DARK SHADOWS FORUMS
General Discussions => Current Talk Archive => Current Talk '24 I => Current Talk '06 I => Topic started by: michael c on February 01, 2006, 01:21:26 AM
-
it always amuses me when something sort of comes out of nowhere and becomes a major plot-point on the show.
case in point.i've been watching the leviathan episodes and apart from everything else going on suddenly everyone is spending an awful lot of time shopping at BREWSTER'S.a hitherunto unmentioned department store.
maggie proudly holds up a new dress(a dull paisley affair in 'harvest gold' hues.sleeveless with a big,dumpy bow on the front.it's just not kicky enough for mags)and tells carolyn of a "blue silk she would love".david comes across a newspaper ad that announces that BREWSTER'S is open nights till christmas(a very rare reference indeed)and then sneaks out to run an important errend.megan seems to stop by BREWSTER'S daily.elizabeth,suspicious of a BREWSTER'S box in the antique shop,is informed by carolyn that everyone in collinsport must have a box from BREWSTER'S and that hundreds of people shop there every day!even monstrous leviathan michael,jealous of a new sweater that david has,demands that megan go to BREWSTER'S and get him one.
i don't know why but it cracks me up that with all of the bizzare things going on here people have time to do something really ordinary like shop at a department store.
i was surprised several episodes later to see maggie's above mentioned dress on mrs.schuyler rumson.did ang hit the same sale at BREWSTER'S?
in general they outfitted angelique strangely in the present.she's about the same age as nancy and kathryn but while they were styled almost girlishly angelique can get kind of dowdy(and that's saying nothing of her garb during her stint as a vampire). ::)
-
Yeah, I remember watching this storyline and thinking the same thing. I don't think Brewster's is mentioned in the succeeding storylines at all...anyway, I couldn't believe my ears when David actually mentioned Christmas of all things! Christmas on DS! Yeah, Ang got some pretty God-awful duds--ESPECIALLY when she was a vampire! The ugliest outfit on all of DS is that hideous purple frilly thing she wears for about 10 episodes during '68. Lara Parker is gorgeous, but even she can't make ugly clothes beautiful.
-
I remember liking the black dress Angelique wore in Leviathans when [spoiler]Sky introduced her to his "friend", Nicholas Blair[/spoiler]. I thought she looked really pretty in that episode.
-
Lest anyone think the writers made up Brewsters, at the time DS was originally aired it was an actual department store chain in New England. One of the few times when DS actually coalesced with reality. And it was definitely a hoot to know that the residents of Collinsport shopped in their local store. [wink2] However, the chain has long since closed...
-
Lest anyone think the writers made up Brewsters, at the time DS was originally aired it was an actual department store chain in New England. One of the few times when DS actually coalesced with reality. And it was definitely a hoot to know that the residents of Collinsport shopped in their local store. [wink2] However, the chain has long since closed...
Wow!! This is news to me!
BREWSTER'S and that hundreds of people shop there every day
Well, we could liken it to, how many cousins have been in Wal-mart or Target in last week; I'd guess quite a few.
Patti
PS...personally, I think they dressed Angelique too 'old', consider she was about same age as KLS & NB; she was more 'matronly' attired, BUT, this could be because she was usually someone's wife....IMHO.
-
Well, we could liken it to, how many cousins have been in Wal-mart or Target in last week; I'd guess quite a few.
I was at Target just last Saturday! LOVE Target! ;)
-
I love Target. I was there on Saturday too. I'll bet Collinsport has one. I never knew Brewster's was a real place. I'll bet that there would never be a 'Walmart'....Elizabeth would never permit this. That's why I love her.
-
I'll bet that there would never be a 'Walmart'....Elizabeth would never permit this. That's why I love her.
My boss, the one from Maine, says they are outlawed in Maine. Is this true Maine-ites?? ;)
-
Yes, we have Wal-Marts in Maine. The parking lots are packed all day long. There is even a Sams Club in Portland. Wal-mart is building a major distribution center in Lewiston.
I asked some old-timers if they ever heard of Brewsters here in Maine. So far, no one I have spoke to has heard of Brewsters. Pecks Dept store was around many years ago. People in their fifties remember sitting on Santa's lap at Pecks. I don't know when they went out of business.
PS. BuzzH----I would stop getting your info from your boss. ;)
-
When I was a kid (dating myself yet again- arrrgh!), my mother took my brother and me to Robert Hall for clothes and John's Bargain Store for school supplies. And there was always Woolworth's, Korvettes, and Kresge's ! And we didn't have to buy bottled soda from the A&P- it was delivered to us by Hammer Beverages in big glass bottles in different flavors. Can you imagine what it must have been like for the Collins family milkman/knife sharpener/beverage man to arrive at Collinwood?
-
BuzzH----I would stop getting your info from your boss. ;)
LOL!! I can't *wait* to tell her she was wrong! Bawahahahahahahahaha! >:D
-
When I was a kid (dating myself yet again- arrrgh!), my mother took my brother and me to Robert Hall for clothes and John's Bargain Store for school supplies. And there was always Woolworth's, Korvettes, and Kresge's ! And we didn't have to buy bottled soda from the A&P- it was delivered to us by Hammer Beverages in big glass bottles in different flavors. Can you imagine what it must have been like for the Collins family milkman/knife sharpener/beverage man to arrive at Collinwood?
Okay, I'm gonna 'date' myself too! ;) Does anyone remember a department store chain called McCrory's? Or Kanns? They were fairly big south of the Mason Dixon line in the 70's when I was growing up. We used to go to McCrory's to buy 'Big Jim' action figure dolls (who remembers THOSE!? ;)). I used to love going to Kanns to buy school shoes because in the kid's shoe department they had a monkey in a zoo-like exhibit area. It was one of those slinky, skinny, small monkeys and SO cute. 'Course now-a-days I'd start a petition to free him but....back then I was enthralled w/him. ;)
-
BuzzH----I would stop getting your info from your boss. ;)
LOL!! I can't *wait* to tell her she was wrong! Bawahahahahahahahaha! >:D
Please don't get yourself fired unless thats what you're trying for. >:D
****petofi
Do you remember a Brewsters when you were growing up in Maine? So many of the downtown stores failed when they opened up the malls.
-
There were no Brewster's in Maine to my knowledge. I grew up in Bangor in the 60s, and spent time in Bar Harbor and Ellsworth in the summer(Hancock County). The chains that we had in those days were Zayre's, S. S. Kresge's (Later K Mart), Mammoth Mart, W T Grant, and A & P food stores. They all had a local feel about them, and we also had a 5 story local store called Freese's, which was in business from the late 1800's until the 1980's. There was no Bangor Pine Hotel, as in early DS, but there was a Pine Tree Restaurant that was quite famous locally. Other regional/local food chains included the Shop n Save Chain (now Hannaford Brother's), which was usually locally owned. This meant that each Shop n Save also had some guys name on it, like Don's or Doug's.
We Had IGA foodliners, my grandmother's favorite (double coupons), and mom and pop stores could choose from suppliers like AG(Associated Grocers) or Surefine. These mom and pop places were where you were most likely to pick up the Dark Shadows bubblegum cards and posters. Below are views of the old Broadway Shopping Center, where Zayre's and Kresge's were, and just for fun, here's a view of Downtown Bangor from the late 1800s -early 1900s. You can see the Penobscot river in the background. This might have been how Edward or Barnabas might have seen it, eh?
Petofi
-
I can't speak for Maine because I never set foot in the state until I was 32 and by then the Brewsters chain was long since history - but I know they had stores in Boston (MA), Providence (RI), Concord (NH) and Hartford (CT). The chain was definitely on the pricey end of the scale (think of something along the lines of NYC's Macy's in the '60s) and when I was 12 I remember being quite in awe of the Boston store because there was absolutely nothing like it where I lived. It was definitely a store befitting the Collinses. ;)
It's probably also worth noting that Shepherd's, a store that Maggie also mentions shopping at, was another real New England chain.
-
No doubt, MB - In the 60s Maine was a heck of a lot more isolated in some ways than the rest of NE. The population of Maine in those days was under a million for the whole state!! There may have been a Brewsters in Portland, for all I know. In those days Portland was the only "big city" in Maine, at least in terms of being up to date with the rest of the world! ;D Mass and Connecticut definitely had a lot more of the cosmopolitan amenities than Maine in those days.
Petofi
-
Kresge's and WT Grant also had stores on Long Island at the time.
-
i grew up in new england as well but i don't remember 'brewster's'.
in our town the department store was called 'miller's'("meet you at miller's" was the slogan).in boston of course we had 'jordan marsh' which has sadly departed and 'filene's' which is similarly about to become history.it's so sad that all the old regional chains are gone.they really used to be a source of pride for a town.
b.t.w. i rewatched the episode where maggie goes on about her paisley dress and indeed the place of purchase was 'shepherd's' not 'brewster's'...my bad. :P
-
Buzz, I knew you were a fellow after my own heart! I had a Big Jim, too, and the camper set as a kid!! Also GI Joes and Hot Wheels (I'd love to track down a Thundershift 500 racing set at a cheap price for my nephews- I can't tell you what joy it brought me), and Matchbox cars! About McCrory's - at one point, our former Kresge's in Staten Island became a McCrory's for a few years, and then it closed down in the 80's.
-
at one point, our former Kresge's in Staten Island became a McCrory's for a few years, and then it closed down in the 80's.
And in the 70's, the Newberry's I worked in became a McCrory's.
Now we have nothing but Wal-Mart and K-Mart and Target.
I wouldn't call it progress... :(
-
Neat. ;) There were also a W.T. Grants, Zayre's, and Shop 'N Save stores in W. PA/Pittsburgh area as well. ;D
They all closed in our area by the 80's...except for Shop 'N Save, which is still alive and well in our neck of the woods.
-
When I was buying Dark Shadows bubblegum I bought it at a little store that was owned by an old lady. The store was an old house that had been turned into a store, although, she may have lived in the back. Her name was Hilda, and the store was called Hilda's. The largest department store in my city was locally owned and was called Brett's. If the Collins family were going to shop in my city Brett's is where they would have gone.
The most impressive store in Minnesota would have been Dayton's, which was bought by Marshall Fields. Dayton's owned Target too.
Misa
-
Buzz, I knew you were a fellow after my own heart! I had a Big Jim, too, and the camper set as a kid!! Also GI Joes and Hot Wheels (I'd love to track down a Thundershift 500 racing set at a cheap price for my nephews- I can't tell you what joy it brought me), and Matchbox cars! About McCrory's - at one point, our former Kresge's in Staten Island became a McCrory's for a few years, and then it closed down in the 80's.
Yep, my brother and I had Big Jims, then they came out w/Big Josh, Big Jake and another one that I *think* was Big Jack? One was black (Big Jack I think) and the others were white. ;) We did the GI Joe's too and do you, or anyone, remember the Best of the West collection? We had Johnny West, Jane West, Jesse West, a couple horses and another one that I can't remember the name of, but it was a black knight I think. There's this GREAT vintage toy store in Maryland called The Toy Exchange and it was there I found a mint Big Jim and Big Josh which are proudly on display at my house.
I kept my Matchbox cars up until a few years ago when I gave them to my nephews Jack and Sean, son of the aforementioned brother--they were pretty beat up from continual play--if I knew then what I know now about 'vintage/antique' toys..... :'( Anyway, I *did* keep my Batmobile and a Starsky & Hutch red Torino that I made myself, that is to say, I had a Ford car that sorta looked like the Torino so I painted it red and put the white stripe on it, before passing on the collection. ;)
We also had Zayre's and Ames. Zayre's closed in the early 80's as I recall, then Ame's closed just a few years ago, maybe 2000?