I started this thread as a new post under Birdie's Random Thoughts, but as I began typing away, it seemed that my random thoughts seemed to diverge quite a bit, so I thought they merited a separate thread ...

These are just random thoughts that I've had accumulating over the last couple of weeks -- the ones I still remember, anyway!

First ... Istvan! Wasn't able to post anything when he was on, but I didn't want to let his appearance go by unnoticed. I think it's really sad that the actor was never credited, I imagine because it wasn't a speaking role.  Rather ironic since he actually had as much to do as many other principal performances on the show. I saw this actor in another movie once where he also played the "heavy." If my name weren't already Vlad, I might have changed it to "Istvan." (We have the exact same build, too!)

This may be the time to mention "The Picture of Dorian Gray." There may be new viewers or forum members who haven't known -- the portrait of Quentin was inspired by this fantastic short novel by Oscar Wilde. Dan Curtis directed a production of this in the 1970s that's available on video from MPI.

The Rectory -- ah, one of my favorite sets, or at least it will be once we see more of it.  I'm glad to be back at this point of 1987 where Barnabas and Julia (and soon, Angelique) will have their base of operations in this parsonage. One thing I can't understand is why they never showed an exterior for this building. Surely they could have come up with a delightfully Gothic exterior slide!  It's also puzzling that they never explained anything about it other than the mention that it's "old" and located on Pine Road.  But then they didn't provide an exterior or background for Petofi's base either, the "abandoned mill."

Speaking of the devil, Barnabas told Julia that Count Petofi had threatened to destroy the entire Collins family.  Am I just not remembering this?  When did Petofi make such a threat?  Incidentally, there seemed to me more mangled and non-sensical lines in that scene in the rectory between Quentin, Julia (in shock on the bed), and Barnabas ...

David's "resurrection" ... in addition to the interesting theme of resurrection in these past few episodes ... it's lucky that they hadn't embalmed David ... 

About those light fixtures on the wall .. sconces, aren't they? Are those actually functional, or is the flame/light artificial? Are they gas lights/lamps?

Last but not least ... Quentin's room. This time round, I've been noticing a lot more of Quentin's room.  In fact I'm so entranced with it that I fantasize the possibility of recreating such a room some day when I'm rich, own a house, have a lot of time, etc. (I'm sure that day is just on the horizon  ).

Anyway, do any of you set decorators out there have any helpful descriptions or comments about Quentin's room, its furnishings, or its accessories? The wallpaper, of course, looks authentically Victorian, as I assume the scattered chairs and tables also are.

But that post that appeared in the center of the floor -- did that serve any function other than as something for Quentin to be manacled to? I rather doubt we'll be seeing that hitchin' post again ...

One thing I've been noticing is all the "black" sculptures -- they seem to be multiplying on all the sets. First Quentin had the handsome buck on the mantle of his fireplace, now there seems to be a racoon or some other animal made of the same material on a small table in the center of the room, and similar-appearing sculptures in the Rectory and elsewhere ...  Does anyone know if these are real or what they're made of?

Has anyone stopped to wonder where Quentin's bed is located in his room?  How many rooms does he have ... I have the feeling that this is a "suite" especially now that we're seeing more of the antechamber outside its room, which is handsomely appointed with its own fireplace, bookshelves, paintings, etc.

A few years ago, this forum (actually its VantageNet forerunner) was responsible for my delving into a bit of research into secondary sources on the 18th century Comte de Saint Germain, whom someone had referred to as the inspiration for Count Petofi.

Recently in another thread, Gothick suggested some other potential candidates who may have contributed to the Petofi character. Without commenting on his information (which I'm less familiar with), I thought I'd share some of what I found out about St. Germain. Trying to find accurate information on the historical Comte de St. Germain isn't easy, so I may be saving someone else the time and effort of sorting through some of the rather questionable information surrounding him. (My interest in St. Germain happened to dovetail with another interest I was involved with at the time where St. Germain also made an appearance and incidentally introduced me to alchemy. It also gave me an idea for a section of my Angelique story -- which I'm not too optimistic about ever completing. My story has flashbacks of Miranda du Val leaving the American colonies for Europe, where she transforms herself into Angelique before winding up in the West Indies ... )

I should also mention that doing a simple web search on St. Germain isn't as easy as you might think. There are endless variations on the form of the name: sometimes "saint" is spelled out, sometimes it's abbreviated "St."; sometimes there's a hyphen between Saint (or St.) and Germain and sometimes not; sometimes one sees "Comte" (French for "count") and sometimes "Comte de" with any of these variations, and sometimes "Count." Once you've gone through all those possibilities, much of the information about St. Germain you'll find on the Internet is unreliable, to put it mildly.

The Comte de St. Germain (a pseudonym; his real name is unknown) was a "mystery man" of apparently unlimited wealth who moved among the highest circles of nobility in Europe in the late 1700s, charming several of the crowned heads of Europe, who usually gave him free lodging on palace grounds sometimes for years (remind you of Collinwood's many extended guests? ). In the centuries that followed, myths about him grew, until he became an immortal figure said to still be living today, or an Ascended Master. Dubious memoirs circulated wild rumors about his strange powers, prophecies, and immortality. He became popularly associated with secret societies and alchemy. Despite the speciousness of some of the claims about him, authentic sources of the time do recount him as a remarkable man, though a few detractors considered him a charlatan and liar. (The sardonic nature of Voltaire's often-quoted reference to him seems to have gone over the heads of the "true believers.")

The Comte was fluent in many languages, was an accomplished painter, violinist, and composer. (Some of his music has been published by the Philosophical Research Association; none of his paintings are extant.) When he died (his death in 1784 and his will are well documented), it was discovered that he owned nothing but some old clothes and toilet articles. No paintings, diamonds, books, manuscripts, musical scores or instruments were found.

A highly skeptical account of the "Comte's" doings can be found in The Myth of the Magus by E. M. Butler (Oxford Univ. Press). That's probably the best overview -- especially if you enjoy a little debunking. The most detailed source I discovered is a scholarly biography by Jean Overton Fuller, The Comte of Saint Germain, published in England in the 1980s. Fuller is a Theosophist, i.e. a member of a metaphysical group that claims St. Germain as an Ascended Master. Fuller gives the Comte the benefit of the doubt on nearly every front, but she also bravely cuts through the vast amount of unreliable sources and fabricated testimonies to reveal him as primarily a chemist and entrepreneur who had a philosophical bent. She discounts the popular beliefs that he was an alchemist, a Mason, and denies his reputed authorship of "La Tres Sainte Trinosophie" (The Most Holy Trinosophia).

After all this library legwork over the years, I recently found a website for the "Fortean Times" that is unique in presenting accurate information about St. Germain. The article was written a couple of years ago (after I had done all of my reading). The URL is:  
http://www.forteantimes.com/articles/146_stgermain.shtml

Despite Fuller's efforts towards a balanced biography, her account fails to even consider what kept nagging at me as I investigated other sources: the "count" sounds suspiciously like a con man. A year or so after I had done most of my reading, French conman Christophe Rocancourt was in the news and I was struck by a number of similarities. Both St. Germain and Raconcourt were suave, polished men who moved comfortably among top celebrities, gave the appearance of great wealth, were fluent in many languages, were art connoisseurs, and traveled much of the globe under a variety of aliases. In reality, the jetset Rocancourt was a lower class conman with a rapsheet who was busy bilking investors on the East coast while wining and dining Hollywood celebrities on the West coast (he was kissed by Mickey Rourke and married a Playboy centerfold). Rocancourt was known as the "Hamptons Hoaxer" and the "Counterfeit Rockefeller," after his claim to be heir of an otherwise unknown French branch of the Rockefeller family. (He is actually the son of a prostitute and is currently being extradited from Canada to the U.S. to face a number of charges.) St. Germain claimed to be a long-lost scion of the Transylvanian House of Rakoczy and rightful heir to a throne.

What does all this have to do with Petofi? Petofi does have a few things in common with the Comte de St. Germain: both are cultured sophisticates who travel under false identities, both claim titles, are supposedly immortal and possess magical powers. The Comte might well have been the initial inspiration for the Count. However, the path diverges from that point on. Petofi's associations with the gypsies, his suffering from the werewolf curse, his ownership of the last unicorn, and his evil nature turn him into a very different character from the real life Comte de St. Germain.

Someone had a thread about this topic a couple of years ago, and I was relieved to discover that I wasn't the only person who "remembered" scenes on DS watched in childhood that apparently never happened!

One such scene that I vividly remembered was a scene where a knife was found stabbed through the pages of an open Bible on the desk in the drawing room at Collinwood.  The knife pinpointed the verse "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." The reference was to Angelique or Cassandra, warning the family that she was a witch.

In re-viewing the show now, the closest thing I've found to that remembered scene was yesterday's episode when Judith discovered the knife in the Bible from the spirit of Minerva Trask.

Judith read the following verse from the Bible:

"The righteous perish; no man taketh it to heart; none considering the righteous are taken away, but the evil is still to come."

This seemed to mean that the righteous (Mrs. Trask) was killed, though none realize it ... and more evil is still to come.

I did a web-search on this Bible verse, and it seems to have been partly made up by the DS writers!  The original verse reads:

"The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come." (KJV).

Interesting, creative use of the Scriptures by the DS writers!

The scene I so vividly recalled made such an impression on me, that I eagerly listened in church hoping to hear the minister announce:  "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live!"

Alas, I was never to hear such exciting proclamations from the pulpit.  (We attended a rather liberal church that wasn't too concerned about the evils of witches!)

If this scene never happened on DS, how is it that I remembered it?

The hand of Count Petofi has "powers that were granted in the Forest of Oshden."

Any ideas how the DS writers might have come up with this idea of powers being granted to a cut-off hand, if that's what Magda meant by this?

And also the idea of the "Forest of Oshden" itself -- where did the writers come up with that? (I'm spelling "Oshden" the way it sounds to me.) The only thing I could think of last time this ran was that the name sounded a little like Shakespeare's the Forest of Arden in "As You Like It."

It seems a lot of things relating to Count Petofi were never fully explained.

I know few people agree with me, but I liked Rachel Drummond. Perhaps she was only the "type" of person Tennesse Williams referred to as a "little person" (I'm not sure if I'm remembering Mr. Williams' term accurately). In other words, she was no one of great importance, not particulary intelligent or talented. Not someone who will be remembered for very long after her death.  But she was a gracious, tender, loving young woman. She was devoted to her charges, and loyal to her friend, Tim Shaw.

She showed real backbone when being browbeaten by the Rev. Trask -- and didn't hesitate a moment to lie in order to protect someone in whom she had faith.  Nor did she waver from her lie in the face of Trask's physical violence or threats.

Rachel Drummond is also one of Kathryn Leigh Scott's best realized and flawless performances on DS.  From her initial appearance, her carriage and demeanor were completely believable for a shy young woman of her station in the late Victorian era, someone little more than a servant in the eyes of more powerful people (which was practically everyone at Collinwood). KLS's speech and mannerisms were perfectly suited to the character and well-drawn.  I wish more people remembered this particular role of Miss Scott's.

Her death scene was as poetic, touching, and full of pathos as a death scene in Dickens -- and of course Dickens is much maligned by those of a more cynical nature. Several details of Rachel and Tim reminded me of Nicholas and his sister Kate in Dickens' "Nicholas Nickleby."  Dickens portrayed many women like Rachel Drummond, who were seen as the perfect Victorian woman, the "angel in the household."  (It's interesting to remember, though, that Dickens' canvas was remarkably broad, and he brought to life every type of woman -- and character -- conceivable throughout his novels, many far different from Kate Nickleby, Little Nell, or Rachel Drummond.)

And speaking of broad canvases and many types of characters, that's one of the things I love most about DS, and which I feel Dark Shadows shares with my favorite author.

A sad farewell to the brief, touching life of Rachel Drummond ... waiting for her father to bring her home to the large white house by the sea, hopefull, waiting, expectant ...

My question refers to the "prop" music box used on the show.  Does anyone know what happened to it?  At one of the last two fests, KLS talked about how nice it was, but she didn't say what happened to it after the show (and I don't remember anyone asking about that).

I can't believe I've been away from the board for so long.  I've only been away this long once in the past three years (going on four years now, or is it five?). I've felt especially bad not even having time to drop in to read everyone's comments at the start of 1897, which has really been top-notch in the writing, acting, and production departments.  I missed most of the last three weeks and have just started viewing again a few days ago.  My viewing was suspended when Quentin was killed by Jenny; I remember how much I disliked the Quentin-as-zombie aspect last time, so I'm not entirely sorry I missed that now, although maybe my opinion would have changed the second time around. Thought Frid's recitation of the spell from The Egyptian Book of the Dead yesterday was superb; would have liked to have heard more.

I'm hoping I'll be able to start posting again in January, but come February with new obligations, I don't know if I'll be able to continue participating as frequently as I used to.

There's nothing more I can really add to the DS discussion right now, so instead I thought I'd share a bit of holiday cheer.

This is my version of a recipe that appeared in a national newspaper supplement, but I have changed it enough to truly call it my own -- I just borrowed the basic idea.  One thing I've done is change the proportions of rum and brandy flavors to reflect the penchant for brandy at Collinwood!

This is a fantastic alternative to store-bought eggnogs (and much easier than making your own eggnog) -- no eggs, no heavy, over-rich gloppy goo like the commercial brands.  It's much lighter and more refreshing!


"Vlad's Holiday Cheer"

(Makes 4 servings)

What you need:

Mixing bowl, or large jar or pitcher for mixing and storing
Wooden spoon
Measuring cup and spoons

Ingredients:

1 quart 4-percent (whole) milk (4 cups)
4 rounded tablespoons "Reser's Hot Buttered Rum" (carried in the refrigerator section at grocery stores during the holidays. I've suggested alternatives to this below if you're unable to obtain it.)
1 / 4 cup sugar (or 8 sugar cubes)
1 / 2 cup brandy
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Stir sugar, hot buttered rum mix, brandy, and vanilla extract until dissolved.  Stir in milk.  Place in freezer for several hours until very frosty.  May be stored in freezer.

Enjoy in front of the fire, or while watching Dark Shadows.

For Christmas Eve, stir in a couple dashes of peppermint spirits or peppermint extract, and serve with a candy cane in each glass.

Warning:  Very addictive!  Reserve for holiday imbibing only.  Do not attempt to operate machinery or heavy equipment if you consume as much as you'll probably want to!

Alternatives:

If you can't find the hot buttered rum mix in your store (it can also be ordered online), you can make your own.  I haven't tried this, but it shouldn't be too difficult to duplicate.  I would estimate using the following amounts based on the ingredients label:

1 cup brown sugar
1 / 2 to 2 / 3 stick butter
rum extract or seasoning to flavor
a pinch of salt

Blend together.

Now, if you don't want to go through THAT much trouble with the rum mixture, modify my original recipe as follows.  In addition to the ingredients previously listed (minus the prepared rum mixture), add:

1 / 4 cup rum
a pinch of salt

Enjoy the spirit of the season!

Now that Victoria Winters has left Collinwood, Collinsport, and the Dark Shadows story, it may be an appropriate time to re-examine the central mystery about her:  Who were her parents, and what was her connection with the Collins family?  Why did Elizabeth Collins Stoddard provide Victoria with a position at Collinwood, and why did she deny there was any particular meaning in her having done so to Roger, Vicki, and everyone else?

I apologize if I've somehow missed any recent threads dealing with this topic, but I haven't seen any direct discussion of this for some time.

I myself have vacillated on the solution to this mystery.  During my first viewing of the series when Sci-Fi began airing DS about four years ago beginning with the Laura the Phoenix storyline, I saw little evidence for Elizabeth being Vicki's mother, as has often been suggested.  Continuing to watch the show, the alternate possibility that Paul Stoddard was Vicki's father resulting from an affair seemed a much more likely and appealing possibility.

I later rethought this position when I saw the early episodes for the first time.  There seemed to be hints that Elizabeth had a guilty conscience with respect to Vicki -- she obviously knew more than she was telling about Vicki's history and had a particular purpose in bringing her to Collinwood.  At about that time, I saw an interview on TV with the adopted daughter of an actress who later discovered that her adoptive mother was actually her real mother, but I don't believe she ever confronted her mother with this information, and her mother (the famous actress) continued the charade.  (I can't remember any more who this actress was, but apparently this was an out-of-wedlock birth perhaps in the 1940s.)  This made me consider that something like that really could happen, that the psychology behind the mother's motives was realistic, though perhaps difficult to understand today.  Society has changed, sometimes for the better, in the past few decades.

Still, did anyone really get any hint when Vicki disappeared into the past that Elizabeth was truly watching her daughter dissolve before her eyes?  Any hints about such a relationship seem to have dropped by the wayside long ago.

In the series' early episodes, there seemed to be an effort to draw attention to the physical similarities between Elizabeth and Victoria.

One complication was the Betty Hanscomb portrait or drawing.  Although some (perhaps it was SheilaMarch) have theorized that this was actually a portrait of Elizabeth ("Betty") being a nickname, I am doubtful of that possibility.  It was established that there was a "B. Hanscomb" employed as a butler at Collinwood 20 - 25 years earlier.  I believe there was mention that he had a daughter, although I'm not 100 percent certain about this; however, it is a logical inference.  Sam Evans described Betty to Vicki as a local girl who had left town about 25 year earlier and died shortly after.

In keeping with the Gothic novel tradition (including Dickens, et al.), as well as common circumstances during the mid 20th century, this was almost certainly an implication that poor Betty had gotten pregnant and left town to have her illegitimate baby.

What interest would Elizabeth have in bringing the illegitimate daughter of a Collins butler to work at Collinwood so many years later?  And why would Elizabeth apparently have provided financial support to Vicki via the Garner law firm over the years?

It seem inconceivable that a young woman of Elizabeth Collins' status could have been pregnant and given birth without anyone knowing at the time -- and then have left the baby in a basket outside an orphanage.  No, it's far more likely that these would have been the actions of a much poorer girl with few connections -- someone like Betty Hanscombe, whose portrait shows her as almost a dead-ringer for Victoria Winters.

Elizabeth, it is to be noted, denied seeing any resemblance between the portrait and Victoria.  It is probable that she has an invested interest in keeping the truth of Vicki's parents from her.

That truth -- which was postulated by "Bob" on the VantageNet forum in July 2001 (I'm guessing this was Bob the Bartender, unless there was another Bob posting at that time whom I don't recall) -- was that Elizabeth was covering for another member of the Collins family:  her father, Jamison Collins.

Bob suggested that Jamison had a dalliance with his butler's daughter, and Elizabeth stepped in to help the girl when she (sometime later, in my opinion) learned what had happened.  Vicki, then, would be Elizabeth (and Roger's) half-sister -- hence Elizabeth's emotional connection and clandestine support.  In those days, few people, especially those of the Collins family's status -- would have been comfortable acknowledging an illegitimate half-sibling.  Yet we know that Elizabeth is a good, caring woman (witness her tender feelings toward David throughout the series, to Amy, etc.).  Her heart goes out to Vicki, but the emotional bond is not as strong as it would be had Vicki been a full sister or her own daughter.

This hypothesis also fits with what we later learn about Paul Stoddard, namely that Carolyn was his first-born child, whom he made a bargain over with "Mr. Best" (Death, personified).

This theory accounts for Vicki's resemblance to Elizabeth and also, very interestingly, makes her a Collins.

I believe Bob's theory resolves the mystery most satisfactorily and satisfyingly.  I give Bob the credit for supplying the outlines of this theory, which I have further fleshed out.  I would be interested in knowing if this was Bob's original idea or if he was drawing on someone else's previous suggestions.

I have identified four potential objections to this theory, none of which present insurmountable obstacles, in my opinion:

1.  Shadows on the Wall, the "story bible" for the series, states that Paul Stoddard is Victoria Winter's father, if memory serves correct.  I do find this an attractive possibility, but we should remember that a number of substantive changes and departures were made from this story bible as the series unfolded.  (For example, Roger was to be wicked and fall off Widow's hill very early on.)

2.  Joan Bennett's personal belief/testimony.  Miss Bennett apparently stated at a DS festival that she believed Elizabeth was Victoria's mother.  If Bennett acted under this assumption in giving an added layer of emotional depth to her performance (and I believe she did, at least early on), that still doesn't mean that she was in-the-know herself as to the solution to the mystery, just that this was a personal choice she made as an actor.

3.  Sam Evan's statement that he had painted Betty Hanscomb's portrait 25 years earlier, and that Betty had died a year or so later.  The problem this raises is that this would mean that Betty died at least a couple of years before Victoria was born.  It's possible that Sam was mistaken, and gave "25 years ago" as a rough estimate as to when the portrait was done.  I think there is a more likely and interesting possibility, though.  I think he was deliberately concealing the actual date and time frame from Vicki.  Sam most likely wished to "protect" Vicki from learning too much -- from concluding, as he obviously suspected, that Betty Hanscomb was Victoria's mother and that the Collins family was somehow involved.  Thirty-odd years ago, illegitimate births were still hushed up, especially in small towns, considered shameful by many, and Sam would hardly have felt it was his place to reveal his suspicions to Vicki.  So he throws her off the trail by padding the time frame by a year or two.

Significantly, Elizabeth does not tell Vicki, when confronted with the Betty Hansomb/portrait evidence that Betty had died three or four years before Vicki was born (she would know Vicki's age, of course).  Had this been the case, though, Elizabeth would almost certainly have said so.  Though she denied a resemblance between Betty's likeness and Vicki, she hadn't apparently felt comfortable with lying about factual matters that Vicki might someday check into, such as the date of Betty's death.

She would, however, wish to discourage Vicki from making any connection between Betty Hanscomb and the Collins family, and hence deny the physical resemblance.

4.  Finally, Dreams of the Dark.  This novel was sanctioned by DCP and reveals Elizabeth to have been Vicki's mother.  Although I have a great deal of positive things to say about this book, I have to say I will take issue with it on this one point.  The clues suggested in a 30-year-old daily drama were obviously complicated and not likely to be fresh in the minds of readers in 1999 or so, nor would many of today's readers be expected to be concerned with the minutiae of the matter.  It's obviously more emotionally powerful to have a simplified solution at the end of Dreams of the Dark that fits with many of the hints and suspicions some viewers would vaguely have remembered.  But remember that the actual solution isn't likely to have been the most obvious one -- the writers at the time most likely had a "twist" in mind, but sadly the entire mystery was completely dropped before this was revealed.

Although the scene in DOD where this was revealed was extremely well-executed, one aspect of it did not ring true for me -- and that was Elizabeth's apparent habitual occult ritual of protection for Vicki.  There is never any indication in the series that Elizabeth would have employed the occult, especially before the appearance of Barnabas on the scene.  Even then, Elizabeth voiced strong objections and even fear about the initial seances.  What we do see with respect to Elizabeth throughout the entire series is that she refers to prayer at times of distress.  It is more likely that Elizabeth's beliefs and practices fell within the conventional confines of a matron of a family steeped in tradition, and that if she had wished for the protection of Victoria from the time of her birth onward, she would have relied on the means most familiar to her with which she was comfortable -- prayer, not the practice of occult rituals.