They Really Were The GAY Nineties!

Greetings!

I don't know about anyone else (although I can assume that some would agree), but I feel that Friday's second episode was delightfully homoerotic.

First of all, we have self-loathing, "rough trade" Charles Delaware Tate, who creates a passive, fantasy male. Upon failing to destroy him (and, thus, his own homosexual desires) he proceeds to abuse him and force him into a closet.

Enter the very hunky and dapper Timothy Shaw with hysterical but useful (for keeping up appearances) Amanda Harris in tow.  Tim is fascinated by Amanda's stories of the "creature" that Tate allegedly created.  Using a (phallic) gun, Tim forces Tate to turn over the key (another phallic symbol--Tim effectively emasculates Tate), and releases the "strange" young man from the closet.

Upon seeing the young man with the dark, soulful eyes, full lips, and that wave of brown hair, Tim decides he must have him for himself.  Tossing aside Amanda (and the facade of respectability), Tim departs with his new infatuation, leaving Tate to attempt to build a "normal" life with Amanda. Knowing the truth about Tate, she refuses to reciprocate and leaves him alone.

Meanwhile, back at Tim's place, he shows a kindness towards the young man, promising to protect him and keep him safe, something that the repressed Tate could never do.  The young man responds by gently touching Tim and letting him know, wordlessly, that he chooses to be with him.

Unfortunately, this tender moment is interrupted by Tate who, having lost his chance to create a "normal" life for himself, has reverted to his true nature.  Gun in hand, he has arrived to reclaim the young man for himself!

Will Tate succeed in destroying the happiness that Tim and the young man have found?  Or will our heroes triumph over the repressive forces that threaten them?

The answers to these and other questions will be revealed on the next exciting episode of DARK SHADOWS.

Regards,

John

LOL, I agree with your assessment of things, John. 

That's beautiful.

Nicky

Ohmigoodness, you were right! I have to confess that reading your post before (finally) watching Friday's show, I thought "Yeah, right." But, having seen it, I can think of no other explanation! I mean, taking it on the straight side, what explanation could there possibly be for Tim chucking Amanda aside like a used kleenix?! (Could it be her constant complaining? Her irritating voice?)

Hey....I'LL buy it! 

Hmm....somehow though, I doubt this was the writers' original intent.  LOL   (Well, who knows!!??)

Enjoyed Briscoe's performance - thought he was good.

 

John, many thanks for that beautifully written explication de texte (or should it be, de scene?)  I think this episode and the one where Bruno becomes sexually excited while flogging the Chris-wolf must rate among the most homoerotic in DS' history.  There are other queer moments, of course...

I think your analysis of this episode should be published in Cahier du Shadows!

Your fan,

Steve

Another uncredited, mute actor!

Midnite says this was Alexander Court ... did he also play Claude North?

BTW, I did get some sense for what ClaudeNorth (the poster) says, too.  (Though I personally probably wouldn't go quite so far with the Freudian interpretation, e.g. re: the gun.  JMO, since I don't put much stock in Freud ...)

OT - A defective videotape rendered Friday's episodes all but unwatchable -- and I had just started retaping that day to replace a three-week stretch of unwatchable tapes due to cable intereference during the last run (sigh).

Spoiler alert!
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Sadly, this affair ends as do so many others in TV and Hollywood films... the gay guy (at least one of them) has to die!  :-

SDP

Hi Vlad,

I think the Alexander Cort credit may have been from the lists compiled by fans over the years; I don't believe the actor received a credit in the end titles.  I have not a clue what the source was for a lot of the info about the identity of people who were extras, ghosts, Cassandra's wrinkled hands, etc.  I thought that some fans who were involved in the NYC theatre scene or hung out at the studio way back when may have received this information from the actors themselves who did this work.

As for Claude North, he was portrayed by the fabulous Brian Sturdivant.  From the scripts leading up to Claude's appearance, it would seem that the writers intended him to be a major character in the next arc of the story.  This would appear to be one of those cases where DC abruptly dictated a change in story direction, presumably because of complaints from the fans.

Gothick

Cassandra's wrinkled hands, etc.

T.

LOL!!! You're killin' me, Darlin...

M. (sca-reaming!)

  I have not a clue what the source was for a lot of the info about the identity of people who were extras, ghosts, Cassandra's wrinkled hands, etc.  I thought that some fans who were involved in the NYC theatre scene or hung out at the studio way back when may have received this information from the actors themselves who did this work.

Gothick,

I am pretty sure that most of these unknown "extras" names were gleaned from the original scripts that the Dark Shadows Festival personnel obtained (and eventually microfilmed). The "casting" of these extras was often last minute and the actors' names were often just scribbled onto the Director's script. I believe these scripts are available (for viewing only) at the UCLA Library.

Oh yes, "Cassandra's withered hands". Played by dear Judith Lowry, who also played Mother Dexter in "Phyllis" and Barbara Parkins' character's Aunt Amy in "Valley of the Dolls". I was disappointed to see that her "appearance" on DS is not listed on her filmography in the Internet Movie Data Base. Perhaps someone who knows how to correct this omission will do so in the near future?

SDP

As for Claude North, he was portrayed by the fabulous Brian Sturdivant.  From the scripts leading up to Claude's appearance, it would seem that the writers intended him to be a major character in the next arc of the story.

I've never seen Claude North.  I wanna see a picture of this guy!  Could somebody, if they have one, post it?

I think the Alexander Cort credit may have been from the lists compiled by fans over the years; I don't believe the actor received a credit in the end titles.  . . .some fans who were involved in the NYC theatre scene or hung out at the studio way back when may have received this information from the actors themselves who did this work. 

Please don't ask me to  be explain my source, but I believe Mr. Cort has been a member of Actors' Equity for many years--which means he's probably done a lot more stage work over the years than film or TV.  (And for what it's worth, he's definitely a "cutie" in his DS appearance.

I've never seen Claude North.  I wanna see a picture of this guy!  Could somebody, if they have one, post it?

Graeme Cree has pics of everybody in his cast lists.  Claude North is next to P.T. Bob Rooney at the bottom of the Parallel Time Characters section on this page, but spoilage abounds in the writeups that accompany the images:

contains SPOILERS...
http://www.burkedevlin.freewebsites.com/10pt1970/index.htm

John, many thanks for that beautifully written explication de texte (or should it be, de scene?)  I think this episode and the one where Bruno becomes sexually excited while flogging the Chris-wolf must rate among the most homoerotic in DS' history.  There are other queer moments, of course...

I think your analysis of this episode should be published in Cahier du Shadows!

Your fan,

Steve

i jiust knew you were going to bring up that Bruno scene Steve !

jennifer