There really weren’t many eligible bachelors/widowers for Elizabeth to date. There were Judge Crathorne (a widower?) and Ezra Braithwaite (way too old). There was also the Eagle Hill Cemetery Caretaker (far too spaced-out and probably without both oars in the water). Of course, there might be an attraction between Elizabeth and the learned Professor T. Elliot Stokes. Although, nowhere near in Elizabeth’s tax bracket, the estimable Professor Stokes was certainly Elizabeth’s intellectual equal.

So, if Elliot did not mind being a kept man, sort of like William Holden in “Sunset Boulevard,” I think Elizabeth  and Professor Stokes would be very compatible together. 

MB,

I remember reading an interview in which Ms. Moltke expressed great admiration for the late Thayer David as both an actor and a gentleman.

Apparently, during the first year episodes, Ms. Moltke and Mr. David spent a lot of time together, while filming those episodes where Vicky is tied up with the crazed Matthew Morgan in that secret room behind the bookshelf in the drawing room of the Old House.

Ms. Moltke remembered that Mr. David was quite the intellectual, whose extensive knowledge of many subjects was very impressive. She enjoyed discussing so many topics with the Harvard University-educated Mr. David.

It’s funny, but when I saw 1797 DS episodes for the first time, and Vicky meets Ben Stokes for the first time in the Old House, she screams out in great terror, “Matthew Morgan!” Well, I sat there, wondering, “Who’s Matthew Morgan?” as I had never seen the “pre-Barnabas” episodes before.

As I recall, poor, innocent Ben quickly got into trouble with the imperious Joshua Collins for having had the chutzpah to even speak with a young woman in the Old House. Of course, the lovely and saintly Vicky feels terrible for getting Ben into trouble with the Ebenezer Scrooge of Collinsport.

Although, later the noble and selfless Ben befriends Vicky and he and Barnabas do all they can to help and protect Vicky from the loathsome Rev. Trask.

This is going to be great, seeing many of the DS actors performing in Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” We never really saw the DS actors perform in any Christmas-oriented episodes on the original series. I always wanted them to have the Collinwood drawing room to be decorated for Christmas with an eight-foot-tall Maine tree. The colorful Christmas stockings would be hanging by the majestic fireplace. Of course, the drawing room piano would be resplendent with a woodlands berry centerpiece from L.L. Bean of Freeport, Maine. And, speaking of the piano, wouldn’t it be great to hear Louis Edmonds (as the unfailingly convivial Roger Collins) singing Christmas songs with his favorite niece, Carolyn “Kitten” Stoddard, accompanying Uncle Roger on the piano?

Regarding the upcoming DS production of “A Christmas Carol,” I noticed that Patrick has mentioned that Jerry Lacy will be portraying Jacob Marley with David Selby taking on the role of the querulous and parsimonious Ebenezer Scrooge. Since Mrs. Dilber, Scrooge’s faithful and long-suffering chairwoman, is an important character, because she deals with both the initially miserly Scrooge and the joyously reformed Scrooge, I suppose KLS will assume the role. Incidentally, in the 1951 film, “Scrooge,” considered to be the definitive film version of the Dickens classic, Mrs. Dilber is performed by British actress Kathleen Harrison. The late, great Patrick MacNee, who portrayed young Jacob Marley in the same film, said that Ms. Harrison was one of England’s great character actresses. So, Ms. Scott has large shoes to fill.

As to some of the other key roles, I could see James Storm as the kindly Bob Cratchit with Marie Wallace as Mrs. Cratchit. David Henesy, being the youngest cast member (at age 65!) will portray Tiny Tim. (Boy, does THAT make me feel old!)

Perhaps Alexandra Isles will portray Fan “Fanny” Scrooge, Ebenezer’s beloved sister, who dies much too young
in childbirth? Lara Parker might portray Alice, Ebenezer’s gentle and selfless wife, whom the cold and curmudgeonly Scrooge divorces and, later, lives to deeply regret it.

Mitchel Ryan would be terrific as the Ghost of Christmas Past. And if we could see some the deceased DS actors portray some Dickens characters, wouldn’t the distinguished Thayer David be absolutely superb as the larger-than-life of Christmas Present? The Ghost of Christmas Future doesn’t have much to do in the story. Maybe the ubiquitous Richie Halpern could assume that role?

Finally, wouldn’t it be great to see Dark Shadows’ first romantic couple, Joe Haskell and Carolyn Stoddard, a/k/a Joel Crothers and Nancy Barrett, portraying, respectively, Fred, Ebenezer’s estranged nephew, and Fred’s lovely wife?

I understand that Joel Crothers was an expert on Charles Dickens’ novels from Mr. Crothers’ days as an undergraduate student at Harvard University.

Oh, yeah, I could also see Denise Nickerson, Kathy Cody and Michael Maitland as Tiny Tim’s siblings. I look forward to seeing the DS cast in this classic Christmas tale.


Bob

Yeah, and even no mention of Vampira from the “Citizen Kane” of bad films, and Ed Woods’ opus, “Plan 9 from Outer Space” in the magazine!

And they had the chutzpah to charge ten bucks for the thing.

I tell you, the Collins Family Curse struck once again when this piece of schlock was quickly pulled from supermarkets all across America. 

I can’t argue with you there!

One thing that bothered me after the Collins family fled, en masse, from Collinwood to the Old House by the evil ghost, Quentin Collins, is that no one ever considered taking up residence at any of the other houses on the estate.

I mean, after a couple of days of being all crampe

Hey, gang,

One of my favorite aspects of the Adam storyline on DS was warlock Nicholas Blair’s cool home, the House by the Sea, located on the rocky shores of Collinsport, Maine. I wonder if Mrs. Stoddard would have ever rented the house to Cassandra’s brother, if she knew that a Collins property would house a warlock, a female vampire, a man-made monster and his presumptive mate, not to mention a “resurrected” male vampire? A lot of weird stuff took place in that house, including a Black Mass, celebrating Nicholas and Maggie Evans’ unholy “union.”

Anyway, I was driving along the beautiful New Jersey shoreline the other day, and as I drove through Ocean Grove, just below historic Asbury Park, I spotted a Victorian-style hotel on the beach, called, I kid you not, “The House By The Sea.” Wow, I almost expected to see Nicholas and Angelique, chilling out on the veranda!

Ocean Grove is a Christian seaside resort, which was founded in 1869. The architecture of the homes there resembles the 19th century architecture you see in New England, like in Collinsport, Maine, for example. A block away from the New Jersey “House By The Sea,” is Ocean Grove’s magnificent, “The Great Auditorium,” site of Sunday religious services and seaside concerts by such notables as Tony Bennett, Johnny Mathis, the late Davy Jones and Flo & Eddie, a/k/a Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan of The Turtles. No doubt, David Collins and Hallie Stokes would have enjoyed hearing “Daydream Believer” and “Happy Together” performed on the Jersey shore.

Of course, literally just up the block from “The House By The Sea” in Ocean Grove is Asbury Park’s famous Breeze Way, site of the dramatic scene in “The Sopranos,” where in a dream sequence (like so many landmark dream sequences in “Dark Shadows”) Tony Soprano realizes that Sal Bonpensiero is the traitor/rat and where Tony symbolically shoots Paulie “Walnuts” Gualtieri. I bet that Barnabas and Willie would invariably show up at Collinwood on Sunday night, just as Elizabeth, Roger, Carolyn, Maggie, Dr. Hoffman and Quentin were all assembled in the study to watch the latest episode of “The Sopranos” on HBO.

So, I guess there is an uncanny synchronicity between “Dark Shadows,” “The Sopranos,” Nicholas Blair, Tony Soprano and the seemingly ubiquitous House By The Sea.

d together in that cold, dreary house with no electricity, no central heat and, most importantly, no running water (read: hot showers and working toilet bowls), you’d think the patrician Roger would finally say to his sister, “Screw this, I’m off to the House by the Sea with David and whomever else wants to take a hot shower and not have to use a bed pan at three in the morning!”

Heck, Carolyn, Maggie and little Amy could have also gone to the carriage house (where newlyweds Carolyn











and Jeb Hawkes once briefly stayed) or even the shack at Findley’s Cove, which compared to the Old House, would seem like the Essex Hotel on Central Park South.

And, while I think of it, did Dr. Hoffman and Willie Loomis think they could keep the precocious and perpetually curious Amy Jennings from sneaking into the Old House basement and finding Barnabas, sitting there in an I-Ching induced trance, looking like he was in rigor mortis? Yeah, I’d like to see Julia and Willie try and explain Barnabas’s present “condition” to Mrs. Stoddard and the rest of the family. Lotsa luck with that one!

Okay, many of of you are probably asking, “Who the heck is Rhoda Penmark?” Rhoda Penmark was the nasty child, who murdered two people in the 1956 psychological thriller, “The Bad Seed.” Actress Patty McCormack portrayed Rhoda Penmark, for which she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress. She also portrayed Adrianna Laserva’s angst-ridden mother on “The Sopranos.”

In the film, Rhoda drowns one of her grade school classmates and literally burns to death, the janitor in her parents’ apartment building. (She’s also suspected of murdering an elderly neighbor, when her family lived in Wichita, Kansas.)

Young David Collins tried unsuccessfully to kill his father, Roger, by sabotaging the bleeder valve break system on Roger’s snazzy Mustang. Fortunately, Roger survived the 100 mile crash, actually a 100 foot crash, on the steep road leading down from Collinwood. David also imprisoned Vicky Winters, his long-suffering governess, in a locked off room of Collinwood, where Vicky was warned by the water-logged ghost of Collins Cannery executive Bill Malloy to leave Collinwood before she is murdered.

David also committed some other evil acts, but that was when he was first possessed by the malevolent ghost of Quentin Collins, and later by the Leviathan leader/slimy monster, Jeb Hawkes.

I have to go with Rhoda Penmark, a sociopathic child, with absolutely no sense of right and wrong. In fact, Rhoda should have teamed up with either Alexander and/or Michael, the Leviathan children, who would finally mature into the adult Jeb Hawkes. Imagine if new Collins family governess  Maggie Evans had to contend with BOTH Michael and Rhoda Penmark? Oy vey!!!