DARK SHADOWS FORUMS
General Discussions => Current Talk Archive => Current Talk '26 I => Current Talk '12 I => Topic started by: Ronny G on February 17, 2012, 05:30:51 AM
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I finally purchased the DS DVD Volume 26, and I was blown away by the special features.
I thought the Lara Parker Dress Rehearsal footage was fascinating.
Has anyone ever commented on this before. I did a search, but couldn't come up with anything.
Anyway, for those that haven't seen it, the rehearsal was from the episode in parallel time where Lara plays dual roles: Angelique and Alexis, where they switch places in the mausoleum. It was a very complicated scene to set up because Lara was playing opposite herself and they had to shoot it 2 times: once with Lara as Alexia, and once with Lara as Angelique, then they would superimpose or merge the two together.
Lara was playing her scene as Alexis first, and she had to pause every few moments to give Angelique time to say her lines, and you could see Lara getting frustrated with the teleprompter moving to fast. Well, she actually tells the director that the prompter is moving 3 times faster than she would say her lines.
Then, later she flubs her lines, and after they yell, cut! you can see her mouth the words, "I messed it up."
Next, the crew helps her climb into her coffin, and she is ready to go with the scene, but then they
announce over the loudspeaker to break for lunch, and you can see her throw her hands up in the air.
The footage last about 11 minutes.
I would like to know where this footage came from, and if there is more rehearsal footage out there.
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I tend to doubt that there is more rehearsal footage out there. MPI and DCP are aware of the enormous selling potential of anything connected with this show. I'm feel confident that they would have put any available stuff on the Bloopers and Treasures or some other release. I am hoping very hard that I am incorrect and that more will surface later. We are fortunate with DS. We have the entire series available and are wishing for technical "backstage" stuff. GH or AMC fans would kill for a 5 year run of their show from the very beginning.
A thought just occurred to me. Episode 191, the climax of the '67 Laura story had some audio only footage of Lela Swift directing the cast. This was at the end of the episode on the tape that was shown at one of the early Festivals. It ran for a few minutes and a friend had an audio tape of it. I don't know if I ever got him to send it to me. We heard it again on his cassette recorder at the airport. There might very well be more of this type of stuff. The audio was followed by another version of the climax scene. MPI might be unaware that we would be interested in this type of thing.
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The clip is on You Tube and I've seen it discussed there. Some rather nasty comments about Lara.
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The rehearsal footage was found in the Worldvision archives on a tape marked "Dark Shadows – not for broadcast". It's the only example of pre-taping on the show that is known to have survived.
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I remember discussing this footage when I first saw it. I can't recall when or what thread. I did think it was fascinating. It underlined just how difficult the conditions could be for the actors (to me). I also was intrigued to hear Lara speaking with her own Souhern accent when she wasn't acting.
Would love to hear the audio of Lela directing during the Laura '67 storyline. It might be on one of the MPI discs somewhere. They did have a lot of special features on those discs.
If anyone knows more about the availability of this audio clip or can direct me to which of the DVDs has it, I would love to hear about it.
G.
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I also was intrigued to hear Lara speaking with her own Souhern accent when she wasn't acting.
Back when DS was still in production, Lara came to my home town in north central Michigan to appear in Neil Simon's Star Spangled Girl. She had a southern accent in that play, although I have no idea how much of it was her "natural" speaking style. I spoke with her a little bit after the performance I attended, but I really can't recall at all how much of an accent she had then! When I get the DS complete set (can't wait!) then I'll have to look for this footage and see how well it jogs my memory.
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Is that the play that she did with Dirk Benedict, who went on to do Battlestar Galactica?
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No, it wasn't him. I can't remember his name now, but he had been either a TV game show host or star of a short-lived sitcom, and was well-known to TV addicts in the 1960s... But I think you got the first name close: I think his first name may have been "Dick" (I just scanned through a list of game show hosts on Wikipedia, but didn't find him). Lara Parker was such a delight, very warm and friendly. I was enthralled. The other guy was extremely aloof, and hardly made eye contact (and didn't say a word) when he signed my program.
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Just curious. I know they did a play together back in the '70's. He was still going by his real name then--Dirk Niewoehner.