Originally posted by Steve on February 21, 2002 at 06:54:44:
In Reply to: Great episode, BUT..... posted by kuanyin on February 20, 2002 at 16:19:01:
The reason Sam Hall gave for why the "Grayson solo" happened was that Dan Curtis did not want to use more than X number of actors per week total and because of having too many actors in other episodes around that time, he wanted to do at least one show with as few actors as possible.
Since they needed practically the entire cast for the seance episode which happened the same week as this, I buy Sam's explanation, disingenuous though it may appear. It is certainly true that after the very early weeks of DS, they never seem to have more than 7 actors in one day's show. I think there was an episode in the late Summer or early Fall of 1968, however, that had 9. Others who are more up on the statistics of the show than I would know this.
Since Grayson had been such a hit in "The Human Voice," which she did perform solo, and since at various times in her career she repeatedly did long solo pieces letter-perfect as a tour de force, I'm assuming that Sam thought it might be fun to have her do something like this as part of the storyline where Barnabas is trying to drive her out of her mind. It certainly does seem like nothing else seen on the television of the time!
As for Grayson's relationship with other cast members--she was friendly off the set with Joan Bennett, Nancy Barrett, Selby, Thayer David (the woman he married, Valerie French, was a friend of G's), Alexandra ... I could lengthen the list but I think I've made my point. She was a woman of unusual energies who clearly could be "high maintenance" as a friend. She was not one to refrain from speaking her mind if she felt it was warranted.
Steve
