriend?

puzzling, but happy to know that Barbara is gainfully employed,

G.

A friend just described the DS Festival program cover; he said it featured a photo from the session with Grayson, Jonathan and Alex Stevens in wolf makeup that he had never seen before.

Can anyone confirm to me whether this was a new shot, or just the one we've all seen before?

And, if it is a new shot, can anyone post it here for those of us who did not attend?

G.

Today's montage (8/12) has me in stitches! Barnabas looks as if he just unintentionally swallowed his martini olive in that upper right hand corner snapshot!  way to go MB!

So... are we all ready to party like it's 1995?

Gothick

Just now I happened to have a look at TV Guide's blurb (on their schedule pages) for DS, and I was *appalled* to see that they listed the cast of the 1991 remake for the cast of the series currently being broadcast on Sci Fi.

Such infamy!  and it's all so sordid...

Somebody is clearly too busy airbrushing beefcake graphics from The O. C. to bother with the few bits of quality left on the air.

G.

Well, the arrival of Mrs. Maggie Collins' studio portrait from Paris (in a box that looks like it came from a Coney Island stall) certainly tells one a lot about the taste (?) of her husband.  I've seen far better efforts by a 6th grader armed with a decent assortment of crayola crayons.

We need a poll for worst portrait on Dark Shadows.  It might be a toss-up between this one and the original Charles Delaware Tate portrait of Quentin, which made one of the most attractive men on Earth look as if he were dying of dyspepsia and sunburn.

For best portrait, I'd probably vote for Sam's sketch of Betty Hanscombe.  The portrait of aged Quentin is a fun example of a very particular genre.

any other thoughts?

Gothick