Miranda's Playdoh Voodoo Doll Barbie!

I just love how as Miranda clutches at her Voodoo doll doing her darnedest to give Judah one royal hex up the wazoo, the playdoh with which the fetish has been coated starts to fall off, revealing what's clearly a 1960s Barbie Doll underneath.

Although often reported as a "blooper," I see the crumbling away of Miranda's doll as a wonderful symbol for the decay of her powers as Judah comes thundering in.  As for the Barbie Doll, obviously, Julia brought it with her when she went traipsing up the lil ol Stairway through Time.  I just know Jules never went anywhere with out her pet Barbie. Yeah, that's the ticket.  And then, of course, Julia thoughtfully loaned the fetish out to her best friend, Angelique.  "Trust me, darling, I know you'll be needing this," smiles the attractive redhead, as she secretly wished for the 999th time that her last packet of Marlboros hadn't run out 3 months ago.

(btw, in one of the Innovations Comics Dark Shadows books, they printed a letter from a fan who quoted from her 1971 journal entry describing her disbelief at the shoddy production values in this very episode--wonderful stuff)

trying not to smirk too obviously,

G.

 

Honestly, I wonder who had the idea to cover a Barbie doll with Play-Doh!  Wouldn't an all-Doh figure have been sturdier?  However, I was impressed by the way Lara Parker played that scene, reacting with true horror at the sight of her doll falling apart.  I watched her carefully for any sign of a stifled laugh, but she stayed right in the moment and used the faulty prop for the scene's benefit.

I feel like starting a rumor that Matt Groening was inspired by this episode to have Homer Simpson shout "D'oh!" whenever something goes wrong...

I feel like starting a rumor that Matt Groening was inspired by this episode to have Homer Simpson shout "D'oh!" whenever something goes wrong...

Yes, Parker's performance in that scene was magnificent.  I give her due credit for this, and many other scenes where a lesser thespian would have given way before the absurdity of it all, but Parker turns the scene into something fabulous.

I wish more of today's "actresses" had her powers of concentration.  THAT is where real magic lies.

G.

as she secretly wished for the 999th time that her last packet of Marlboros hadn't run out 3 months ago.

You know I never thought about this, but with the nicotine in cigarettes being madly addictive (especially back in the '60s/'70s), I wonder what Julia did to get her fix? The image of her secretly gathering her own ingredients and rolling her own is too funny. 

a letter from a fan who quoted from her 1971 journal entry describing her disbelief at the shoddy production values in this very episode--wonderful stuff

Ah, yes - this one (which was actually written by the extremely talented Maggie Thompson, who wrote Book#2: Lost In Thought (which comprised issues #5-#8), and appeared in issue #5): In part, she writes:

...
    But that fall, I quit work with the (quickly acheived) aim of
producing a family. Don and I had been lifelong fantasy buffs, and
Dark Shadows seemed an intriguing concept in daytime serial
programming and instantly attracted me, as I did freelance writing
at home. The delightful The Dark Shadows Companion from
Pomegranate Press says that by August 1967, the show had about
10 million viewers -- and I was one of them.
    Mind you, I didn't watch it with the attitude I hear from some
of the fans today. They watched it as children, home from school
and ready to be terrified by a show in which vampires, withces and
werewolves could be as likely plot elements as lost relatives,
hidden crimes, and fatal attractions. While I enjoyed the
fantastic aspects, one of the things that kept me (and many other
adults) coming back for more were the the gooney moments of
over-the-top fantasy suspense often loused up by the show's hectic
production pace.
    My friend science-fiction and gothic novel writer Juanita
Coulson even kept a diary of commentary toward the end of the
series run -- and much of the focus was on those episodes. A sample
entry (from the installment for Monday, January 25, 1971):
    "Unintentionally hilarious scene, one which made you sympathize
with the actors. Gerard/Judah said he gave the powers to
Angelique/Valerie and now he was taking them all away and here play
with your doll and see how much good it will do you. The only
dificulty was apparently they used a Barbie doll coated with clay
as their voodoo doll. Nothing wrong with that, except that they
left it out overnight. Which meant that when Gerard and Angelique
handled it (especially Angelique, since the script called for her
to try to strangle the doll with Gerard's scarf) the clay broke off,
revealing the Barbie doll. (Surely there are some art students
around NYC who could tell the stage director if you're going to
leave clay around overnight or over the weekend, wrap it in a wet
cloth, so it doesn't dry out and turn all crumbly.) I really admire
Parker; she undoubtedly knew what was happening but plowed
furiously ahead with her doll-strangling scene, maybe in the hope
that if she were histrionic enough no one would notice"
...

Incidentally, I had two letters published in the Innovation Comics - however, neither is published under my own name. Why? (Well, I *AM* "mysterious", after all.    But that really wasn't it.) I alternately loved and despised some of the things they did with the '91 series and I wasn't shy about telling them so. So much so that I'd often send out some comments - usually my most critical stuff - under my own name and others under a pseudonym because I didn't want to come off quite as obsessive as I obviously was.    But the funny thing: my pseudonym's letters got published twice (heavily edited, though, which made the complaints look more favorable - funny how they never once edited the compliments - which made me wonder just what they were doing to other people's letters  ), while the letters under my own name were never once published. But then, considering how I always backed up my most biting complaints by citing actual scenes/aspects of the '91 series, maybe that wasn't such a surprise. I didn't make my opinions as easy to twist and turn as they were able to do with some other peoples.