Whoa!  Is it just me or does Quentin have MAJOR boudoir eyes in today's photograph?

I expected the capture to read:  "Carlotta, you're one red-hot mama, and I've had enough of your coy ways in those batwinged gowns.  Let's find a room and get to WORK, Woman!"

Maybe somebody can re-edit Grayson's scene from END OF THE ROAD with Selby instead of Jack Horner?  *wink*

G.

Congratulations to MB on a superb portrait of Roger and Liz in the 6/5-6/6 capture (which was just taken down as I write these words).  I thought the snap really captured how as the series evolved Roger did seek to reach out to and support Liz, even when she rebuffed him as was the case in March of '67; and, later on, when Roger came home with his mysterious young bride in May of 1968, Liz tried hard to be supportive in her own way.

Despite the difference in their ages and background, I thought Joan and Louis were very convincing as brother and sister.  Thanks for bringing back memories, MB!

G.

Dear Fans,

Last Friday evening I watched The Norliss Tapes (1973), a Dan Curtis produced and directed TV film that was a pilot for a series that was never optioned.  Apparently, the series, had it been produced, would have been a lot like Darren McGavin's Kolchak: the Night Stalker series, but with a much more hip, together protagonist than the klutzy, frumpy Kolchak.

I had seen Norliss way back when in '73 when it aired as a movie-of-the-week type feature, and have very vague memories of it.  Seeing it now, I found myself wondering whether it rates as Dan Curtis' schlockiest, most over-the-top production.  Some would say that the Zuni fetish doll segment of Trilogy of Terror was more schlocky, but that did have the sublime Karen Black and actually was scary, whereas to me, the monster in Norliss was a mixture of pathetic and ridiculous.

Screenwriter William F. Nolan did duty on several other DC projects.  The part that had me giggling the most, strangely, was the endless rain in the picture; it was very obvious to me that the local Fire Dept. made a good penny on this particular project.  I found myself recalling the patient men of the Tarrytown Fire Dept. and their use in other DC projects of the early Seventies.

Even though I found it so poorly directed, I still enjoyed the movie.  There were fun moments such as seeing Stanley Adams in a cameo as a truck driver, too.  The fact that Angie Dickinson kept getting out of bed with flawlessly sprayed and styled hair and makeup was a reminder of the ladies of Collinwood long, long ago.

Watching this made me even more decided in my opinion that DS, the series, was fabulous DESPITE DC's involvement.  The man seems to have had all the subtlety of a sledgehammer on acid.

G.

Fans,

I don't know whether it is appropriate to quote this here, but I know the Grayson fans will appreciate it.  It is a review of RJ Jamison's book by one of the Amazon Top 100 Reviewers, Kevin Killian, and was posted to Amazon in January of this year.  Killian's review reads in part:

I didn't like NIGHT OF THE IGUANA, and as for DARK SHADOWS, I haven't seen many episodes, only the two films. I went into this book not knowing much about Grayson Hall except that all of my friends love her. As the story continued, I realized it was one I had read about already, to other actresses and women who grew up in a certain time. In fact, a lot of what happened to Grayson Hall (or Shirley Grossman) already had happened to Jacqueline Susann, the same sorts of trials and sorrows, especially in a theatrical world in which a certain kind of beauty was celebrated and those who lacked it had to use other sorts of skills to get ahead.

R. J. Jamison's research is pretty amazing, even though some of the gaps remain startling. Years go by without Jamison being able to account for what Grayson Hall was doing. But at a certain point in the late 1950s, we see all the disparate parts of her character come together and a star is born, sort of; she was a late bloomer and paid the price late bloomers do, all of a sudden producers look at you and you're playing Madwoman of Chaillot roles. It came to me that I had seen Grayson Hall on stage in the early 1970s, when I was just a boy, and I attended the legendary premiers of Genet's play THE SCREENS in an experimental production at the Chelsea Theater Center at the BAM. It was a scary show, and I didn't understand a word of it, and it seemed there were more people up on the stage than there were in the audience, but Grayson Hall made an impression on me; she frightened me with her deadbeat madness and her cigarette voice, like a man in drag. She was not on the side of the revolution--or was she? A committed actress, she didn't seek identification or sympathy from her audiences. Jamison's biography makes me want to seek out more of her work, even the SATAN IN HIGH HEELS Hall denied she'd ever made. <snip>

I'm envious of Killian's having seen her in that play!  This is the one where she spent much of the time on stage wearing bared fake breasts made of styrofoam into which knitting needles had been inserted.  Her makeup and wig for the role came out of some bizarre acid-laced space that takes up where kabuki leaves off...

G.

Many thanks to our justly-feted El Misterioso for the captivating cameo portrait of handsome, attractive Chris Collins (portrayed by the late, much-lamented Don Briscoe).

In our time, Julia had learned [spoiler] that Chris Jennings actually was a descendent of Quentin Collins, and thus a Collins in his own right.  It was cool that Chris' Parallel Time counterpart actually bore the name of Collins.[/spoiler]

Too bad that Don had to leave the series very abruptly soon after this episode was taped due to health concerns.

G.

Do we know who portrayed the Hangman in today's snapshot from 1796?  He looks like quite the Sixties cutie.

I was watching one of the promo reels for the series WorldVision produced (on the extras disc from "DS the Beginning volume 6") over the weekend and had to laugh when the v/o with the fake Lugosi accent had to utter the line about our beloved show having been "expensively produced."  The first phrase that popped into my had was, "but with no more than five actors per show."  LOL!  This episode was one of the few after 1966 where DC allowed them to spring for some much needed extras.

G.

Has anyone on here ever purchased the book Dark Shadows: the First Year?  I saw an ad for it on one of the Laura Collins DVDs last night and am intrigued.  Great cover, and the photo selection looks boss.

This one is available only through the DS Festival--and for all I know may now be OP.  I think the book came out around 2007--maybe earlier.

G.