Btw - not sure if you were talking about me back then - but I'm afraid I've not written for the Doctor Who audios... not yet, anyway! Just Dark Shadows for me at the moment - sorry!

My apologies, sorry.  I was looking at (I thought) Dr. Who CD titles and came across a writer's cred in your name.  Oops?

From dsbarnabasfan

[I hope 3 lines are permitted.]

Nope--

Re: Episode#0568

dsbarnabasfan,
...

Perhaps Lara was in a hurry to finish the book in time for the Fest. Watching DS episodes can be quite time consuming as we all know. In researching artwork that I've done for fanzines, I have spent many an hour watching Willie, Willie, Willie but getting to know the other characters pretty darn well too. Lara should have done her research before writing the book. But I bet she wanted it published in time for the 40th Anniversary Fest.

KLS said during this year's cast reunion that LP spent 6 years writing "The Salem Branch."  However, the earliest time I recall that fans were discussing the book's plot was in 2001 on an earlier incarnation of these boards (when our host was VantageNet), and during the 2005 Fest LP announced that the book was in the publisher's hands (a year before it was released) though I believe she did do some reworking after that, so it may be closer to 5 years.  Of course, KLS would never say anything inaccurate, right?  Perish the thought!  Though in her defense, LP was on stage at the time and did not correct her.  But even if we operate on the theory that TSB was 5 years in the making, that's how long the series took to air, and SciFi cut the time in half by airing 2 eps per weekday.  So isn't 5 years plenty of time to figure out the DS characters?

That you had to bring enough different articles of clothing to try to change as often as Nicky does, which, if I remember correctly, was something like three times a day that year.    If a few of your choices seem a bit off in retrospect, well, just chalk it up to the insanity that is just trying to keep up with Nicky. 

LOL  OMG, Nicky's gorgeous shirts!

Thank you SO much for posting the photos, MB.  I would give anything to be able to recover the topic from that old Forum, too.  I remember it was Gerard who first spoke, saying he was relieved that the Fest was 3 weeks earlier and so his DS friends were spared.  <sigh>

To help with ids, GingerCat and Happybat are standing between Vlad and Bobubas in Reply #8.  They're also in the picture in Reply #9, and that's Sheilamarch standing over casper_collins and holding his braids.  (Red pants... WHAT was I thinking?!)

In #10, that's Sally in front, though Nicky calls her Mom.  That was taken in the bakery/restaurant in the Concourse. 

In #11, that bottom photo was taken by John_in_SC from the gym of the WTC Marriott.

Sheilamarch took the photos in Reply #13 of casper_collins on the Brooklyn Bridge.  That might be her artwork in Reply #8.

TNickey2003 asked

How do you see Maggie's significance as a DS character subsequent to her most significant role (as Barnabas' victim in 1967), from her return in the Adam storyline (ep 478) to the end of the show?

Please forgive, but I have to ask how this poll differs from this 3-question poll posted earlier in the year--

Re: Maggie Evans poll ( in honor of KLS's birthday today Jan 26)

Following Maggie's most significant role in DS (victim of Barnabas): how do you perceive her significance as a character in DS up to her last episode in DS? ...

(Click the post link to see the poll results)

Yay, ProfStokes!  I'm looking forward to reading your report as soon as I get this posted.


KLS' segment followed Jerry Lacy's.  As ProfStokes mentioned elsewhere, she said she has her own theme, a bobblehead, her picture is on the music box, and next year she will be an action figure.  She acknowledged the "new people" in the audience.  And she again mentioned her recent appearance on Huff and spoke about the company she began (Pomegranate Press), but she has stopped publishing and is "just writing now."  With a nod to Jessica Fletcher, she had given thought to what it's like to be an actress with a 40 year career and decided to make it all part of her book.  She also works with the homeless one day a week, which she finds most important.

About her novel, MURDER IN PRIME TIME, she said, "Please let me know what you think."  Feedback is welcome via her website or through the P.O. Box on the back of the books.  She also asked for suggestions for her nezt book.  Lara Parker had done this in the past, so she asked fans to "do the same for me."

Everyone on the previous day's panel, except John Karlen, has written books, and they're not all just about Dark Shadows.  When she first started on DS, she was advised to not give up her bunny job yet because you never know how long a job will last.  She introduced guests in the audience, at least one of whom she had worked with at the New York club.  She spoke about the success of "The Bunny Years" and next, she introduced her husband, Jeff Miller.

When asked a question about working with [her Police Squad co-star] Leslie Nielson, she said he was actually married to a former bunny at the New York Playboy Club where she had worked.  "It's a small world."  He has an amazing sense of humor, and would walk around with a whoopee cushion that he once used it on the head of Paramount Studios.  She thinks he's very funny.  And it was one of her favorite roles.  She was told to read for it as if she were a young Gene Tierney, and got it.  Her hair was very dark but she was cast as the big blonde.  The character wore braces, so she put silver on foil on her front teeth and tied it with dental floss.  It was hard to talk, "but it worked for Sally."

She explained that the original music box vanished.  It was cut crystal inside a filigreed container.  It really was a music box.  The [MPI] replica is very similar.

She was asked about playing Catherine in The Great Gatsby.  She said that Mia Farrow, Karen Black, and Scott Wilson still are close friends.  It was her first movie and was filmed in England.

The same month that she attended Dan Curtis' funeral and memorial, actors from DS gathered in the studio to record for Big Finish Productions.  "It was the end, it was the beginning."

A fan said he would ask a question she'd never been asked before, and inquired about the car in which Maggie made her last appearance on the show.  She said it was part of the magic of TV, and was only half a car.  Everything was dark around it because it was supposed to be the dead of night.  Fans were used to make her hair blow.  It was done in a little corner of the studio, and the car consisted of only two front seats and a windscreen.

She greeted a fan in the audience that she had conversed with earlier.  She said the reason we were there after 40 years was that "you supported us."  Fans kept the ratings up, and the show was seen later in reruns and on VHS, then DVD.  "It gives me energy" she said about talking about the show.  She thanked another fan for the lovely note she received, and said so many in the audience had dropped by her table, and mentioned another fan who sent something.  "You're Ray," she said to one man in the audience¢â‚¬¦ "We do start to remember names."

Explaining the reason her character was sent off to a mental institution, she said she worked 6 months without a contract.  She wanted to go to Paris and was told she was nuts.  Her career, after all, was just getting started.  She was warned she would never work again, that she shouldn't leave New York, but she insisted.  Dan Curtis told her, "I'm telling you, Katie, you're crazy."  So he sent her to an insane asylum.  It was "his little inside joke."

When asked if Barnabas and Josette might have been reunited had she remained, she said Maggie was such a victim; so many things happened to her.  Perhaps by the end of the whole series she would have been seen as terribly resourceful, standing on her own two feet--being brave.

Next, we saw screen tests for the '91 series.  Michael and Hunter Tylo tested for the parts of Roger/Barnabas and Vicki.  Michael Nader also tested (who knew?!), but we saw why Joanna Going and Ben Cross got the parts.  In one scene, an A&W root beer can stood in for the music box.  In addition, we saw Barbara Blackburn test opposite Joanna Going, then Joseph Gordon-Levitt (though when I saw "J.G. Lovett" written to introduce his test, I didn't know who it was going to be, duh.).

The cast presentation of the first and last DS eps was great fun.  In most cases, the roles were recast.  For ep 1:

Lara Parker:  Vicki
John Karlen:  Burke
Marie Wallace:  Liz
KLS:  Maggie
David Selby:  Roger
Nancy Barrett:  Sandy
Donna Wandrey:  Mrs. Hopewell, Mrs. Mitchell
Chris Pennock:  Wilbur Strake
Jerry Lacy:  Mr. Wells
Richie Halpern:  Conductor

For ep #1245:

Lara Parker:  Catherine
Jerry Lacy:  Bramwell
John Karlen:  Kendrick
Marie Wallace:  Flora
Nancy Barrett:  Melanie
David Selby:  Brutus, Ben
Chris Pennock:  Morgan
Donna Wandrey:  Julia
Jim Pierson:  2nd Coachman

PLEASE let me know if I got any of those wrong!

Marie Wallace was a standout as Liz, and I was thrilled to see Donna Wandrey in one of Grayson's roles.  John Karlen underplayed his first role, but I thought it suited the cocky Burke.  Chris Pennock, on the other hand, was over the top throughout (which goes to show you how well thought-out the casting was).  The audience seemed to very much enjoy Kendrick and Melanie's smooch.  (Maggie's "J-E-R-K" was another audience favorite.)  Though it was a reading, there was obviously a little action on the stage, particularly during Morgan's final scene, but the actors could still be heard even when they left their microphones.  Finally, as I mentioned before, the last line of dialogue was this time spoken by Bramwell.

And again I ran off (this time to a restaurant in Greenwich Village), so I can't write about the banquet.  But I'll look forward to written reports about it.

On Monday, John_in_SC and I took a very early train to Rhode Island and made our way to a certain house by the sea.  The good news is that restoration has just begun on the solarium, the room at the lower far right of the back of the house.  You can just see a ladder propped against the side of it.  It was raining steadily when this photo was taken:

The bad news is that the house is still in desperate need of other repairs:  <sigh>



We spent most of the day in Newport, and a surprise DS connection came up-- the mansion we chose to tour before catching our train back to NYC (not realizing we had already photographed the back of it after reaching one end of the Cliff Walk) is named Rosecliff, which was once a cottage on that property with the same name before the Oelrich family tore it down to build the present summer home.  It was in the hands of 3 families, all of whom had members who suffered terrible fates (as did the architect, who was murdered), and when the last owner was killed while en route after having just purchased the house, the mansion was donated to the Preservation Society.  The house was extensively used in the filming of "The Great Gatsby" (as Gatsby's home excluding the pool scene) which KLS discusses above.

Thanks for reading!