Dark Shadows' Stairway To Nowhere

[Bob_the_Bartender]

Hey gang,

Did you notice in yesterday's episode, when Adam and Leona Eltridge entered the Old House and started to walk up the stairway to Josette's room, that, at one point, they just stopped on the stairs?  

I once observed Willie Loomis charge up the stairs to find Barnabas, only to obviously stop after about ten footsteps up the stairway.  Of course, in a house as large as the Old House, the stairway has to have more steps than that.

A future episode from the Parallel Time 1970 story line provides the solution to this oddity.  In one episode, Carolyn or Will Loomis comes charging out of the Old House basement.  The cameraman inadvertently swings the camera from the iron door of the basement to the foyer of the Old House.  There, but only for a brief moment or two, we get to see that the stairway just ends, with no access to the second floor.  

I believe there is also a photograph of David Selby standing at the top of the stairway that "leads to nowhere."  I wonder if any of the DS actors ever charged too quickly up that faux stairway, nearly flying off the top step?

Sincerely,

Bob the Bartender    

[jennifer]

Wow that's funny Bob i'm going to have to rewatch thost tapes!

jennifer

[MsCriseyde]

Not exactly a unique thing even on today's sets. Some friends and I took the Warner Bros studio tour prior to the last Festival and got to walk around on the ER set.

The stairs lead down to a (stinky) pile of dirt and they lead up to nowhere. Any scenes with an actor running up flight after flight of stairs are shot on the same "flight" with the wall hangings adjusted to make the floors look different.

The stairways aren't any bigger than what you see on DS, so there's not much room for running.

[Bob_the_Bartender]

Dear MsCreyeyde,

I hear you!  I remember taking the Universal (?) studio lot tour many years ago.  As the caravan of vehicles turned a corner, we could the eerie Bates home from the flick "Psycho" on the top of a hill.  When the caravan passed by behind the "house," we could see that it was just a fake front held up by wooden boards.  What a bummer!

Bob the Bartender, who wonders if the bridge on the Starship Enterprise was as phony as the commanding officer's "sweeps"?

[scout75]

There's a vampire I know,
Who lives just up the road.
And in his Old House,
There's a Stairway to Nowhere...

(apologies to Plant & Page)

[Craig_Slocum]

only for a brief moment or two, we get to see that the stairway just ends, with no access to the second floor.

I wonder if that was the scene I read about somewhere, a blooper, the staircase was missing.  ?!?

[tripwire]

i am sure its similar at the "big house" also. several times i have seen actors running up those steps, only to be caught stopping, and turning around.

[Mark Rainey]

It's been a long while, so I'm not sure what episodes they were, but there are times that the door to the cellar of the Old House changes its location. Usually it was roughly opposite the front door, but on occasion, it was angled so that, viewing straight out the cellar door window, you looked toward the entrance to the drawing room. Another time, it was flush with the stairway, which means that the view out would only be the wall across from the stairs.

I have often tried to make one door in my house go different places, but I've yet to discover the secret. Perhaps one must actually reach the top of the Old House stairs and pass beyond to acquire the necessary knowledge.

[shadow=black,left,300]--Mark[/shadow]
http://www.weebl.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/b3ta/pie.html

[Connie]

It's been a long while, so I'm not sure what episodes they were, but there are times that the door to the cellar of the Old House changes its location.

YES!  That has always bothered me.  To this day, I can't quite get a grasp on exactly WHERE the door to the basement is.  

Also, did you ever notice when someone is unlocking and opening the door the sound echoes in the parlor??  Why?  
When someone opens the FRONT door I've never noticed any echoing sound.

AND, the stairs problem on the show...
I can't count the number of times someone has paused on the stairs at Collinwood, or on the landing - thinking they are out of camera range.
One time, I remember Barnabas was supposed to be heading upstairs, and he never DID!!  We were in the drawing room, but you could still see some of the stairs out in the foyer and he never went up!

I'm a little surprised about what Criseyde said about the ER set.  You'd think that sets these days would be a bit more elaborate than they were waaaay back when.  When I was about 14, a friend and I got to tour the DS studio.  There were only a few stairs in the Old House basement, then nothing -- you had to jump off.   (And we did - a couple of times).  LOL
I think I also posted somewhere on here recently about there being nothing but a platform down the end of the upstairs hallway at Collinwood.  ("Hey - where are the bedrooms?")  It certainly made an impression when I was young.  Don't think I ever watched the show in quite the same way after that day.  What a bummer.  LOL

-CLC   :-/

[VAM]

Not exactly a unique thing even on today's sets. Some friends and I took the Warner Bros studio tour prior to the last Festival and got to walk around on the ER set.

The stairs lead down to a (stinky) pile of dirt and they lead up to nowhere. Any scenes with an actor running up flight after flight of stairs are shot on the same "flight" with the wall hangings adjusted to make the floors look different.

The stairways aren't any bigger than what you see on DS, so there's not much room for running.

Once you visit backlots and studio sets, it changes your whole perspective...

[Bob_the_Bartender]

Hey gang,

Did you ever notice that when camera is shooting out through the iron cellar door of the Old House, from the top of the  basement landing, that when, say, Barnabas turns to walk down the stairs to the basement, he usually turns to his right (our left from the camera angle)?  

However, sometimes Mr. B., as he walks onto the basement landing, he will turn to his LEFT instead (our right from the camera angle)?  I guess there must be a "dual stairway" that takes you down to the basement.  I don't think that the Dark Shadows actors/technical crew could ever make that kind of mistake, don't you agree?  Of course, regardless of the "turn on the basement landing," the DS actor always comes down those stairs as if he/she made a "right turn" (our left) at the top of the stairs!

Sincerely,

Bob the Bartender, who will now e-mail master carpenter Norm Abrams of "This Old House" to see if a "dual basement stairway" is plausible, if not feasible.

[kuanyin]

When I was about 14, a friend and I got to tour the DS studio.  There were only a few stairs in the Old House basement, then nothing -- you had to jump off.   (And we did - a couple of times).  LOL
I think I also posted somewhere on here recently about there being nothing but a platform down the end of the upstairs hallway at Collinwood.  ("Hey - where are the bedrooms?")  It certainly made an impression when I was young.  Don't think I ever watched the show in quite the same way after that day.  What a bummer.  LOL

A bummer? Sounds like a major thrill to me! But I can understand at that age it wouldn't be as fun to have your illusion shattered. Still, I am WAY envious....

[Ben]

When someone opens the FRONT door I've never noticed any echoing sound.

I think I also posted somewhere on here recently about there being nothing but a platform down the end of the upstairs hallway at Collinwood.

I seem to recall reading or hearing that if an actor who went up the stairs at Collinwood had another scene in the same act, he or she would have to climb a ladder back down to the floor level to go to the next set.  

And as for echoing door sound effects, I've always wondered why EVERY SINGLE COFFIN, no matter how new, has a lid that creaks.  

Ben

[Bob_the_Bartender]

I understand that the Eagle Hill Cemetery Caretaker endeavors to spray a little WD-40 on all of the coffins' hinges before they get "planted," and before somebody digs them up.