"Oh Where, oh Where..."

[Patti Feinberg]

Again, I'm in Robs 1995.

But, even somewhat prior to that, where have alot of the key players been?

In PT, barely any Amy, Daniel, no that much Roger, or Maggie; once Cyrus goes, no more C. Pennock.

Now, 1995, all we have are Barn, Julia, Stokes, Quentin, plus 2 more DBs.

Where have all the other 'main characters' been?

Question, were these peeps under a contract? On a soap, do you get a standard salary, or, (DC folk), is it per part played?

Patti

[michael c]

1970PT and HoDS were shot simultaneously. so for several weeks most of the main cast were doing "double duty" and were seen on the series only sporadically or were absent almost entirely. in their absence David Selby and Lara Parker (and some of the lesser players), who did not appear in the film, headed up the cast during this period.

in terms of 1995 it was just a brief look into "the future". a time when most of the characters were dead. hence their absence. it was just a setup for Barnabas and Julia to stumble upon another "disaster" they had to try and prevent. only this time they were thrust into the future and not the past.

i'm not sure how the "on contract" players were compensated. if it was a standard "salary" or of if they were paid on a "per episode" basis.

[Uncle Roger]

I think that Louis Edmonds was either doing a play or traveling, so that explains his absence. John Karlen was in Europe filming Daughters of Darkness. Not sure about Joan or Kathryn. Maybe they were doing publicity for HODS.
I'm not sure who was under contract and who was simply recurring. Joan Bennett and Jonathan Frid were certainly under contract. Probably Nancy, Selby and Grayson. Kathryn's contact had expired. The rest, I'm not sure. As a rule, contract players are guaranteed a certain number of episodes per week. But I don't know if everyone had the same deal. Recurring actors have a different deal. Basically per diem. Which explains why some people are off the show for extended periods.

[michael c]

i get the impression by their increasingly sporadic appearances that by the fall of 1970 many of the actors...KLS, Edmonds, Karlen, Hennesey...had lapsed contracts and were working "off contract" or on a per episode basis...

i don't know if new actors brought in during the period (Kate Jackson. James Storm) were placed under contract of if the series' status by that point was so nebulous worked as extended day players or had "short term" (six months for instance) contracts.

[Uncle Roger]

I remember reading in Grayson Hall's fan club newsletter that Keith Prentice signed a long-term contract. I accepted it at face value at the time. I've questioned it since then, as a lot of stuff that appeared in those newsletters was pure wish fulfillment. It was stated to be a five year contract. The standard was for three years, not five. It doesn't seem likely that an actor with no previous television experience would be offered that kind of a deal. Though the impending cancellation made that a very moot point.

[michael c]

i have an old 'Life' magazine from 1968 that has an article on what a sensation the show had become by that point owing largely to the Barnabas character...


i states that Alexandra, who had been the original "lead", was two years into her five year contract. we know how that worked out but it's notable that if she had not left under the circumstances she did, and simply fulfilled the obligations of her contract, she would have remained with the show for it's duration.

i think it's safe to assume Joan had a similar deal given her "name" value and how important she originally was to the structure of the show. 

[alwaysdavid]

Five years used to be the normal, but it doesn't really protect the actor as they can be fired at  every three months. 

[Gothick]

From what I have been able to determine, most of them worked without a contract.  That is why things happened such as Dennis Patrick leaving to do a movie before his storyline had concluded during Leviathans.

In her very first book, My Scrapbook Memories, KLS wryly commented, "In general, we were not overpaid on DARK SHADOWS." 

Grayson's original contract was described as being 13 weeks or 13 episodes whichever came first.  There was a long gap of several weeks between her first two appearances.  I was told privately by a fan that Grayson had dinner with Louis soon after she started and she quizzed him about how much he was getting because she wanted to be sure her agent had negotiated the contracted correctly.  I guess she was pretty upfront about things like that.  As she commented in a fan interview on one occasion, with crisp matter-of-factness:  "Of course, we have to be paid."

G.

[michael c]

New York was a much, much less expensive place to live in the 1960s...

one can imagine regular soap work, even "off contract", could have afforded an actor a modestly comfortable life.

[Patti Feinberg]

John Karlen was in Europe filming Daughters of Darkness.

Uncle Roger, I had never heard of this film. I IMDbed it, and this was the synopsis:

The most beautiful vampire film ever made
(the 9 1/2 stars I couldn't copy).

So, now I'm decided from who to buy it.

Thanks so much!!

Patti

[edited by admin]

[Uncle Roger]

They used to show it at the festivals in the earlier days. Karlen's bare butt always got a great response from the audience.

[Patti Feinberg]

Karlen's bare butt always got a great response from the audience.

WHAT?!?!

Patti

[Gothick]

Karlen does full frontal nudity in DoD, but it's in medium shot and rather shadowy so you don't see much.  Nevertheless, a friend to whom I loaned the video asked me eagerly if Karlen had done porn at some point in the early 70s.

It's a very strange movie by a Belgian director who was an unpleasant individual, but accomplished a beautiful meditation on the image of the female vampire.  Delphine Seyrig has a lot to do with what makes the movie so memorable.  A lot of the scenes were shot in one take.  It's quite kinky... don't know that it would be your cup of Maxwell House, but you could give it a shot. 

The movie in some ways in an homage to another of my favorite films, BLOOD AND ROSES, directed by Roger Vadim in 1960.

G.

[Patti Feinberg]

Well, even though recently-ish I had an extremely bad experience with ebay (though, it involved a seller, and then PayPal), I just purchased DoD for $6.99 (includes S&H).

I'll post my opinion(s) eventually on CE&A.

Thanks again for that, I can't believe I've never heard of it. It said country of filming, Belgium, Region A formatted.

Patti

[dom]

I was also quite surprised you'd never heard of it, Patti. It's nice to know there are still some little surprises left out there for us to enjoy! (For me, they come in the form of previously unknown behind-the-scenes tidbits. Or photo's I've never seen before.) I think I may have seen the movie at a fest or on TV or maybe at a fellow cousin's house. I don't remember it, except that I didn't finish watching it or more than likely I fast forwarded through it. Hope you get a kick out of it!