A very happy natal day to you, PennyDreadful!

Oh my! I got such a kick out of that! I must say, he's got a wicked sense of humor! And, might I ask, that pic on the extreme right-hand of the page -- that's Jonathan, right? I"m swooning!

I agree with what someone said about Angelique. I think she was his one true love, which he finally admitted to in 1840. I always believed his oft-spoken "love" for Josette was something he made himself believe. Theirs was not a true love match, IMO. It was a business alliance between two powerful shipping families. In fact, that was alluded to:
[spoiler]when Andre and Joshua were discussing it in the drawing room of the Old House, they mentioned how beneficial this marriage between their two children would be to their financial holdings.[/spoiler]

As proof, how about when Angelique first came to Collinwood? Barnabas kept trying to put her off, yet ...
[spoiler]when he went to her room, he couldn't resist her and kissed her passionately.[/spoiler]

Some may say that was lust, but I believe it really was love. And after all was said and done, no matter what Angelique did, he always needed her.

Brandon, I think you will be fine on stage.  Everyone is nervous the first few times on stage (some professional performers never lose be nervous) but you only have to remember that the audience can't wait to see what you are going to do.  They want to see you do well and are very encouraging.  The DS fan audiences are really very supportive of fan performers.

That's so true, Nancy. When the costume gala is being performed, the audience realizes people are putting themselves out there, and they truly do appreciate it. There was only one time I thought people were being really rude to a guy who was doing something in a gala. It seems this man does the same thing every year, and the people who were laughing at him were pointing that out. HOWEVER, it should be noted that they were drunk and obnoxious. They had carried their drinks in with them from the bar. Obviously, they were pretty tanked up. The guy they were making fun of, much to my disgust, was handicapped. How rude is that? Fortunately, at the two fests after that one, I never saw those people again. Good riddance! And that is NOT the norm. I find the audiences to be supportive, warm and very encouraging.

What always killed me was, shortly after Barnabas was resurrected by Willie and appeared at Collinwood as their English "cousin," there was a scene with him, Carolyn and Vicki. A storm was raging, and the power was out at Collinwood. The girls were alone. Barnabas scared the bejeebers out of them by appearing at the drawing room doors. Of course, they were relieved to see it was just Barnabas when he walked in. He then proceeded to tell them the "story" of Josette Collins -- how she had come to Collinsport from Martinique as the bride of Jerimiah (that's the way they spelled it -- don't ask me why). However, as the years passed, she realized she was married to an "old man," while she was still a young, vital woman. She took a younger lover, whom we are to presume was Barnabas. At some point, she couldn't deal with her life, and, pursued by her lover, ran to Widow's Hill and leapt to her death.

It was wonderfully told by Frid, with that amazing voice of his, and the scene was quite Gothic, black and white, storm raging -- I loved it! Of course, shortly thereafter, the story changed, which drove me crazy! While I then came to love the 1795 story, I always remembered the earlier version.

I'm sure the writers were up against it when they had to turn Barnabas from the evil vampire to be destroyed into the hero. Thus, there were a lot of inconsistencies. And, let's not forget, writers changed almost daily. There was a pool of writers who were rotated. So, it had to be a challenge if one writer wrote a script for one day and another had to write the script for the following day. You could even see that in the openers for the show. They weren't always the same -- similar enough -- but not exactly the same.

Here's my problem with this. You mentioned, Nancy, that previous attempts had failed for various reasons. I can understand that, but here's my take on it. Previous attempts have failed for only one reason. The people who've been running it (and Midnite says Jim took over in 1986) have not groomed, so to speak, other people to spell them should they choose not to continue such a large, grueling undertaking. I am under no illusion that this is an easy event to organize. However, had there been people waiting in the wings with the wherewithal and knowledge to do this, we wouldn't even be having this discussion. And, please don't get me wrong. I am NOT blaming Jim Pierson. I am simply saying there have been no contingency plans in place, which gives us fans short shrift. What was that movie years ago? "If you build it, they will come"? That's us! We will be there!

It would seem to be an evolution of sorts, Brandon. He was always out for himself, thus, his friendship with Barnabas was a sham and his defense of Vicki in the beginning was just to curry favor. When he saw the tide turning, he jumped on the most profitable bandwagon for himself, which was to try to insinuate himself with the other Collinses. It might have worked had it not been discovered that Suki was his wife and not his sister. So, that takes us to his alliance with Trask. Anyway, it was entertaining as far as television goes but maddening for fans who just wanted to give him a good kick -- or worse!