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Messages - Philippe Cordier

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676
Calendar Events / Announcements '04 I / Re:OT: The Lebo Coven
« on: May 21, 2004, 02:01:19 AM »
Congratulations and best wishes on your new book, Mark!    :)

To quote from the online review:

"Stephen Mark Rainey coaxes readers to believe that dark and white magic actually exist; not an easy task, but an accomplishment that shows he is one of the new stars in the horror galaxy."


Not too shabby.  :D

I may have to wait till it comes out in mass market format though, partly because my heart has been set on several books on my carefully prepared summer reading list already, and I've already had to cross off "The Tale of Genji" (for about the 20th year in a row) as an unrealistic goal.  I've just started "Shadowmancer" (a British import and rather a change of pace for me), and then it's on to Wilkie Collins' "Basil", then back to Harry Potter whom I seem to have left suspended in mid-air almost a year ago, then back to RLS's "Kidnapped," then ...

  ::)

677
Calendar Events / Announcements '04 I / Re:Waaay OT / Joan Bennett Movie Question
« on: May 21, 2004, 01:48:08 AM »
Quote from: Luciaphil on May 20, 2004, 02:03:46 AM
As far as the hair color goes, Vlad. I'm not sure she graduated--she had been sent to a finishing school/boarding school when she was sixteen in Europe. I believe she ran away shortly thereafter to elope with the man who became her first husband (I would have to dig out her autobiography, but I know she talks about that).

Hi Luciaphil,

She appears to be between 17 and 19 in the photograph, which is posed in a very standard photography portrait such as a graduation photo, so that seemed logical.  If she didn't graduate from HS, it would be interesting to know the occasion of the photo.  The original photography studio's stamp is on the back as I mentioned -- I forget the name of it but it was in NYC.

 :)

678
Current Talk '24 I / Re:WB ORDERS FILMING OF NEW DS PILOT
« on: May 20, 2004, 03:25:54 AM »
Quote from: Mysterious Benefactor on May 20, 2004, 02:04:58 AM
That's exactly what you should have been taken to - that link was to the LIS article that I'd summarized.  :)

Oh!  Sorry, guess I was reading quickly and assumed that the third article you referred to was also about DS!

[blshy]

679
Current Talk '24 I / Re:WB ORDERS FILMING OF NEW DS PILOT
« on: May 20, 2004, 01:58:31 AM »
Quote from: Mysterious Benefactor on May 20, 2004, 12:24:22 AM
...
So, either the show's crew really is lost in their own fantasy space world, or the reports of the death of franchise series at the WB are a load of bull....

You can check out the entire article (URL)

MB, your link brought me to an article on "Lost in Space," and all related links from that page are also to articles on "Lost in Space."   ::)


680
Calendar Events / Announcements '04 I / Re:Waaay OT / Joan Bennett Movie Question
« on: May 20, 2004, 01:31:28 AM »
Hi, Patti -- yes, I have read Eugene O'Neil's "Mourning Becomes Electra" but haven't seen the movie version.  I was quite immersed in Greek tragedy in college and one of my professors told me that this was a modern version of one of the Greek plays I was enamoured with -- can't remember which one now, I think it was by Aeschylus and had to do with Clytamnestra killing her husband Agamemnon upon his return from Troy, and then the vengeance the children took on their mother.  I was quite taken with the title "Mourning becomes Electra" more than the play itself, but it would have been interesting to see after all these years.

Just an aside on Joan Bennett ... I was going through a file on Walter Wanger at work the other day and came across an original photograph of Bennett that I believe was her high school graduation portrait.  The photographer was a New York studio but I haven't doubled checked to see if that's where Bennett attended school.

Anyway, what was of interest in the photo -- which was a good quality black and whitel -- was that Bennett's hair color (which I take to have been natural at this early time but that's an assumption of course) was sort of a dark honey blonde.  Not the platinum blonde she donned in Hollywood for a while, but defintely much lighter than her later brunette shade.

 :)

681
Calendar Events / Announcements '04 I / Re:Colonial Maine
« on: May 20, 2004, 01:09:58 AM »
Quote from: Mysterious Benefactor on May 19, 2004, 02:30:21 PM
Quote from: That other guy on May 19, 2004, 04:27:14 AM
Isn't there mention of the family home being brought over stone by stone from England, where it originall was, at some point in the series?
Barnabas expalins how that took place in the pilot episode of the '91 series. But the only history we get of Collinwood in the daytime show was that Jeremiah built it for Josette - and 1795 rewrites that history, so it's anyone's guess how/why the Collinses would have built a house patterned after a French chateau.

I personally didn't like the "explanation" for the building of Collinwood (i.e. transferred stone by stone from Europe or whatever) that was added to the 1991 series ... can't really explain why, just that it wasn't said to be that way in the original series.  If there had been a new WB series, I feel we would have gotten even further away from the original stories and intentions, and that was one thing I felt trepidation about.  Guess I'm an old series purist!

Josette wrote:

Quote
But, everyone rebels against their positions and how people behaved.  In this one several refused to go to the church services, although it was required and obviously an important part of life back then.  They would do other things against the rules, etc.  The women didn't like not having a say in how things were run, etc.  It's not as though they would be stuck in this new life forever and felt a need to rebel.  They were playing a part for a few months.  One would think they would go along with all of those things as much as they could, to more get the feel of what it was really like.

I think the producers or whoever could have managed to do better selections to get those who would really cooperate with the full spirit of the enterprise.

You make a very good point, Josette.  I was vaguely thinking the same thing after last night's episode but hadn't thought out the implications to the extent you did.  I think what you say may affect my enjoyment of the series somewhat, but you are right.  I felt, too, that the one couple especially who voiced an anti-Christian bias and wanted to do their own thing on the sabbath were not keeping with the spirit and intentions of the whole colonial enterprise they were supposed to be a part of.  I also felt that the governor was weak in basically saying that he wouldn't enforce the church attendance requirements.  The authenticity of the experience really dropped out at that point, as well as with other complaints.  While on the one hand, there have always been dissenters even in the colonies (some of them were later accused of witchcraft), this did seem like "well, we don't like it and we're not going to do it, even if that was the authentic way which was enforceable by law."  I'm not making a judgment on their opinions for today's world, just within the context of the series.

And while obviously no one who experienced homosexual attractions would ever have dared to voice that, I guess in one sense it makes the show more interesting when there is some give and take between our world and the colonial world.

I wonder, too, if the producers might have DELIBERATELY been looking for just this sort of thing  -- potential conflicts, strong-willed people, etc. -- in the interest of making the show more entertaining.  Rather than a re-enactment, it looks like the producers have an eye for modern realism and concerns and more "dynamic" television.

Josette also wrote:

Quote
That did make me wonder about the Collinses - the non-secular example was a fishing town in Maine - we never did see any hints of religion (other than the Trasks) in DS.

I don't think that's quite accurate -- although I don't remember the details any more that I have accumulated and posted about some years ago, there are many references to prayer throughout the length of the original series, certain biblical references, references to church, reading the Bible, doing the Lord's work, etc. -- and I'm not talking about Trask in any of these cases.  Several such references were in the 1840 storyline, but weren't limited to that storyline.


MB wrote:

Quote
And the earliest we ever saw Collinses was the 1680PT flashback.

Ooooo, I'd forgetten this.  And unfortunately I can't remember it.  I'm guessing that this must have been in the final storyline of the series ... which I missed the last time round on SciFi.

682
Calendar Events / Announcements '04 I / Colonial Maine
« on: May 19, 2004, 03:05:24 AM »
If you've ever wondered what Maine might have been like in the early Colonial era (1628), one of the best things I've seen on television in a LONG time is airing this week and next:  Colonial House on PBS.

Apparently this was filmed in Maine, so we get a good chance to see what the real thing looks like.

I can't remember my Collins family history well enough to know if there were any Collinses in Maine yet at this time -- it seems very unlikely if the DS writers knew their history, because life as lived by the people on this series was fairly primitive.  Hard physical labor from sunup to sundown -- not a lot of fun.

I'm thinking that the Miranda du Val/Judah Zachary flashback took place in the late 1600s -- perhaps 60-70 years after the period of "Colonial House."

I don't know what it is about these PBS shows, but they sure are 1,000 times better than the commercial networks superficial, crude sex-laden reality shows.

Which isn't to say that some very realistic aspects of life are not depicted on this show!

683
Calendar Events / Announcements '04 I / Re:Happy Birthday, victoriawinters!
« on: May 19, 2004, 02:54:41 AM »
I don't usually read or post in these birthday threads, there's just too darn many -- but this time I'm making an exception -- Happy Birthday, VictoriaWinters!  ;D


684
Current Talk '04 I / Re:Other then DC, who created Barnabas?
« on: May 12, 2004, 02:26:47 PM »
Quote from: Nelson Collins on May 12, 2004, 01:37:07 PM
Quote from: Stuart on May 12, 2004, 01:35:28 AM

I've never been bought by the whole "threat of cancellation" story for 1967.  It sounds quite dramatic until you consider that they were given 26 weeks to raise the ratings - six months worth of episodes.  To me, that sounds like a pretty leisurely timeframe for a situation apparently so drastic.  It's waaaaaaaaay more notice than the show had when eventually was yanked in 1971.

People also overlook the fact that the show had already been renewed from its initial six month order in 1966 - that in itself suggests that it was doing acceptable business.  I tend to think that DS was it was renewed, just with more stringent expectations than before - not the outright make-or-break situation it's since been painted as.

Leisurely for today maybe, but I might have been a different story in 1966, I tend to agree with you there.  I don't pretend to know much about how daytime TV at that time was judged/rated by the networks, but I am sure it was more economical to renew with a mandate to raise the viewership than ax it unceremoniously and start from scratch on something else.

Whether the show was facing cancellation or not, it is indisputable (as far as these things can be indisputable) that the vampire character was to be brought on temporarily, and that Mr. Frid understood that to be the case.  That this general plan of events remained in place for some time is borne out by the letters JoeyTrom mentions Frid writing in the summer (approximately three months after he started the show) that the character would be axed by September (and later, that this would happen in November).  The temporary nature of the character (even if the exact time allotted increased) is more germaine to the question of how much effort would have gone into creating the character than whether the series itself faced cancellation.  I guess I don't know enough about how the television industry works (or worked during this time, or how ABC handled things), but I don't see why the show might not have been given a six-month lease to see if ratings would improve.


**********


Re: my earlier "Character by Committee" post ... I forgot to mention Robert Costello's having supplied the name "Barnabas" to the character.   ;D

When all this evidence is weighed in, it really looks like the character of Barnabas Collins was developed as a collaborative effort.  That a character as interesting as Barnabas Collins came about as a committee effort truly surprises me -- I would have expected just the opposite:  one fell swoop of inspiration, with one creative mind responsible.

While it appears that Art Wallace deserves credit to some degree, his statement "I created Barnabas Collins" implies (at least to me) that he was the sole originator and developer of the character and doesn't suggest collaborative effort.  Why he would have said this if it wasn't the case (and it hardly seems possible given the other testimonies adduced here) leaves room for speculation.  I would suggest the possibility that his involvement had been forgotten, that he was exasperated by that, and that he perhaps exaggerated his role in the course of this particular interview as a result of the lack of recognition.  That's truly speculation.

685
Current Talk '04 I / Re:Other then DC, who created Barnabas?
« on: May 12, 2004, 09:16:09 AM »
OK, so far in the creation of the character of Barnabas we have:  a probable initial "light bulb" idea for a vampire by Dan Curtis (maybe another dream), a possible original character sketch by Art "I created Barnabas" Wallace, development of the character by Ron Sproat and other DS writers, with significant input from barely cast Jonathan Frid (who soon wrote home that he probably wouldn't be on the show much longer).

Have I missed anybody?  Edith Tillies?  ;)

Seriously, my above sentence seems to capture what is known and for whose involvement in the creation of Barnabas some evidence appears to exist, does it not?  And it actually seems quite reasonable.

686
Current Talk '24 I / Re:WB ORDERS FILMING OF NEW DS PILOT
« on: May 12, 2004, 09:10:28 AM »
Quote from: Darren on May 12, 2004, 08:15:23 AM
Thanks folks- a poster sent me a scan of the blue boy portrait from Shadowgram- thanks to all that emailed me about it..

Would the poster who sent the scan possibly consider submitting it to one of the forum moderators with a request to upload the image here?


687
Current Talk '04 I / Re:Other then DC, who created Barnabas?
« on: May 11, 2004, 08:33:13 AM »
Quote from: murph on May 11, 2004, 05:20:39 AM
Does this clear up my point for you Vlad?  Again I am sorry I wasn't clear.

Yes, and it makes sense to me (though I see MB disagrees).  Thanks.


688
Current Talk '04 I / Re:Other then DC, who created Barnabas?
« on: May 11, 2004, 04:18:13 AM »
Quote from: Nancy on April 25, 2004, 05:44:44 AM
The writers are the one who ran with the idea and wanted the character to a three dimensional villain and called the actor in for discussions on that point before the actor even made one camera appearance. That was not a common thing to be done on soap at all.

I'm having a hard time making sense out of several comments.  First, what does Nancy mean by "called the actor in for discussions on that point before the actor even made one camera appearance."

Can you explain what this means?

I'm equally having trouble understanding the next two posts.  Murph writes:

Quote
My question is this.  Why would the powers that be create this backstory for a character they thought was going to be staked after 13 weeks?  It's my understanding they didn't expect the show to last through the summer.  In the Dan curtis interview with DVD disc 10 he talks about how Barnabas became the relunctant vampire because tptb planned on killing him off but when the ratings shot through the roof they knew he had to live and had to come up with a reason to keep him on.

To me it sounds like Murph is saying it seems unlikely that an elaborate backstory would have been written (presumably by Art Wallace, who claimed to have done so) for a temporary character.

But then Murph says:

Quote
It doesn't make any sense to me that an elaborate backstory for Barnabas was written until the ratings shot up and they knew he had to stay which was probably sometime in May or June of '67, certainly not before the character appeared at Collinwood, which was mid April.

which seems to contradict what he said if this means it's unlikely that the backstory was written later on when the ratings shot up.  So, it's unlikely the backstory was written early on, and it's unlikely the backstory was written later on?

 ???

And finally, Joeytrom writes:

Quote
They probably wanted to make the Barnabas character as interesting as possible, so they decided to do a backstory on him.  The series was in danger of being cancelled so they had nothing to lose.

which makes it sound like the backstory for Barnabas was written only later on when the show was about to be cancelled.  In other words, it's unlikely that Art Wallace wrote the backstory early on?

 ???

I mean, I know we'll probably never know exactly what happened, and I certainly understand how memories become fuzzy over time, but Art Wallace clearly claimed credit for the creation of Barnabas.

And Nancy says she agrees with MB that one person probably cannot take credit, yet MB has stated, if I understand correctly, that he believes that Art Wallace does deserve the credit.

689
Current Talk '24 I / Re:WB ORDERS FILMING OF NEW DS PILOT
« on: May 11, 2004, 04:02:05 AM »
I hate to say this, but if the WB is lukewarm about the pilot, which they themselves helped develop, maybe it's not so hot.

I'd rather have no "new" Dark Shadows at all rather than a not-so-great one that folded in ignominy after a few weeks.

And what effect might a so-so incarnation of the series have on the original series?  If the new series were a dog, how likely would another network jump at the chance to re-run the old one?

I never thought I'd say this and I apologize for spreading gloom and doom ... but the original DS's reputation and memory is more important to me than any new version will ever be.

690
Current Talk '24 I / Re:WB ORDERS FILMING OF NEW DS PILOT
« on: May 10, 2004, 09:09:48 AM »
Quote from: Mary on May 09, 2004, 05:26:13 AM
Yes, there is a picture of the new Barnabas portrait with Alec Newman in Shadowgram.  It's a full-body portrait.  He's dressed in his 18th century clothes, which are different than what we've seen Barnabas wear before: no ruffled shirt, no medals.  A little more casual-type clothes.  He is wearing a cape, though.  He has shoulder-length wavy hair -- sigh...drool...  LOL! ;)

Thank you, Mary.  I hope I don't have too much longer to wait to see this, but for some reason my Shadowgram seems to arrive quite a bit later than most people's.

VW, interesting statistics; thanks.

Re:  Unveiling the location information for the Old House -- thank you, Darren.

Now, if there's anyone I haven't thanked but should have, please consider yourself thanked.  :D

Quote from Nelson Collins:

Quote
I, for one, am hoping that the WB does _not_ use Van Helsing as a guide to what modern horror is about.

The trailer was enough for me.  A quote from my former hometown newspaper's review:

"mindless special-effects overkill and a complete absence of coherent narrative"

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