Dear Fellow Dark Shadows Fans,
(Here's a poll that I think I already know what the final outcome will be.) Do you find Jeff Clark, with his seemingly perpetually angst-ridden, hair-grasping, and petulant "schtick" more annoying? Or, like yours truly, are you absolutely sick and tired of seeing that geeky twenty-something with the seemingly unending leering smile on his kisser in those ubiquitous Dell Computer TV commercials? (I tell you, I almost threw my cherished autographed Tom Seaver baseball at that blonde-haired nerd the other night!)
Incidentally, in defense of Jeff Clark's hair-grasping, I believe that Jeff is merely emulating the late, great Rod Steiger. If you've ever seen the gritty film classic "On The Waterfront," (and I just know that you all have!), Mr. Steiger is seen to grab both his face and the hair on the sides of his head in that famous cab scene with Marlon Brando (or "Mr. Mumbles" as Frank Sinatra once described him).
Perhaps you've seen that other 1950's film, in which Mr. Steiger plays a condemned prisoner who crash lands with several other airline passengers in the Amazon jungle. (I can't quite remember the flick's name, but it's on AMC quite often.) Anyway, Mr. Steiger (who has the only gun) has to decide which passengers can take off in the damaged airliner to safety, and which passengers will stay behind with him to face certain, horrible death at the hands of the native head-hunters.
Well, it is a real tour de force for Mr. Steiger as he wrestles with the awful question of just who should live and who should be left to die. I believe that Mr. Steiger takes a full minute, grasping his face and the hair on the top of his head (with no hat on this time!) before he arrives at his momentous decision. I have believe that Roger Davis (Jeff Clark/Peter Bradford) had to be influenced by this brilliant dramatic actor.
By the way, I also believe that Mr. Steiger influenced another young and upcoming actor, John Travolta with his hair/head grasping routine as Vinnie Barbarino in "Welcome Back, Kotter." Surely you remember the great line, "I'm so confused!" by the greatest member of "The Sweathogs"?
So, while I'm sure that most of you will opt to give thumbs-down to Jeff Clark, I'll give the "Sicilian Salute" to that creepy Dell computer kid.
Bah Humbug!
Bob the Bartender, who still gets chills from Mr. Steiger's performance as that truly angst-ridden priest in "The Amityville Horror."