DARK SHADOWS FORUMS
General Discussions => Current Talk Archive => Current Talk '24 I => Current Talk '08 I => Topic started by: michael c on May 16, 2008, 09:00:58 PM
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i was watching some early 1968 episodes.
there was a scene in which maggie evans comes to collinwood to see vicki and is greeted at the door by the new mrs.roger collins...who is of course duly stunned by miss evans' resemblance to her former mistress.
so anyways maggie enters the foyer(daintily removing white kid gloves mind you!),is briefly made uncomfortable by cassandra's incessant staring(you know that look),is then joined by vicki and the two retreat to the drawing room.cut to commercial...
when we return vicki is pouring tea.she inquires to a distracted maggie if she'd like "lemon or cream?" with her tea.
because,you know,here are these two refined young ladies with bows in their hair sipping cream tea.one of whom had quite recently spent several weeks enslaved by a vampire,the other sent two hundred years into the past where she was hanged for witchcraft,meanwhile there's a witch skulking around just outside the drawing room doors who wants to drive them both insane with a dream.
this scene reminded me of why i love this show.dan curtis and the writers made a wise move in tethering all of this insanity to the day-to-day lives of an upper class family and their friends and servants.it's what makes it so distinctive.it could have easily devolved into a 'monster show'(and it sometimes came close)but with scenes like this it comes very close to the top without ever truly going over it.
"lemon or cream miss evans?" "cream and thank you miss winters." love it!
i also was paying some attention to the shoes of all three ladies during this exchange.as usual it was a low,squat heel with a squared-off toe.the kind of shoe that makes some here seeth with rage(wink*midnite).but are they really that bad?i wasn't around so the fashions hold a certain novelty for me but are the shoes really that ugly?
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"lemon or cream miss evans?" "cream and thank you miss winters." love it!
It could almost come out of a Jane Austen novel. And as we all know, without tea we're truly savages. [ghost_grin]
I actually prefer milk in my tea - but that's the englishman in me...
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Did Maggie ever go back to working at the coffeeshop after the fuss about her kidnapping died down? Maybe it felt pretty good to her to be served by somebody else.
As for the shoes...unlike Midnite, I'm OK with squat heels. High heels look uncomfortable, and flats aren't flattering to the legs. I myself wear flats - when I can't get away with running shoes, that is - because even low heels are too much trouble. Except at weddings.
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i also was paying some attention to the shoes of all three ladies during this exchange.as usual it was a low,squat heel with a squared-off toe.the kind of shoe that makes some here seeth with rage(wink*midnite).but are they really that bad?i wasn't around so the fashions hold a certain novelty for me but are the shoes really that ugly?
Well, I wouldn't have been caught dead in Vicki's shoes.
I remember the square toes and chunky heels being fashionable, and I like Maggie's shoes in that scene-- shiny with a slightly higher heel and very stylish for 1968. The plain white was conservative compared to the bright colors and adornments we wore back then, but how often were we dropping by the mansion for tea? If you were like me, not too often. Okay, never.
I grew up in a beach town so we also wore sandals a lot.
Granted, Vicki didn't wear loud colors, but if she had to wear plain pumps, how about red patents with that navy dress, or a combination of red and blue? Anything but black, and a heel that's not less than an inch, please. But my guess is the goal was to avoid unwanted attention as much as possible, as Alexandra occasionally had the misfortune of standing with legs apart. Sorry.
I can't remember Cassandra's shoes in that scene.
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Can you imagine running across the sets in heals?? I personally can't wear high heels.
I am a waffle stompers and sketters or clogs.
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I guess it is different of Vicki to be pouring tea, instead of brandy or burbon.
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And besides, it's questionable whether straight brandy and lemon would go all that well together. [sour]
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Lemon curry?
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It would be so appropriate as a female guest to be served tea or coffee in the drawing room. I'm sure Vicki was called upon to serve tea to the guests on occasion and she probably felt special being asked to do so by Liz. [ghost_happy]
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Granted, Vicki didn't wear loud colors, but if she had to wear plain pumps, how about red patents with that navy dress, or a combination of red and blue?
If you believe Carson on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, red shoes are for children and whores. I like to point that out to my mother and my sister whenever they wear them. [ghost_cheesy]
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Umm - should you really be publicly admitting that your mother and sister are whores? [ghost_huh]
(Well, IF we believe Carson. [ghost_cheesy])
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It would be so appropriate as a female guest to be served tea or coffee in the drawing room. I'm sure Vicki was called upon to serve tea to the guests on occasion and she probably felt special being asked to do so by Liz. [ghost_happy]
as outrageous as the show became plotwise it was nothing if not always observant of the social niceties.
i always like scenes between alexandra and kathryn.they seemed like real friends.
back to those shoes...it was invariably that squat heel.the show's costumers ignored some of the more outre' fashions of the late 1960's like textured stockings and white 'go-go' boots.it was always a sheer worn with that shoe.in this way the girls were a bit 'square'.
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in this way the girls were a bit 'square'.
Or one could simply look at it as they were always classically attired as opposed to falling for the latest fashion craze. [ghost_wink]
(And at least Maggie had the good sense to only wear that quilted thing in the privacy of her cottage. [ghost_grin])
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so true mysterious...
i've always been appreciative of the show's costuming(tweed suits,ugly shoes and all).as i opened this post that maggie arrived in kid gloves was so creamy.
but i do think that as an afternoon drama,with advertisers of such housewife friendly products as toothpaste and laundry detergent,the producers made a decision to attire the girls like proper young ladies rather than 'hippies' or members of the counter culture percolating at the time.
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Umm - should you really be publicly admitting that your mother and sister are whores? [ghost_huh]
(Well, IF we believe Carson. [ghost_cheesy])
If the shoe fits . . . . People who can't take as well as dish out sarcastic humor and insults have no place in our family.[ghost_wink]
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People who can't take as well as dish out sarcastic humor and insults have no place in our family.[ghost_wink]
As well it should be. [wink2]
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Since you're discussing the fashion highs (and lows) of the young women on Dark Shadows, I'd like to acknowledge the "rakish" fashion style of Blue Whale bartender Bob Rooney; Bob looked absolutely fabulous in his trademark L.L. Bean flannel shirts, imho. I particularly admire Bob's black and green Black Watch tartan flannel shirt, the epitome of down east sartorial splendor, and that shirt also brings out the bright (or bloodshot?) luster in Bob's limpid Irish eyes!
And after having seen Vicki and Maggie enjoying a sedate afternoon tea at Collinwood, wouldn't you also have enjoyed seeing Jason McGuire and Jason's new buddy, Bob Rooney, enjoying a few shots of Johnnie Walker Black in the drawing room of Collinwood, and "regaling" everyone in the great house with a rousing rendition of "If You're Irish, Come Into the Parlor"? [beer] [banana] [banana2]
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[thumbleft]
I would have loved to see that Bob. I think you should round out the guest
list though. At least invite Sam Evans.
[drunk22]
[a2a3]
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Julianka7,
Ah, yes, the great Sam Evans or as Sam was probably known at the Blue Whale as:
"The Veritable Bottomless Pit!" [ghost_rolleyes] [ghost_grin]
Bob the Bartender, confirmed O'Doul's imbiber! [ghost_wink]
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but i do think that as an afternoon drama,with advertisers of such housewife friendly products as toothpaste and laundry detergent,the producers made a decision to attire the girls like proper young ladies rather than 'hippies' or members of the counter culture percolating at the time.
True. Plus (and we've gotten into this in the past with why Barnabas would never have been seen wearing a leisure suit ([yikes]) and why David would never have been seen wearing jeans, a T-shirt, and/or sneakers), the Collinses breeding would have dictated that they be "properly" attired at all times (well, except in extremely rare instances, like when Carolyn was rebelling against Liz because of Jason- but even she was quick to fall back into the fold once that was all settled). And by extension Vicki would have been expected to dress similarly. And Maggie would have known what sort of attire was expected of her when paying a social visit to the mansion. None of them would have been parading around Collinwood as if it was Haight-Ashbury - or even Carnaby Street. [ghost_grin] (David's nehru jacket was about as wild as we were ever likely to see - but note that we saw it once and never again. [ghost_wink])
Another thing to probably consider is that all soap towns during DS' run tended to be on the conservative side with families, even the not so well-to-do ones, being set in their ways. Anyone showing up in any one of them looking like they belonged in Haight-Ashbury would have been run out of town on a rail! [ghost_cheesy]
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(David's nehru jacket was about as wild as we were ever likely to see - but note that we saw it once and never again. [ghost_wink])
Another thing to probably consider is that all soap towns during DS' run tended to be on the conservative side with families, even the not so well-to-do ones, being set in their ways. Anyone showing up in any one of them looking like they belonged in Haight-Ashbury would have been run out of town on a rail! [ghost_cheesy]
Sebastian Shaw looked like he stepped right out of Haight-Ashbury, and came dressed that way to Collinwood.
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Well, the distinction with Sebastian was that he was a pyschic - someone from the fringes of "accepted society" - and some small leeway (though not much) would have been granted to the "eccentric" who could supposedly provide a valuable service - and that service would be the only reason Sebastian's mode of dress would be tolerated. [ghost_wink] But honestly, if one looks at what people really wore (or didn't wear) at Haight-Ashbury, as opposed to what TV shows depicted them as wearing, Sebastian's "threads" were conservative by comparison - he was dressed as an establishment version of anti-establishment. No doubt the real anti-establishment got a good laugh from his clothes - particularly his accessories - some of which probably looked to many in the audience like they were better suited for a science fiction character. [ghost_cheesy]
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Pennock looked Beyond Super Groovy in those tight, TIGHT leather trousers... Go Not, Happy Day!
I seem to recall that when Jeb first showed up I (then age 11) thought "he's supposed to be a hippie, but they gave him totally the wrong clothes."
G.
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"he's supposed to be a hippie, but they gave him totally the wrong clothes."
Exactly! [ghost_wink]
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You know, being hippie-ish was pretty unacceptable in most places, not just TV... that's what all those family arguments were about... well, that and the war.