Dark Shadows Festival 2002 Reports

We all realize you are not an obsessed boob but a dedicated fan and film historian.

What she said.

Seriously: you're doing a great job and I admire your tenacity. Keep going, Darren, 'cause you'll get there.

OK, here comes the newbie viewpoint.  What a fabulous weekend!  My daughter Laura, who will soon appear on the board under Midnite's nickname LeBrat, had a great time too.  

We arrived early and had a chance to visit with Nancybe and Lynn from the Julia List and get our bearings.  Disneyland on day one was my day to spend with just LeBrat.  When fest activites got underway that night, I took my cues from former fest attendees.  It was marvelous to meet so many from the boards and the lists.  Midnite, ProfStokes, Bobubas, Minja, Teresa, Vlad, Ben, j99, Bette, and so many others...it was fun.

The evening at the piano will be well remembered.  Bob, about that knee....  

There were several highlights including the Professor's music video.  I'm anxious to see it myself. (Missed it by minutes, drat!)  I believe that the most fun, though, was the company I kept during the weekend.  The cozy breakfasts on the veranda with JListers and Boards members, the evenings at the bar, dinner out with friends, the piano scene, and of course, Disney's California Adventure on Monday.  Midnite, I certainly hope Cassandra's curse doesn't follow you all year!  
The photographic evidence of that day alone will be priceless.  

In all, it was a most memorable weekend on the left coast.  J99 and Bette have been good internet pals and now I have faces and voices to conjure up when I see their posts.  

What I took away from fest?  That the weekend is all about the people and our mutual fascination at the unique show known as Dark Shadows.  No matter which characters pique your interests, we can all agree that it was a show ahead of its time!

I have never been an autograph hound but I am a picture buff.  The professional stills as well as private photos will be my prized possessions.  This combined with beautiful memories of some great people will sustain me...for about a year.  

Dawn

I am sooooo so so jealous now! I'm going to bribe, hitchhike, walk or find some other way to get myself to the DS festival next year if it kills me....and it just might [and if it doesn't, my mother will lol  ]!! I LOVE hearing about everyone's take of the festival ...... Like I said, I'm sooo jealous! LOL I'm glad everyone had a blast and got home safe and sound   any more reminisces?

~Daphne, who happily bounces at her computer, reading away....

Excellent new reports, Craig, Bobubas, Dawn and esp Midnite! thanks for taking the time to give us that missed it the run down!

a few questions: Was there any mention of DS: the Musical?  or any other new DS projects? Was that Sci-Luv documentary the special that was gonna be on the Sci-fi channel a loooong while ago now? [sounds like it! - too bad - but wasn't there two of those in the works?]    What is 'Frid's Hair?' [some of us are hair-sensitive, ya know ] Does DC have to 'sanction' these events?  how is the convention 'laid out' - two or more ballrooms, or just one big room, er wot?

thanky,
Ringo

  I've really enjoyed reading everyone's take on the Festival so far.  I'm going to post my reports on a day-by-day basis, so here is my account of Friday evening.

   On Friday afternoon, before the Festival officially began, my friend mordecaigrimes and I were lucky enough to meet up with several fans both on the way to the ballroom and then in line: Teresa, CraigSlocum, casper collins, the Ghost of Sarah Collins, VAM, JamesLady, Minja, Bobubas, Vlad, Scarlett, and others.  We spent the time talking and taking pictures until the ballroom doors opened.

  Friday night's Festivities opened with emcee Richard Halpern showing the famous Baby Dark Shadows videos--1897 and 1795.  He also gave an update on where the young 'stars' are today: the eldest boy trades stocks, the girl recently graduated from UCLA, and the young boy recently graduated from high school.  In addition, Halpern explained why some of the cast members would not be present at the Fest. lara Parker was preparing for her son's wedding on Sunday and Diana Millay's plane had ben caught in a storm.  She'd decided against catching a later flight because she had business in NY on Sunday and it made no sense to her to fly to CA for only one day.  Then the Collinsport Players presented their first of three Disneyland-themed skits for which Bobubas took on the role of one of the absent cast members.  He acted the part of DC, who'd built a new theme park and wanted Julia Hofman (Richard Halpern) to test the attractions.  The skits involved numerous sound effects from the haunted mansion and various hysterics from Julia/Halpern.  Bob did a great job, as did the rest of the cast.

    I stepped out while the "Sci-Luv" documentary segment was screened since I'd seen it the year before.  My intent was to visit the display room, but it was locked, so I instead spent some time chatting with one of the volunteers about the show and some of the other television programs of the era.  (One that he mentioned, "The Prisoner," sounded very imaginative.)  I went back inside to hear Kathryn Leigh Scott present her favorite bloopers.  It really wasn't as unique as the Fest schedule would lead on to believe.  The "favorite bloopers" were merely excerpts from the blooper tape interspersed between KLS's reading of some humorous letters that fans had sent to her (while on the stage, she occasionally wore Minnie Mouse ears.)  One letter was addressed "Dear Sirs," in which the writer complained bitterly of how he had mistakenly been sent a second copy of the Dark Shadows Movie Book instead of the two other books he had ordered.  KLS said, "I sent him the other books and told him to keep the extra movie book."  

   It was during this segment that the trouble began with the unsupervised fan.    However, Kathryn handled the situation very well, making a light joke ("I don't think he was the one I sent the wrong book to.") and continuing with her presentation.  I do applaud her for successfully getting everything back on track.

   The other letters involved the show's bloopers.  One fan listed all of the episodes, with numbers, where cast members' underwear showed.  KLS's panties appear in ep# 931, "and you're all going to watch for that one, right?" she teased.  She explained that some of the underwear bloopers were due to the popular mini skirts of the day, and demonstrated the method for measuring the skirts.  "We put our hands at our sides, and wherever our fingertips began was where the hem went."  KLS answered a few questions: Q:"Did all of the clothes come from Ohrbach's?" A:"Yes, except when we went back in time; then we had to rent the costumes." and Q:"Why was Josette wearing a white robe at the beginning of one episode when the robe at the end of the last episode was purple?" A:"The actors weren't the only ones who made bloopers; apparently wardrobe made some mistakes too."  

   John Karlen crept on-stage next, crouching behind the podium while his first scene as Willie Loomis was shown on the big screen.  He then took the microphone and asked the audience for some "deep questions.  We're going to solve the riddle of the sphinx here."  When he didn't receive many questions, he launched into his own spiel of jokes, quoting Shakespeare and reciting lines from his favorite role in "Prometheus Bound."  Somebody asked him how he got the role of Willie Loomis, and Karlen provided a rather interesting little story.  He was available to take on the part because he'd just been fired from his current play.  "It was the first time I'd ever been fired--except for the 7 or 8 other times--and I was furious because I knew I was good in the role.  The director fired me and I chased him down the street; I never caught him though." I'm sure it must have been disappointing to have lost his job, but I'll bet Johnny was as glad as we are that he was able to join "Dark Shadows" instead.  I enjoyed John Karlen's talk.  He wasn't as manic as in previous years because he admitted that his voice wasn't what it should have been, but he made up for that later in the weekend.  

   Friday night concluded with scenes from the 1991 revival series and a screening of House of Dark Shadows, neither of which I stayed for.  On leaving the ballroom, I met up with several Grayson Hall/Julia fans both from the Julia list on Yahoo and from this board: among them were Bette, Dawn, Julia99 and her friend Scott.  We went to the hotel bar/cafe for a bite to eat and stayed there talking until well past one in the morning!  I had a great time and was very flattered when Bette suggested that I submit my graduation speech to Kathy Resch's fan magazine, "The World of Dark Shadows."  It had never occured to me, but I thought that it sounded like a fun idea.  I made up my mind to see Kathy the next day, then sleepily stumbled back up to my room, little guessing what was to follow later in the weekend.  

ProfStokes

a few questions: Was there any mention of DS: the Musical?

The DS musical was announced with a great deal of fanfair, but it's anemic demise over a year ago got very little attention. :-/ I hope you weren't looking forward to it.

Was that Sci-Luv documentary the special that was gonna be on the Sci-fi channel a loooong while ago now? [sounds like it! - too bad - but wasn't there two of those in the works?]

Yes, there were two, Ringo. Both of them were shelved once Sci-Fi saw the completed versions. SciFiLuv was sort of like an Antique's Roadshow for DS collectibles. Sciography was the documentary that ended up being a whole lot less than was hoped for. But sadly I can't say that really surprised me because when I taped my Seaview segment (way back on November 22, 2000) I heard some stories from the Executive Producer, Andy Schatzberg, about how they'd practically ambushed Anne Rice with an MPI tape of the 1970PT Will Loomis/Barnabas storyline and asked her if she'd "borrowed" the idea for her "Interview with the Vampire" (which she's flatly denied, BTW), and how they planned to bring up the whole von Bulow trial because, in their opinion, it was "news worthy." :-/ There were also times that I refused to answer some of the questions they'd scripted for my segment because I thought they were just too ridiculous. (There's a point where I'm standing outside the house while a friend, who's also in the segment, is answering some questions where I look like I might be pissed, and that's because I was. ) I honestly got the impression that they hoped they were going to get an older version of the obsessed 13-year-old I wrote about in the online article, "A Young Fan's Odyssey to Find Collinwood -- or how I came to realize a dream - and lord it over my friends," but they got a big surprise when I turned out not to be an obsessed 13-year-old trapped in a 44-year-old's body. LOL! At one point I jokingly said to them that I wasn't going to run up to the tower to kiss it just so they could get the shot because I had to show my face in public after the show aired. Andy kidded back that was too bad because it would have been a great shot, but I honestly think he was only half-kidding!
Truthfully, the ONLY reason I agreed to do the segment was as a tribute to my mom, who'd passed away six months before the taping. And it does seem as if that concept got through mostly intact. It's just too bad that most of the other segments seem to have turned out so badly.

What is 'Frid's Hair?'

KLS took some of Frid's hair one day while DS hairdesser Edith Tilles was cutting it.

Does DC have to 'sanction' these events?

I'm pretty sure he has no involvement in them whatsoever. They're fan based and run.

how is the convention 'laid out' - two or more ballrooms, or just one big room, er wot?

There's one big room for the actors' appearances and the various presentations, and a few smaller rooms for autograph sessions and the dealers.

a few questions: Was there any mention of DS: the Musical?  or any other new DS projects? Was that Sci-Luv documentary the special that was gonna be on the Sci-fi channel a loooong while ago now? [sounds like it! - too bad - but wasn't there two of those in the works?]    What is 'Frid's Hair?' [some of us are hair-sensitive, ya know ] Does DC have to 'sanction' these events?  how is the convention 'laid out' - two or more ballrooms, or just one big room, er wot?

Glad you're enjoying the reports, Ringo.

I didn't hear any specific mention of the DS musical, but it was acknowledged that DC is still trying to sell the idea of a new DS project; perhaps someone else can post if more was said.  Both Sci_Luv and Sciography were scrapped.  Of the two, Sciography was the one premiere and if I had a vote the 3 good fan segments will be extracted and the ashes of the rest scattered over the Pacific Ocean.  Frid was having a haircut on the set one day when KLS decided to scoop it up and keep it cuz it might be valuable someday; wow, ya think?!  DC was a talking head in Sciography, but that was the full extent of DCP's participation.  The events were held in the hotel's Grand Ballroom on the 1st floor, and other rooms were set aside such as the dealer's room, also exhibit and meeting rooms.

Uh, hope that covered everything.

Great report, Prof!

then on the second day?

  , "The Prisoner," sounded very imaginative
ProfStokes

The Prisoner is possibly the best TV show ever [after DS, of course!]  and with your intellect I'd bet you would love it!  find it fer sure!

Ringo

viva episode 931!

....and don't you ladies feel a little silly with this 'David Selby Crush' thing..... I mean, Jeeeez, obsessing over a soap opera actor...come on now....

HECK NO!  

Karen #2
(showing no shame whatsoever! )

Ugh. I thought everyone had been spared since it didn't show saturday.

It's awful on every level.

I hate my segment- I look like an obsessed boob. The rest is so crass and appalling, it almost seems like a parody...

Oh Darren QUIT!  

Your piece was informative and wonderful! You did not come out looking "like an obsessed boob." We are all so grateful for your hard work on this project, and always look forward to hearing about the evolution and progress of the restoration.

Keep up the great work, Darren!

The Prisoner is possibly the best TV show ever [after DS, of course!]  and with your intellect I'd bet you would love it!  find it fer sure!

No, I think it was the best TV show ever to air  It's really a unique program--you can probably rent the episodes.  It's an amazing thing really and the production values are superb.

Luciaphil

No, I think it was the best TV show ever to air  It's really a unique program--you can probably rent the episodes.  It's an amazing thing really and the production values are superb.

Luciaphil

Yes, they are available on video. I own the complete collection.

I've spent my evening in the computer lab and now I only have 15 minutes to try to write a report from all my pages of notes ... I started them already at the fest and continued on the plane home ...  Since I don't have enough time, I won't be able to say all that I wished to, and I know I'll forget to mention a lot of people ...

To start with, it was wonderful to return to California after many years.  I'd forgotten how beautiful it is.  People were friendly, traffic was light, the sights were lovely, the food was wonderful!  I don't know when I last ate so well ... If I ate the way I did every meal in California, I'd gain 20 lbs.  On the other hand, everything I ate was so healthy (e.g., a vegetarian panini sandwich, roast turkey with red pepper aioli, etc.) that maybe I wouldn't gain a single pound!  It wasn't very warm, though, except in the afternoons, and it was quite a shock to return to my home state of ---------- where it felt like a steam bath (20 degrees warmer!) than it had been in California.

Teresa, thanks for inquiring about my throat.  It turned into a full-blown cold unfortunately, and I'm coughing a lot, but as far as colds goes, it's what I'd call a "moderate" one.

There were so many things I somehow missed ... most of Ben's piano playing (I had hoped to hear "Misty" and "Moon River," but at least I got there in time to hear some of Josette's music box theme).  Missed Professor Stokes' vocal performance and video production, both of which were said to be highlights.  Was pleased to meet the estimable professor, who was not at all formidable but rather modest and self-effacing.

I didn't know Joe Integlia was there until reading the board now.

I didn't know anything about Marie Wallace's performance; am very disappointed to have missed that.

However, Ms. Wallace did stop by my table at the banquet to inquire if everyone had been enjoying the weekend.

Speaking of the banquet, one of the oddest moments was the prominent presentation of Roger Davis' video on his real estate development after dinner.  Uh-huh.

I arrived late to Darren Gross's presentation on the NODS restoration, but saw the scene of Angelique's hanging which was very effective.  I was less saddened by the loss of some of the other clips that were shown that had to do with sexual molestation and some gory shots.  To me, those would not have enhanced my viewing pleasure of the film.  What I would have liked to have seen (perhaps I missed mention of this earlier) was the scene where Charles' and Angelique's skeletons are discovered beneath the house.  That excised scene would have brought the entire movie together thematically.

I wish that an updated schedule of events had been posted outside the main ballroom twice a day, as the schedule seemed to keep changing, especially with all the cancellations.

Quickly ... whom did I meet?  New this year were Anna Kelly from England; Dawn and her friends; Julia99 and her friend, whose name I didn't catch.  Also Teresa, Minja, and Prof. Stokes figured prominently.

Enjoyed seeing some people from last year, such as Henry, Bette, VAM ... and I can't find my other list of names here ...

I was quite intrigued by the video that David Selby produced and provided voice-work on, "The Griffin and the Minor Canon."  Hope to do more investigating, as it seemed to be based on a children's book.

In the dealer's room I finally saw a "Josette's Music Box" and it was selling for $100.  Now I wish I had ordered one from MPI when they were available.  I was advised against it by several posters at the time, but if it had been made clear that this was a "miniature reproduction" I still might have bought it.  The music would have been available at any time and would have looked nice next to the antique-style oil lamp on one of my bookcases...

I wasn't able to track down a copy of TV Guide to read Nancy B's article.

There was a dark, exotic looking woman with enormous brown eyes who generously supplied libations for all around the piano on Saturday night, but I didn't catch her name ...   many thanks to whomever this mysterious creature was.

Looks like this will have to be continued if I'm going to get to my impressions of Robert Rodan and others ...

I was quite intrigued by the video that David Selby produced and provided voice-work on, "The Griffin and the Minor Canon."  Hope to do more investigating, as it seemed to be based on a children's book.

The program is based on the story of the same name by Frank Stockton, who's probably best known for "The Lady or the Tiger," and the story was selected because it was written by Stockton while he was residing in Charleston.

Had there been time to show the brief featurette about the making of the film that's on the end of the video, everyone would've gotten these little tidbits along with a clip of David recording his part.

There's a web site for the production at:

http://www.griffin-minorcanon.org/

Unfortunately, certain webmasters who shall remain nameless were not ballsy enough to jump up and offer the ordering information when David said he didn't have it handy on stage.  

Karen- thanks for the kind words. I'm probably over-reacting, but Mike Miozza can back me up on this- the experience of seeing yourself on TV for the first time is very strange and you always look much less attractive and professional than you thought you looked. But if you say it went well, I'll happily take your word for it.  

Vlad- Unfortunately the scene where Charles's skeleton and Angelique's coffin is found no longer exists. It (and a few other scenes) isn't included in the 129 min cut.

Dan trimmed it out from his fine cut which ran around 150 mins. This 150 min version included nearly every scene shot for the film, with the exception of scenes with Sarah Castle, which were severely trimmed because DC was unhappy with Monica Rich's performance. When you hear Dan talk about a '4 hr version' he's mistaken. Physical evidence on the print and paperwork contradicts that story. 150 mins was the most complete fine cut put together. The assembly (roughly edited to include padded moments between camera angles and multiple angles of the hanging) would have ran about 180 mins.

Why of all things, he chose to cut the poolhouse dream sequence and the skeleton scene is a mystery. They would have added no more than 3 mins to the running time and if I had to make the choice, I would have trimmed down a few other scenes in order to accomodate those two. That a snippet of the poolhouse scene seems to indicate that it was certainly included in the 150 min cut, but perhaps there were camera problems or damage to the negative found in that basement scene. There are a few shots in that film that were damaged by a faulty mechanism, but were still usable. Perhaps the scene was beyond repair due to this kind of problems. We'll probably never know for sure...I'd love to find a color slide or shot from the skeleton scene- all the images I've seen have been in b& w....

DCP has a lot to do with the festivals. Jim Pierson works for DCP, Dan's legal assistant always pops his head in to see how things are running, and all the cast scheduling and coordinating is handled by JP along with Ann Wilson and some other committee members. The fests are a joint effort between Jim and the fan organizers. Jim's been involved with the fests since before he worked for DCP but his job at DCP is maintaining the DS franchise and marketing as well as other tasks. When Jim's running the festivals, he's essentially at work. Making sure they go smoothly is part of his job.