DARK SHADOWS FORUMS
General Discussions => Current Talk Archive => Current Talk '25 I => Current Talk '12 II => Topic started by: Ronny G on November 29, 2012, 02:44:36 AM
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I saw this article on ebay. Back in the 1990s, Anthony George was interviewed by some fanzine called, TV Collector.
Someone is selling it on ebay and they included a partial scan of the article in their listing.
I have never read Anthony George talking about his time on DS, so this is new information for me.
I laughed at how he says he kept ignoring requests from the DS fest.
Sorry its not the whole article, but there is a lot of good stuff to read.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/TV-COLLECTOR-CAMP-RUNAMUCK-ARTICLE-EP-GUIDE-MAUREEN-McCORMICK-ANTHONY-GEORGE-/150946882468?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&ssPageName=RSS:B:SHOP:US:101&hash=item232522a3a4&nma=true&si=yqI%2Bi%2FVc3zCEil7jJzYEH%2Fumx2Q%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557 (http://www.ebay.com/itm/TV-COLLECTOR-CAMP-RUNAMUCK-ARTICLE-EP-GUIDE-MAUREEN-McCORMICK-ANTHONY-GEORGE-/150946882468?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&ssPageName=RSS:B:SHOP:US:101&hash=item232522a3a4&nma=true&si=yqI%2Bi%2FVc3zCEil7jJzYEH%2Fumx2Q%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557)
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Interesting Joan Bennett details. Thanx for posting this. Also got a kick out of seeing Marilyn Michaels and Lillian Roth.
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Very cool article, Ronny G. Thank you so much for sharing it. Interesting insights into Mr. George, Joan Bennett and DC.
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The link to the seller's page (a sold item) now displays instead of the image. [Scroll to the listing and click the 3rd thumbnail, then use mouse to zoom.] However, if the lister gave permission for her scan to appear on this site, please just let a mod know and the image will be restored to the main topic.
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Wow, some really interesting comments in there! Nice find!
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Oops! I didn't mean to violate any rules by posting the image from the ebay site.
I just went ahead and typed out the part of Anthony's comments about Dark Shadows just in case the image gets removed from ebay.
Anthony George: I did the original Dark Shadows. I was the romantic lead in that. I hated it. I
couldn't have hated anything more. And they, to this day, have these festivals
and they keep sending me these booklets: Please write down certain things. And
I've never responded.
When they asked me to do it, I had done the national company of Funny Girl and Jule Stein
told me that he had composed a musical called Hallelujah Baby and wanted me to audition for
it. And he said, "You know, you really should be in New York because you'd be
very good for a lot of leading man things for musicals." So I moved to New York
and was sort of talked into doing Dark Shadows.
Dan Curtis asked me to replace Mitch Ryan and I said, "Well, I don't want to
do a soap opera but I'll tell you what; I would love to learn to direct these, and
if you'll let me direct eventually, I will play the part."
He said, "Fine, okay," so I did a bunch of them and I kept going to him and say-
ing, "When are you gonna let me go into the control room and learn? When am I
gonna participate?" And he started making excuses like,
"Uh, you don't want to work with four cameras and all those cables and all
that." So I got a little angry. I'd never signed a contract. While I was
there I got called by the producers of another production of Funny Girl to come to
Disneyland to do it in a big theater in the round with Mimi Hines for two weeks.
So l went to Dan Curtis and I said, "I'm leaving for three weeks; l'm gonna do
Funny Girl. And he said, "You can't do that we'd have to change the whole story
line." I said, "Well, I haven't got a contract. You know, you have not let me
direct. And they're offering me a lot of money and I'm gonna go.
He said, "Well, when you come back l want a contract." So I sorta grinned and
left. And when I came back they had changed the story line: all of us were
playing our generations before, and they were all in these costumes.
And I remember, Joan Bennett couldn't remember lines. She would hire a man
for the whole weekend to help her with the lines for the next show. And when
she would get on camera she'd start to shake. And when it was over with she'd
say, "You know, I worked my butt off learning these lines and the moment it's
over I don't remember one line. I could never say them again." She says, "This is
agony for me to do this."
In any case, the experience was not a pleasant one for me. Just weeks later I
received another call. They asked me to do Funny Girl for six months at the Riv-
iera in Las Vegas, for quite a lot of money. And so, I went to the studio and first
of all I told Joan, "I'm gonna leave." And she said, "Oh my God! Why don't
you tell Dan in my dressing room!!!" I said no. So I called him up and said.
"I've got something to talk to you about. You wanna come to the set? And he
came up and he said, "Don't tell me." l said, "Yeah, I'm leaving. I'm gonna go
to Las Vegas. Would you turn that down? He said, "Yes, l would. You're
committed to this."
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It's really interesting that he says he didn't have a contract because in several other interviews he's said that he had a six month contract. [snow_undecided]
But be that as it may, it's been no secret that he hated his time on the show. He considered working on DS as a huge comedown from working on TV in primetime. (But then back then many in the industry considered working on a soap as scraping the bottom of the barrel. [snow_rolleyes]) And the main reason he agreed to do DS was in the hope of reviving his career, which had been lagging since the cancellation of his primetime series Checkmate.
And as for his comments about DC, well, it's also been no secret that he didn't get along with DC.
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Considering that he spent the next couple of decades working in daytime TV, I wonder if his attitude changed any.
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Thats an interesting article. So, Burke was not meant to be written out after all and neither Jeremiah.
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That was fascinating, and the information was new to me. I wouldn't be surprised if it was true that Tony George did not have a contract because nearly all the actors on DS seemed to work without contracts.
This does explain why Burke dropped out of sight so abruptly in 1967 and why "ghost of Jeremiah" wound up being played by that other actor--Timothy something or other (a really sweet guy, apparently).
I do feel that George exaggerates Joan Bennett's difficulty learning lines. I do remember Nancy Barrett telling me, when I asked about Joan, how she always remembered Joan periodically taking her hand and the terror in Joan's eyes because she had "dried"--forgotten her lines for a flash. I don't believe Joan was able to use the TelePrompTer due to her wearing glasses in real life but they may have written her lines in huge letters on boards to help her--this was done for Jonathan as well.
Thanks for a really fascinating read!
Steve
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I know that I've spotted Joan at least trying to use the teleprompter in early episodes.
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She's still doing it -- a lot. Poor dear...
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[laughing4]
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Come to think, I remember times when she'd look at the prompter for a long time. In one conversation with Vicki, she hardly looked at her at all while talking to her. The petrification didn't show, though.
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Really interesting. It's so awesome to hear voices that are different from the ones we are used to. And anytime I get to read anything about Joan, I am happy.