One of my summer home projects was to finally do some serious de-cluttering of my compact, one-car garage.  I succeeded in getting rid of a pile of grocery cartons containing old drapes, clothing, a set of World Book encyclopedias from 1967, and junk that had long ceased to be used.  

At the bottom of the pile, tucked in a corner of the garage, was a 50-year-old wooden toy chest containing some toys and other keepsakes from my childhood.  I was excited that I had gotten rid of the cartons on top of it, so I could actually open the chest and revisit its contents.  The sturdy wooden lid, however, wouldn't budge.  Several years ago, I inherited my neighbor's garage "storage system," consisting of cinderblocks and pressed wood shelving.  Without thinking, I had positioned the shelving right next to the toy chest, so that the lower shelves were flush with one side of the chest.  Only now -- years later -- did I discover that the shelf was positioned so tightly that it left no clearance whatsoever to raise the chest lid.  Drat!

I didn't want to move the shelf, for that would require me to first remove all of its contents.  Fortunately, I was able to jam a large screwdriver in between the shelf and the chest and gently pry/shove the chest just a smidge, which was amazing, given that it was already in a tight corner.  I could tell that the lid now had just enough clearance for maneuvering.  

Standing over the chest (which had been gathering dust and cobwebs for the past 17 years), I excitedly tried raising the lid.  There was still a lot of resistance, as the shelf still did not fully clear the lid -- but I didn't mind the lid rubbing tightly against the shelf, for at least I could raise it.  What I also noticed, however, was that all that resistance was (1) making the lid seem heavy, and (2) creating a continuous, loud creaking sound as I raised the lid and it rubbed against the shelf.  

I thought to myself, "This is the closest I will ever experience to channelling Willie opening Barnabas' coffin!"  Such a crazy thought (and I apologize that this took so long to set up), but only we DS fans could readily recognize and appreciate the sound of strange creaking while raising a heavy, wooden lid.  That happened all the time on DS, but how often does it happen in your own garage??!  

Fortunately, no hand from within the toy chest reached up to clutch my throat . . .

Ben

As I was watching David and Carrie during the last few eps, something about David looked strangely familiar.  Suddenly, it hit me: David was wearing the exact same shirt that I wore the following year as a high school freshman: bright red with white stripes, long point collar, and -- this is way cool -- double-button cuffs!

But then, later on, it hit me: WHAT WAS I THINKING?

Ben

I don't think it's just because I play the piano, but I was so tickled to see two different characters (Alexis and Bruno) tickling the ivories today (Wednesday).  I began asking myself, "Is everybody a pianist?"  I loved Bruno's over-the-top swaying while he casually carried on a conversation with Quentin (how subtle).   

The legendary afghan-now-as-piano-cover added yet another subtle touch.

The way Bruno winced when his blood sample was drawn, you'd think Dr. Longworth had used a screwdriver instead of a hypodermic needle. 

I remember as a kid seeing Dr. Longworth's wire-framed glasses and thinking how cool they were -- a radical departure from the '50s and '60s-style horn-rimmed and tortoise-shell frames.  I HAD to get new glasses like that! 

And to see both Quentin's burnt orange blazer AND Bruno's disco ensemble in the same shot ... they were so loud together, I wanted to turn down the volume on my set. 

Just being silly today,
Ben

I did a double-take watching the scene in which Sabrina was at the Jennings cottage, imploring him to open the string-tied box containing the "magic" flower.  How handy for Chris to be standing -- at that very moment -- beside a pair of scissors ... conveniently laying on the mantel!

Isn't that where we all keep a pair of scissors ... just in case?

I began wondering how the scene might have gone, had Chris been unable to locate a scissors.  An hour would have gone by, and a agonized Sabrina would have been asking, "Don't you know where your scissors are?", while Chris, frustrated, would have kept shouting, "I don't know!  I don't know!"

And that flower -- even the way it opened at the end of the ep -- reminded me of its cousin on "Little Shop of Horrors."

What other show contains so many charming moments like these?

Ben

The relationship between Barnabas and Ben (Stokes, that is, not me) ranks in my mind as one of the highlights of the 1795 storyline and the entire series.   The chemistry between Jonathan Frid and Thayer David made the unlikely friendship between a member of the Collins elite and an oppressed servant genuine and believable.  

Frid imbued Barnabas with compassion, and David gave Ben an earnest quality.  Their scenes together so far, and in eps to come, are poignant and three-dimensional.  I am always touched by their exchanges.  Yet they succeeded in not crossing the line into the realm of maudlin and melodrama.  Perhaps this explains why they were periodically given long scenes together.

Ben

I was reading a local Chicago newspaper feature on a Peter Sellers film festival underway this month.  The reviewer pointed out Sellers' penchant for playing multiple characters in the same film, and it got me thinking how versatile the well regarded Sellers might have been on DS, which had the same actors playing different characters in ever-changing storylines.  

If we take it a step further, a Blake Edwards-produced DS might even have found Sellers playing multiple characters in a single episode -- including, say, a vampire resting in his coffin as well as the brave soul who stakes him later in the show.

Imagine the quips Sellers and Thayer David could have exchanged about their numerous, widely varying roles.  I can hear Sellers saying, "So, you've got Matthew Morgan, Count Petofi, and Prof. Eliot Stokes?  Well, I'm doing Constable Carter, Sam Evans, AND Burke Devlin -- tomorrow!"

DS did have actors doing more than one role in a single ep: Grayson Hall playing Hoffman the maid and Dr. Julia Hoffman (1970 PT), and Lara Parker playing Alexis Stokes and Angelique Stokes Collins (1970 PT), even though the physical resemblance between the characters in each case was intended.

Sellers, with self-effacing humor, once said that he was able to absorb so many divergent personalities because he didn't have one of his own.

Ben

Originally posted by Ben on the Dark Shadows: General Discussion Forum on February 19, 2002 at 16:33:55:

Hey Ringo (and all you musicians out there), here's something I noticed on today's great "Home Alone" ep starring Grayson Hall ... we all know that when pianos on DS play by themselves, the keys are never in synch with the notes. But whoever was playing "London Bridge" on the drawing room piano kept playing a B-natural (a white key) instead of the correct key, a B-flat (the black key next to it). Nevertheless, even though the wrong key was pressed numerous times, we magically always heard the right note.

I'm sure this is inconsequential to almost everybody else, but rest assured that thousands of musicians and music college faculty members across the country were falling off their chairs, scandalized, after viewing this scene ...
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Ben

Posted by Ben on the Dark Shadows: General Discussion Forum on February 14, 2002 at 16:27:21:
In Reply to: Re: Must See TV for Liz posted by Gerard on February 14, 2002 at 16:10:53:

Virtually the entire neighborhood was jammed into their living room to watch the movie in color.

Everyone forgot that it had been made in black and white.

Gerard, maybe they used their handy-dandy color "converter" -- you know, that silly translucent plastic sheet you'd position over the TV screen, so that the bottom of the screen would be shaded in green (for realistic grass, of course), the top in blue (for the sky), and the middle in flesh tones (for faces).

I can't believe people actually bought those things.

Ben
(ready to join Julia at the Home, now that I'm laughing hysterically at how probably no one under 40 has a clue about what I just wrote)