Which Was the Greatest "Cameo Appearance" Ever by a Fly on DS?

[Bob_the_Bartender]

Hey, gang,

I was looking at the DS Bloopers tape the other day, and I got a kick out of seeing all of those uninvited "guests," making life somewhat challenging for the DS actors.

There certainly were enough "gadflies" to pester and annoy the actors as they attempted to hit their marks and recite their lines flawlessly.  Here are a few of the more memorable flies:

1797 - Joshua discusses the "desirability" of Millicent as a wife with an extremely skeptical Jeremiah as a fly makes a perfect three-point landing on the tip of Louis Edmonds' nose.  (It is a tribute to Mr. Edmonds' great sense of sangfroid, that he was able to maintain his cool and deliver his lines perfectly.)   

1840 - Lamar Trask and Samantha Collins are involved in a serious discussion in the drawing room of Collinwood as a fly buzzes Lamar and then lands on the tip of Samantha's nose.  (Virginia Vestoff proves to be as good an acting trooper as Mr. Edmonds. In fact, I wonder if it was that same fly, who had attacked Mr. Edmonds in 1797?)

1967 - As Dr. Hoffman is checking out the basement of the Old House to see if it is suitable enough to use as a lab for her proposed experiment with Barnabas, Mr. B. and Willie are up in the drawing room, with Barnabas gravely informing Willie Loomis: "I will do away with her now."  Right at that very moment, an extremely persistent fly lands on Barnabas' face, repeatedly, forcing the somber vampire to keep swatting away at the pesky, little b@st@rd.  (At the soap opera celebration special back around 1995, the assembled audience of hundreds of daytime actors, including Jonathan Frid, KLS and Lara Parker, erupted into uproarious laughter at this classic "Dark Shadows" scene in a segment devoted to soap opera bloopers.) 

1968 - As the avenging ghost of the original Rev. Trask is attempting to exorcise Cassandra (whom the reverend has tied to a tree in the woods not far from Collinwood),  yet another determined and seemingly indefatigable fly acts like a kamikaze pilot, buzzing around the "good" reverend's head.  (I especially like this fly "cameo appearance," because actor Jerry Lacy is equally determined to deliver his dramatic and decidedly verbose rite of exorcism to the point that he starts blowing air out of the side of his mouth in an oh-so-vain attempt to get the little pain-in-the-@ss out of his closeup.  Kudos to Mr. Lacy!)

PT 1970 - While lying in bed and perusing a book ("The Poems and Songs of Robert Burns," I think?), new bride Maggie Evans-Collins is forced to swat at another seemingly tireless fly.  (I'm almost surprised that KLS did not just try to trap the little stinker in between a couple pages of that Robert Burns tome and squish the d@mned thing!)     

There are several more gadfly "aerial sorties" on the blooper tape, including Mrs. Stoddard being attacked in the drawing room of Collinwood, and a fly landing on the (ringing) telephone in Paul Stoddard's room at the Collinsport Inn.

You know, just once I would have like to have seen bartender Bob Rooney, trying to pulverize an annoying horsefly with a fly swatter on the top of the bar at the Blue Whale. Or, perhaps a scene in which Roger Collins is seen sitting by the fireplace in the Collinwood drawing room, enjoying a particularly fine brandy, and revelling in the utter civility of the moment as Mrs. Johnson suddenly storms into the room, with a can of Raid Flying Insect Spray in hand, attempting to spray the little b@st@rd to death.  (Do you think that Roger might say something pithy, like:  "Mrs. Johnson, will you stop spraying that odious cr@p all over the room, for Christ's sake!?!")   

So, do you have favorite "cameo appearance" by a fly on "Dark Shadows"?

Bob, who likes those sticky strips, that you can hang from from a lamp and try to catch the little "darlings."   

[Gerard]

Oh, without a doubt, the goodly Reverend Trask having to blow the fly away from his mouth.  The sound of his swooshing was so loud I'm surprised the fake trees didn't all go tumbling down!

Gerard

[DarkLady]

That's my fave too! But I also remember a moment when Barnabas is talking and a very determined fly is hell bent on having its closeup too. Sorry I don't recall the timeline or anything, but it was funny.

If I remember, the very first fly made a cameo appearance in an early episode, in Burke's suite at the Collinsport Inn.

[MagnusTrask]

I like how we all quite naturally talk about "the fly" as if it was always the same one, when flies, what, live for about one day or so?

[Gerard]

I think I read somewhere, Magnus, where DC had a contract with the intitial fly that its family would play the part when one passed to that great bowl of potato salad in the sky. 

Gerard

[MagnusTrask]

So how many generations is that, if flies live for a day.........

[Gerard]

They had a multi-generational acting career longer than the Barrymores!  After DS left the air, one did a short stint on As the World Turns and another did a few episodes on Match Game '72.  Tragically, it all ended when the last one stumbled into a web.

Gerard

[Bob_the_Bartender]

Heck, those assorted flies were bad enough, but can you imagine if the DS set had been invaded by a couple of ornery bees or even worse, wasps?

Oy vey!  If a particularly nasty wasp had invaded the coffin room in the basement of the Old House, just as Barnabas was emerging from his coffin, then we might very well have seen just how "dignified" the late Jonathan Frid looked as his vampiric character was exiting the coffin, in a hurry!!!