Fans,

This article alludes to a number of TV shows that were popular with those of us who watched DS way back when, including THE AVENGERS and THE SAINT.

http://www.whtimes.co.uk/what-s-on/reviews/dame-diana-rigg-iconic-television-shows-elstree-studios-1-5214591

Best,

G.

Last Sunday night, after spending hours in the kitchen cooking up a lot of vegetables, I sat down and re-watched one of my favorite DS spinoffs, "A Darkness at Blaisedon."  This was Dan Curtis's attempt to launch a regular weekly evening series that would be "a version of DS at night." The proposed series was called DEAD AT NIGHT. I think that Roger Davis hints that this was in the works in the Ron Barry radio interview from 1968 (August or September of that year, I believe?). 

It's been a few years since my previous viewing of "Blaisedon."  The main thing that stuck out for me this time was how it was almost like a montage of several "fan favorite moments" from the daytime show.  We have a spooky old mansion with a fab spiral staircase (I was surprised to see that Sy Tomashoff did not get the credit for the sets), a half-mad caretaker played by Thayer David, Marj Dusay foreshadowing Kate Jackson's performance as the ingenue heroine, a psychic investigator (Kerwin Mathews) and his assistant (Cal Bellini in a role very reminiscent of Michael Stroka), a sobbing ghost in a white dress, a swag portrait of Louis Edmonds, a seance, an exhumation, lots of dry ice and Bob Cobert's lovely cues that make us all feel so much at home.

I was fascinated to see that the Roman bust that nearly killed Julia in 1995 showed up here, and I presume that this was its first appearance onscreen.  MB happened to notice recently that the bust also showed up in hoDS--I am not sure that that post is still available.

The script was by Sam Hall.  Although the series wasn't picked up (and I have no idea what studio politics were at work in that decision), I realized at the end of this viewing that the script did have an interesting kind of afterlife.  Perhaps I'm wrong, but I'd call this I kind of preliminary draft of some of the ideas that eventually coalesced in the feature script for NIGHT OF DS.
 
G.

Last night I was making one of my periodic attempts to find a copy of the 1966 film THE HAND OF NIGHT, alt title THE BEAST OF MOROCCO, and I found this clip of the title credits and opening dream sequence here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJFp2v9MiT8

Reminiscent of DS?

Best,  G.

Folks,

I saw a mention of this event on a friend's Facebook page:

http://www.sfgothic.net/clubs.html

Scroll down and look for Dark Shadows.  The blurb:

Break out your black lace, velvet, and PVC, boys and girls. Maybe even your fangs? Dark Shadows is dripping with ambiance - so play the part for one of Meph's favorite Goth nights. Go-ghoul dancing provided by the ever-so-awesome Visceral Vixens.

Two rooms, so you can pick and choose your preferences between goth, swirl, synth-pop, industrial, stompy, and EBM.  (end quote)

It just goes to show that DS is *everywhere*.

G.

Fans,

Here's an extended clip of Nancy Barrett as a coldly calculating lawyer on ONE LIFE TO LIVE, back in 1982.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEPoI2_wQ5g

Fab to see Nancy again!

Best,

G.

Fans,

I don't think this short film ever screened in the US, but the plot synopsis makes it sound an awful lot like a plot point from the 1897 storyline--which aired of course in 1969, one year after this film's completion:

https://www.midnightpulp.com/david-bowie-did-an-x-rated-horror-film-in-the-late-60s/

For those titillated by the mention of an X rating, it should be mentioned that in England in the Sixties, that was usually awarded for violence that transgressed the guidelines laid down by the official UK Film Censor Board.  Although this article says that the movie screened in porno houses, I really doubt that was the case.  All the classic Hammer horror films of the late 1950s and 60s were given the X rating and they played regular theatres, not "adult" venues.

Who knows?  Maybe Sam and Gordon saw this at some Film Festival or art house in NYC and decided to borrow the idea for the whole Charles Delaware Tate thing...

G.

A friend alerted me that the 1967 TV production of Arthur Miller's play THE CRUCIBLE, starring George C. Scott and Colleen Dewhurst, has been posted online, and I found the link.  Thayer David shows up around the 4:45 mark and Clarice Blackburn follows shortly thereafter.  They play a couple, the Putnams.  Kathy Cody is also on hand, along with many other regulars from the television shows of the period--Henry Jones is stalwart, as always.  The link:

https://jacksonupperco.com/2017/05/03/theatre-on-television-the-crucible-1967-cbs/

Link is to a Vimeo file--those seem to require higher internet speed and a bit more memory than Youtube.

Best, G.

Fans,

Kosmo alerted me that Decades is doing a Man from UNCLE marathon tomorrow (Sunday July 2), and that Grayson Hall's episode is scheduled to be run at 12 Noon Eastern DST.  I didn't check the schedule but I did see a page for the UNCLE binge on what they have up on their site for tomorrow.

Grayson's story, "The Pieces of Fate Affair," is like a conglomeration of several major Sixties epiphenomena. Scripted by cult writer Harlan Ellison, the premise lampoons Jackie Susann and her scandalous best-seller VALLEY OF THE DOLLS.  Grayson's character was based on woman sci-fi novelist and critic Judith Merrill (and Merrill was not amused, which meant that this one episode was banned from syndication for many years).  Grayson appears in a chic red and black couture outfit, hosts a literary cocktail party, skewers a "psychedelic poet," and tells the head of THRUSH that there's really no observable difference between being a critic and a professional assassin.

It's good stuff--if I had a signal, I'd be tuning in!

G.