Dark Shadows Clothing As a Sign of Disturbance

Originally posted by Gerard on the Dark Shadows: General Discussion Forum on February 13, 2002 at 14:44:02:

It's now November along the rocky, windswept coast of Maine. Granted, there might be an Indian Summer day or two left, but it's pretty much already wintery. Yet, we still see the denizens of Collinwood and even Collinsport go outside with only the leanest of coats, if any at all. And during the summer, there were those times when they were bundled up against an Arctic blast.

It reminds me of a woman who once prowled the streets of my home town. She was known as "Crazy Annie". She would use only public telephones because she believed that the government was bugging her, and once donated her Bible to the public library because she was convinced that space aliens, in cooperation with the government, were using it to spy on her. But the one thing Crazy Annie always did was to wear layer upon layer of winter clothing during the hottest days of summer, and in winter, when temps would drop even below 0, she would walk around town as if she lived on Fiji, loud blouses with palm trees, shorts and straw hats with plastic daisies stuck in the rim. Don't forget the sunglasses.

I'm waiting to see somebody like Liz or Mrs. Johnson start walking around the hallowed grounds of Collinwood dressed like that, now that the cold winds of the north are blowing.

Gerard

Originally posted by Bob the Bartender on February 13, 2002 at 18:18:27:
In Reply to: Dark Shadows Clothing As a Sign of Disturbance posted by Gerard on February 13, 2002 at 14:44:02:

Gerard,

Lifelong residents of Maine will tell you that winter does not end in Maine until May.

It would have been great to see snowy winter scenes on Dark Shadows. However, the set decorators had enough difficulty with the carpeted "grass," which Vicki, Adam, or David often accidentally tripped up as they walked around the grounds of Collinwood. One can only imagine what would have happened with copious amounts of fake snow all over the place.

Bob the Bartender, who needs a couple of weeks down in West Palm Beach right about now.

Originally posted by Josette on February 13, 2002 at 20:05:08:

The only thing that bothers me is the inconsistency. They virtually never mention anything that would give away the season (like Christmas or other holidays, or even mentions of summer, for instance), so how do we know it's November?

But, one person will be wearing a sleeveless, someone else a heavy dress or suit. One will wear a heavy coat and another a very light one or nothing. More than likely it's the one with the sleeveless that puts almost nothing over it while someone else is bundled up!! If they'd just decide what the weather is on any given day and let everyone be dressed in similar manner!

Josette

Originally posted by petofi on February 17, 2002 at 09:40:45:
In Reply to: Re: Dark Shadows Clothing As a Sign of Disturbance posted by Bob the Bartender:

Lifelong residents of Maine will tell you that winter does not end in Maine until May.

Well, April, anyway.

It would have been great to see snowy winter scenes on Dark Shadows. However, the set decorators had enough difficulty with the carpeted "grass," which Vicki, Adam, or David often accidentally tripped up as they walked around the grounds of Collinwood. One can only imagine what would have happened with copious amounts of fake snow all over the place.

This "uniweather" of Collinsport seems to tie into Jonathan Frid's assessment of the show's ambience as a "dark brigadoon" where the outside world changes, but nothing does at Collinwood. The endless sort of summer-fall motif of the show was most assuredly a by-product of the low budget and technical constraints of the show, but it dovetails brilliantly with the concept of Collinwood and Collinsport as an insulated "world of its own." We've all remarked how that there doesn't seem to be much in the way of news, television, Vietnam, holidays, or any other benchmark of time and place on DS. I only wish that weather in Maine didn't include snow and ice, since I was born and raised in Bangor, Maine.

Petofi

Originally posted by Gerard on February 17, 2002 at 13:54:20:
In Reply to: Re: Dark Shadows Clothing As a Sign of Disturbance posted by petofi:

And the only time - the ONLY time, Petofi - when DS decides to "be with the times" was when it selected the fashions to be worn by Sebastian in 1970. Grand Gugional meets Johnny Bravo.

Gerard