I believe that "coptic cross" was the standard locution for this symbol before the ancient language had been deciphered and we learned that the word written with the image of an ankh is pronounced "ankh."

The Copts were Egyptian Christians and their liturgy and what remains of their spoken language constitute a very late form of the ancient Egyptian language.  It was written, I believe, with a form of the Greek alphabet.

G.

Extra kudos to MB for today's new capture.  Not only is this a superb shot of the Goddess Known as Grayson Hall in character as Julia, and not only is Julia sporting one of my favorite brooches, but I think this shot actually captures some of the more subtle elements at work in the Leviathans storyline before they went for "everything including the kitchen sink."  (More shots of Bruno flogging that wolfie!  More scenes of Megan swooning before Barnabas' gaping fangs!)

The dialogue and the imagery actually make me think of the mood of certain of the plays of Jean Genet, of which Grayson Hall was a famous exponent.  I've noticed other moments on DS reminiscent of Bertolt Brecht and the very expressionist styles of theatre pioneered in the Circle in the Square and other houses where Grayson worked as a young actress in the 1950s.

Fabulous, beautiful work!

G.

Thanks, Joe--I knew this issue had been discussed some years back and it was confirmed by someone in the know that these sounds are ineradicably part of the master tapes.  I think "bleed" or "print-through" is the explanation. 

cheers, G.

I missed the broadcast, but would be curious to see it at some point.  Back in the Summer of '95 I finally sat down and read Wuthering Heights--the novel from what I recall is very different from ANY of the film versions I have come across--and I think would be a difficult story to film because of the harshness and the very different cultural dynamics of the setting in a remote part of ca. 1800 Yorkshire.

One of the oddest redactions (if I may use that word) of this book I have ever come across was a novel based on the popular 1960s series "That Girl!" (the show that made Miss Marlo Thomas a star)--she goes out to stay at a remote estate where reputedly a "living theatre" type production of Wuthering Heights is being mounted--and of course, Ann is supposed to be in line for the role of Cathy--and, perhaps, Cathy's fate?  You can find this oddity available on eBay, I think--I can barely remember much of it apart from dialogue in which "Cathy" informed "Heathcliff" that not only was he uncouth, but he smelled of dung!  Not the sort of thing one sees as a rule on Masterpiece Theatre.

The Brits seem to be going out into la-la land with their adaptations these days--judging from the recent series of Miss Marple films which bear, by and large, not even a nodding acquaintance with the plots and characterizations of the books supposed to be the sources for the screenplays.

And to bring the subject back to Dark Shadows--when there was a rare shot of Stella Young up here for one brief day, I wanted to start a "Who Killed Stella Young?" thread on the discussion board... but thought I might save that for an eventual re-viewing of the PT 1841 episodes, at some point.

cheers, G.

Hey Bryan, that's all very exciting!  I'll be sure to subscribe to the blog.  It probably requires signing up for an official google account and I have put that off forever...

Some of those rare photos you have posted on the Archives section of your site really knock my socks off.  The publicity photo from Pat Moffatt alone has warranted multiple visits to the site... love the one of Cosette and Trudy together as well, and so many more...

cheers, Steve

Adrian Paul ... what a beautiful man!

The title, at least, of that film sounds interesting.  Alas, the fact that it debuts on what is left of the bargain-basement Sci Fi channel is less than grounds for optimism, but lightning has been known to strike in the most improbable places.

And who knows, if all else fails, perhaps Adrian will take his clothes off...

That Darn Gothick

Wow, that's pretty funny that it was announced in S-gram last Sept. and the website has still to be updated.

Kind of makes one wonder just what's going on?

G.

I stumbled upon this via Google while looking for some shots of Magda for a friend's project.  If you enjoy a certain kind of dry, offkey humor, maybe you'll find this board as funny as I did.  It's this guy named James in London watching the 1967 DVDs and writing his own little synopsis/reviews of what happens:

http://www.soapchat.net/showthread.php?t=142843&page=4

He uses catchphrases for a number of the players--Liz is Joan Bennett (well, of course), Julia is "Dr. Tootsie", Carolyn is Groovy Sixties Girl, Willie is referred to as Harvey something or other (from Karlen's work on Cagney & Lacey), etc.

Here's a typical snippet:


"I cannot permit you to continue your existence!" Barnabas tells Dr Tootsie, but then she tells him she's been working on
this great new diet plan that could cure him of his vampirism. He's interested for a while, but then decides to kill her
anyway. That's when she tells him she's treating Maggie the Dead Waitress and that sooner or later Maggie will recover
her memory and blow the whistle on him, unless she is alive to stop her! That Dr Tootsie--she's so nuts.

cheers, G.