DARK SHADOWS FORUMS
General Discussions => Current Talk Archive => Current Talk '24 I => Current Talk '16 II => Topic started by: Patti Feinberg on August 14, 2016, 04:58:31 AM
-
Now, I'm sure I've heard that of all the actors on DS, Vicki's was the most used for opening voice overs.
I'm watching from the beginning; it ALWAYS starts, "My name is V.W. The XXXX of the XXX....".
When will she stop saying "My name is Victoria Winters"?
(It's already gotten on my nerves...)
Patti
-
I think the story was supposed to be told from Vicki's point of view and she would start the narration and it would go on into what was happening, so this continues for a long time. I don't remember when it switched to various people doing it. I know it was only Vicki for a while during what we would consider the "regular" story starting with the arrival of Barnabas, so obviously it would be all of the early episodes plus a lot of those later ones.
-
alexandra speaks her signature line for the last time in episode 274. i believe nancy barrett is the first actress to speak the narration after that.
for a long time after the voiceover is rotated between the actresses and, at some time around 1969, the men finally speak it all well.
alexandra tops out at 387 readings. jonathan only did 12. for some reason the producers didn't want "barnabas" doing the opening.
-
In one of the KLS books, she stated that (after the narration duties went to others besides Alexandra) they didn't want the narration to be delivered by an actor who would appear in the opening scene. This is not always true and sometimes the identity of the narrator spoiled a surprise return of an actor to the program.
The My name is Victoria Winters apparently came to an end after the union told DC that Alexandra would have to paid for delivering the narration even if she didn't appear in the episode otherwise. 💰 💰 💰
-
i always thought it was interesting that when KLS did the opening she spoke in her "real" voice but for "Maggie" she used a slightly higher, more girlish pitch.
at first i didn't even recognize who was speaking when she started doing them.
-
The late David Ford possessed a very deep, resonant speaking voice. And, in addition to appearing on DS as both Sam Evans and Andre DuPre, Mr. Ford did voice-overs on many radio and television commercials.
Yet, I don't believe that Mr. Ford did all that many of the opening voice-overs on DS (perhaps 10 or so). I'm surprised that he did not do more on the show.
Then again, I'm disappointed that actor Bob O'Connell did not get to do any opening voice-overs on DS. (Although having an actor with such a pronounced NYC accent do an opening voice-over for a New England-based television show might have been "unique," to say the least!) [ghost_grin]
-
Ford did not do any voiceovers on DS...
he left the series in 68 before the actors began reciting them.
-
I think that Thayer David used his normal voice when he did the narration, as opposed to the somewhat more refined voice that he used as Professor Stokes. In any event, during an extended flashback, it was a treat to hear the familiar voice of Thayer or Grayson or Nancy instead of the character voices they had adopted.
-
KLS had a list of all of the DS actors who had done voice-overs on the show in one of her books. I thought that David Ford had done a couple of them. Oops! My mistake. [ghost_grin]
Didn't David Henesy do a couple of voice-overs during the latter part of DS? Imagine if Dan Curtis had gotten Vincent Price or John Carradine to do some "guest" voice-over openings on DS? [ghost_smiley]
-
Young Master Henesy did indeed do a few voice overs in 1970. Even the Fridster got to do the occasional one.
-
according to The Almanac Henesey did only 3. it doesn't say when but, as you suggest, i would imagine it was towards the end when he no longer had a "child like" voice...
as can be expected Alexandra, Grayson, Nancy, Joan, KLS and Lara did by far the most. With Clarice clocking in at a respectable 23 voiceovers.
-
KLS had a list of all of the DS actors who had done voice-overs on the show in one of her books. I thought that David Ford had done a couple of them. Oops! My mistake. [ghost_grin]
We all have occasional lapses when it comes to faulty memories, so no biggie, Bob. [ghost_nowink] In this case Ford isn't on that list and he shouldn't be - but by no means does that mean that the PomPress books are always accurate. Far from it! In fact, there are way too many huge gaffs in too many of them!! [ghost_blink]
And speaking of the voiceovers, I was just looking at the list and I was surprised to see (well, IF all the counts are accurate) that of the actors who would be considered major characters in their storylines, Chris Bernau did the fewest, only one. Some of the day players actually did more.
-
MB,
Yes, in one of the books, Thayer David's home state is listed as Maryland. And, yet, on the IMDB site, Mr. David's home state is listed as Massachusetts.
Bob
-
Maryland, Massachusetts, Maine - aren't all the "Ma" states interchangeable? No? Oh. Well, PomPress' bad!! [ghost_wink]
-
Did you read "Return to Collinwood"? And, if so, did you enjoy it?
-
Did you read "Return to Collinwood"? And, if so, did you enjoy it?
I haven't read the whole thing. I read the section on the '04 WB pilot and Darren Gross' DS movies article, and I enjoyed both of them. But when I went back to start reading the book from the beginning and found several errors in just the first 8 pages (the "Five Decades Of Dark Shadows" section), that soured me on reading more. But I'm sure I'll get back to it one day... And supposedly, after attention was called to them, those error were going to be corrected in the second printing - but I've never seen a second printing copy, so who knows...
Mainly I just buy the PomPress books because they all contain never before published photos. As any sort of a definitive info source, most are sadly lacking, which is sad.
-
The pictures are always the major asset. I was less than thrilled that a lot of the material had been recycled from earlier books. I also did not care for the tone of the piece on the 2004 pilot. The other sections were somewhat more objective but someone's distaste for the pilot was much too obvious.
-
I enjoyed reading KLS' account of appearing in the DS film along with Jonathan Frid, Lara Parker and David Selby. However, it was sad to learn that Mr. Frid had such difficulty in making the flight over to England and in getting around on the film set.
When I saw the film, I was disappointed that Mr. Frid did not have a longer scene (and conversation) with Johnny Depp. Although, after reading the chapter on the Tim Burton DS film, I can understand why Mr. Frid's scene with Johnny Depp was so short. As a man well into his eighties, Mr. Frid performed admirably in his brief cameo scene.
I had the great honor of saying hello to Mr. Frid at the NYC DS Festival in 1988. As lifelong DS fans, we will always revere this fine actor and gentleman.
-
I was less than thrilled that a lot of the material had been recycled from earlier books.
See, I haven't read most of the book yet. That really gives me something to look forward to! ... Uh, NOT!! [ghost_rolleyes]
I also did not care for the tone of the piece on the 2004 pilot. The other sections were somewhat more objective but someone's distaste for the pilot was much too obvious.
Well, I gleaned the facts and ignored the opinions. [ghost_wink]
By far the best article on the '04 pilot is the one Darren Gross wrote for Fangoria #239.
I enjoyed reading KLS' account of appearing in the DS film along with Jonathan Frid, Lara Parker and David Selby.
As much as I enjoy the Depp/DS film, I haven't read all of that yet. But then, I haven't even gotten around to watching all the extras on the film's Blu-ray, so...
But getting back on topic to the subject of the voiceovers, I always liked it when AM did the "My name is Victoria Winters..." voiceovers because it always kept Vicki front and center. Sure it was nice for the other actors to have their shots at them, but it seems to me that dropping those was yet one more way that Vicki became marginalized... Not that DC gave a damn how it affected the storytelling - not when he was saving his bottom line by not having to pay AM when she wasn't in an ep.
-
It's too bad that AM did not come back as Vicky Winters (Bradford?) on the show. AM could have resumed her memorable voice-over openings. (And maybe we all would have finally learned who VW's parents were.)
-
i haven't pulled out RTC in a long time but as i recall there was A LOT of recycled material...
in terms of a tie in the with Depp/Burton film i think Scott was taken aback by the hostility directed at it and the book did not do nearly as well as she had expected. i recall her "defending" the film left and right at the time of the book's printing.
she's still got truckloads she's trying to get rid of. her website always has "deals" on it and she had stacks at the fest this year. [ghost_rolleyes]
-
RTC has more to offer than the Depp/DS film. If people who don't like that film are ignoring it on that basis, they may be doing themselves a disservice, at least so far as the photos go. I don't actually remember if there's much new relating to the original series (and I'm too lazy at the moment to check), so if that's all someone is interested in, there may not be much to recommend it. But there are some great new photos from hoDS, NoDS, the '91 series, and the '04 pilot. Though with that in mind, I suppose it might be that the book would appeal more to people who are fans of several versions of DS rather than just one...
-
I don't recall there being any new material related to the original series, other than maybe a picture or two. But it was at least the third time that her scrapbook memories have been printed. The only edit that I ever recall being made (not sure if it's done in RTC for the first time) is a referral to Ben Martin as her first husband.
-
OMG, you mean Scrapbook Memories is trotted out AGAIN!! Despite the fact that parts of it are faulty memories at best, I could see the second printing because the first book is out of print and often commands astronomical prices on places like eBay when it shows up, especially the hardcover. But a third time!! [ghost_rolleyes]
-
Third time. So far. [ghost_wink] [ghost_wink]
-
Although, when you think about it, KLS was just following in the footsteps of DC and his penchant of "recycling" things over and over and over and...
-
To infinity and beyond.....
-
Just a note about the original series voiceover opening "My name is Victoria Winters." I had it in the back of my mind when this came up again that there were probably a couple of precedents for this. And I think most if not all of them were from the glorious years of "old time radio."
One example was a 1950s radio soap, "This is Nora Drake," which started each show with the titular protagonist declaiming just that line:
https://archive.org/details/ThisIsNoraDrake
Several of the regular actors on the show did radio. Thayer had quite a career doing commercial radio voiceovers.
G.
-
Peyton Place had an opening narration as well. The narrator for all 514 episodes was Warner Anderson, whose character (Matthew Swain) had been written out of the show early on.
-
[pointing-up] Hmmm - that's quite interesting. Apparently the producers of PP weren't adverse to paying an actor who didn't even appear in all the eps. [ghost_nowink]
-
[pointing-up] Hmmm - that's quite interesting. Apparently the producers of PP weren't adverse to paying an actor who didn't even appear in all the eps. [ghost_nowink]
MB,
I understand that the producers of Peyton Place were more than willing to pay a substantial amount of money to actor Ryan O'Neal to, at least, try and contain his enormous ego while he was on the show. [ghost_cool]
Bob
-
'Desperate Housewives' also had a character named "Mary Alice" (played by Brenda Stong) who died in the first episode but spoke the opening voiceover for it's entire eight season run.
not sure how she was paid. [ghost_rolleyes]
-
Ken McEweon did a few voice overs in episodes he didn't appear in.
-
I'd completely forgotten about that - that's right. It's been ages since I've watched those eps so I don't even have a theory as to why he did them rather than one of the actors in each ep who wasn't in the teaser, which was the normal practice. It can't be that all the actors in those eps were in the teaser, can it?
And I'm sure many noticed this a long time ago, but it wasn't until I just went to check the Episode Guide that's printed in the DS Memories book that I realized that, unlike the separate Program Guide, among other things, it doesn't even list who did the opening voiceovers for each ep. How strange...
-
That separate program guide had a lot of errors in it. It had Alexandra Moltke doing the voiceovers until a couple of weeks before 1795 as well as many others.
And I'm sure many noticed this a long time ago, but it wasn't until I just went to check the Episode Guide that's printed in the DS Memories book that I realized that, unlike the separate Program Guide, among other things, it doesn't even list who did the opening voiceovers for each ep. How strange...
-
Well, quite sadly, what PomPress publication doesn't have errors? Even the updated version of the Program Guide that I referred to in the DS Memories book STILL has some errors despite the notion that it was reprinted as a part of that book so as to correct the errors. [ghost_rolleyes]