Gorgeous work on the '04 pilot background for July.

Best, G.

MB, that playlist is really way out of control now.  I haven't even clocked just how many hours of music are on there at this point.  I just added a couple of Dusty Springfield tracks earlier today.  That particular playlist requires occasional cleanup because inevitably, certain videos get deleted off the site due to whatever.

I did think the lead organist looked a bit like Buzz.  Good catch!  I didn't mention that because I figured folks on here probably do question my sanity at this point...

cheers, G.

Fans,

I discovered this video a few months ago and it's become one of my favorites.  I think the date is early 1969. Vanilla Fudge had a thing going on at this time of doing unlikely covers that they turned into gyrating, histrionic performances in stratospherically high camp.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFabNBveHOk&list=PLkKN4d4hugdPuC5Fqbsr_xyehJzIwkZSF&index=107

Not only do I strongly suspect these boys were huge DS fans, I'm pretty sure the one guitarist (wearing what looks like a matador's jacket) is sporting Buzz Hackett's wig here.  Maybe he bought it when they knew Cassandra had done her last scene--I've always suspected she had Buzz's former hairpiece when she arrived at the Great House...

Happy Sunday!

G.

Grayson's role on the GIRL FROM UNCLE episode isn't all that noteworthy.  But she appears in the early scenes in a white lab coat and it's kind of uncanny since she was cast as Dr. H just a few months later.  And she's in a lot of shots in the later part and has a couple of good lines.  The Harlan Ellison script was a much better part for her.

The ones I desperately wish would show up are "Back to Back" with Shelley Winters and Grayson as an imperious resort manager on the BOB HOPE CHRYSLER THEATER of '65, and Grayson's episode of the legendary Peter Falk series TRIALS OF O'BRIEN in '66.  It's unclear to me whether either of those still exist in the respective studio vaults since there has been no sign of either in many years.

G.

Fans, For any interest it may have for some of you, this listing was posted on social media last Tuesday, but I just saw it today.  The seller address was given as Calabasas, California.  I don't know if the puppet sold but there are some collectors out there with a lot of money to throw around, so who knows.

The version of the listing I saw had what might have been a computer generated image of a bat puppet.  It obviously wasn't the actual object.

G.

The listing (I have not corrected any typos or other errors):

Dark Shadows hero Bill Baird Vampire Bat puppet also used in the feature film House of Dark Shadows.(ABC TV, 1966-1971) Vintage original articulated Vampire bat marionette puppet created by legendary puppeteer Bill Baird for the Dan Curtis-produced early Horror/Soap Opera. Constructed of wooden components, metal wing armature hinged at shoulder and elbow joints and covered with finely stitched black chamois material, counter-weighted body and head painted flat black, with green sequin eyes affixed, and with screw eyelets at 6-strategic points for marionette stringing to be operated by the attached original wooden operating cross. The bat measures approx. 23 in. from extended wing tip to wing tip, with a 6.5 in. long body. The operating controller measures 11 x 3.75 in. Created by Bill Baird, master puppeteer also responsible for fabricating and operating the marionettes in “The Lonely Goatherd” puppet show in The Sound of Music. The bat puppet was used extensively from its debut in Episode 330: that aired September 29, 1967, as “Barnabas” (Jonathan Frid), in bat form, taunts “David Collins” (David Henesy) in his bedroom. The bat also appears in what is considered the most important episode of the series, Episode 405: aired Jan. 12, 1968 - Barnabas’ origin story, when he is cursed by the witch, “Angelique” (Lara Parker), causing him to first become a Vampire. The bat continued to be featured in many episodes including, but not limited to: Episode 341: aired Oct. 16, 1967 - when “Dr. Woodard” (Robert Gerringer) dies, Episode 409: aired Jan. 18, 1968 - when Barnabas dies in a 1795 flashback, Episode 411: aired Jan. 22, 1968 - when Barnabas rises as a Vampire, Episode 423: aired Feb. 7, 1968 - when Barnabas kills “Suki Forbes” (Jane Draper), Episode 535: aired July 12 1968 – when Barnabas has the dream curse, Episode 702: aired March 4 1969 – in flashback to 1897 when “Magda Rakoski” (Grayson Hall) realizes the Bat and the Vampire are one and same, Episode 703: aired March 5 1969 - when Magda again see Barnabas in the form of the bat. The bat puppet also appears in the final scenes of the feature film spin-off, House of Dark Shadows (MGM, 1970) directed by Dan Curtis. This one-of-a-kind, screen used prop represents horror’s earliest emergence in mainstream TV pop culture, which paved the way for many wildly popular horror-themed series of today. Provenance: Sold by the Baird family at The Greenwich Auction Room, Ltd., N.Y. September 19, 1987, lot 43. Comes with a signed letter of authenticity by Peter B. Baird on “Bill Baird’s Marionettes” stationery. In vintage fine condition. $30,000 - $50,000

Sam Irvin gives an extraordinary level of detail about the casting--pages on this.  Usually it's just summed up in a few sentences, but what he wrote provides a fascinatingly detailed look into how casting on a higher-budget project worked back in the early 1970s. 

By an odd coincidence, to venture even further into OT territory, yesterday I discovered that Curtis Harrington's autobiography Nice guys don't work in Hollywood was posthumously published four years ago.  Harrington did a number of TV films, including The Cat Creature which again had a DS quality to it for me, particularly Gale Sondergaard's performance as eccentric occult shopkeeper Hester Black.  Sounds like more great summer reading.

G.

Happy 51 DS!

I didn't even hear about the show until the early summer of 1968, which was when I started watching.

G.