David Selby
At times, Selby he seemed all over the map to me, straying occasionally from his two new projects, so I'm just going to do the best I can with this writeup.
The 60s were a time of personal, social and political changes for him, and Dark Shadows was his constant. He talked about being recruited by the FBI to check out a few places in NYC. Drugs were rampant on the Upper West Side. He'd once had a romantic view of the FBI, having written a high school paper on becoming an agent. But he turned down their request.
Eldridge Cleaver's Soul on Ice "stuck to me." He understood the things he and Angela Davis were fighting for. After he came to LA, he'd attend a gathering at the Inglewood Forum.
To a certain extent, the things that still concern us today-- the environment, toxic air, child care, senior care-- began for him back then; they were paramount in his thinking when he came onto DS. Though somewhat apolitical when he he arrived in NY, he enjoyed the music of Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Phil Ochs ("I ain't Marchin Anymore"), and Bob Dylan ("Blowin In the Wind").
Speaking about the show (which he much less that day than in My Shadowed Past), if Barnabas had left, the show would have died a quick death. Also, "Has there ever been a better character than what Jerry did with Trask? The true villain, though, was Angelique." As for Quentin, he only wanted people to like him.
He said Lara Parker once went to DC to protest, and friends of his went to hear ML King's speech. He wrote his dissertation while on the show, something that David Henesy teased him about. Frid had gone to Yale, Thayer David to Harvard, Don Briscoe to Columbia, Roger Davis to Columbia and UCLA, Nancy Barrett to UCLA, and Lara Parker to the University of Iowa. He said he got to know Virginia Vestoff during their occasional walks home together. He learned she had been orphaned and on her own since she was 10 years old. She managed to survive in NYC, but she had a vulnerability in her eyes. Donna, Grayson, and Humbert had a lot of theater experience. Chris Pennock was from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts; Kate Jackson also went there. KLS was off a farm in Minnosota, Lara Parker is from Tennessee, and Karlen is from Brooklyn.
His other new book, The Blue Door, is about politics in S. Appalachia. (Blue wards off evil spirits.) We must learn to "get rid of those evil spirits" and move on. He read a couple of excerpts from early in the book; I decided then to buy it, and it didn't hurt that Sally is a strong woman.
He was asked if he felt Lincoln's presence while playing him in The Heavens Are Hung In Black. He said the Secret Service was everywhere on opening night. They were "not going to let what happened happen again." It made him a little nervous to see the military fatigues. "Don't worry," he was told. There were helicopters, too.
He got up the nerve to finally look at some DS eps. The "roving hand"-- if that doesn't bring a smile! He just about fell over. "No wonder people laughed." As for Quentin-- he always had a problem.
About his early career: Sometimes you can't convince yourself that you're enough. For his first theater audition, he didn't get the job. He did not perform "Come to Me" from Brigadoon (he once played Sandy in a college production), but he brought it up here. Grease (set in 58/59) was and still is special to him, because Sandy's song at the end ("Look At Me") sums up how he felt.
Grayson as Julia knew Barnabas' secret, but what Dan Curtis wanted for Barnabas was the last thing the fans wanted.
Pansity asked if there was a connection between his new book and his play Final Assault. Yes. He was told, "What you've got here is a novel."
While Robert Mulligan was signed on to direct Rich and Famous, he wanted Selby's hair to be short. But the actor's strike went on for 3 months and George Cukor was brought in. He thought he wouldn't keep the job since Cukor should have his own cast, but Jacqueline Bisset, who was also a producer, said no way. George Cukor: "Who in the hell told you to cut your hair?" He was on the set the day Liz Taylor paid a visit to Fox. He also met Cary Grant at the commissary one day and thought he was very nice; he'd meet him again while doing Falcon Crest. (I recommend watching a tape to hear the quotes for these stories; I prefer to leave them alone.)
Joan Bennett, who did Little Women with George Cukor, almost got the lead in Gone with the Wind, but David Selznick wanted Vivien Leigh. Cukor was replaced but he continued working privately with Leigh; Gable never got him fired.
Jim Pierson seemed to grow restless about the time and started toward the stage, but it was at that point that Selby said he dedicated his new DS book to Pierson and also to Ed Limato. Pierson stopped in his tracks.
His book seems to tie these thoughts to a central theme. But while he was on stage, there were a few times when I wondered what the point was that Selby was trying to make. But that's me.
