since maggie so often "went to pieces" i'm going to have to disqualify her in the 'best hair' category...

so i'll have to go with vicki.it's so lustrous.especially in the late 1968 episodes.it's the stuff of the classic "breck girl" shampoo ads.

but honorable mention needs to go to carolyn in the 1970 episodes.here her hair is at it's longest and prettiest.

i think it's kind of sad that actors like joel crothers and alexandra moltke found their characters to be "dull" and "boring".

i find them to be a very necessary grounding influence on the series.they keep it from going completely off the deep end.

i'm watching the 1968 episodes and it's rather top-heavy with supernatural villianery.at any given moment there are at least three or four monsters running amok.when characters like joe or vicki or maggie show up it's like nice respite for me.

they're nice people and i like them.

sorry to post three times in the same topic but...

my earlier post made me think about what made the liz-fears-death storyline feel so stale,so stagant,and for me it's this...

in general 1968 zipped along at a dizzying clip,racing pell-mell from plot to plot,vicki returning from the past,the automobile accident and it's aftermath,dr.lang,cassandra,the dream curse,adam,nicholas blair,angelique-as-a-vampire,tom jennings,danielle roget,eve and so forth.every few weeks the main plot was turned on it's head and most of the characters responded.

but for liz's appearances,which are few and far between,it's always the same thing,the same dialogue,the same fretfull,hand-wringing performance from joan bennett.it didn't change.

i've said this before but while jonathan frid had clearly become the series' focal point by this time i'm sure joan still had a considerable amount of clout with the producers.i'm surprised that at some point she didn't put her foot down and demand something better.

i agree emerald rose...

the 600-numbered,vicki-with-her-hair-down episodes are always melancholy for me because i know they are alexandra's last.this group of episodes starts the countdown...

ironically she's at her most gorgeous during this period.

shortly after barnabas is "cured" by dr.lang there is an episode where both carolyn and vicki discover that the bitemarks on their necks have vanished.lang opines that perhaps it's because the "cause of them has been removed" or something to that effect...and with this both girls' memory banks become clean slates.their knowing barnabas' secret would have impeded the progression of the storyline.perhaps one could use this same thinking to justify the fact that david no longer fears barnabas...a plotline never otherwise satisfactorily resolved.

but in general a case of collective amnesia seems to have infected collinsport by 1968.having most of the main characters...besides of course barnabas and julia...always outside the know was an integral part of the series for some reason.if everyone knew what was going on there would have been no sense of mystery i guess.besides having everyone's memories of key events disappear means that show could move from storyline to storyline without troublesome plot threads left dangling from the previous story.there could be a fresh start and of course the character makeovers(barnabas,julia,quentin)the program is known for.

later in 1968 a very,very convenient memory erasing devise(in the 'suave' personage of nicholas blair)becomes widely overused causing many characters to forget everything that had been happening to them for the previous several weeks or months.

virtue is supposed to be it's own reward but that's not usually how things played out in the d.s. universe.

there is that marquis de sade book called "justine,or good conduct well chastised"...that name could easily be changed to "victoria".

so did d.s. teach me anything?no good deed goes unpunished...the road to hell is paved with good intentions...you get the drift here.

and i rather like the "dull" characters.

gothick,

this is about as off-topic as can be but i figured you might get a kick out of this tidbit.

in the book "superstar in a housedress" you tipped me off to there is a passage about how jackie curtis and candy darling showed up at auditions for a busby berkeley production of "no,no,nanette" in 1970...in drag no less!

jackie was in bright orange pancake makeup,his hair tied up in a turban made of torn nylon stockings,an army jacket and ripped black tights.needless to say she did not get a part.

i didn't attend this year's fest but i'll throw my two cents in anyways...

i always think it gets a bit treacly when we express "gratitude" for the actors who attend the festivals.this is a two way street as much as anything.

perhaps they too should be "gratefull" that there are fans out there so devoted to a forty year old soap opera,and the actors who starred in it,that we travel,at our own expense,hundreds if not thousands of miles to see them every year.most actors do not enjoy such loyalty.i've spent hundreds of dollars over the years on books,cd's,pictures and the like i might not have been particularly interested in but did so as a gesture of support for the actor involved.

i adore all our stars but as had been stated many(with david selby being a notable exception)have not had much in the way of big-time acting success since their days on d.s..i know it's not fair but it's true.and they are in the end professional actors who make decisions to do personal appearances based on a number of factors the same as any others do.many of them...kathryn leigh scott,diana millay,lara parker...have built businesses based on their time on the program.in the case of ms.millay this was only a few months.

so as i said,i love our actors and am indeed very pleased and "gratefull" that they attend this event each year but they also owe us such a debt of gratitude.