"smoke" and mirrors

[michael c]

tonight i watched an episode that made me laugh...specifically episode number 304.

in it there is a genius cat-and-mouse scene where an increasingly suspicious burke asks miss hoffman for her "opinion" of barnabas collins.

it's not often that a characater "light's up" on the show(of course a memorable exception would be julia brazenly using a candelabra as a match)but in this scene julia and burke are both fiendishly chomping on cigarettes!

the room is filled with smoke.apart from obvious teleprompter readings i'm surprised neither actor coughed up a lung.it's that bad.

at one point julia scrathes her temple bringing the lit cigarette dangerously close to that god-awful wig she wore during this time.between that and the flamable nature of polyester tweed i'm shocked the good doctor didn't go up in flames right then and there.

[Brandon Collins]

Or, perhaps someone DID get set on fire and THAT'S how the crew got so experienced with those on-the-set fires that were created so often.

Of course, now we have an explanation for all those times when we see "fog" drifting into the drawing room of Collinwood or the Old House, when it's supposed to be in the woods or the cemetery: Grayson and others were off camera huffin' it to get all that smoke in there.

[Nelson Collins]

Or, perhaps someone DID get set on fire and THAT'S how the crew got so experienced with those on-the-set fires that were created so often.

Of course, now we have an explanation for all those times when we see "fog" drifting into the drawing room of Collinwood or the Old House, when it's supposed to be in the woods or the cemetery: Grayson and others were off camera huffin' it to get all that smoke in there.

That is the FIRST thing I thought of when I saw the title of this thread!!  The first time I saw that, I was wondering "Are they going to say the house is on fire in a minute.  Then it dawned on me! 

[Gothick]

MSC, you always seem to choose scenes for these posts that I absolutely ADORE!  That scene between Burke and Miss Hoffman is better than HEROIN (not that I know what Heroin is like, but if I did, it would be BETTAH).  It's a Land-o-Lakes moment like two sticks of BUTTAH lashed together in a rough-hewn manner!

I love how Miss Hoffman gets treated by Burke "just like one of the boys" and the two of them discuss the future of his courtship with Vicki.  The dialogue may be occasionally banal but the way the two actors play this scene is absolutely priceless.

As for the firetrap thing--I've heard Marie Wallace tell the story more than once about how, in one of the scenes where Eve travelled back in time to revisit her 18th century life as Danielle Roget, her wig caught on fire and Irene Hamalain had to frantically rush in and douse the flames.

G.

[Brandon Collins]

Hm. I haven't heard that story yet. Maybe since Marie is looking around this forum now, she could post something about it.

And I wonder if that's on the episode? Because I've never noticed if it was. Perhaps they cameraman quickly cut away to Roger Davis and his hair.

[Lydia]

I believe Ms. Wallace said that the wig-burning incident happened during rehearsal.

One thing - one of the many things - that gets me about Dark Shadows is how nobody ever  has any trouble getting a match lit.  I guess that years and years of smoking cigarettes does teach one some useful skills.