Hey, gang,

Yes, I wonder if at 10:23 AM, Willie Loomis ran frantically down the basement stairs of the Old House to see if Barnabas’s “siesta” had been disturbed by this morning’s earthquake in the northeast?

No doubt, Sam Evans, being well “hydrated,” never felt a thing this morning.

I wonder if the great house of Collinwood shook just a little bit at 10:23 AM? Mrs. Johnson was probably bummed-out that all of her pots and pans in the kitchen were now all over the place! 

Bob, who “enjoyed” the bump this morning.

Hey, gang,

I just finished reading Bill O’Reilly’s excellent book, “Killing The Witches,” covering the infamous witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 and 1693. Nineteen people (14 women and five men) were found guilty of witchcraft and executed by hanging, although one man, Giles Corey, was “pressed to death,” by having stones placed on his body until he eventually died from the accumulated weight of the stones on his body.

The Reverend Cotton Mather was a prominent Puritan minister in Boston, who championed the witch trials in Salem. Even though people were convicted of practicing witchcraft solely on the extremely dubious testimony of several young Salem girls, who claimed they had been “afflicted” by the accused witches, the Rev. Mather enthusiastically supported their claims of “spectral evidence,” where the accused had supposedly appeared to the young girls as an evil apparition, causing them to experience fits and convulsions.

There even was a young slave woman named Tituba from Barbados (shades of Angelique?), who was initially accused of being a witch herself, but who later accused other people of witchcraft in order to save her own life. Tituba was familiar with voodoo just like Angelique was from her days as a young girl on Barbados.

Bill O’Reilly points out that many of the people, who were a accused of witchcraft, may have been the victims of personal grudges on the part of the families of the young girls, who had initially fingered the alleged “witches.” Of course, there may have also been a financial motive for the accusations, what with the land and money of the convicted witches being seized by their accusers.

Bill O’Reilly also covers the actual exorcism of of a teenaged boy in Saint Louis in 1949 by William S. Bowdern, a Jesuit priest. This real life exorcism was the inspiration for the late William Peter Blatty’s best-selling novel, “The Exorcist.” It is a harrowing account of how Father Bowdern and his fellow priests were able to save this teenager from demonic possession. No doubt, Bathia Mapes would have been very impressed by the valiant efforts of those Catholic priests on behalf this young man, who went on to lead a happy and productive life.

I think “Killing The Witches” is a great read and DS fans will recognize the obvious parallels between the Reverend Trask and Angelique with their real-life Salem witch trial counterparts.

Hey gang,

So, I’m watching an episode of the great comedy series, “Frasier,” on COZI-TV the other night, and we see the unfailingly urbane Dr. Frasier Crane enjoying dinner at a Seattle restaurant with his attractive date, when the owner of the upscale Italian restaurant informs his customers that it’s the 50th anniversary of his wedding day, resulting in enthusiastic applause from the diners. Now, I’m looking at this older man with the gray hair and beard and he looks very familiar to me. And, suddenly, it hits me, it’s the flamboyant, sartorially-splendid and eternally ESL-challenged King Johnny Romano!

Yes, it was DS actor Paul Michael, who was killed off far too soon as King Johnny Romano, leader of the Romani tribe. Mr. Michael appeared in an especially memorable episode of DS during the 1897 storyline, when he (as King Johnny) and Istvan, the mute and muscular gypsy, were about to enter the secret room of the Collins Family Mausoleum to put Magda Racosi on trial for stealing the fabled Hand of Count Petofi. Well, just as King Johnny says to Magda, “Open the door, Magda. Open the door,” a studio light literally explodes rather loudly, and we see Paul Michael, Grayson Hall and Henry Baker noticeably flinch as the d@mned light goes kaboom! I always found that to be very funny and one of DS’s great unscripted moments!

Paul Michael, much like fellow DS actor Dennis Patrick, appeared in many television shows, like “Kojak,” Hill Street Blues” “Seinfeld” and “Dragnet” to name a few. Mr. Michael also appeared mfrequently on stage in plays like “Zorba the Greek” and as Tevye in “Fiddler in the Roof.” Mr. Michael was married to actress Marion Ross, who portrayed the beloved Mrs. Marion Cunningham on “Happy Days” for many years and also appeared on stage in “Arsenic and Old Lace” with Jonathan Frid.

Even though Mr. Michael appeared in only a few episodes of DS as the “slightly” over-the-top King Johnny, and much like fellow DS actor Michael Hadge in his portrayal of the immortal hippie/motorcyclist Buzz Hackett, I believe that DS fans will never forget the larger-than-life King Johnny Romano! 

Hey, gang,

I was wondering if the HODS dvd has any dvd extras, such as a dvd commentary or other dvd extra features? I have an old vhs copy of HODS, that in the words of the venerable Eagle Hill Cemetery Caretaker, “has seen better days.” 

And, does the “Night of Dark Shadows” dvd also come with any dvd extras?

Thanks,

Bob

Hey, gang,

I watched the 1980 film, “American Gigolo” last night  (rumored to actually be the life story of Hunter Biden). I remember first seeing this stylish crime drama when it premiered way back then over forty years ago.

The film stars Richard Gere as a street-wise Los Angeles male escort. The beautiful Lauren Hutton and the terrific New York actor, Hector Elizondo as a determined Los Angeles police detective, co-star in the film.

When Richard Gere’s character is accused of murdering one of his female clients, his defense attorney looked very familiar to me. In fact, that attorney was portrayed by veteran character actor, Peter Turgeon, the third (I believe) Dr. Dave Woodard on DS. When Mr. Turgeon, as Richard Gere’s attorney, began to argue with and snarl at Hector Elizondo, it reminded me of the almost self-righteous and angry tone Mr. Turgeon displayed when Dr. Dave Woodard told Barnabas Collins in the Old House that “I just saw your sister, Sarah!” 

Anyway, “American Gigolo” is a very enjoyable film featuring great shots of Los Angeles and artfully conveying the erotic zeitgeist of the early 1980s in America. In other words, a film that both Abigail Collins and the original Reverend Trask would have highly approved of. 

Hey, gang,

While browsing through YouTube the other day, I came across a film I hadn’t seen in fifty years, “Shamus,”  starring Burt Reynolds and Dyan Cannon. Burt Reynolds portrays Shamus McCoy, a down-on-his-luck Brooklyn detective, who is hired to recover some stolen diamonds.

While tailing a possible suspect, Shamus observes the fellow from a Manhattan book store run by a very attractive and a decidedly zaftig young woman, who is portrayed by Dark Shadows’ own Kay Frye, a/k/a “Pansy Faye.” Shamus, for obvious reasons, is instantly attracted to the comely bookstore owner and, after some brief but highly effective flirting on his part, gets to know the lovely young woman in the “Biblical sense.”

It’s somewhat remarkable how different Ms. Frye’s character looks in this gritty detective film than from how she looked while on Dark Shadows. While Pansy Faye was dressed in an especially garish manner with a lot of flashy
 jewelry and a ton of makeup on her face (not to also mention that Cockney accent of Pansy’s), the bookstore
owner wears glasses and looks like she had bought her conservative clothes at the ladies section of the local
Brooks Brothers’ store. That’s quite a contrast!

Incidentally, this encounter between Shamus McCoy and the beautiful bookstore owner in “Shamus” is a tribute
to a similar scene in Howard Hawks 1946 film, “The Big Sleep,” where private detective Philip Marlowe
(Humphrey Bogart) “encounters” a similarly voluptuous bookstore owner (Dorothy Malone).

In looking up Kay Frye’s acting career, she did not have a lot of credits. Ms. Frye appeared in some television
movies in addition to her work on DS and in this film. Ms. Frye’s year of birth is listed as 1928, which would
have made her about 41-years-old when she portrayed Pansy Faye on DS. She did not seem to be that old to
me on DS. Sadly, Ms. Frye died in 1991 of cancer at the reported age of only 63.

I very much enjoyed watching Kay Frye on DS as the saucy and irrepressible Pansy Faye. I think the DS writers made a big mistake when they killed her off so soon, almost immediately after Carl Collins brought her to Collinwood as his fiancee.
It would have been great fun to have seen how Pansy got on as sister-in-law to the “slightly” dour Judith Collins
and the “slightly” stuffy Edward Collins. However, I think that Pansy and Quentin Collins would have hit it off right from the
start as kindred spirits! 

“Shamus” also features a scene in which Burt Reynolds is threatened by a knife-wielding thug, portrayed by another DS alumnus, veteran stunt man Alex Stevens, who subsequently gets his arm broken and then slammed into a wall by Mr. Reynolds’ macho character.

Another DS alumnus who gets hit by a two-by-four piece of wood by Burt Reynolds, is actor Captain Arthur Haggerty, a huge and completely bald man, who was one of Angelique’s executioners in the second Dan Curtis DS film, “Night of Dark Shadows.”

If you have never seen this enjoyable 1973 detective film, you might want to check it out over on YouTube, if only to catch Pansy Faye, the werewolf and Angelique’s hangman in other screen roles!

Hey, gang,

I’ve been watching the excellent 1797 DS episodes recently, and I was enjoying the episodes where the Countess Natalie DuPre performs a ceremony to summon the good witch, the bodacious Bathia Mapes, to come to Collinwood and lift the vampire curse on Barnabas through the use of “white magic.”

Okay, after Bathia’s initial attempt to cure Barnabas up in the tower room of Collinwood failed much to Joshua Collins’ great distress, Bathia instructed Joshua (after an unfortunate “senior moment” by Ms. Mapes) to take Barnabas and to “take him to the house of the curse.”

So, finally we’re over in the Old House as Bathia is performing the most crucial dangerous part of the exorcism on Barnabas, when, who comes knocking on the Old House front door, but the well-intentioned and extremely ill-timed Naomi Collins, very understandably anxious as to find out what’s going on in her old home.

That simple knock on the door interrupts Bathia at this crucial moment, resulting in the exorcism’s complete failure and Bathia’s truly horrific death as one of the first recorded deaths in the United States of apparent spontaneous combustion, “courtesy” of the vengeful Angelique.

They say the road to Hell is often paved with the best of intentions. Obviously, the kind and gentle Naomi Collins was acting with the best of intentions in attempting to find out if her husband, Joshua, had succeeded in the attempt to return her beloved son to normalcy. However, as attorneys are wont to say, “But for Naomi Collins’s regrettable interference at that crucial moment, Barnabas Collins would have been cured and returned to the ranks of the living.

I got to thinking about other occasions where it would have been better on DS for the characters to also “do drop by, but don’t drop in.”

Five that immediately came to me were when Chris Jennings received five unexpected and most definitely unwanted visits: First, Fiancee Sabrina Stuart’s surprise visit to her intended, Chris, at his out-of-town apartment; next, Collinsport Inn’s overly-inquisitive night clerk Mr. Wells’ fatal visit to Chris’ attic room at the inn; next, the “slightly” concupiscent Donna Friedlander’s equally fatal visit to Chris at Matthew Morgan’s old cottage; next, Maggie Evans’ visit to that same cottage to assuage Amy Jennings’ concern for her big brother (a close one for Maggie); and, finally, Joe Haskell’s tragic visit to his cousin, Chris’s room at the Collinsport Inn.

Can you think of any other times on DS when it would have been much better for the DS characters to just, “do
drop by, but don’t drop in”?

Bob

Hey, gang,

I found out today that Bill O’Reilly’s next and final book in his superb “Killing” series will be “Killing the Witches,” covering the Salem witch trials of 1692 to 1693. Sadly, 20 people were hanged for allegedly practicing the “devil’s magic” in Massachusetts.

No doubt, Angelique/Cassandra will be there bright and early at the local Collinsport Barnes & Noble, when the book goes on sale, appropriately enough, on this upcoming Halloween Day.

Having read a number of Mr. O’Reilly’s past books, I especially look forward to reading his take on this sorry chapter in early American history.

Bob

PS Maybe “Battling” Bill O’Reilly will cite both Judah Zachery and the beautiful apostate, Miranda Duval in his book?