The first event on Saturday was a Q&A panel with Marcy Robin as to what was new with DS the show, the actors, and Dan Curtis's future plans. I missed it because I was out in the lobby chatting with friends and trying to connect people who were looking for fellow fans. I made it back to the ballroom shortly after the tribute to Louis Edmonds began. It was a lovely series of clips (the same ones that were shown last year) featuring an interview with him (from Festival 2000?,) his work on "All My Children" as Langley Wallingford, and Edmonds singing an original "blues" composition and "Nobody Cares About Langley." As I've said before, it's very hard to believe that the warm, energetic, and witty man in the clips was the same one who portrayed the cold and distant Joshua and Roger Collins.
Roger Davis took the stage next and predictably began meandering from one topic to another. At least he not only realized what he was doing, but admitted his guilt. "My mother tells me I'm like one of those practice golf balls, always full of holes. She says, 'Roger, I never know what the hell you're talking about.'" Finally he got back to his point and presented a documentary/advertisement for his oft-mentioned housing project. (Narrated, directed, and produced by himself.) When the lights dimmed, I slipped out of the room and spent the next 45 minutes talking to Midnite and casper collins in the lobby. When we determined that it was safe to go back inside, we found seats for Jeanne Avery's (aka David Henesy's mom's) discussion.
Throughout her talk, Jeanne Avery constantly denied that she'd ever pushed David into acting or that she was a "stage mom." According to her, David came home one day from the private school where his baby-sitter had unilaterally enrolled him while his mother was working out of town ("And who do you suppose got stuck paying for the tuition?") and informed his mother that, "He was going to be on Broadway and that I had to call the stage manager. I said, 'That's nice, dear.' Of course I had no intention of calling any stage manager." She thought that young David was merely imagining himself on Broadway, until the stage manager actually called (on the day of Kennedy's assassination) to say that he was holding a role for David in one of Mary Martin's plays (I believe it was called Jenny.) This was the first step. Avery indicated that as a single, working mother, she had little time to spend with her children and felt guilty about this. Since she was also an actress, she thought that David's acting would give them a chance to further bond. In fact, she stressed that David was the one who chose to be an actor of his own volition by mentioning how his decision complicated the family's life. They had to struggle with personal schedules and travel arrangements while he was on Broadway. After working with Martin, David was inspired to continue acting by a performance of Oliver at his sister's graduation and would practice singing the songs while taking a bath. ("I guess he thought that we wouldn't hear him with the water running.") Eventually, he did earn a role in the musical as "the laughing boy."
Avery also told stories of David on "Dark Shadows," of course. Apparently he felt very confident after auditioning for the show, and told his mother that he was sure he'd gotten the part. As with his Broadway debut, Henesy's mother initially didn't place much importance on the issue until David mentioned that he'd be working with "some old actress named Joan Bennett." It seems that Avery was a major Joan Bennett fan at the time. She mentioned that nobody on the DS set felt that they needed to discipline David and that he always felt the need to be professional. "He knew he had to be better than any of the other actors if he was going to stand out. He was a very quick study. He'd read through the script once or twice at home and was able to absorb all of his lines. There were times when he would feed the other actors their lines." Avery mentioned a friend of David's who used to visit the set and would earn tips by running errands for the cast and crew (picking up lunches, etc.) David felt that he was entitled to a portion of those tips, "So he was on his way to being a businessman already." The reason that he was absent from the show for much of its final run was because he was temporarily living with his father and stepmother. "I knew that if David decided he wanted to come back and live with me, he couldn't very well tell his father that, but if he had to come back to work on the show, he would have a valid excuse," Avery explained. "So I asked Dan to keep David in the cast but only have him do a couple of episodes a month." She also stated that David didn't leave acting because he wanted a normal childhood. It seems he wanted to relocate to California to meet girls.
Jeanne Avery also spoke about her friendship with Don Briscoe. Both she and David were close to him. Avery even allowed Briscoe to stay in her apartment while (IIRC) his own lodgings were either being remodeled or repainted. She also revealed that he had suffered a breakdown while on the show, and that she had tried but failed to get through to him. He's recovered now and living with his parents in Tennessee.
Avery went on to mention her grandchildren, focusing on her latest granddaughter, a toddler given to theatrics. According to her anecdote, the little girl (whose name escapes me just now) one day dropped a stuffed toy on the floor, then cried bitterly as she cuddled and tried to tend to it. Avery and the child's other grandmother comforted her, but a few moments later, the girl did the exact same thing, repeating the whole process several times (including her tears) in the hopes of getting attention. Apparently, acting runs in the family for Henesy's oldest son also demonstrates an interest in the profession. Henesy himself currently owns and operates a successful restaurant in Cartagena, Columbia, which is frequented by major politicians and celebrities of the entertainment world. Avery does past life regression therapy for these same clients.
At this point, mordecaigrimes and I left for lunch, so I missed the charity auction and Darren Gross's presentation of lost
Night of Dark Shadows film clips.
(Fortunately, I'd been able to see the presentation at the Vista theatre.) We caught the last portion of David Selby's cartoon, "The Griffin and the Minor Canon." The main theme, Selby stressed, was that "Nothing loved dies."
By now it was almost time for the cast reunion to begin, but there were people lining up at the microphone for questions and answers. One woman asked Selby how he'd enjoyed his appearance on "Ally McBeal." According to Selby, his son is friends with Calista Flockhart and that was how he was able to get the role. "I wanted to come in and do the part where she spins me in the air," he said. I t sounded as though he'd had a lot of fun making that episode. Another woman went to the microphone and asked him, "What are you doing tonight?" "Oh? What do you want me to do tonight?" he replied. A man asked him about the 1995 episodes where Quentin was insane. "Where did you get your inspiration for that role?" he inquired. "I bet a lot of my friends didn't think I needed any inspiration," David said. A woman who was a teacher wanted to know about "The Griffin and the Minor Canon": was there a copy available and where could she get the educational packet that went with it? Selby remembered that there was a website for the packet but couldn't remember the address immediately. He arranged to give her the video that was shown at the Festival, which I thought was very generous of him. They popped it out of the VCR on the spot. Someone asked David if he'd brought any supernatural content from DS to any of his other shows. David mentioned one series, "Flamingo Road," that was a sort of prototype to "Miami Vice" in the late 70's/early 80's and wasn't quite as popular as it could have been. He suggested that the writers start to bring in supernatural elements (thus ripping off DS) and so David's character began to get involved with voodoo shortly before the series ended.
Richard Halpern then brought on all the cast members who were present for the reunion--John Karlen, Chris Pennock, Marie Wallace, Roger Davis, Kathryn Leigh Scott, Jeanne Avery, and David Selby--and as usual, they gave an update on what was new in their lives. Roger Davis politely took the microphone and declared that he'd already spoken and would "pass the baton" to Kathryn, but he held on to it for a while longer, rambling. Three more times, he offered to pass the baton, but it was at least five minutes before he finally did. It seemed to me that there weren't as many questions this time as in previous years. (Maybe because the Fest attendance was so low?) David Selby did tell an amusing story of how John Karlen's exploits once landed him in jail. Johnny was casually eating a vanilla ice cream cone and a hot dog when he saw a young woman walking toward him dressed in full Western attire. ("She looked like Dale Evans.") Karlen asked her if she was working that night and the girl replied, yes, what did he have in mind? At that moment, police officers leapt out of their hiding places and seized Karlen, knocking his food to the ground. They arrested him for soliciting (the young Western woman was an undercover officer.) When Karlen went before the judge, the judge claimed to recognize him for his crime, but the crime with which he charged Johnny was not the crime he had committed. The judge "knew him" for something he didn't do! Karlen admitted to it anyway. ("He didn't want to go through the hassle of correcting the judge.") I thought that was pretty funny. Both Karlen and Selby were very lively during this year's reunion, getting up from their seats to re-enact various parts of the story.
The next question again dealt with why the final scene of one episode was performed slightly differently the following day. (It was similar to what had been asked of KLS the previous night.) This time, John Karlen acknowledged the blooper. "I was watching the show the other day," he said, "and I saw that Willie was wearing three different shirts--in the same episode!" Another person asked if the scenes in the show were shot out of order. ("Nope, they were shot straight through, just like in a play.") Jeanne Avery was again asked to share her memories of Don Briscoe, and this time Roger Davis got into the act. He shared that he and Briscoe had both gone to Columbia together, and it was Davis who'd helped him get the role on DS. "I knew he was the better actor. He had a natural way about him, very talented. He lives in Tennessee now, practically never leaves the house. He has a car and he'll drive around, but I doubt we'll ever see him at a Festival." Davis also poked fun at both Jonathan Frid and Grayson Hall. "Jonathan barely knew his lines and there were days when it looked like Grayson could have used a little more practice. Put them together, and they were a disaster. I remember one day when they went up on their lines. They both stared at each other for a moment, turned to face the teleprompter, and read the same line at the same time." He even gave an example of Frid's acting, using KLS as a model. "Jonathan would be sitting, talking to you," he put his hand on Kathryn's shoulder and looked her in the eye as he spoke, "and suddenly he'd look over at the camera," Roger shifted his gaze to the audience, "to read his lines. It made no sense because you were sitting next to him and yet he was talking into space." To my delight, Davis also mentioned Thayer David during his little speech. "Whenever Thayer gave you a compliment, it was something to be proud of. I remember one time when we'd just finished filming a scene and as we were leaving the set, he said to me, 'That was very good.' It meant a lot to me. Then of course, there were other days when he would look at me and ask, 'What happened?' " It sounded as though Roger had a high opinion of him, and KLS looked as though she'd like to add something, but Roger rushed on to other topics.
(To be continued)
ProfStokes
