Several years ago he had just produced another Dusty compilation, and at the DS Festival I went up to him and complained because he had included *all but one track* from Dusty's then very rare 1972 LP, See all her faces.  He didn't have much to say about it; for some reason he didn't just give me the answer I'd expected, that he'd had licensing issues including it.

G.

Thank you!!

Gabriel:  Get UP, brother dear--I SAID, it's TIME for CANASTA!!

Putting Esquire after one's name was a sign of nothing more than claiming the state and privileges of a gentleman.  In the UK you'll find people of a certain age still address letters in this fashion.

I do not know how or when the American practice of using Esquire to indicate practice at the Bar began.  I imagine there's an etymological note on this in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) and that's available online, somewhere or other.

G.

Bit more history here... They went to Parallel Time after 1840 because Frid's contract was coming up for a renewal towards the end of 1970.  Somebody on here mentioned that he walked off the set one day and refused to return until he was assured that he would get to play another character besides Barnabas.  Lara Parker had also long expressed a desire to play a "good" character.  The only way they could think of meeting Frid's demand was by constructing the 1841 storyline, with its obvious roots in Wuthering Heights.  Also, Director (and at this time, Producer) Lela Swift believed that the largest contingent of the audience wanted to see Frid and Parker's characters in a happy romantic story, which is why 1840 took the turn of a framework for [spoiler]Barnabas realizing he had "always really loved" Angelique for the final weeks of that story.[/spoiler]  I believe that these ingredients led to the creation of the PT1841 storyline.

I believe that local network affiliates dropping DS are as much an explanation for the decline in the ratings as anything else.  However, I have read that the ratings began to rise again in January-Feb. 1971.  Apparently, when the announcement was made at the March '71 ABC board meeting that DS was going to get the axe, there was genuine concern that such a popular show was being dumped.

My theory for several years now has been that if it was the network's idea to cancel DS, Dan Curtis was more than happy to meet them halfway.  I still think that the timing of the cancellation had more to do with the need to go into production for NoDS than it did any other factor.  Since JF reportedly refused to "do the fanging thing" any longer, and also refused to do the sequel film (which had been originally constructed around him), DC probably felt it was more than time to move on.  Sam Hall's notes for the final storyline, published in that TV Guide article, were all about Barnabas' final cure from vampirism; they couldn't really have played that story if the actor did not want to portray a vampire any longer.

G.

As always, reading your notes is as much a pleasure as watching the actual episodes.  I see that the Festival are publishing a limited run book on 1966--I have to say they have a VERY tough act to follow, having read your work, which I regard as near-definitive--a little tidying and research and it would BE definitive.  Maybe one of these days, we could publish your notes as a limited-run thing--I would love to have a slim volume from you to put on my DS shelf.

I agree with you about Burke and David. They're obviously setting up the idea that Burke may be David's true Father.  I haven't read the Art Wallace bible thingie so do not know whether he intended it to be revealed that Burke really was David's Dad, especially since his original plan was for Roger to literally go round the twist and off the cliff.

Thank you for your comment comparing Liz's beehive with Mrs Meers.  The idea of Liz spouting mock-Cantonese while pushing a squeaky laundry-cart was enough to keep me in smiles for much of the day.

G.

Hmmm... that's a good start, Ian.  This is how I divide up the series:

1966: June-Dec.  (includes to the end of the Matthew Morgan story)
Laura Collins (mid Dec '66--March 1967)
Jason MacGuire/The Introduction of Barnabas (March-November 1967)
1795 (Nov. 1967-April 1968)
1968 (April 1968-November 1968)
The Haunting of Collinwood/Introduction of Quentin (December 1968-March 1969)
1897 (March-November 1969)
Leviathan (November 1969-March 1970)
Parallel Time 1970 (March-July 1970)
1995/The Summer of 1970 (Introduction of Daphne and Gerard) July-October 1970
1840 October 1970-Jan. 1971
Parallel Time 1841 Jan-April 1971

Further refinements can be made, and I would make them if I were discussing this at greater length--The Intro of Barnabas, 1968, and 1897 storylines are all normally divided into two parts, for example.

G.