DARK SHADOWS FORUMS
General Discussions => Current Talk Archive => Current Talk '24 I => Current Talk '15 I => Topic started by: PennyDreadful on May 15, 2015, 05:16:02 AM
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I was trying to figure out which writers from the original series are still alive. Anybody know?
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To the best of my knowledge, Joe Caldwell and Malcolm Mamorstein are still alive.
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Is Violet Welles still alive? I've never heard about her passing away.
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Thanks guys! I'm thinking about interviewing the surviving DS writers. It'd be a fun article. Now to try and find out how to get in touch with them. I do wonder about Violet Welles too. I'd love to chat with her.
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Penny, Joseph Caldwell has an author page on Facebook. He posted there this month, so the page is active. Malcolm, as of 2012, was living in Los Angeles.
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Thanks Uncle Roger!
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I believe Violet Welles passed away in 2003. She was living in Northern California at the time.
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You're welcome, Penny! I hope that you will be able to get interviews with them.
Midnite, I think I had heard that Violet had passed away but I wasn't sure. It would have been very interesting to have heard her take on Dark Shadows. She was certainly part of the experience but really not part of the hoopla, during the original run or since. I don't think I've ever seen a picture of her.
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Yes, she seemed very private, even at the end as her obituary was brief. But it says she passed away peacefully. Her husband died 5 months after; his obit from the San Francisco Chronicle follows:
A memorial service will be held Saturday for Metro Welles of Fairfax, a former Broadway actor and teacher. Mr. Welles died March 27 at a convalescent home in Tiburon of complications related to emphysema. He was 82.
Born in Schuylkill, Pa., Mr. Welles was raised on his family's 400-acre farm.
During World War II, Mr. Welles served in the Army Air Forces. After the war, he attended Penn State University, where he studied theater and liked it so much that he married one of his teachers. After graduation, he and his wife, Violet, moved to New York, where he became an actor and she became a press agent, television writer and production associate for Broadway shows.
In the 1950s and '60s, Mr. Welles was a touring actor with Broadway shows, including "Mr. Roberts," a story about men on a small Navy supply ship combating the sailor's deadliest enemies: boredom and monotony.
When his wife developed a heart condition, he quit theater to be closer to her. Mr. Welles then became a high school science teacher in New York, impressing his students with his magnetism.
"He enjoyed teaching and was great with kids," said his niece Aquilina Lewellen. "He had such a sardonic, satirical wit."
The couple moved to San Francisco in 1974, where Mr. Welles assisted his wife with her career as a theater press agent. She died in October.
Mr. Welles is survived by a sister, Helen Morgan of Campbell.
The memorial service will be held from 2 to 6 p.m. Saturday at his home at 303 Forrest Ave., in Fairfax.
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DS fan and publisher of a DS zine (was the title "Inside the Old House"?) Dale Clark did interview Violet Welles in his zine many years ago. I believe Dale is also on FB and I had the inspiration a couple of months ago to contact him to see if the interview could be shared with other fans online. But then I dropped the ball and failed to write to him, I suppose because I looked for my own copy of the zine and couldn't find it. (Found other issues, but not that one.)
Violet was mentioned briefly in a book about some aspects of the NYC theater scene recently. I think she was described as a "hippie turned publicist." Apparently she was earthy, and a woman who did not mince words. She wrote some of the most delicious dialogue for DS. Reportedly, Violet ghost-wrote several scripts for Gordon Russell, which is how she got the gig to do her own scripts under her own name. In the interview she says that she wrote all the scripts for the final month which were officially credited to Gordon. I think he had other things on his plate then so she took over.
G.
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DS fan and publisher of a DS zine (was the title "Inside the Old House"?) Dale Clark did interview Violet Welles in his zine many years ago.
I went to the website below and tried to look for the issue you mentioned. I did not see it, but I could have missed it, or they might have omitted it. If you can let me know what issue it was, I can send the pages out. I have all of ITOH scanned as PDF files.
http://fanlore.org/wiki/Inside_the_Old_House/Issues_51-65
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The Doctor and K9, do you (or anyone else) have TWODS issue #59/60? A description of it lists a V Welles interview by Bay Area fan Meghan Powell-Nivling.
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I think I do. My friend gave me every bit of her DS stuff and I am going through it. I have barley scratched the service, but I happen to be going through TWODS tomorrow! I will let you know. She collected everything! I am so happy to be back and I will be writing a thread tomorrow about the ZINE that is finally COMING TO PASS, five years later. But hey, it's going to be the 50TH! Let's blow the ROOF off!!!!
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I'm interested in anything concerning V Welles. Why was she writing under Gordon's name?
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Ooh, thank you for checking on that, sweetie!
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Wow, maybe the interview was in TWODS. I wonder if I still have that issue. Have no idea why I misremembered it having been in ITOH.
Lots of people in the "industry" use ghost writers.
Thanks!
G.
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The Doctor and K9, do you (or anyone else) have TWODS issue #59/60? A description of it lists a V Welles interview by Bay Area fan Meghan Powell-Nivling.
I have it. Would you guys like me to scan it and upload it here??? :) I don't mind at all!
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As for me T, yes please, though for me it'd have to be blowupable...
But why the ghost writers, Gothick... a cowardly attempt to keep your reputation going when you're out of ideas?
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That would be fantastic, Tae. Let me know if you need any help.
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Cont'd in...
Violet Welles interview in 1991 TWODS