brrrr mysterious...

summer in maine.better get out that green felted wool coat and head to the diner for some hot,burned,stale coffee.

and when you get home don't forget to get the fire blazing and curl up under a nice warm afghan with a brandy.

i've been watching the late 1966 episodes and something suddenly struck me about the closing credits...

specifically some of laura collins introductory episodes.while diana millay is clearly the "star" of the episodes in question,with major screen time going to kathryn leigh scott and david hennessy(alexandra moltke,of course,gets her own ending credit),it is david ford as sam evans who gets the first credit despite his relatively minor role in these eps.

in other words if joan bennett(who,again of course,gets her won starring credit)is not in a particular episode does the next adult male in line "star" in that episode according the credit run?certainly it can be argued that grayson hall,lara parker and other actresses owned particular episodes but,simply by being women did they have to play second banana to the boys in the cast?was there some good old fashioned male chauvinism in play here?

the episodes i'm watching are also from the "my name is victoria winters" era where alexandra recites the opening voiceover whether or not she actually appears in the episode itself.there were several in laura's opening eps where she does not and i'm wondering if they actually made alexandra come into the studio to read a thirty second voiceover or if the producers knew she was off for a few days allowed her to "prerecord" them in advance and were thus inserted into the episodes later?

does anyone know?

do we really feel comfortable saying that roger "dated" vicki?

i've been watching 1966 and the idea of that sort of gets thrown around for a few weeks,like so many red herrings,without actually coming into fruition.

apart from a trip to the cannery and an excruciating night at the blue whale(where roger was simply involving vicki to mask other motives)i can't really recall a "date".

b.t.w nice to have you back luciaphile.

gothick...

i'm imagining television sets in all the rooms at collinwood.

somehow i think liz would have been a fan of "the secret storm".the characters seemed so familiar to her.down the hall i can see carolyn and vicki frugging to "where the action is".i believe that "the french chef" premiered in 1966 and poor mrs.johnson was always trying to master boeuf bourguignon and coq au vin but all she could ever come up with was that lousy new england boiled dinner.

another genius mrs. johnson sequence...

after brazenly smoking cigarettes at the breakfast table(!)david sneaks off with her stuff to bring to matthew down at the old house.

later when mrs. j accuses david of stealing them "master" collins puts her in her place with "should you be smoking while you work?" and finally "if i wanted cigarettes i would just buy them". zwing!

these episodes(120-121)also bring an answer to a long held mystery...just what is the exact nature of the collinwood kitchen/breakfast area/solarium? here,for perhaps the only time,we actually see a stove! mrs. j shuffles over to it to fetch herself a fresh cup of joe.

i've been watching the 1966 episodes...

of immense amusement to me are mrs.johnson's introductory scenes and,in particular,the scene where she first arrives at collinwood and is greeted by a surly matthew morgan.

because between,you know,the obsessive and homicidal caretaker,the vindictive and vengeful spying housekeeper and the snoopy and recently ghost spotting governess it's no wonder this place is going to hell in a handbasket!

is it possible for the collins family to hire responsible,not crazy,not troublemaking help that creates way less work and drama or is this part of the curse?

...or how about a flashback with a young elizabeth played by alexandra.

dreamy.

no matter how old,or young for that matter,joan is in a given film as soon as she opens her mouth all i hear is "liz".