Malcolm Marmorstein article

[Gothick]

Fans,

the author of this article had been in contact with me, and he sent me the link for the final version last weekend.  It looks interesting:

http://movieline.com/2012/10/08/who-created-barnabas-collins-dark-shadows-johnny-depp-tim-burton-jonathan-frid-dan-curtis/

Interesting to see the actual writers claim that THEY introduced the whole "reluctant/vulnerable" vampire theme--I had always read that that was Jonathan Frid's own contribution and the writers simply followed his lead.

The article includes Malcolm Marmorstein's views on Depp Shadows.  The short version:   he didn't like it.

G.

[Philippe Cordier]

Zowee! That's some article! Talk about re-opening the whole "Who created Barnabas" controversy ... I remember some heated discussion on this forum about that topic a few years ago ... This article definitely gives some new contenders and interviews with some surprising claimants ... I can't remember now who it was in that earlier thread who was quoted in an interview as saying, "I created Barnabas."

Gothick (and to the many other East Coasters on the board), I hope you are faring well in the aftermath of the storm. I wonder if Lyndhurst or Seaview Terrace were affected ... but that's another topic.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Whoa! What can one say about that article?!

Well, first off, the Depp/DS film was not D.O.A. at the box office. But that point has been gone into in the film's own topic, so it would be redundant to get into specifics here.

As for the development of Barnabas, apparently that's something that's going to be debated/argued about by the various factions on the show until every last one of them has passed away. However, the story I've heard most often is that Frid, producer Robert Costello, and the writers met shortly after Barnabas was cast and as a group they decided that Barnabas would be a vampire with a lot of angst, and Frid definitely preferred to play that rather than the cliched evil vamp. And of course it helped that DC was out of town because they basically got to do it their way before he came back. And though DC would have preferred the evil vamp, he eventually came around once he saw how the audience was responding to Barnabas.

As for the actual creation of Barnabas on paper before Frid was cast, that honor would seem to go to Art Wallace. Robert Costello has said that Wallace created the character and came up with the whole backstory connecting him to Josette and Jeremiah, and that that backstory is what they went with during the entire '67 present day storyline (until it was completely thrown out the window during the 1795/96 storyline). And, well, there's also how Wallace's law suit against DC for a share of the profits from all the Barnabas/DS merchandise was settled in Wallace's favor - and that wouldn't have happened if Wallace hadn't had a provable claim to Barnabas.

And as for Marmorstein's remarks about the Depp/DS film, to me they come off as sour grapes more than anything. But one thing he said that's completely bizarre is that Barnabas would never kill innocent people. Hello! Did he never watch DS after he was fired? Barnabas definitely killed innocent people when his blood lust overcame him. And the incident in the film[spoiler]with Barnabas killing the construction workers (and the hippies)[/spoiler]is exactly the same sort of situation!

But at any rate, thanks for sharing the article, Gothick. It's a fascinating read on just so many levels.

[Gothick]

Yes, I mentioned to the journalist when he was researching this piece that Art Wallace claimed to have created Barnabas.  I asked a friend who owns the Art Wallace story bible publication "Shadows on the Wall" if there was any material relating to Barnabas or a vampire storyline in that volume and the answer was negative.  Perhaps the material has never been published or perhaps Wallace simply destroyed it.  Who knows.

I thought it was interesting to hear Marmorstein tell his story.  I don't recall this particular angle having been covered in the Ed Gross interview with MM (there was one, wasn't there?).

G.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I don't think Gross interviewed Marmorstein. I only seem to remember interviews with Art Wallace, Robert Costello, Ron Sproat, and Sam Hall.

And Barnabas wouldn't have appeared in Wallace's original bible because there was never any thoughts to make the show supernatural at the point the bible was written prior to the show even going into production. The storylines laid out in the bible are pure soap opera (particularly how Vicki was to go on trail for killing Laura, with Frank Garner as her defense attorney), but even before the show went supernatural things from the bible were changed (i.e. on the show Roger didn't meet a much deserved demise falling from Widows' Hill, and Bill Malloy was killed off on the show, whereas he was originally planned to be a continuing presence in Liz' life). About the last thing from the bible that was at least partly used on the show was the Liz/Jason blackmail - though Jason was named Walt Cummings in the bible.

[DarkLady]

Vicki was to go on trail for killing Laura, with Frank Garner as her defense attorney), but even before the show went supernatural things from the bible were changed (i.e. on the show Roger didn't meet a much deserved demise falling from Widows' Hill, and Bill Malloy was killed off on the show, whereas he was originally planned to be a continuing presence in Liz' life). About the last thing from the bible that was at least partly used on the show was the Liz/Jason blackmail - though Jason was named Walt Cummings in the bible.

Thanks, MB! So Vicki would have gone on trial for something somewhere in time!

[Lydia]

In one of the interviews on the DVDs (I don't know which) Jonathan Frid says he thinks it was Ron Sproat who suggested him for the role of Barnabas, because Frid and Sproat had known each other at Yale,and Ron knew that Frid liked to make the evil roles not entirely evil - as well as making the virtuous roles not entirely virtuous.  Regardless of who was responsible for the original "reluctant vampire" idea, Frid was the one who made it work.  I doubt that Bert Convy could have pulled it off.  I'm aware that that's not what Marmorstein is talking about - but I still feel I have to mention it.

As for the question of whether Barnabas would kill innocent people, in August of 1967, when Marmorstein was fired, there was only one murder that had been definitely attributed to Barnabas, and the victim could reasonably be considered to be not innocent.  And if Marmorstein is as capable of carrying a grudge as he appears to be in the article, I'm guessing that he would dismiss any murders committed by Barnabas after he (Marmorstein) was fired as being a distortion of the real character of Barnabas, and therefore not worthy of consideration.

[michael c]

sour grapes indeed!

[Joeytrom]

Joe Caldwell didn't even arrive on the scene until a few months after Barnabas appeared, so it seems unbelievable that he would take any credit!

If Art Wallace was able to produce evidence that Barnabas was his creation, I wonder where this is today?  Would it be in the court records perhaps?  Aren't they available to the public?