Fans, on Thursday evening through the courtesy of Netflix I watched the Perry Mason episode guest-starring Bette Davis, "The Case of the Constant Doyle," from 1963.  I was very surprised to see George Mitchell, the original actor cast in the role of Matthew Morgan, show up as a jail desk sergeant in one scene with Bette Davis and co-star Michael "Tuffie" Parks (*winks at dom*).  Frances Reid, who played MacDonald Carey's wife Alice in Days of Our Lives in 1966 (when Don Briscoe briefly had a role on that series), had a great part as a secretary who turns out to be more devious than meets the eye.  Great slice of television from the early 1960s.

Then last night, my viewing was a DVD of an old Encore Mystery channel airing of the Ellery Queen series from the mid-Seventies co-starring Jim Hutton and David Wayne; a generous fan had sent me the disc.  Thayer David had a substantial role with one lengthy scene (for some reason completely unbilled) towards the beginning of the show.  The show was set in 1946 and in an odd period touch, Guy Lombardo was cast as himself leading the Royal Canadians in the Astor Ballroom.  Great role for Thayer.

G.

Happy Birthday, Sandor!

cheers,

Gothy

Fans, a series that may of us "ancient blood" folk remember fondly from the early 1970s is "The Sixth Sense."  Gary Collins starred as Dr. Michael Rhodes, an ESP investigator and psychic.  Thanks to the kindness of a friend, I just learned that episodes of this series have been screening at least occasionally on the CHILLER network.

Dark Shadows connections include appearances by Dana Elcar (in the episode "Witch, Witch, Burning Bright"--sounds like a certain blonde sorceress known for her evocative cackle!), John Karlen, and Joel Fabiani--there are probably other DS connections if you dig around enough.

The series is moody and slow-paced, sometimes featuring psychedelic camera angles and dream sequences that seem very reminiscent of DS.  The episode I saw had the heroine being granted a vision of five widows in long black veils--at least one of the widows was wearing a miniskirt, which again seemed very DS!

G.

A follow-up to say that my copy of Nightmare Castle arrived last night. I just had time to watch the video interview with Barbara (it's been a hellishly busy week--AGAIN).  The video is beautifully done and I give all due kudos to Jim Pierson who is credited as the coordinating producer.  Many very rare stills of Barbara are shown while she is speaking but we also get plenty of footage of her as she is today, still a very glamorous woman with a face like none other. 

Barbara does speak about her work with Dan Curtis as the producer on the Winds of War/ War & Remembrance, and the experience of doing DS.  She says about the latter gig that she was "not allowed to be expressive or eccentric" in her performance, and that the character was written and directed to be highly "repressed," as a result of which she was "very angry" throughout much of the shoot.

She does praise Ben Cross and mentions that she saw Cross recently (perhaps when he was in LA doing the Trek thing) and that he is now living in Bulgaria!

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.

IMO Quentin was at his absolute best in those first few weeks of 1897--a charming, exquisite, boozing, womanizing ROGUE.  He actually had quite the nasty streak as when he all but strangled poor dithering old Grandma-mama-mama in his effort to convince her of some significant fact of life or other.  I loved those scenes where he would get in Beth's face and even though she hated herself for it she couldn't resist.

Quentin in early 1897 brought DS to a more "adult" level, reflecting the cultural shift between 1966 and 1969 in the US (maybe I am over-interpreting here?). 

For similar reasons, one of my favorite Angelique periods is herself in the beginning of 1795, when she's scheming to get all the goodies "Mamselle Josette" has for herself.

G.

Golly.

You found Julia and her medallion in the middle of that haystack?  You're a better man than I am, Mr. MB!

G.