'Dark Shadows!' Vampires, Werewolves and Zombies Invade Brooklyn This Weekend

More tweets and photos:

FrankJayGruber Frank Jay Gruber
@davidselbycom and Jonathan Frid performing together at the #DarkShadows Festival on Sunday. http://pic.twitter.com/2ZnYA4P
2 hours ago

FrankJayGruber
Jonathan Frid at this year's #DarkShadows Festival. http://pic.twitter.com/JzuGq1U
1 hour ago

FrankJayGruber
Lara Parker ("Angelique") +Jerry Lacy ("Rev. Trask") leave the stage arm-in-arm Sunday at the #DarkShadows Festival. http://pic.twitter.com/jcIBIus
1 hour ago

Many thanks, Claude North, for those astute and delightfully witty comments.  How sad that so many fans rushed to leave as the rare occasion to view "The Crucible" was offered to them.  Makes one think of a New Testament quote, but I'll spare you.  At least in this instance they were being rude to a videotape.  I still remember how painful the behavior of fans was years ago when David Selby and his acting partner presented the play Selby had written live on stage.  Imagine getting to see a play of this calibre practically for free given the low prices charged by the Festival committee for Registration.  It wouldn't have been so bad if fans had simply left, but they kept going in and out throughout what was a thoughtful, sensitive, beautifully crafted performance. 

Interesting to see that the Brooklyn Eagle in their blurb on the series plot has Barn "awakening" in 1972--the correct year for Depp Shadows, but not for the original series... which was well off the air by '72...

G.

Interesting to see that the Brooklyn Eagle in their blurb on the series plot has Barn "awakening" in 1972--the correct year for Depp Shadows, but not for the original series... which was well off the air by '72...

Especially when in the paragraph just above it it says that DS "aired from 1966 to 1971."  How quickly they forget the years the show ran. But then I swear there has to be at least one thing wrong in practically every article about DS...

‘Dark Shadows’ Draws Blood at Brooklyn Marriott

All right. All right. Hold the phone. The picture of the costume gala people - somebody tell me what the person wearing the jackass head is supposed to be in regard to DS.

Any and every RD character? 

willmckinley
One more #DarkShadows festival picture: David Selby and Lara Parker making out! http://bit.ly/oqrlE9
11 minutes ago

All right. All right. Hold the phone. The picture of the costume gala people - somebody tell me what the person wearing the jackass head is supposed to be in regard to DS.

He introduced himself as "Mule, the missing footman."  An iteresting look, but an odd choice.

I just got home a couple of hours ago. I'm reviewing the articles and commentary now and will try to add some of my own observations over the next couple of days.

ProfStokes

Drat, I wish I could have gone.  I would definitely have stayed in the ballroom for The Crucible - but then, I always stay in there for just about everything.  And Julia Duffy came with Jerry Lacy?  Wow.  Not that I would have seen her - but still, wow.

I was packed and ready to go, but then on Wednesday night my cat walked into a door and I faced the fact I couldn't just leave her with friends.  So I spent the weekend with her, plunking her into her litter box whenever she ventured off of my bed, and hoping that either she'd figure out how to get there on her own (golly it's right next to the bed, how hard can it be?) or else that her new blood pressure medicine would work a miracle on her eyesight.  No luck so far.  It's a good thing for her that she's the best cat in the whole wide world.

arashi, I hope your sister is better, and Gothick, I hope your summer improves!

FrankJayGruber
The ever-lovely Lara Parker ("Angelique") posing w/ me on Sunday at the #DarkShadows Festival at the Brooklyn Marriott. http://pic.twitter.com/3ef1SRb
8 hours ago

Lydia, I am very sorry to hear about your cat.  My healing thoughts go out to her.

And of course, thank you for your good wishes.

G.

i'm in concordance with much of what claude north said about the event....

the mass walkout as kathy cody introduced "the crucible" was unforgivable. even if one wasn't interested in the film itself they could have showed ms.cody some courtesy and remained seated for the two minutes it took to introduce the piece. as for the group talking in the back during the 2004 showing i asked them to please stop and they looked at me like i was from outer space. i thought not speaking during a movie or performance was manners 101 but i guess i'm wrong. at least they eventually got up and left.

as interesting as i found "the crucible" i will say that perhaps a two hour non-DS presentation was a bit long for that block of prime-time. an early morning showing might have gone over better.

i know i've been slagging KLS a bit of late but she's just SUCH an operator. when i approached her friday evening to have her autograph my program she INSTANTLY tried to sell me her book "murder in primetime"(remember that other fiction work she wrote before her "first" work of fiction "dark passages"?)assuring me of "how much i'd like it". i honestly don't think she remembered me from her book signing at barnes and noble 48 hours earlier when i purchased DP.

amazingly i managed to get most of the actors autographs easily...as claude mentioned david selby sitting around by himself friday evening(!). marie, kathy, pennock, sharon and miss woronko were readily available all weekend. i only waited for a chilly lara parker. i couldn't be bothered to wait in lengthy lines for donna wandrey, jerry lacy and certainly not mr.davis. hearing his ridiculous real estate stories was more than enough for me.

having already purchased "dark passages" earlier in the week there wasn't much i wanted by way of purchases. i picked up some pictures and the big finish CD "the doll house" which marie autographed. i wanted the bound copy of the gold key comics but they apparently sold out the first day because sunday the dealer wasn't even around. as for the rest of the cast members offerings(marie and lara's books for instance)i already have them. i felt bad not buying anything from them but when you've got the same things to sell year after year you run that risk.

one of the overwhelming impression that i walked away from this event was...and i really do not mean for this to sound unkind...is that i wonder how much longer it will continue in it's present incarnation. the cast is starting to get quite elderly. i don't know how much longer they're going to have the energy for all this. 45 years was a long time ago. KLS and donna wandrey looked remarkably spry but the rest of the cast are starting to show the years. when i first attended in 2003 everyone still looked "middle aged" to me but 8 years in a long time when one starts to get into their 60's and 70's. as it was frid simply came down for his appearance then i presume returned to his room. diana millay and john karlen were not in attendance and there were reports of other castmembers being "unwell" in recent years.

again i don't mean for this to sound unkind but i left with that concern.

It was freezing at the Fest! That is my my biggest complaint easily rectified by wearing a jacket. Oh speaking of jackets I have an issue with MPI. MPI is selling a new "crew" fleeced windbreaker jacket in black with the red DS logo on left chest. It actually looks like a nice product. On Saturday I tried the jacket on for size and had my $40 dollars out when I was told by MPI that the jacket was now $50 that day. I told the salesperson that it was $40 all day on Friday. She said well it was "an early bird special". I told her that there were no signs anywhere that there was a special that day. She had no comeback for that. The MPI lady said in a condescending and arrogant manner well the jacket will be sold for $60.00 at its website. So instead of taking the $40.00 they lost a deal. Apparently the market for this jacket warranted an increase of $10 for the jacket. MPI remains a bunch of weasels imo not worthy of any new DS related sales. I did like the autograph set up where you could go directly to an actor's line. As others here aleready stated there was no "discussion" on the new DS movie. Once again it was JP simply talking at the podium and showing a few slide presentation of actors in makeup. JP did say that the release date is solid.

VIDEO: David Selby Speaking at The Dark Shadows Festival 8-20-11

VIDEO (put together from photos): Dark Shadows Festival 2011

Thanks, Michael, for that interesting report.  I agree with you about the future of the Festival in its present format.  MB had a link to a Festival post from 2003 or 2004 and I had forgotten that there was talk of ceasing the Festivals at that point.

My prediction is that *if* Depp Shadows takes off (which is a big *if* given how royally Conan and Fright Night just flopped at the box office), THAT will become the new focus of any convention or fannish activity.  People who are into the "original series" (or 1991, etc.) will become a sideline to the main event around the Depp series and its paraphernalia--action figures, video games, etc. 

It is truly fascinating to me that the original series continues to garner new fans in their 20s and 30s.  If the series were made available on one of the online channels such as hulu, think of how even more widespread the fandom would become.

But it will all seem like very small potatoes if the Depp series really takes off.

I liked how Alex, in one of her interviews for one of the MPI releases (it may have been way back in the early 1990s for the 25th anniversary) was musing about the 50th anniversary and said something like--maybe the reunion will take place via seance!  I always thought that was a fitting envoi to the phenomenon of original DS fandom.

G.

I had a great time and enjoyed seeing friends and the city of New York! I bought Kathryn's new book  and Barbara Woronko's book which I started reading this morning and she was so friendly.  I spent most of my money on food and now must go on a diet so at next years fest I don't look like a blimp!

I really think everyone looked awesome and will pack more sweaters next time! It really was freezing in that hotel.  Next year should be exciting with the movie release and I wouldn't doubt if they have some kind of organized showing of the movie like they did with HODS last year.

My only complaint is I only got a few moments with some friends and time just flies at these events so you just can't get to everybody.

Teresa