this was Maggie's first time up at the "big house"...


and she "dressed" for the occasion.

the DS festival and fan events definitely seem to exists in some sort of isolation bubble. one is "in the know" or not.


when i attended my first fest in 2003 i didn't even have a computer yet. i honestly don't remember how i even found out about it much less register for it. did they used to advertise on the old VHS extras? the PomPress books? i heard about it somewhere. 

they did show an exterior still frame slide of Wyndcliffe during it's earliest days when Maggie was first placed under Dr. Hoffman's rather dubious "care".

i seem to recall a white wooden structure with maybe a widow's walk?


i don't believe the shot was used in any of the color episodes.

the group from Big Finish Productions also generally has a table set up for it's DS audiodrama series.


Nancy has been on hand with her "memory book" on Frid and some years RJ with her book on Grayson. not sure if they are attending the west coast event.

Interesting if true that James Hall was kept on for a few days after his re-cast had been planned.  On DS, re-casts normally happened over at most a 24 hour period--sometimes more like 12 hours, or less.  I think that was the case when Craig Slocum left (or simply failed to show up for work).

I wish I trusted KLS's memories more, but she's told us so many things over the years that are documented to have been not at all the case.

at the time recasting what would have been a "day player" on a soap opera wouldn't have been considered a big deal. given that Karlen came and went throughout the run i don't know if Willie (or any of his other characters) was ever a "contract role".

he subsequently became an important figure in the whole thing but given that Barnabas himself was originally planned to have been killed off after a 13 week cycle the role of Willie was probably considered pretty small potatoes.

maybe Hall himself became unavailable. i get the impression no one really remember how exactly this recast transpired.

believe me...

THE PEN is the "gift" that keeps on giving.

unless i'm mistaken registration has been shut down for several years...


so as older members drift away they are not being replaced by new ones. it's simple attrition.


and as i recall when the Sci-Fi channel used to air the show there was much more daily chatter.

'Desperate Housewives' also had a character named "Mary Alice" (played by Brenda Stong) who died in the first episode but spoke the opening voiceover for it's entire eight season run.

not sure how she was paid.