DARK SHADOWS FORUMS
Members' Mausoleum => Calendar Events / Announcements Archive => Calendar Events / Announcements '24 I => Calendar Events / Announcements '09 II => Topic started by: Miranda on August 15, 2009, 05:22:41 AM
-
Well, I got here mid afternoon, I have to say that I am not that impressed with the hotel, it really is in the middle of nowhere and you are are kind of stuck here with no car, but still, had a nice time today--reconnected with AngeliqueWins and some of her friends, and got some stuff in the dealer's room, several copies of Jonathan's new DVD and some other goodies...KLS, Lara, Marie, and Jerry Lacy were in the dealer's room doing autographs for awhile--the autographs are in there due to space constraints, and they are kindly willing to sign your program or whatever you have without having to buy the star's books, etc, though I did some of that. I was warned they might sell out of weekend registrations by tomorrow, so anyone coming tomorrow do that first (I did that for a friend coming in tomorrow who has not been to a Fest in years and is coming mostly since they are a JF fan). John Karlen and Marie did the first panel, some scenes shown and Q&A, never had seen JK at a Fest, he is looking good--during that panel Jonathan came out for a cameo and got a warm embrace from JK and Marie, okay, of course I am going to say I wish Jonathan had come out during the following panel when Lara, KLS and Jerry Lacey were onstage, but there may still be hope for J and L on stage together during the cast reunion tomorrow, MAYBE). Then like I said the following panel was Lara, KLS and Jerry Lacey on stage with scenes and Q&A, some interesting scenes like with Trask and Cassandra, and 1795 when Angelique gives Josette the amulet for her wedding dress (good scene). I had never seen Mr. Lacey at a DS con either, so that was interesting for me, too. Then after awhile they showed a "surprise" screening of the 2004 pilot, I missed most of it, but since I had never seen it what I saw was interesting, but I can maybe see why it did not sell, though I liked Alec Newman as Barnabas.
There was a lot of talk about the DS reborn CDs, there are new ones out, for those who are interested, and I think the stars have enjoyed doing them, but the only one I have is the audio book of Anqelique's Descent (gee, wonder why?????)
Another things, Lara gave more info about her third DS novel, which includes several plotlines, including a flashback back to the 1920's and Flapper Liz, that might be interesting---she also has a deal to maybe get Angeliques' descent republished by Tor in addition to her third book, so that would be interesting..
-
Then after awhile they showed a "surprise" screening of the 2004 pilot, I missed most of it, but since I had never seen it what I saw was interesting, but I can maybe see why it did not sell, though I liked Alec Newman as Barnabas.
You know, I had a really strong suspicion that the '04 pilot was going to be the "surprise." Though considering it had already been shown at the last three consecutive Fests, I don't know how much of a "surprise" it should have been. [ghost_undecided] But then, also considering that nothing they had originally planned to hype at the Fest has panned out as of yet (i.e the hoDS/NoDS DVD release and the Depp/DS film), I suppose they needed to try to hype as much of the older stuff as possible...
And as far as the '04 pilot goes, I liked a lot about it, but I particularly liked Newman's Barn.
Thanks for the report, Miranda. [ghost_smiley]
-
Thanks for the early report! [ghost_smiley] I just woke up at 4am with a few hours before I go back to work - I was real thankful to read something posted here already about the fest. [ghost_happy]
-
Thanks!! I feel like I am there. Keep the reports coming all you lucky people~
-
i'm just leaving the house now...hope to meet some of you there.
-
Thanks - it is nice to read about what is happening. Enjoy!
-
Thanks for the report Miranda. I hope everyone has a great time.
-
Oh, man, Miranda, thank you for the report! I am going through Fest withdrawal here. This is the first Fest I've missed since I came back to fandom in '05, but it was to enter a competition last weekend in Cincinnati. Can't wait to see photos from people. Good to hear that JK is looking well. Particularly looking forward to any reports about JF appearances (of course, LOL!).
Thanks again -- Julie [ghost_smiley]
-
Thanks, Miranda, for the report. Like MB, I pretty much figured on the "surprise" screening being the 2004 pilot. I'm sorry you missed most of it. I quite liked Alec Newman's Barnabas and Matt Czuchny (sp?) as Willie.
I love Cassandra, so it's nice that she was included among the clips. I'm very sorry I'm missing Jerry Lacy!
cheers, G.
-
I just heard from Renee and she said the crowd is huge this year. She also thinks the hotel is ok.
-
Given how the Fest is billed and how it was advertised, it doesn't surprise me that the crowd is huge. But I wonder how many in the crowd will be at least a bit disappointed that one of the main things they were expecting to hear details about hasn't actually moved forward enough for those details to be provided? [ghost_sad] But even at that, it's always wonderful to know that there's still such great interest in DS. [ghost_smiley] And there's still more than enough going on at the Fest to hold many fans' interest - especially new Fest attendees...
-
I suspected the crowd would be huge after viewing several comments from Depp fans on a Johnny Depp fan site regarding checking out the fest for info on the movie. Look at how early the banquet sold out - that seems unusual to me, but I only ever go to the West Coast fests.
I think it's wonderful that there is a big crowd. At least in theory :) Great for the stars and the organizers, if not so great for the fans!
-
I feels really bad for any Depp fans whose sole purpose in attending this year's Fest was to get detailed news about the DS movie. [ghost_sad]
-
I feels really bad for any Depp fans whose sole purpose in attending this year's Fest was to get detailed news about the DS movie. [ghost_sad]
Well, they can be consoled by the fact that all they have to do is tune in to ET for detailed and accurate entertainment information!
-
Well, at least those Depp fans will get the opportunity to see the original series and cast and see what all the hub bub is about. No matter how many versions of Dark Shadows come and go, the original will always be the best and any future generations of Dark Shadows actors/actresses have big shoes to fill~ IMO
-
I have never been to a DS fest - so what has been the usual attendance number? Just curious how many of us (folks with good taste) there are and how numbers are translating to younger generations (yes I would hurry home from school to watch DS).
My 3 children have grown up hearing about and watching a few episodes. My 27 year old daughter likes the show, my 20 year old son could care less, but my 19 year old daughter loves it too (we are watching an episode right now) She and I had even talked about the Fest this year, but she had to get wisdow teeth out!
-
kyreb, attendance over the past few years ranged from 1200+ (Brooklyn and Burbank) to nearly 1500 (Tarrytown-- Frid's first after a long hiatus). The highest attendance was 3,000 in 1997 (at the NY Marriott Marquis) while DS was on the SciFi channel.
Hope your daughter does well after her surgery.
-
I thought Lara mentioned there were nearly 1500 in Burbank last year? I could be wrong, that's just what I remember her saying.
-
That was the number given during the Fest, but ShadowGram reported "over 1,200" and I'm pretty sure Marcy gets the totals from the Festival staff.
-
Great to hear about the Fest. Keep it coming love! ;)
-
a subway to a train to a monorail to a shuttle...this was work!
as has been said there was a very sizable crowd this year.especially given the remoteness of the location.
a bit light on stars but obviously frid was the big draw so no matter.
sadly the big rumour around the dealers room was that diana millay was not in attendance because she is "unwell".sad.
picked up marie's book(autographed)and some fabulous pictures of alexandra(late 1960's publicity shots)looking very "bond girlish" in diamonds and furs.
a nice day.
-
Well, at least those Depp fans will get the opportunity to see the original series and cast and see what all the hub bub is about.
It would be wonderful if that's what actually happens. And hopefully it will with some. But speaking from personal experience, if I go somewhere expecting something specific only to find out that it isn't happening, I make plans to do other things. For one, NYC beckons. And if I was a Depp fan who solely went to the Fest hoping to get news of the DS film, I'd probably prefer to go off and do something else with my time rather than spend it taking part in events for a show that I may have little knowledge of and no desire to get to know its original stars. Though I may not be a typical case because these days when I go to a Fest I rarely stick around for many of the events - just the ones that I might find particularly interesting (something like the screening of the '04 pilot or one of Darren's NoDS presentations or the appearance of a star I've never seen in person before). I mostly go to Fests nowadays to get together with friends. But one does hope that a good portion of the Depp fans will be curious enough to stick around. [ghost_smiley]
One thing is for sure, though - it'll be very interesting to see what the Depp fans have to say about the Fest once they begin to post on the various Depp boards...
-
Proof that it's never too early to turn a profit: (Fest items on eBay):
http://cgi.ebay.com/2009-Dark-Shadows-Festival-Program_W0QQitemZ330352459479QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item4cea8a7ed7&_trksid=p3911.c0.m14 (http://cgi.ebay.com/2009-Dark-Shadows-Festival-Program_W0QQitemZ330352459479QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item4cea8a7ed7&_trksid=p3911.c0.m14)
http://cgi.ebay.com/Signed-Jonathan-Frid-Program-Dark-Shadows_W0QQitemZ330352460058QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item4cea8a811a&_trksid=p3911.c0.m14 (http://cgi.ebay.com/Signed-Jonathan-Frid-Program-Dark-Shadows_W0QQitemZ330352460058QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item4cea8a811a&_trksid=p3911.c0.m14)
http://cgi.ebay.com/2009-Dark-Shadows-Festival-Highlights-DVD_W0QQitemZ330352673363QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item4cea8dc253&_trksid=p3911.c0.m14 (http://cgi.ebay.com/2009-Dark-Shadows-Festival-Highlights-DVD_W0QQitemZ330352673363QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item4cea8dc253&_trksid=p3911.c0.m14)
Although, I'll admit I bought a copy of that last one..even if it's just a few hours of footage, that's not a bad price really.
-
OMG on that first one.
I hope people realize that the Fest usually sells programs for $10 (and that includes postage) and not to bid over that amount.
-
My goodness, talk about not waiting at least until the corpse is cold!
It reminds me of when we, back in 2004, sailed on the Queen Mary 2 on her maiden voyage to Geiranger, Norway. As we were sailing up the fjord, helicopters (including one from National Geographic) were buzzing us, photographers hanging out, snapping pictures. They followed us, snapping away, all the way to the village. Within minutes after the anchor dropping, the tenders took us to the dockside where there were vendor booths selling T-shirts, stacked on the tables and displayed on hangers, emblazoned with the very pictures of us sailing and anchoring taken by the photographers who were just flying over us. I have no idea how they did that; we were too stunned to ask, nor did we buy any. You can't believe the prices in Norway.
Gerard
-
The highest attendance was 3,000 in 1997 (at the NY Marriott Marquis) while DS was on the SciFi channel.
Ha, I was at that one, and yeah, it was insanely crowded. I didn't realize it was a record holder [ghost_smiley] but I haven't been to one since.
I'm surprised to hear that there was a lot of talk among Depp fans to go to the fest. On the boards I visit, I didn't see any mention this year, though I do remember talk a couple of years ago when it was the first year after the film announcement. So these must've been other communities than the ones I visit. I hope they were polite. Most Depp fans that I know personally are great people, and many of the ones of a certain age remember DS fondly. But I have heard of some horror stories (pardon the pun) about overcrowding and such from some premieres and the like. I can only speak about the 3 benefit concerts I went to where Johnny played with his band, and they weren't too bad at all, but maybe we were just lucky.
-
That's very sad about Diana Millay. I hope that she gets better if it is true that she is "unwell."
It must have not quite seemed like a Festival without Diana ... she is always one of those people who just seems to be everywhere, and was always tremendously outgoing with the fans...
G.
-
Thanks to all for the reports and info. Always fun for those of us who can't make it to the fest. [ghost_grin]
-
I'd LOVE to hear about "Bewitched Shadows" (witch vs. witch?) by the Collinsport Players. To see photos too. Anyone? [beg]
-
Well, I did get to speak to some of my gal pals as were heading back to NJ and got an earful about the hotel, most of it not good. Good food but slow to non-existent service, and yikes, really poor security! And elevators that break down, trapping at least one VIP for a time.
Anyway, Donna Wandrey canceled due to illness. When the usual show of hands for first-time attendees was requested, more than half the audience raised their hands. Frid's family was in attendance, and his presentation of the fan choice videos was enjoyable, and (I think) prior to "My Fridean Connections" he gave credit to Nancy Kersey for the research. He also introduced two of his loyal fans whom he has kept in touch with since the studio days, and who originally helped with his fan mail.
And I heard that "Bewitched Shadows" was an absolute delight, with Peter Mac playing Endora opposite Lara Parker's Angelique. I would kill to see John Schaefer's Uncle Arthur; maybe next year!!
-
That's really too bad about Donna. Hope she feels better soon.
I would love to see shots of Bewitched Shadows! Sounds fab.
G.
-
I would love to see shots of Bewitched Shadows! Sounds fab.
Me too. It made think what if Nicolel Kidman were dropped into the world of Dark Shadows. Her remake of Bewitched was okay, but she was very cute in it. No chance I think of her being in the Depp movie though. [ghost_tongue]
-
Well, a couple of my friends and I thought "Bewitched Shadows" was pretty lame, especially since it was written by a professional performer, but I did enjoy seeing Lara in the skit.
I loved Jonathan showing the winning scenes from the "Game" too, and was delighted that he included Angelique's death scene in 1840 (so poignant), and the curse scene, but the pro-Julia Barnabas fans won out in the number of scenes that got top places for the game, where those fans see chemistry between Barnabas and Julia is beyond me.
The highlight for me was that Jonathan did join the cast reunion this year, Lara was late coming on stage and she came up to Jonathan and gave him a warm hug--before they brought a chair up for Lara Jonathan said to Lara , well, sit on my lap, which I loved, and then after she got a chair, he asked her about her new mountain home, so that chemistry and camaraderie is still there, though I had not seen it so much in evidence since the 1993 con, when they did that great panel together.
Jonathan's readings Sunday were good, too, he did the Third Level by Jack Finney which almost has the feel of that famous Twilight Zone episode of "Willouby"...
-
Miranda,
Nice to hear something more positive on the fest!! It must have been amazing to see Lara and Jonathan together --- oh I love that episode of Twlight Zone! [ghost_cool]
-
Hello, I wanted to add my feelings about the DS Festival. I have been to many, and I try to always have a good time. I was rather dissapointed in the fact that it was in Newark. I would have loved for it to been in Tarrytown. Any, I went on Saturday, and as always, it was wonderful to see many of my friends that I have known for many years.I got a chance to say hello to Lara, whom is my favorite since my days as one of the studio kids.It was great to see Jonathan also. I was also one of the kids whom helped with fan mail the summer in 1970. The 2 women that Jonathan introduced, I knew back than in the summer of 1970. They were totally correct in saying that there were tons on mail, not only For Jonathan,and he deserved all that fan mail. But so mucg also for the rest of the cast also. I enjoyed the scenes the fans voted for as the 10 best. But where were any scenes of Jonathan and Kathryn Leigh Scott?No scenes of Barnabas and Josette? No way. Jonathan had really good rapport with not only Lara Parker, and Grayson Hall, but also with Kathryn.That was sort of a bummer.I thought the hotel was fine, the service at the restuarant was slow, but the food was good.I wish I had made plans to be there all weekend.But that was my fault. I didn't really notice if there were many Johnny Depp fans there. Overall, I enjoyed myself alot, and am planning to be in beatuiful downtown Burbank next July. By to all.
-
I don't know where my manners have been- a big thanks to the folks who have given their reports about the fest! I really oughta make it back to one one of these years!
Cathy
-
I lived in New York all my life and reside only 20 minutes from the hotel and even I got lost!!! I was so sure of where the hotel was based on a mapquest search and did not think that I needed to use my GPS. Well I spent an additional half hour circling New Jersey's version of the Bermuda Triangle to arrive at the hotel. After this hotel I immediately look forward to next year's Fest. I enjoyed my stay there mostly because of all the friends I encountered. The big negative was the hotel's restaurant's lack of service. I think they had two waiters for the sold out restaurant especially at dinner/supper time. It was horrendous. You had to wait a great deal of time to order your food, then to wait for the food, and even longer to receive the check. The waiters simply disappeared for long periods of time. The bathrooms were really tiny and had zero counter space-at least in the room I was in and from what I heard from other fans. Can I say that I thought the Fest was much more organized and were almost on schedule with most of its events. Even the autograph lines appeared to be organized. Re: the banquet-What a tremendous difference in the quality of the food served from last year's fiasco. The chicken was delicious and the cake too. I was so pleasantly surprised. Was that difficult? The sound system in the auditorium was excellent-not too many malfunctioning delays. I had a great time although I hope never to return to that hotel.
-
Everyone safely home, yet? Com'n dish-dish, fill us all in on the details! [ghost_grin]
-
This year's Fest came off really well, and I think that not having the big grueling autograph sessions made a significant difference. As things have evolved to where many of the actors have their own dealers tables, it has given fans a chance for that one-on-one time over the course of the weekend.
The hotel was badly understaffed, though what staff it had, could not have been nicer. But that with the isolated location made it a place I hope we don't go back to again. Lara Parker's crack about how hard it was to get into Manhattan from there was the absolute truth. No quick easy way. (The hotel should have had a flyer about the best ways, since most people want to go into the city at least once.)
The group Q&A was one of the best in years, with fresh questions, and the actors not getting bored. I actually heard things I hadn't before, and a couple of them seemed to be in better spirits than they were last year.
As for Depp fans, I never heard a word about that. Everyone seemed to be there for the original show. I never heard or heard about a single complaint, which is unusual. And certainly there's no way to force Depp to give information to announce if there isn't any.
I'm a little tired of the skits, though. They all end with Peter putting on his show. Seeing Lara be Angelique was the best of that. Oh, and the costume gala was HUGE. So many entrants, and so many doing whole songs. It ran too long. I think they should re-institute the 2-minute time limit.
In any case, it was a great Fest, and getting together with friends from around the country is the main reason I still go. And seeing people have a good time is rewarding.
-
And I heard that "Bewitched Shadows" was an absolute delight, with Peter Mac playing Endora opposite Lara Parker's Angelique. I would kill to see John Schaefer's Uncle Arthur; maybe next year!!
You are Correct it was a delight! John was funny as ever and Peter was flawless. Sshhhh rummor has it it will play west coast with a little re-Vamping, But you didn't hear that from me. [ghost_wink]
LdyAnne
-
A bit More about "Bewitched Shadows"
The skit ended with Lara Parker as Angelique and Peter as Endora singing together, Peter was not doing any kind of a one man show. Lara has been fan of Peter’s performing and writing for the last several years, including starring his sold out AID'S benefit adaptation of Dickens' Christmas Carol "Mrs. Scrooge". Ms. Parker is not one to lend her name to anything she feel's is not worth while or stage worthy. After seeing Peter in several Concerts, Lara mentioned that she was determined to sing on the stage with him. Both crooned the tune "Two Lost Souls" from the Broadway show and film “Damn Yankees” which was significant to Lara as Damn Yankees was the first Broadway show she ever saw. The players received a standing ovation from many audience members and were bombarded by fest attendee's from Saturday night through the end of the weekend of how much they enjoyed the show with many inquiring as to whether or not an encore presentation might be possible on Sunday afternoon. Festival Chairman, Jim Pierson who watched the show did request that the players revive "Bewitched Shadows" in Burbank perhaps with additional music.
Peter is a talented writer and performer I am so glad to get a chance to see it again.
LdyAnne
-
Article on the Fest.
http://www.examiner.com/x-9764-Horror-Happenings-Examiner~y2009m8d19-Johnny-Depp-as-Barnabas-Collins-will-he-be-accepted-by-the-DS-fans
-
Nice article. Thanks for posting the link, jimbo. [ghost_smiley]
-
Jonathan had it up on his website months before the fest for people to write in and say what their personal favorite scenes were. The results of that "game" is what the fans saw at the fest
Nancy
-
I was surprised that the scene in which Barnabas tells Angelique (after Josette is a no-show at their wedding) that he still loves Josette, whatever she has done, was not among the Top Ten. It's not a particular favorite of mine, but I thought it was for some other people. And while I love the scene in episode 290 in which Julia confronts Barnabas, which was voted #1, it really was Grayson Hall's big scene, not Jonathan Frid’s.
Kathryn Leigh Scott told two stories at the Fest that I especially enjoyed. I believe both were at the general cast Q&A. One was in response to the question: “Do you remember anything about the short-term actors like Harvey Keitel and Marsha Mason?” Everybody looked pretty blank, until KLS remembered something: not long before coming to Dark Shadows, she worked in summer stock. I think she said it was in Virginia. She was a very junior member of the company, so she had some non-acting duties, including telling the more senior actors when it was time for them to go on. She knocked on the door of one, Peter ______ (she couldn't remember his surname) and said, “Peter, it's time” (or whatever one says). Peter said: “Call me Mr. _______!” Later, when she was on Dark Shadows, he turned up in a non-speaking gravedigging part. But (said KLS) he was very nice.
The other story Kathryn Leigh Scott told must have been in response to a request for memories of Grayson Hall. She said that the Halls had two birds, finches, named Lord and Lady Finch. (Their dog was named Thing. I wonder if Matthew Hall ever thanks his lucky stars that he wasn't simply named “Baby Boy”.) Once when the Halls went away for the weekend, KLS offered to take care of the birds. Alas, over the weekend Lady Finch died. Of course KLS felt terrible. She called Bob Costello to ask what she should do. My answer would have been, “Get another female finch and hope they don't notice the difference,” but Costello was more creative. He suggested that KLS buy a whole bunch of finches and tell the Halls that Lady Finch had died in childbirth. For some reason KLS didn't adopt Costello's suggestion but instead told Grayson the awful truth. Grayson gave a long, drawn-out “O-o-oh” - and said not another word about it.
They showed the 2004 pilot twice. Lots of youth and blondness and sexual activity. I liked the Victoria Winters, which is a sure sign that they were on the wrong track.
I particularly enjoyed Jonathan Frid’s reading of The Third Level by Jack Finney. I had read the story a couple of times before and liked it. Frid read it very naturally, and it seemed as though it had actually happened to himself.
There were, if I remember correctly, three showings of non-Dark Shadows shows featuring Dark Shadows people. We saw the final Password show, with Kate Jackson and her Rookies co-star Sam Melville. Gosh, I hadn't known how glitzy Password got. Also, we saw a Love, American Style episode briefly featuring Joan Bennett. She had one good line – or else it was a not-so-good line made memorable by her delivery: “He pinched me!” And finally, we saw an episode of The Governor and JJ, in which Bennett played a whorehouse madam. Golly, you'd think they'd give her something to work with, but she was the nicest, most wholesome whorehouse madam imaginable.
I left the hotel around 7am Monday morning. As I walked out the door, rolling my big black backpack and toting a canvas bag loaded with the good stuff that I had bought, I saw John Karlen sitting on a bench talking to somebody. I called out to him, “Thank you, Mr. Karlen!” He threw me a kiss and said, “Bye, sweetheart!” It was a nice way to end the Fest.
-
Many thanks, Lydia for the detailed festival report!
-
Sounds like those that made the trek had a decent time. I considered going but am glad I decided to pass. Sounds like much of what they did the last two years were repeated this year. I do thank everyone for the reports and like the youtube videos showing some of the happenings.
Any announcement as to whether Jonathan is planning to head west next year?
-
I would like to add that I very much enjoye meeting Borgosi, Prof Stokes, Pansity, and DFrielander at the Fest on the Friday, my friend did not come in until Saturday, so I really appreciated all of your company and the great chats we had, about family and stuff, too, not just DS, which is just how I like it, so thanks again, all.
-
Any announcement as to whether Jonathan is planning to head west next year?
Nope.
-
Thanks guys. I plan on returning to the Watching Project soon! Thanks for all the fabulous reports. I am slowly but surely posting more each day. I had a awful day today but that is for another thread! Muah to all my cousins!
-
Nearly all the discussion about Frid's "game" has been moved to the Current Talk '09 II board were it's more appropriate because it was morphing into a discussion that is much more about the DS storylines and actors' performances and far less about the Fest.
Check out:Why The Results In Frid's "Game"? / was Fest Report
And please continue any further such discussion over there. Thanks. [ghost_smiley]
-
Below is my re-cap of the Fest events, save for the cast reunion. That part will take longer because it's more detailed.
The weather in New Jersey was absolutely gorgeous: lots of sunshine and temperatures in the high 80s all weekend long. On all but one of my five trips East, the weather has always been overcast, gloomy, humid, and usually rainy, so this was a delightful surprise. I understand that I just missed thundershowers on Thursday night. I didn't venture out of the hotel except to hike up the highway with Pansity in search of food on Friday afternoon, but it would have been a perfect time to be out and about. I had a lovely time at the Festival catching up with old friends and meeting board cousins Miranda and barnanasjr for the first time. :)
Most of the programming during the Fest consisted of videos from the vault or from fans (including two Cheep Productions videos and two of DLA75's music videos). I missed the events on Friday night because I went to the airport to meet a friend. I'd love to hear from anybody who was in attendance what was said during the two panels.
On Saturday morning, the Fest opened with a screening of Cheep Productions' "Save Our Cemetery," co-starring Sharon Smythe. The people all around me seemed to love Daryl Schaeffer's imitations of Barnabas and Julia. Kate Jackson's appearance on the final episode of "Password" came next. The first live event of the day was a reprise of Frank Borzellieri's presentation on time travel. Frank used the same structure and slides as last year, introducing new jokes and repartee with the audience. This year, there was time for fans to ask questions at the end of the talk. One man asked whether the discrepancy between the original history that Barnabas first told Julia (that Josette came from France to marry his middle-aged uncle Jeremiah) and the events we actually saw transpire in 1795 could have been due to the creation of a parallel timeline. "I think the real answer is that the writers changed course on that one," Frank explained. Another fan asked for clarification on how the concept of parallel time is connected to the notion of traveling back and forth in time. "Parallel time is an explanation for how to solve the grandfather paradox of traveling to the past. If you go back in time and kill your grandfather, you wouldn't exist to be able to travel backward. But suppose your actions created a separate timeline, one where you had never been born, as well as the one where you still existed." One of the other points mentioned in the presentation against the likelihood of time travel is that nobody has ever met a traveler from the future. "What about UFOs?" one gentleman countered. "What if they're time travelers from the future?" "It's possible," Frank remarked. Frank also addressed the issue of whether a catastrophe was necessary to create a parallel timeline; theoretically, a parallel universe could be created each time we make a choice, with the alternative choice occurring in the other world.
I did not stay to watch the entire charity auction, although I was present when the big ticket item, Jonathan Frid's original contract for House of Dark Shadows, was sold for $600.00. There was a pretty fierce duel for it between two particular audience members. I heard that the final bidder never did show up to claim the item. Does anyone know if this is true? Did the runner-up finally get the prize instead?
Jeff Thompson took the stage next to discuss his book The Telvision Horrors of Dan Curtis. Jeff explained that the book had grown out of an invitation to contribute an article about Dan Curtis to one of the entertainment magazines (I can't recall which) upon the director's passing. At the time, Thompson was also preparing his doctoral dissertation in the field of media studies, and decided to write his thesis about the work of Dan Curtis. The book is based on this thesis. He's currently working on a new book about Curtis's mystery movies. I was a bit disappointed that Jeff didn't talk more specifically about Curtis's work or the ideas discussed in his book (I guess he wants everybody to buy and read it). The majority of his presentation consisted of rapidly-edited clips from various Curtis productions (Dracula, Scream of the Wolf, Dead of Night, The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Night Stalker, Trilogy of Terror, the two DS movies). At first, there were technical difficulties with getting the video to play, so Jeff took some questions from the audience. One fan wanted to know what input (if any) Curtis had in the new "Night Stalker" show that aired on ABC a couple of years ago. Jeff said that Curtis has a producer's credit but not much influence over the show at all. Someone else wanted to know what Curtis's last production had been before he died. "That would have been the pilot for the new WB 'Dark Shadows' TV series, which was not picked up," Jeff explained. The pilot had been screened Friday night and would be again on Sunday. He also shared an anecdote from one of Dan Curtis's interviews (I believe this is an extra on the DVD of the Night Stalker movie) wherein Dan complained about how the television business had changed over the years. "In the old days, all he had to do was go into the studio and say, 'I've got a great idea for a TV movie!' and he would get a green light to make the movie. Later, making movies became more about who you knew in the business. Movies had to be about relevant issues rather than pure entertainment value." Thompson also corrected himself about something he had put in his book; he'd claimed that The Great Ice Rip-Off, which featured Grayson Hall, had never been released on video or DVD. "In fact, it was released on VHS, but only in Canada." As proof, he held up the casette box. Business was very good to Jeff at the Fest; he warned us that he had already sold out of all but three copies of his book and advised anyone who wanted the book to hurry to the dealer's room once his talk was finished. I did manage to get a copy, and I look forward to reading and reviewing it soon.
At last, it was time for Jonathan Frid. He began by introducing two former studio kids, ladies who became his friends during the time DS was on the air and have remained in touch with him all these years. Unfortunately, I don't remember the ladies' names. Hopefully they'll be named in ShadowGram, or somebody who took notes can pitch in. The first woman who spoke described her first visit to the studio. "I was lucky to have parents who allowed me to take two trains and a subway by myself to the studio. The first time I went, I had no idea who I would see. We waited until taping ended, and then Joel Crothers came out dressed as Nathan Forbes, followed by Jonathan Frid in 1795 Barnabas's costume. They were very nice to us, and after that, I went to the studo every day after school. During the summer and school breaks, I'd be there all day." Here, Jonathan showed his mischievous side. "Usually it was hard to get out through the front door because the fans were outside mobbing it. They'd throw themselves right against the glass (he mimicked crazed kids). So we would try to sneak out the back way. But one day, I decided to turn the tables on them, so when they jumped at the glass, I lunged forward at them. Everyone scattered...right into the street. Fortunately, no one was hurt." The other lady discussed a fan mail party where fans helped Frid repond to all of his letters. "The party started in the studio and then spilled over into the Hotel Edison in Times Square (I thought that was a neat tidbit; I have some DS friends who often stay at that hotel during their trips into NYC, but I never knew it had a DS connection before). There were boxes and boxes of mail piled up to the ceiling. I remember Jonathan yelled at us because we kept trying to read the letters. He said, 'Put that back!'" Jonathan recollected the first time he ever received fan mail. "Dan Curtis came over to me with a tray that had some envelopes on it. I thought, 'Here it comes! I'm getting my pink slip.' I asked, 'What are these?' and he said, 'They're letters. For you. You've got fan mail.' And I was so astonished by that." The women ended their time onstage by presenting Frid with a pair of shorts trimmed with bells, with his name embroidered on them. This was a replica of a gift they had given him once before; the shorts had been immortalized in a magazine photo where they were displayed on the wall in the background. "Well, bless your heart!" Frid praised as he accepted the gift. "Now what am I going to do with these?" (I wonder how much they would draw in an auction. ;) )
This year, Frid assumed the role of Quentin by getting fans to take part in "The Game." Fans were invited to vote on their favorite Barnabas scene on Frid's website. Frid explained that he would be screening the top ten vote-getters for us at the Fest. He warned us that the clips were not going to be aired in the order of popularity, but that the order would be announced afterward. He also said that if the Game proved popular enough, it might become a regular feature at future Festivals. (That would seem to indicate that he plans to keep attending Fests, though he gave no hint as to whether he would be present in Burbank next year). We've already talked about what clips were shown, and I've already mentioned my own surprise at what was selected. It really was eye-opening to see what appealed the voting audience. The only thing that would have made the presentation more enoyable for me would be if Frid had commented about the scenes as they were played (e.g. talk about whether he remembered filming it, what he personally liked about each clip).
After the screening, Jonathan took a number of questions from the audience. I was actually surprised by the numebr of people who were allowed to go up to the microphone. I recall that last year, only a handful of fans were able to get their comments in. Most people wanted to thank Jonathan for coming to the Festival and to tell him how much they enjoyed his work on the show. One very excited lady asked Jonathan to wave hello to her mother in the audience. "It's a dream come true for her to see you!" Another gentleman asked if he could present Jonathan with a portrait of him that he had painted. Once more, Frid was very touched. "Bless your heart!" he thanked the man. Frid was asked what part of Canada he was from. "Ontario," he replied. "Living in Canada isn't really all that different from living in the United States, though I do prefer it. I'm a bit of a royalist at heart and also...I think it's better to able to just sit back and observe what happens in America without the pressure to be loyal all the time." One man asked Jonathan what advice he would give about acting. He seemed flustered by the scope of the question, and advised the man to get to really know the characters he was playing first. Another man asked Jonathan if he'd ever made any recordings for the blind and also if he could share memories of working with Jean Stapleton in "Arsenic and Old Lace." He only answered the first question. "I know I must have worked for the blind because I can rememebr doing so. You have to be very careful when you talk to them; they're very sensitive to what you say. They have very sensitive hearing." A lady asked Jonathan if actors, in general, like it when fans come backstage to see them after a performance. He revealed that he actually didn't like it all of the time. "Sometimes you're tired and you just want to get out of there and go home." Another fan asked Frid to recite a bit of Shakespeare for us, but while Frid was trying to decide between a line from Hamlet or Richard III, Jim Pierson admonished us that it wasn't fair to ask Jonathan to perform for us. "He'll be on-stage tomorrow doing dramatic readings."
[Cast reunion details pending]
The Collinsport Players' "Bewitched" skit was adorable. The premise was that Angelique was being summoned to the witches' council to be stripped of her powers becasue of her incompetence in witchcraft ("You can't even keep a flame lit long enough to finish casting yoru spell!") and her love for a (gasp!) human. Along the way, Angelique is counseled by Endora, Uncle Arthur, and various other recurring characters. I didn't watch the show often enough as a child to be able to remember Aunt Clara, Uncle Arthur, or Dr. Bombay, but the characterizations that I saw on-stage were amusing. Lara Parker was spot-on, knowing all of her lines and cues, and seemed to be having a blast with her part.
The gala may have run long (about half-way through the performances, a rush of late-comers appeared, doubling the number of entrants) but the performances were well worth the time, IMO. One of the highlights of the night was a performance by Angelique and the Supremes (played by Cassandra, her daughter, and Mary) of "Stop in the Name of Lust!" We were also treated to an ambitious musical retelling of Jason Maguire and Liz Stoddard's aborted wedding; this performance featured Bobubas, EvanHanley, josette_by_candlelight, nightshadows342, and her mother and sister. The same group had earlier presented a drawing room skit where Vicki, Carolyn, Elizabeth, and Mrs. Johnson muse about Cousin Barnabas's eccentricities and strange resemblance to his portrait (which was painted by Mama nightshadows342). Charles_Ellis was present as Charnak the Magnificent, reciting the punchlines of jokes and then opening a sealed envelope to determine what the question was ("Twilight, True Blood, and The Vampire Diaries: What are three shows that rip off Dark Shadows?") CrazyJenny brought her baby daughter onstage dressed as Little Sarah (the costume was the same one Jenny herself wore when she was little). There was another young girl dressed as Sarah later in the program. She and her father got the audience to sing one verse of "London Bridge." borgosi dressed in an elegant costume and came on-stage with his video camera to ask the Fest guests to join him in singing "Happy Birthday" to his niece, a major DS/vampires fan. I thought that was a great moment, and a very creative idea. Peter Mac closed the show by singing "What Happened to My Part?" in character as Lara Parker lamenting that Angelique was dead and her role on DS was abruptly finished.
Sunday, August 16
******************
Sunday was mostly a video day again, especially since Donna Wandrey had to drop out of the Fest because of an illness. Events had to be rescheduled to compensate for her panel. The presentation by Big Finish productions was bumped back from noon to 2:00, so there were no live events in the morning. I did come in for the tail-end of the auction. More papers of Jonathan Frid's were sold off, including the rental agreement for the apartment he occupied in New York during his time on DS. "You're very lucky that Jonathan has kept all of these,"Jim Pierson admonished. "Most people would just throw them out." The bidding wasn't as high as for his contract the previous day; I don't even rememebr what the final price was. They also auctioned a copy of KLS's My Scrapbook Memories of Dark Shadows. That one tempted me since it's the only Pomegranate Press book that I don't have; it went for $40.
The postponed Big Finish presentation began after the auction, with Stuart and Jason representing the company. Jason opened by asking for a show of hands of how many people have listened to the audio dramas and how many have not. Quite a number of Big Finish fans were in attendance. When the mike was opened for questions, more than one person mentioned how much they enjoyed old-time radio broadcasts and how they appreciated the DS audio dramas for following in that tradition. We were told that the next series of dramas, which will pick up from "The Rage Beneath," is due to be recorded in December. This next set of dramas will be an exciting 4-part epic story. Someone asked how long it takes to record one of the dramas (about a day). One gentleman inquired whether Big Finish planned to include any other cast members from either the original series or the 1991 remake in the dramas. "We would love to include as many people from the Dark Shadows family as we can," Stuart assured him. 'We've been wanting to get Marie Wallace involved for a long time, but it was difficult to find a place for her (seeing as all of her characters died on the show)." He explained that the company is only licensed to release dramas based on the original series, but he did say that Lysette Anthony, who has done work for Big Finish's "Dr. Who" series of dramas, has been approached for DS. He also pointed out that Alec Newman, who would have been Barnabas for the WB, has lent his voice to "Clothes of Sand" and "The Ghost Watcher." Another fan wondered if there were any plans to record Lara Parker's other novels (Salem Branch and the book she's now writing) as audio books. "We were just discussing that with Lara earlier, actually," Stuart admitted. "The difficulty is that Angelique's Descent was already out of print when we recorded it while The Salem Branch is still owned by Tor Books (which is also considering a reprint of AD, apparently)." Somebody else wanted to know about the possibility of hiring Robert Cobert to write new musc for the audio dramas. "He's in his eighties and he's retired, so it's not a very realistic option."
At this point, Lara Parker joined the gentlemen on-stage. She repeated some of the points she'd brought up the previous day. One fascinating bit of news was that her friend Debbie Smith has written an audio drama that will include "a real knock-down, drag-out catfight between Angelique and Josette. It's about time sweet little Josette got back at Angelique for everything she did to her." Someone asked Lara if there would be a catfight between Angelique and Victoria Winters too. "There's not as much reason for one. Angelique didn't do much to Vicki." (Framing her for witchcraft in 1795 doesn't count?) She also praised Stuart for condensing her 500+ page Angelique's Descent so that it fit onto two CDs. "It was a tremendous feat!" Lara also admitted to having some trouble trying to do voices for her characters during her reading. "Whenever I attempted a Carribbean accent for my character Thierry, it came out sounding like an Irish accent."
After Lara, Jerry Lacy took the stage. He was asked if it was easy for him to get back into character as Trask for the audio dramas. "Not really," Jerry confessed. "It took me a couple of tries to get the voice right. I kept referring to a fan who was there, who would let me know when I was on the right track." A young boy asked Jerry for a Bogart impression, and he obliged ("It's nice to see ya again, kid.") Finally, Jerry read a brief introduction for "Kingdom of the Dead," complete with eerie background music and sound effects. It was quite affecting. The tale is about a race of superhuman beings once entrusted with ruling the Earth before man ascended and banished them to another realm. But the ancient creatures lust for vengeance...
Next, Brian Kellow, author of The Bennetts: an Acting Family returned to the Fest to talk about Joan Bennett's life history. He discussed her family's pedigree, beginning with famed stage actor Richard Bennett, and moving on to her sisters, Constance Bennett, the first big family movie star, and Barbara Bennett, a talented dancer and the mother of Morton Downey Jr. (apparently Joan was embarrassed by her nephew and tried to hide the fact that she was related to him. Kellow relatedthat when he brought it up during his interview with Joan, she sharply replied, "Must we talk about him?" putting an end to the topic.) Joan grew up feeling very insecure. She married young to a millionaire, but the marriage broke up because of her husband's alcoholism. Joan finally turned to her father for help in getting a job. He got her a small role in one of his plays and drilled her endlessly each day on improving her acting technique. Sure enough, Joan received rave reviews for her small part. She performed in a series of movies, but her career didn't really take off until she dyed her hair brunette for a part in Trade Winds. From then on, her popularity soared and she was featured in several films noir, the best of which were directed by Fritz Lang. Kellow touched briefly on the major scandal in Joan's life; her husband, Walter Wanger, caught her sitting in a car with her agent, with whom Joan had been having an affair, and he shot his rival in the groin. DS was really Joan's big comeback after that. Initially, she hated being on the show because of the grueling shooting schedule and the fact that she had trouble learning new lines each day. But eventually, Joan began to enjoy her work on the series and developed a maternal bond with her fellow cast members. Kellow emphasized how motherly Joan was and stated that she was always protective of her own children and shielded the from the media. She mothered other Hollywood childern too, including Loretta Young's daughter. He recounted comments Joan Bennett had made about a visit to Joan Crawford's house. At the end of the dinner party, Joan C. insisted that all her guests come and watch her children say their nightly prayers. Joan B. remarked, "That was the strangest thing I've ever seen. Why would anybody do something like that?"
The opportunity for questions came up. A couple of fans praised Kellow's delivery style during his presentation. One person said he should have been a professor. Charles Ellis asked if Kellow thought that the reason why Joan was never nominated for an Oscar despite her many wonderful performances was because her husband, Walter Wanger, was head of the Academy. "No, I think it was more because she wasn't contracted to a major studio, so the funding and publicity weren't there." Another fan wanted to know what it was like to be a biographer. "How do you go about getting interviews with these people and their family and friends? Do you just call up out of the blue and say, 'Hi, I'm writing book about you'?" "You need a lot ot luck," Kellow admitted, "first in tracking them down and then in hoping that they'll speak to you." Kellow was asked to weigh in on whether it was true that Joan Bennett would have had the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind "if Larry Olivier hadn't shown up with Vivien at the last minute." "That's how Joan always told the story," Kellow admitted, "but in truth, she was a longshot for the role. In fact, until Vivien Leigh tried out, Paulette Goddard was the front-runner. When Joan was invited to come in for the screen test, she was reluctant to do so because she didn't see the point. If you've seen her screen test, you know that she did a good job, but she just wasn't the right sort of person for the role. Of course, we can say that with hindsight now knowing what Vivien Leigh did with the role." He explained that he had wanted to show Joan's screen test at the Fest but could not because of copyright laws and prohibitions against public display of the material for financial gain.
Kellow ended his presentation by bringing Kathryn Leigh Scott on-stage to share her memories of Joan. They talked about Joan's "second career." "She thought she could have been an AD (assistant director?) because she was such a facilitator," Kathryn explained. "She was always bringing everyone together." She recalled a visit that Fritz Lang had made to the studio when the crew was trying to figure out a lighting problem for an upcoming scene. "He watched for a minute and finally suggested, 'Put a light on top of the camera.' I watched him place the light there myself. Joan had that light from then on." She also re-told a couple of favorite anecdotes about filming House of DS. There was a plumbing problem at Lyndhurst, and the plumber who came to fix it recognized Joan. "I had the make-up table next to hers. I saw him do a double take and he asked her, 'Aren't you Joan Bennett?' She said, 'I used to be.'" KLS also mentioned that the cast was picked up on their first day of shooting by limos. "We were so excited because we thought we were finally big stars, getting to ride in a limo. Well, those limos were only hired for the funeral scene, and when shooting was done, they left. We had to ride back in a rattle-trap station wagon, sitting on each other's laps." Kathryn had another purpose in joining Brian Kellow; he was the editor for her article "Fatal Attraction: The Star and the Stalker," which recently appeared in Opera magazine. "My working title for this was 'In Search of Nell.' Nell Theobald spent the last years of her life stalking the great Swedish opera singer Birgitte Nilsson. My inspiration for this article came when I opened up the New York Times one day and saw a story about her. I went to high school with this girl. We were Playboy bunnies together. I'd lost track of her after that. As I read the article, I kept thinking, 'That's not all there is to her.' I wanted to write a fuller picture of what Nell was like." Referring back to the difficulties in tracking down a subject's friends and relatives, Kathryn acknowledged a debt of gratitude to Charles Ellis, who was able to direct her to most of the people she needed to see through his workplace. "He just happened to answer the phone when I called up to ask for information and he recognized Maggie Evans's voice!" Kellow had copies of Kathryn's article at his dealers' table (I understand that he sold out of books too over the weekend). I recall that it's also available online; it sure sounds like an intriguing read.
I didn't stay for Jonathan Frid's dramatic readings, instead taking the opportunity to wander through the dealer's room one last time and spend a few minutes socializing with friends. The readings ended on time, leading to a mad scramble to get ready and lined up for the banquet. By 6:00, a long line was wrapped from the ballroom doors down the hall to the elevators (the banquet began at 7:00; Lara Parker walked by and seemed amazed by all of the people who were already queued up). Because there was an overflow of people wanting to attend the dinner, there were two classes of attendees; those with a dark green ticket would actually get to sit inside the ballroom, but the people with a light green ticket would be seated just outside in the corridor in front of the dealer's room. The overflow crowd was brought inside for the video screenings and door prize give-away though.
This year's banquet was a tremendous improvement over last year's! In fact, the food was some of the best I can remember having at any DS banquet. At every place setting was a glass of iced tea in addition to a glass of water (we've never been given beverages before; usually anyone who wants a cocktail or something stronger than H2O has to go out to the bar to buy it). The main course this year was chicken instead of lasagna; it was not rubbery, and it was covered in some kind of sauce (not teriyaki, but tasty just the same). The meat was served with crisp green beans and mashed potatoes. For dessert, we were given a piece of chocolate cake with a strawberry on top instead of the customary cheesecake or fruit tart. I was thrilled with the selection; because of my dairy allergies, I've never been able to eat the mostly cream-based desserts of the past. This was the first time I was actually able to have the dessert, and it hit the spot. Lara and Marie conducted the raffle and a number of people that I knew won door prizes. Lara Parker's table was also called, and the winning seat number turned out to be her own! However, she gave her prize to another man, Jimmy, who was having a birthday. Everybody at the banquet serenaded him with the birthday song. In another first, my table was actually called during the raffle; it was the first time in my seven years of coming to banquets that that's happened! We were the last ones to be named. Mary won a DS T-shirt from MPI. The odd thing was that I'd had a feeling all along that one of us would get a door prize that night, though my seatmate Sandra didn't believe it. Our video presentation consisted of a couple of public television commercials by Kathryn Leigh Scott and David Selby (who howled like a werewolf during his segment), followed by a film of Lara Parker's tour of Salem. The evening concluded with two music videos set to novelty songs about DS: "Barnabas Collins, Love Bandit" and "Barnabas" (sung as "Barrrney-Buss" in the chorus). The company at my table--including Pansity, darkshadowsrick, Cassandra, QuentinsGal, jimbo, EvanHanley, Mary, and josette_by_candle_light--was great fun and really livened up the night. It was a lovely end to a lovely weekend and I hope to see everyone again next year. :)
ProfStokes
-
Here are my recollections of the cast reunion:
To my surprise and delight, Jonathan remained on-stage for the cast reunion this time. When Lara Parker took the stage, she sat in his lap briefly. John Karlen gave him a big hug. Jonathan did not receive the majority of audience questions either; they were pretty evenly distributed among the cast members. Although, I noticed there seemed to be unspoken agreement among the cast in certain cases where only one or two people would give a response instead of each person contributing to the answer.
“I know that John Karlen had a reputation for being a prankster,” one man began, “but apart from him, who else in the cast liked to play practical jokes?” “That’s it, you’ve got him,” Jerry said. “No, I wasn’t really so bad,” Karlen demurred. “What sort of things did he do?” the fan asked. “He’d put rude notes in drawers so when you opened them up, you’d get flustered and forget your lines,” Kathryn recalled. “One of my favorite episodes was when Willie kidnapped Maggie and took you to the mausoleum to save you from the experiment,” the next fan addressed KLS. “If you were really locked up together for a month, how would you and John Karlen get along?” “You mean our characters or us?” Johnny asked. “Oh, I adore John Karlen. I’ve always liked working with him,” Kathryn gushed. “Better than being cooped up with Roger Davis, eh?” the fan teased. Kathryn seemed embarrassed by this. “Some of you may have read comments from my diary that I included in the DS Movie Book about Roger.” She tried to downplay the idea of any animosity toward him, diplomatic as ever. Someone asked the cast which other characters they would have liked to play, other than their own. “I wanted to be Josette,” Lara said. “I wanted to be the heroine, but when I finally got my chance (in 1841) it wasn’t as much fun as being the heavy.” "I would have liked to be Pansy Faye," KLS confided. “I wanted to be Maggie Evans,” John, chuckled. “How do your relatives react to seeing you on the show?” anther fan asked. “What do they think of your work?” “My kids have never even seen DS,” Jerry Lacy revealed. “My daughter Caity used to come to the Festivals with me, but she’s bored by it now,” Lara said. “My two sons are grown now, but they watched the show when it was on. They were embarrassed by it and they refused to ever let me come near their school. Their friends used to ask them why their mother was so mean and did such horrible things to everybody,” she explained ruefully.
One fan complimented Jonathan on his performance in Arsenic and Old Lace and asked if he had any blooper stories to share from that show. “It was a complicated show; there was a lot of potential for things to go wrong,” he admitted, “but didn’t name any specific mishaps. “I remember that we saw you in that up in San Francisco,” Kathryn remarked. “We went back to the stage door to meet you.” (I hope that was a night when he was in the mood to receive visitors). The next question was for the ladies in the panel: “It seemed to me that your male co-stars always did everything they possibly could to touch your hair and mess it up. Did that bother you?” “It didn’t bother me, but it bothered the hairdresser,” Kathryn replied. “She had to readjust the hairpieces at the end of the day.” “We had to wear such elaborate wigs all the time,” Lara agreed. “I think I wore three different pieces as Josette,” KLS reminisced. “Lucky you,” Lara teased. Someone asked John Karlen to share his memories of making the film Daughters of Darkness. “It was great. I loved the hotel in Belgium where they put us up. It used to be Gestapo headquarters during the war, so you know it was a nice place. The food was delicious too. I remember we went on a picnic. The interesting thing about that movie is that I wasn’t supposed to know [spoiler]that my character, who had just married a woman, was also having an affair with an older man. That was very cutting-edge back at that time, in 1970. The director filmed me having a phone conversation with my ‘mother’ and I wasn’t supposed to know that ‘Mother’ was really a man while I was playing the scene. He was a guy about Jonathan’s age and I was in my twenties. But I had a friend in the production and he told me the secret.”[/spoiler]
“How do those of you who have worked on the audio dramas like it so far?” another fan asked. “I think it’s wonderful,” Lara gushed. “It’s a very special format, where the stories take place all in your imagination. You can hear our voices, and we sound the same as we did back then, and in your mind, we look the same.” The cast was asked whether anyone had saved any props or costumes from the show. “I used to have my vampire fangs,” Lara shared, “but they went up for auction years ago.” “I wish I had my music box,” Kathryn lamented. Someone asked about Humbert Allen Astredo. “I still write to him and e-mail him,” Lara shared. “He lives on a boat in New Hampshire. I keep trying to get him to come to a Festival. I think he will one of these days.” Marie was more circumspect. “I keep in touch with him too, and I’ve told him how much fun these conventions are. He did attend a convention once years ago before it became the Festival. But he’s told me that, as much as he likes all of us (cast members), it’s not something he’s interested in doing.” One of the highlights of the cast reunion for me was when a fan asked the actors to share their memories of Thayer David. Instantly, shouts and applause rose from the audience. “My character would often order Thayer’s character around,” Lara recalled. “I’d send him into the woods to get me a spider web so I could cast horrible spells on Josette. He was a big hulk of a man. And I’d remember he would sort of glare down at me when I’d give him these orders. But he was such a sweet man. Very erudite. Extremely intelligent. He was a speed reader and he read more than any person I knew.” “Every time he’d pass me in the hall,” Karlen remembered, “he’d say, ‘Pray for me, Johnny. Pray for me.’” “He was probably the nicest man I ever knew,” Jonathan Frid said. “Such a kind and gentle, extremely gentle man. There was something he used to do to warm up for his scenes...I can’t quite remember what it was now. It’s such a shame that he…well, he’s in a safer place now.” “He would always try to correct my pronunciation of words,” Kathryn said. “I came from Minnesota, so I had a different way of talking. For instance, I would say, ‘hoh-ver” instead of ‘huh-ver.’ He kept trying over and over to get me to say the word properly. I remember running into him once in Greenwich Village. He wanted some pastries. So we went to a French bakery and bought a box of pastries, and then went back to my place to talk. He ended up eating the entire box of pastries!” I was very touched by the reverence that everybody in the cast obviously felt for Thayer.
Someone asked, “Which contemporary actor would you like to see playing you of DS were re-cast?” “It will be for the movie,” Lara laughed. She named Charlize Theron as her pick. Kathryn wants Keira Knightley to play Maggie. I don’t think Jonathan Frid really follows current actors; he seemed to not know how to answer. Kathryn suggested Johnny Depp to him. “Right! Johnny Depp,” he asserted. Jerry Lacy chose Alan Rickman (he would have been my pick too, and considering that he’s worked with Tim Burton on his latest movies, it’s not a long shot). Marie, liked Jonathan, seemed to be making up her mind. “How about Britney Spears?” someone in the audience shouted. “All right, Britney Spears,” she acquiesced, drawing a laugh. John Karlen bested her though. “Woody Allen! He’d make a great Willie Loomis.” Another fan asked the cast to share their memories of working with Grayson Hall, again to shouts and cheers from the audience. To my surprise, there was some hesitation among the cast. Lara was the first to speak, and she told a story that I’d never heard before. “When I first came on the show, Grayson was very cold to me. She had another actress in mind that she wanted to play Angelique and because her husband was a writer for the show, she thought she had an in. When I showed up, she wasn’t pleased. But eventually we became close. We even tried to get our two pugs to marry and have puppies, but they wouldn’t cooperate.” Kathryn told her stories about the finches. She also added that Grayson gave them pointers when they were filming the movie because she had done films before. “She told us to stay absolutely still, because when your face is projected on a giant screen, every expression is magnified.” Jonathan spoke of working with Grayson. “When you forgot your lines, you were supposed to refer to teleprompter and I think I was much better at it (checking the prompter) than she was. I remember she would get flustered when she forgot a line. I told her, ‘Just look at the teleprompter,’ but she insisted that she had to know her lines. “
Jonathan Frid was asked to share his memories of working with Katharine Hepburn. “She was a lovely person, and she was another person who knew I had trouble with lines. She told me, ‘If you ever go up on a line, just look up at me. I know the entire show; I can cover you.’” The cast was asked if they had a favorite blooper. “There was a scene with Roger Davis where he came to the door of my cottage, and when I answered it, the sash of the window fell down,” Lara recalled. “I just looked at it, thinking, ‘Oh, the sash fell down,” and then I kept going with the scene. (I think she’s actually misremembering a scene between Charles Delaware Tate and Pansy Faye). “Of the cast members who are no longer with us, who do you think would enjoy these conventions the most?” another fan asked. The panel quickly began naming people who used to attend Fests before they died: Joan Bennett, Dennis Patrick, Michael Stroka. “Joel Crothers would have enjoyed it,” Kathryn said. “And Grayson!” Kathryn and Lara began reminiscing about Joan Bennett. “I remember the first day of taping,” Kathryn said. “She wasn’t a quick study and she had poor eyesight so she couldn’t see the teleprompter. You could tell she was absolutely terrified of going out on camera, but she did it anyway. I thought she was the bravest person I’d ever known. She was an inspiration to me.” Lara confirmed Joan’s stage fright and professionalism. “She knew her Hollywood friends were at home watching the show and she wanted to do a good job for them.” Jonathan Frid told us how Joan Bennett used to invite him over to her home to run lines with her. “She had trouble learning her lines too, and she was very patient. She was always willing to help you out and run lines with you.”
“What would you, as actors, say are things that a director should never do?” another fan asked (I think it was the same guy who wanted general advice on acting from Jonathan Frid). “Don’t tell the actors how to do the scene. Bigger, softer, louder, angrier,” Kathryn ticked off. “Don’t say things like that; it’s too vague.” Jonathan Frid talked about his experience directing The Lion in Winter. “I had the cast read through the script one time, and then we all sat down and I asked them to explain what it was their characters were saying. I tried to get them to really know their characters and their motivations. I don’t know if that was a good strategy.” “It was,” Marie (who played Eleanor of Acquitaine) assured him. “I had a wonderful time in that show.” Lara Parker mentioned how Harry Kaplan used to come into the dressing rooms at the end of taping and give the cast grades. “He’s open my door and yell, ‘B minus!’ And he always told us, ‘If I don’t see anything happening on your face, you won’t get your close-up.’ He really wanted us to show it in our faces whenever our character discovered something startling or distressing. We had to show that transition” “That’s right. He’d always yell, ‘Transish! Transish!’” Kathryn recalled. “Grayson was a master of Transish.” At this point, Johnny Karlen jumped in. “Harry Kaplan was a freak! A horrible human being! What he did to poor Lamar (Lara’s really name) was inexcusable! He used to bully the ladies. But he’s only do it to people if he thought he could get away with it. He never talked that way to Jonathan Frid. What’s the name of that big guy who usually comes to these things?” “Robert Rodan,” the audience called out. “No, not him…Pennock! Chris Pennock. He beat the shit out of him one day. Harry Kaplan had no business directing. I don’t know why Dan Curtis hired him. He must have been willing to work really cheap.” (I get the feeling that Johnny doesn't much like directors. He famously punched out Harry Kumel during the Daughters of Darkness filming, again because the director was being cruel to the female co-star, Danielle Ouimet. Also, I talked briefly with Karlen on Monday while I was waiting to go to the airport. During the past year, I followed the "Murder, She Wrote" re-runs on Hallmark Channel and saw several episodes where Karlen guest-starred; I asked him about his experiences on the show. He said Angela Lansbury was very professional and wonderful to work with, but that her son, who directed a couple of Johnny's episodes, “only had half a brain.”) The cast and audience were quiet for a moment after this display. Jeff Thompson asked if anybody had memories of Lela Swift, who directed more episodes than anybody else. “I remember she always dressed in leather,” Johnny said. Shortly after that, the panel broke up for the autograph sessions. All in all, I thought it was a lively and revealing time.
ProfStokes
-
ProfStokes, thank you once again for your beautifully detailed recaps. I'd already forgotten much of what you shared. [ghost_smiley]
-
Much thanks for all the details, everyone! [ghost_smiley]
-
Thanks so much for the reports, ProfStokes. You provide such great details - and it's always appreciated. [ghost_smiley]
-
Yes, a wonderful report! Thank you so much for writing all that out, ProfStokes.
-
Prof Stokes, thank you very much for your fest reports. As always, they were detailed and compelling.
Nancy
-
Prof Stokes - you astonish me every year!! I can't imagine how you get all of this detail, especially the entire cast reunion. Surely you don't do it from memory, but I can't imagine that you can take such detailed notes as it happens. Wonderful account as always - I always feel almost as if I had gone!!
-
I concur Professor Stokes...you are always so very detailed. I feel like I am at the Festival and I hope one day to experience it with ya and many others from the board! :)
Tae
-
Thanks for the great Fest reports, Profstokes! You refreshed my memory of so many details I've forgotten already! And thanks for the compliment about our performance in the Costume Gala! LOL!
-
I wanted to add my comments about the fest, especially to the general remarks about the location. Obviously, Profstokes has detailed the events better and more thoroughly than I ever could, including the details of my own presentation on time travel.
I thought within the friendly confines of the hotel it was a wonderful festival. Outside was another story. Newark was an awful location. I parked my car in the parking lot on Thursday afternoon and didn’t leave the hotel once during the entire weekend. There was absolutely nowhere to go and nothing to do in that neighborhood. Jim Pierson probably got a good price; I can’t imagine any other reason for having it there.
I live in New York City, and like Jimbo, I also took a wrong turn trying to find the place. But other people had far worse horror stories. Two people got lost for more than an hour trying to find the hotel and one of those needed an escort from a good Samaritan local resident. I heard similar stories all weekend. It seems the only people who arrived easily were those who flew in and took the shuttle from the airport.
As Profstokes said, I was the first speaker on Saturday. Jim Pierson had asked me months ago if I would give the time travel presentation again. He wanted it twice – once for each of the different audiences on each coast. Before I began, I asked the audience to raise their hands if they had not seen my presentation last year in Burbank. About 90 percent of the hands went up, so I was happy about that. My talk was slightly updated. The man I refer to as the “real life Professor Stokes”, Dr. Ronald Mallett, is now having a major motion picture done on his life for his work on building a time machine to send particles to the past.
This year, I had one of my students, the lovely Ashley, work my dealer table selling my books because I wanted to enjoy the fest as a fan, the way I always do.
I was happy that the program listed next year’s fest already in Burbank. I heard an unconfirmed rumor that in fact the next two fests will be in Burbank, so as to accommodate the production and release of the Depp movie. My favorite fest location was Hollywood, but Burbank is just a short ride away.
After the fest, beginning Monday morning, about 20 of us went on a planned Dark Shadows road trip, where we visited DS locations including the Lockwood Mathews mansion (from House of Dark Shadows) in Norwalk, CT; in Essex, CT, we went to the Evans cottage, the police station (which is the Essex post office) and the Griswold Inn (Collinsport Inn). We also saw the warehouse that was the cannery in the pre-Barnabas episodes. Finally, we spent Tuesday and Wednesday at the Seaview Terrace (Collinwood) courtesy of the Carey family, the current owners. We ate dinner at both Griswold and the Black Pearl (which was the Blue Whale in the show). The entire trip was organized by Bobubas.
All in all, a great festival. I cannot adequately express my affection and respect for Jonathan Frid, who seemed especially chipper and exuberant. He seemed to be having such a great time that it wouldn’t surprise me if he came back next year.
Frank Borzellieri
-
Thank you all for the kind comments on my report! I'm glad that so many people are enjoying it. :)
As a matter of fact, Josette, I do write these reports from memory rather than from notes(though I occasionally get help; I referred to imdb for the title of the movie where Joan Bennett went brunette), so I take responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions I may have committed.
As a matter of fact, after I posted my write-up, I remembered another amusing incident. Jonathan Frid's niece and great-nephew were present during the first auction and were on-stage displaying some of the memorabilia. Jim Pierson asked Frid's great-nephew if he ws proud of his Uncle Jonathan, and he said yes. Then he asked the boy if he's ever seen Jonathan during the day. "No," he replied. [ghost_cheesy]
I concur with Frank; Frid was particularly witty and personable during the convention. I actually rode down the elevator with him on Sunday. Another woman, Alice-Faye, who performs in the costume gala in beautiful, elaborate period dresses, was also with us. Frid complimented her on her dress and told her that she reminded him of his grandmother. They chatted all the way down from the seventh floor.
ProfStokes
-
I would be absolutely delirious if the fest was in Burbank the next two years! Selfish of me of course but still....
YESSSSSSSSS
And it's a short walk across a walkable street to other restaurants from the Marriott.
-
And it's a short walk across a walkable street to other restaurants from the Marriott.
There's a concept! [ghost_wink]
-
A few pages back I mentioned a disc of Fest footage being sold on eBay. Well, I received it yesterday &, share & share alike being my mot-to, I've recorded & uploaded it onto youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=41EFAA95C200E6E5 (http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=41EFAA95C200E6E5)
It's about 2 hours long, covering John Karlen & Marie Wallace's on stage, Lara Parker, Kathryn Leigh Scott & Jerry Lacy together, Jonathan's solo Q/A & the cast reunion.
-
Wonderful summary of the Fest-thanks Prof. Stokes! And Sara Monster, the videos are great! What a treat! Would LOVE to go to a Fest someday--maybe since it is in CA. there might be a chance. **crosses fingers**
-
thats great that u posted that footage but i hope the person who taped it does not get angry and have it removed or did you get permission?
-
I did considered that, but nothing was mentioned in the auction. I doubt the person will be selling it too much longer anyways (quick profit thing).
-
Anticipation. I am always on edge awaiting your Fest reports, ProfStokes, because they are so detailed. I can't believe you don't take notes, but you are young and have many brain cells, unlike myself, who turned 50 this year with the Twilight Zone.
Thank you again for your in-depth reports, Sweetie. Much appreciated. Very much.
Did you sing this year?
-
A few pages back I mentioned a disc of Fest footage being sold on eBay.
Well, I have been waiting for this. I hope you don't get into any copyright issues posting these films. I am watching them now, first chance, before you are carted off to jail...
-
Loved the fest report Professor as always. I couldn't make the fest this year. Even when I do attend the fests I still read your reports to see what I may have missed. Thanks again, Elmont...
-
Thank you so much for posting that! I was not able to get to the Festival this year. I managed to go to the 2006 and 2008, but it gets expensive travelling from Texas to one coast or the other. I was on the East Coast the weekend before the Fest, so it was a tad disappointing that I couldn't go to Jersey. We had to start school the day after the Fest and we were driving back, not flying. I can't complain too much about missing it this year though. I'm taking my family to Disney World in October. I've never been there and want to go before I'm too old to really enjoy it. They say you're never to old to have fun there, but you get more out of it when you are able bodied.
-
I did considered that, but nothing was mentioned in the auction. I doubt the person will be selling it too much longer anyways (quick profit thing).
Actually, copies are still listed for sale. And btw, any material that an individual creates him/herself is copyrighted, and you'd most likely need to obtain permission from the copyright holder to upload it.
-
Ooh, Fest reports! I love to hear about everyone's experiences, as usually I'm missing half the fest doing god knows what- running to New York, chatting with friends, rehearsing skits... sigh. It's almost like a busy schedule and I never have time to actually go to the festival. LOL!!
Newark was the pits like everyone else has stated. It literally is just a gross area. What is to be said? It probably wouldn't be safe to take your dog for a walk in the park there. haha!
We drove all night from little ol' Tennessee, and didn't arrive to New Jersey until 6AM. We went to the pool instead of sleeping, because, well? Why not? And then we went eat at iHop even though our GPS gave us directions, we didn't turn in time but ended up facing an iHop anyway. Go figure.
We went back to the hotel to get some shut eye before the fest. We went down there at about four in the afternoon and got our booklets and fest tags or licence plates or jail tags- whatever you want to call them. Marie Wallace was speaking with John Karlen, so we somehow managed to get a seat near the front of the auditorium, second row on the left side. They played a Dark Shadows episode, and the speakers were WAY too loud to be sitting next to. Most of the front rows had their hands over their ears.
Marie Wallace came onstage and spoke for a bit. I was wondering where Johnnie was, and here he came waltzing down our side of the aisle. He stopped when he saw us, a grin splitting on his face as he kissed me, my sister and my mom's hands before going up onstage. OK, So you're probably like, "what is she talking about? She must have been more tired than we thought." no, that's not the case. The thing is, my first festival in 2006, somehow John Karlen took an enormous liking to us for reasons which are rather unknown (to me, anyway). Since then, he's been our buddy, every festival and in-between. So after their talk ended, in which even Johnnie remarked that if you were going to Newark, you might as well not have gotten off the plane, "cause you're not going anywhere." and he's absolutely correct.
So he came off the stage and I saw him shoo Marie Wallace and Jim Pierson who was trying to beckon him through the back stage door. "Just a minute." he said to Jim, "I'll be there in a minute." And he came back over to us to give us a hug. "I knew you'd be here!" He said. He then, apparently had to go, so he went through the stage door where Jim and Marie had disappeared.
My mom and me went to the restroom, and my sister came with news that Johnnie wanted us to go outside for a chat. So we went out there, and he was surrounded by many people who were talking to him and taking pictures. "There's my wife and two girls." He said to the crowd as we walked out. If this was surprising, the next phase was worse... The people had bought his word and were asking us a multitude of questions. "Oh! Where do you live?" A nice woman asked. "Tennessee." Johnnie answered promptly. Which there is a give-a-way of his great lie, as he lives in California. "What a beautiful family!" The woman gushed with admiration. How embarrassing! lol! It was funny though.
We then went for a walk with him around the parking lot. "Let's just keep walking and not come back." He said. He confessed that Jonathan wanted him to do a skit with him, "It doesn't even make sense! It was all his idea." he exclaimed.
Then he went on to tell us more details about his criminal past and his time in Korea, and the girl he was going to elope with. It was all very interesting. He had to go back inside for autographs, so we walked with him indoors.
....
We then met a guy named Dave, who was extremely friendly, enthusiastic and very nice. We practiced our skit with Bob, Angela, and Ryan, and Dave came to watch as we rehearsed giving out suggestions. It was getting late, so we returned up to the room and finally got some sleep!!
....
Day 2-
We went and practiced our skit with Suzanne in her room and we showed the Barnabas portrait my mom painted to her. She liked it a lot.
I met DJ that day, though regretfully didn't have time to talk to her too much. She exclaimed, "Wow, you're tall!" when she saw me. Hahaha! Well, I'm 5.7"... I'm average to the shortest tall you can get.
We sat down on the floor next to the stage because there was no chairs and floor space is better than standing.
It was evident when the cast reunion came on that Johnnie was in a horrible mood. He sat down in the furthest chair away from everyone, looking quite huffy, drinking a cup of coffee. I was thinking about the play we were doing later and how I had to get ready, and how hungry I was, when Johnnie threw a mint at me that landed perfectly in my lap. I was wondering if the sky was falling as I was kind of zoned out at that point when it fell. But then I realized that he had thrown it. He asked us, from behind his microphone, "What time is your show tonight?" as he had known that we were going to do the festival gala thing.
"7." Chelsy replied.
We didn't see him again until later that night as me and my mom left in the middle of the cast reunion panel because it was going over schedule as Jonathan Frid seemed to be on a roll that day, taking more fan questions-- he's lovable, but a little gabby. LOL! But the reason we left was because we still had to sign up for the gala, get our make up on, and my costume and wig for Carolyn Stoddard.
Johnnie wanted us to come outside before the gala thing, and so we did, and he pulled out all these chairs! Hahaha!! He's so funny. Then our pal Dave came out, in delight talking to John Karlen. They ended up getting into a heated discussion/argument about what it was to be a Polack. LOL. He tried to get rid of Dave, but he was unsuccessful. We had to go in at that point and we did our skit, though there were some technical difficulties (grr, always is) it went alright. It was funny.
Johnnie told us we did good, but he still seemed grumpy and moody, so it's best not to cross him too much when he's in that sort of mood. We went in for our bow and that was about all I remember of that night, I rode the elevator with Kathryn Leigh Scott and she's always nice. She asked how the gala went. She was on level 9. Then my parents had the bright idea to go drive to New York in the middle of the night. We sat in traffic at the Holland Tunnel for like an hour. It was ridiculous and stupid.
We got home around 4, because we walked around Times Square.
Day 3-
We went downstairs and got some jewelry at the dealers room, they were really cute little charms with Dark Shadows characters on them. We went to get Kathryn's autograph, and Marie Wallace- we talked to her for a bit, because she's really nice. Also got Lara Parker who has always been cold and unwelcoming, but oh well. I didn't get to see Jerry Lacy which disappointed me. I love him!
For some reason, we ended up going to New York again, I guess because we didn't have banquet tickets or something. We went to eat at the most gourmet restaurant ever-- McDonalds!! woooh! LOL, Sorry. Couldn't resist.
How's this? You don't even get refills on your coke in NYC. What's up with that?
We were driving around endlessly, I thought we were supposed to go to Central Park... I don't know how we ended up in China Town...
Uh...
Friend Angela thankfully called, and said, "Where are you?" and told us she wanted us to come back to hang out later after the feast was over (probably even that disaster of a meal at last year's banquet was better than what we had at that smelly fast-food joint where the population of flies seemed a more numerous number than the customers--YUCK!)
So we could go back to the hotel.
The banquet seemed to be still going on as far as I could tell when we arrived around 9:30 (traffic again). I walked down the hall with mom and came back up it. Wondering when it would be over. "Pssst. Hey." A voice said from the shadows near the empty bar table. I turned around, it was Johnnie. "Hello darling." He gave me a hug and a kiss as he did with my mom. He asked us where we had been and we explained that we went to New York but that it had been sort of a mistake. lol. The crowd began to filter out of the banquet room and a line started forming to get a last minute autograph from Johnnie. I stepped aside with my sister who had also come up, and he says, "Hey, where you going? Stick around a minute." So we lingered outside the line, trying to be inconspicuous. Dave came up thankfully and had a ready conversation about how he had beaten Johnnie with "who was a better pole" with the fact that he could actually speak the language, Johnnie apologized that day though he explained that he kept running into him. He then went on about someone who ended up being on TV who he knew. Johnnie came up as Dave was still continuing his story. Johnnie put his arms around me and my sister and said, "Shut up Dave." Dave continued as if he hadn't heard. "Shut up, shut up, shut up." Johnnie said as Dave rattled on. "This guy just doesn't know when to stop." He then went past Dave and dove his hands into a bucket of ice sitting there and rubbed it over his face. To which we started to laugh. This stopped Dave's conversation. "haha, Johnnie, you're so funny." Dave exclaimed. "What? I'm not crazy, this feels good."
My mom came back up with Suzanne and he invited us to sit down at the now empty banquet room table, flashing some cash at the hotel worker telling him to leave us alone. He barked at Dave to go sit at the other side of the table which was quite mean. lol.
Johnnie then told us that we should go to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and that we were good. "Very relaxed on stage." He said we were sincere and "real" people (...ok :D I'm cool with that.). Then he went on to tell us how he had gotten his agent, who had seen him in the play Winterset. He confessed to us yesterday that he didn't remember any of those scenes he had to do on Dark Shadows, but he seemed to have remembered every line from this play. "Shut up Dave." He suddenly interjected. This made the forgotten Dave laugh on the other side of the table, he apparently didn't mind that Johnnie calls him all sorts of rude names. So anyway, after we chatted for a long while and he showed us his pant pocket which had gotten stained with the sharpie he had forgotten to put the top on. We also took a picture of him and Dave, the two Polacks (as they call themselves). We started teasing him that he looked happier in the picture with Dave than he had with my mom. He looked at it for a moment. "Yeah, I do look kind of gay there." lol.
Chelsy and I also teased him about how he said "Ebay" in one of those audio dramas of Dark Shadows-- he said it so disconnected as if he had no idea what "E...Bay" was. lol!! After our chat on random things, He said he was still on California time and he seemed a little weary. We hugged and all kissed, telling him goodnight. Suzanne also had to go to bed. So we said goodnight to her. Dave also left after that. And Ryan came in looking for us, We then went into the hotel restaurant with our other Fest friends. It was a fun night and we had fun decorating an old picture of Angelique on the back of an old program.
I also had all my friends sign the program so I'd have something to remember them by.
The next day, we were leaving. I had packed up my pet rats who we kind of snuck in (lol. They probably got em anyway) and we were going out to the car, when Johnnie was sitting outside on the bench. "Hey you girls." Not expecting to see him, we came over and set our things down, talking with him for several minutes as he discussed the American Academy of Dramatic Arts some more and told us to look into it. My mom also came out at that point and we showed him our rats. My mom told me to get "the grey one out" (she's actually a blue rat, but whatev) and I took out 'Naomi'. My mom put Naomi on Johnnie and he watched with interest as she crawled over him. lol!!
We had to go shortly after, but we got to bid him another goodbye.
So that was my festival. Haha!
-
we did our skit, though there were some technical difficulties (grr, always is) it went alright. It was funny.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfW9CPw1-pA&annotation_id=annotation_465732&feature=i
Bobubas -- Jason
Christy -- Liz
Evan Hanley -- Minister, Willie
Chelsy -- Vicki
JosettebyCandlelight -- Maggie/Josette
nightshadows342 -- Carolyn
Selby_D._Pearson -- video
"Oh woe are we, trapped in TV" lol
-
My goodness! What a time you had with Old Man Karlen! To think what a shabby time I had with him, compared to yours!
I am fortunate to have spent time with Pop at Sleepy Hollow and at some dive diner where JK called me a Hilbilly just because I put ketchup on my eggs. Mercy me, how fortunate you are to have the old man take a liken to you, if this is so.
I have had the great opportunity to speak with John on several occassions; he was often interested in what Niki and I were cooking on the weekend. Niki had a plaque made for John regarding his service in the Korean War. The plaque is sitting in Aiken SC and John is very proud of it. I still hear from John from time to time. Niki adored him, as he did her. The last time we saw JK, we went for a walk with him through Brooklyn. My angel is passed now. I take geat pride that John knew that Niki was his greatest fan.
-
These are all great reviews of the fest! I love reading about everyone's experiences and what memories they brought back with them. I also adore John Karlan and a few years back in Calif. when the fest was near Disneyland I got a chance to have some one on one talk time with him when he joined me for breakfast. Since he invited himself, how could I resist!! He was simply charming and sat with me about an hour chatting about NYC mostly and we talked a little about Korea since my dad was also in the war. Oh, and he ate a piece of my toast. [ghost_grin]
-
Niki had a plaque made for John regarding his service in the Korean War. The plaque is sitting in Aiken SC and John is very proud of it. I still hear from John from time to time. Niki adored him, as he did her. The last time we saw JK, we went for a walk with him through Brooklyn. My angel is passed now. I take great pride that John knew that Niki was his greatest fan.
Aw, That's such a sweet story about Niki. That sounds like fun, he's always got something interesting to say. I'm really not sure why he likes us so much, he says we're "different"- "I've never met anyone like you guys." ha!
Johnnie is always eating other people's food, he drank someone's iced-tea from the festival table saying, "I don't care if someone spit in this, I'm thirsty." Last year he made me laugh because he kept presenting me and my sister with chocolates from the room that were left on the pillow... then he said, "Here, take this. There's too many in here." he gave me all these shampoo bottles that were on the counter. The day after that, he exclaimed, "The maid came in and replaced all of them! It's like they were never gone!"
-
Thanks so much for that wonderful report! What a great time you had with JK! He seems like a real kick!
-
Glad you had such a wonderful time!
-
This was hilarious. Thanks for posting the link.
nancy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfW9CPw1-pA&annotation_id=annotation_465732&feature=i
-
Yes! It's such a silly play!
It was even made more funny by the fact that Ryan (playing Willie) forgot his line, because John Karlen had announced that he knew all his lines to the crowd that very same day!