Saturday, June 25
Saturday’s events opened at 11:00 AM. Although registration started at 10, no one was allowed near the ballroom or into the dealer area until after 11. Fan videos (one of my favorite Fest features!) opened the day. We were treated to Richard Halpern and his niece and nephews reprising the roles of Barnabas, Elizabeth, Sarah, Burke, and Willie in “Baby Dark Shadows” as well as another fan’s student film from his USC days, called “The Creepybopper.” This adorable short film, shot in B&W and set to popular tunes of the era, center on a prototypical DS fan, the proud owner of fake fangs, DS models, and “Famous Monsters” magazines. The plot thickens as the boy flips through a series of poorly-scored spelling tests and is swiftly punished with no DS for a week unless he can improve his grades. Sadly, the picture went out midway through the film, so we never got to see if the boy was able to charm his mother into letting him see his favorite show again. (Fortunately, the video is available on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lSHzElZ5rA).
I wandered away to the dealer area just before Marcy Robin began a panel on DS news and fan questions, so I missed all the excitement when a smoker triggered the fire alarm and nearly precipitated an evacuation of the ballroom! I heard plenty of people talking about this incident throughout the day, however. I’m glad it wasn’t a real emergency—particularly as I never heard any alarm going off even though I was just in the hallway on the other side of the ballroom!
The next event I attended was a panel called The Collinsport Historical Society, hosted by Wallace McBride and Patrick McCray. Apparently, this is a website or a page on FB (I’d never heard of it before) whose moderator collects information about the history and fandom of the show. He described the first item to inspire his curating: a drinking mug stamped “Blue Whale, Collinsport, Maine.” “It was obviously something a fan had made, but it looked like something you would really find in Collinsport.” (It sounds to me like CynD’’s work). He also spoke about a semi-hoax that earned notoriety for his site. The Collinsport Historical Society had held a contest to write the story for a hypothetical third DS movie. The winning entry, Child of DS, sounded fascinating:
A failed televangelist called Trask (Jerry Lacy) acquires Collinwood and converts it into a boarding school. One of the students is Victoria Winters (Alexandra Moltke). Vicki swiftly becomes the target of poltergeist and other supernatural activity. After she discovers an old portrait of an accused witch that looks just like her, she is catapulted back in time. Meanwhile, a psychic/Satanist, the brother if ill-fated Tracy Collins (played by Chris Pennock), arrives at the school to investigate the haunting. He realizes that the ghost is actually Vicki herself, trapped and condemned in the past and trying to prevent her modern self from making the same poor choices. (Kind of like The Twilight Zone’s “Spur of the Moment”). The audience loved this story outline. Many called out to McBride that he should film it himself. Evidently, at the time he posted this outline on the Historical Society website, he failed to make clear the tongue-in-cheek nature of the post. “Many fans started circulating the story that there was another, lost DS movie out there somewhere. When they found out it was a joke, they got mad and accused our site of having lost its credibility.”
The next speaker was Patrick McCray presenting The Collins Chronicles (another website, I’m guessing). His conceit was that David Collins had returned to Collinsport after an absence of many years to find the great estate abandoned, save for a box of letters and journals left for him by Cousin Barnabas. McCray read sample entries, all written in a flowery imitation-18th Century style, rather like Ichabod Crane’s monologues on “Sleepy Hollow.” In Barnabas’s own words, he retold incidents from the show, such as discovering Angelique was a witch or meeting Julia Hoffman, and sharing insights about Ben Stokes, Willie Loomis, and Julia. This segment was not my cup of tea. The readings were essentially fan fiction that did not enhance my understanding or enjoyment of the show. I’m not sure how the author was able to get a separate slot on the schedule; it seems to me his readings would have been better suited to the Costume Gala.
At last, it was time for the much-anticipated presentation of “The House.” None of the Fest staff had seemed entirely certain of what “The House” would be, though it was hinted that we would be watching a rediscovered TV broadcast. Indeed, we were able to see a half-hour episode from the 1950’s thriller anthology “The Web” (complete with creepy theramin music for the opening title) that had originally aired in 1954. In 2006, the DS actors gave a live reading of an Art Wallace teleplay called “The House” that had served as the foundation for “Shadows of the Wall,” the original DS story bible. That script differed in specific detail from the show we saw, though the basic outlines remained the same.
The show opens with a wayfarer stopping by the local bar (a set very similar to the Blue Whale) to inquire about old friends in the area. He is told that Liz Stover still lives in the old house on the outskirts of town and that she has seldom left the house ever since her husband deserted her nearly 20 years ago. The stranger gets a cunning gleam in his eye as the scene cuts to Liz (in a drawing room that looks much like Collinwood’s), awaiting her daughter’s return from a date. The girl (whose name escapes me) has big news: her long-time beau, Joe, a successful fisherman, has finally proposed! However, she is reluctant to accept the offer because she would have to leave her mother behind in the crumbling old house that she seemingly can’t afford to repair. Over the next several scenes, the young woman negotiates with her mother and her fiancé, finally devising a plan that she and Joe will marry and move into the house with Mother. As the family prepares to celebrate, they hear a knock at the door. Joe admits the stranger from the bar, who introduces himself as Walt Cummins, an old friend of the family. Liz is visibly shocked to see him and sends the others out of the room so she can deliver her ‘You said you would never come back!’ speech. It is clear that she and Walt have an unsavory history, and he uses the threat of revealing her secret to persuade Liz to put him up in the house until he can get back on his feet. Her daughter is thrilled to have Walt visiting; she’s decided he must be her long-lost father returned at last. In fact, through further arguments between Liz and Walt, the audience learns that Liz accidentally killed her husband when she caught him trying to abscond with her jewelry. Walt helped her dispose of the body and she paid him off with the jewels. Anxious to keep her daughter from learning the truth, Liz acquiesces to Walt’s escalating demands, including the young bride’s insistence that he attend her wedding, but when he starts to hint that they ought to get married themselves, Liz reaches her limit. As a surprise for his mother-in-law to be, Joe hires a handyman to make basic repairs to the house. Liz initially is angry and demands that they leave, but she finally loses her temper with Walt and escorts the handyman to a spot in the basement where she tells him to dig. Then, she comes clean with the whole sordid truth. However, when the handyman returns without uncovering a body, Walt reveals that Liz’s husband was only stunned by her attack, and that the two of them split the loot and ran off to sea, leaving her to wallow in her guilt. The no-good husband died at sea 10 years earlier. Joe offers to commit Walt to the constable for extortion, but Liz doesn’t want to press any charges. Walt’s confession has freed her and she declares, “Now I can finally leave the house!”
This version of “The House” condensed the major points of the Jason Maguire blackmail plot into a significantly shorter running time while yet maintaining a sense of suspense and scandal. The resemblance of certain characters and sets to their later DS counterparts made “The House” even more entertaining to watch. I don’t know the background of how this show was uncovered, but I’m glad that it was made available. It was a lovely treat for the Festival.
Following the screening, a panel of behind-the-scenes personnel (Henry Plimack – sound, Nick Besink – cameraman, Daniel Morgan - stage manager) assembled. Those behind the camera had a much different experience than the actors, and hearing their perspective was fresh and exciting. Besink recalled his first day at the studio. It was his habit to take candid photos, and he snapped some of KLS in her robe doing a read-through. “She didn’t like that, and she asked the director to tell me not to take anymore pictures. Later, she apologized to me. She didn’t know I was working on the show; she thought I was a fan who had somehow got backstage.” Plimack reminisced about the giant records with the sound cues that the team, including Sybil Weinberg, had to use. Some of these records were on the table to be auctioned off, and Plimack showed one off with Richard Halpern’s assistance. “You had to line up the needle with the groove and find the right cue. We were always trying to time the cue exactly right. You couldn’t have the music come in too early or too late. Later, we had all the cues on tape cartridges and you just had to push a button to play one.” The crew also talked about a new portable microphone Dan Curtis had tried to implement (as opposed to the boom mics and mics on fishing poles)--one that would have required no personnel to operate. However, after Grayson Hall repeatedly knocked the mic offline with her effusive gesturing, Curtis gave up on the idea and everyone’s job was safe. One fan asked about the infamous studio fire that broke out during the Phoenix story line. “Not only do I remember that, I was there,” Besink declared. “It was contained within the fireplace--we used a real fireplace. When I told Lela Swift we had to stop tape, she said, ‘What for?’ and I told her, ‘Because the studio is on fire.’” Another fan wanted to know what was up with all the blue candles. “They were probably cheap to buy,” Morgan mused. “Or, nobody bothered to change the candles after the show went to color.”
The first charity auction of the weekend followed. I didn’t stay for the auction itself, but did observe some of the items up for grabs: copies of Angelique’s Descent and Dreams of the Dark, scripts, a 4-CD set of DS soundtrack music, and a lovely afghan blanket.
When I next came back to the ballroom, it was during the tail-end of (not President) William McKinley’s presentation on Jonathan Frid’s post-DS stage performances, including his one-man shows and “Arsenic and Old Lace.” While a student, McKinley had been an assistant to Jonathan in many of his productions. He was joined by another of Frid’s assistants, (She was uncredited in the program, but according to ShadowGram she was Mary O’Leary), who had worked with Frid on “Arsenic and Old Lace.” She revealed that there had been talk of changing Jonathan Brewster’s famous line, “He said I looked like Boris Karloff!” to “He said I looked like Barnabas Collins!” However, Frid firmly vetoed this idea. “It was probably for the best,” she admitted. “Changing the lines might have led to issues with the copyright.” McKinley also shared a charming anecdote of Frid’s involvement in a telethon for the New Jersey Network. Frid had wanted McKinley to accompany him, but McKinley begged off, citing his big Spanish final for the next day. Fortunately, Frid had a degree in Spanish. “He said, ‘We can study in the car’ and he spent the two-hour limo ride drilling me. He even mentioned helping my prep for my exam during the telethon, and after that, people kept asking me how I did.” We in the audience called out, “So how did you do?” McKinley grinned. “I did better on that Spanish test than on any before it.” (What an awesome experience, to have Jonathan Frid as a tutor!) The presentation closed with a slideshow, set to “Best Day of My Life” by American Authors, with photographs of Frid posing before the marquees at various theaters around the country where he had performed.
And then it was time for the cast reunion!
One at a time, the actors filed in to cheers and applause: Sharon Smyth, Roger Davis, Donna Wandrey, Marie Wallace, Chris Pennock, James Storm, Lara Parker, Jerry Lacy, John Karlen, David Selby, and Kathryn Leigh Scott took their seats on the stage, which was quickly swarmed by photographers. Each offered a short greeting. Lara Parker, still in a joking mood, kidded, “I wasn’t born yet when DS first started. My grandmother introduced me to the show. And when I found out about this Festival, I was so excited, because I got to come meet my favorite actor of all time, John Karlen!” KLS was the last to appear, bringing with her a bottle of champagne with which she led a toast for the 50th Anniversary of DS. Richard Halpern then invited fans to bring their questions to a microphone in the center of the ballroom. A long line quickly formed. Though the Q&A session ran for over an hour, the line nevertheless had to be cut before it was more than half-way through.
Many of the questions prompted lengthy responses from everybody on the panel. For example, the actors were asked what other part on DS they would have liked to play, if given the chance. “I always wanted to play Little Sarah,” Karlen said mischievously. “Johnny, you can borrow my bonnet anytime,” Sharon promised. Chris Pennock and James Storm each said they wanted to play Grayson Hall. That prompted the cast to share memories of her. “She had the best apartment ever!” Karlen said (I thought he was going to reminisce about her cooking). Lara talked about how Grayson would go swimming in the morning before work and then come to the studio with wet hair. She also repeated a story from the DS Companion. “Grayson had a pug named Thing and I had a pug named Rosie. We had big plans for them. We were going to go into a partnership raising pugs.” But unfortunately, they never got any puppies. Jerry Lacy’s choice was Nicholas Blair. “Humbert Allen Astredo played him as so suave and so evil. It was a great role and he was a very talented actor.” Lara said that she wanted to play Josette. David wanted to play Angelique. “I would have liked to be Elizabeth,” Kathryn said. “I always felt like Dan Curtis had a great story in mind for her, with her husband’s disappearance and her staying in the house all those years, and just never got around to telling it.” (Evidently, she didn’t watch “The House,” or the Jason Maguire episodes.)
A young lady just starting in the acting business asked if the cast could share any advice or techniques. “Know your lines. Don’t bump into the props or the scenery,” Roger told her. “I imitate other actors,” Chris shared, repeating his revelation from the previous evening. “I based John Yeager on a movie that James Earl Jones did. He acted like a joyful, murderous gorilla, and that’s exactly what John Yeager was: a joyful, murderous gorilla.” (Has anyone any idea what film Chris was referencing? I would be curious to see it.) James Storm took the microphone next. “I imitate other actors,” he deadpanned, with a glance at Chris. John Karlen told the young actress, “No matter what role you’re playiong, always remember, that’s you. No matter who you’re pretending to be, you’re still you. Understand?”
Another question that drew insightful responses was what the castmembers would have liked to do if they had not gone into acting. “In addition to being an actress, I also got to be a mother, and I did a pretty good job!” Sharon declared. Roger Davis has a background in architecture and restored a historically important hotel in his native Louisville. Marie has found a passion for photography and also dabbled in painting when she was a chorus girl on Broadway. She even submitted some of her paintings to an art show and attracted the attention of Ethel Merman. (She discusses this episode at length in her memoir On Stage and in the Shadows). Chris Pennock also revealed that he had an artistic background, having always loved to draw. As a child, he entered a statewide art contest sponsored by Crayola with America as its theme. Western movies inspired his material. “I drew a picture of a cowboy killing an Indian with a spear. I said, ‘Yeah! That’s what America is about!’ And I won! The local paper wrote, ‘Christopher Pennock is the winner with his drawing of a man digging.’ I said, ‘But...but...That’s not a shovel, it’s a spear!’” James Storm mentioned his love of photography. Lara was drawn to all of the performing arts. “When I was a little girl, I wanted to dance, but I wasn’t a very good dancer. So then I decided I wanted to be a singer, but my mother told me, ‘You can’t carry a tune.’ So I said, ‘I’ll be an actress! Then I won’t have to do anything.’” Since then, she has raised three children, written four novels and taught both high school and college English and creative writing. David Selby initially went into teaching when he moved to NYC. “But my wife, Chip, told me, ‘That’s not the reason we came here. You need to follow your dream of being an actor.’” David also told a story of how the FBI tried to recruit him to do reconnaisance at the local ham and eggs joint, “But I turned them down because I was afraid some friends of mine might be involved.”
Other questions were directed to specific actors. One of the first women to take the mic asked David Selby for a dance and began to serenade him wit ha beautiful rendition of “I Wanna Dance With you.” David did pitch in on a couple of the lyrics. He was also asked by another fan if he could perform “Shadows of the Night.” “If you’ll hum the tune for me, I’ll try it,” he accepted. “Does anyone have the words?” Someone handed him a copy of the record album, which had the lyrics printed. The ballroom buzzed with the strains of Cobert’s music while Selby recited the words. A middle-aged man had a question for John Karlen. “Have you noticed that David Selby has all these beautiful women asking him questions and I get the old guys? Is it me?” Johnny teased. The fan asked if Karlen was influence by the other actor who had played Willie Loomis before him. Richard Halpern jumped in. “That was James Hall! He lives in Santa Monica and is on Facebook. He’s written about DS. I’m friends with him. Maybe we should have a reunion with the two Willie Loomises in LA.” Karlen didn’t look too enthusiastic about the prospect. Kathryn revealed that Hall had been a student in her acting class. “It was awkward working with him on his last couple of episodes because we all knew he was on his way out the door. He was a nice guy...did he do any acting afterward?” (According to Halpern, yes). Roger was asked about “Alias Smith and Jones.” “Putting aside how you got the role, would you have preferred to be cast as a new character instead of being put in Pete Duel’s role?” Roger told how he had been good friends with Pete and that they had worked together on a pilot for a Western called “The Young Country” but that the producers hadn’t thought he had the right look for the show. Michael Joyner asked the cast to share their memories of Virginia Vestoff and Thayer David. “Virginia was lovely,” Donna Wandrey said. “She played my sister--or rather, I was her sister. But my favorite actor to work with was Thayer David. He was the sweetest, gentlest man in the world--except when he would come up to you and say, ‘I’m going to push you into the coffin now, but don’t worry; I’ll be right here waiting for you. Sometimes they forget to let you out, you know.’” “He had the most voluptuous wife,” Selby remarked, “Valerie French.” “He was a speed reader.” Lara imitated Thayer flipping through pages. “I’d ask him ‘How do you do that?’ and he’d say, ‘Oh, it’s easy.’” Everyone recalled how he would binge on sodas and candy bars at rehearsal. One of the fans whose mother started watching DS because of Joan Bennett asked if the actors had ever met her sisters Constance or Barbara. Roger started to answer, but Lara cut him off (as he has so often done to others.) It was a very funny moment.
The Q&A session was brought to a close with many disappointed fans still at the mic. Most glumly turned back to their seats, but one ardent lady seized the mic as the actors prepared to leave the stage. “We need to acknowledge the person who is responsible for DS’s success: Lara Parker! Without Angelique, the show would have been nothing.”
At some point during that evening, Lara Parker and Chris Pennock each read from their new books, and Sharon Smyth read a ghost story. However, I don’t know when this happened because none of these events were listed in the schedule. Following the cast reunion, I left to prepare for the costume gala. I do know that in the interim, the 2004 WB pilot was shown.
The costume gala went on around 8:00 with a modest number of entrants (around 20). This year’s set of performers included several men dressed as Barnabas, Leviathan rappers, a Barnabas proclaiming his love to a dead Angelique, Pansy Faye singing and dancing with Quentin, Pansy Faye getting attacked by vampire Roxanne Drew, the future Mr. and Mrs. Buzz Hackett, Victoria Winters and Judge Braithwaite, both from 1795. Charles Ellis performed his famous Charnak the Great routine, assisted by Suzanne (“Where’s the remote? What do DS fans say when a certain Tim Burton film comes on TV—where’s the remote! The Hunger Games? What happens when Willie Loomis teases Adam with chicken—the Hunger Games!” The stand-out performer of the night, IMO, was a gentleman named Michael, who traditionally sings beautiful tributes in memoriam to DS personnel who have passed on. Part-way through his song, the CD began to skip and then went out altogether. Undeterred, Michael dashed off-stage to get a different CD and went back up to sing a new song. He acted like a true pro (in the same position, I would have panicked). During the final bow, Kathryn and Lara came onstage in beautiful costumes of their own, designed by the same costumer who outfitted the new Cabaret cast. Lara looked just like her 1897 self in a green brocade dress, while KLS imitated Josette’s film apparel in an ivory gown with ruffled sleeves, a lace-trimmed skirt, and a fashionable bonnet. KLS’s dress was new, but Lara had prviously worn hers on the cruise. “During the cruise, I wore my grandmother’s 1910 wedding dress,” Kathryn said. “It seemed perfect for Josette.” The ladies posed at length for photos with the other gala participants.
Then, the Collinsport Players took the stage. “Séance Fiction” retells the events of 1967 that led up to the 1795 flashback (“a séance that will send the Collins family back in time—and triple our costume budget!”) with a twist. Barnabas anxiously tries to prevent Elizabeth from holding a séance to contact Sarah Collins, clashes with a histrionic Julia, and flirts with a besotted Carolyn (Nancy Barrett herself). Sarah does briefly appear to Barnabas, cautioning him to clean up his act, but Barnabas refuses to heed her warnings. He succeeds in changing the location of the séance from Collinwood to the Blue Whale, where the family encounters Buffie Harrington, a waitress transplanted from the 1970 PT story, and must submit to a 2-drink minimum. After they chant “Eenie meenie chili beanie” and call upon Sarah to speak to them, Carolyn dramatically pretends to be possessed by the small ghost. However, it’s Vicki who is truly touched by the spirits. With a dramatic scream, she vanishes behind the stage to be replaced by 18th Century governess Phyllis Wick. “Aw man,” Buffie gripes. “I thought you were holding a séance. Manifestations mean you have to order the hot wings.” And on that cliffhanger, the skit concluded to loud applause and I adjourned to get some dinner.
ProfStokes
