Ron Sproat and Barnabas

[Gothick]

Thanks for sharing these, Doctor and K-9! I am just listening to Ron's talk again, with better headphones, so I can hear more.

He confirms twice that Vicki was intended to be revealed as Elizabeth's illegitimate daughter. So, this genuinely does seem to have been part of the original plan for the show.

He also says that he knew Jonathan Frid as a friend before the latter ever started on the show (he calls him "John," which was apparently how Frid was known to his friends), and they discussed the character of Barnabas when Frid was cast. Dan really wanted Barnabas to be "pure evil," but all the writers argued that that would not be sustainable in a serial format. Frid suggested writing it so that he had opportunities to SUGGEST evil through expression and delivery, and Ron gives credit to him for that suggestion.

Ron mentions running into Dan after hoDS came out and Dan told him, "I FINALLY got to do Barnabas the way I wanted in the movie!"

This is fascinating to hear because Ron Sproat offers so much more nuance and detail than I'm used to hearing from people who were interviewed subsequently about the show. Perhaps because in 1983, it was relatively recent, and Ron mentions having watched some of the old episodes when they were being syndicated out again.

G.

[The Doctor and K9]

I also posted a message Dan Ross recorded for the 1st DS Festival about the novels he wrote as Marilyn Ross.

[petofi]

In the
Files Magazine DS Tribute interview by Ed Gross, Sproat does NOT claim credit for the development of the Barnabas character, but generally refers to the writing group as a whole on that issue. 

[Gothick]

In the 1983 tape, Ron says he found the name Barnabas in "an old whaling book." I remember reading in the first KLS book (published around '86) that Bob Costello found the name on an old tombstone. Who knows, maybe they both saw the name, and it came up when they were having the script conference and that was what they settled upon.

It's certainly a name that packed a punch!

G.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

In the Files Magazine DS Tribute interview by Ed Gross, Sproat does NOT claim credit for the development of the Barnabas character, but generally refers to the writing group as a whole on that issue. 

Thanks. That clears that up. But since that's the case, I have no idea, then, where it is that I read that he took credit. But apparently wherever that claim is made, it would certainly be inaccurate given what Sproat says in the Trubute book. But then, we all know that it's a sad fact that not everything we read about DS, particularly in Internet articles, is true.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

In the 1983 tape, Ron says he found the name Barnabas in "an old whaling book." I remember reading in the first KLS book (published around '86) that Bob Costello found the name on an old tombstone. Who knows, maybe they both saw the name, and it came up when they were having the script conference and that was what they settled upon.

Costello makes the same claim in his DS Files interview with Ed Gross. He says something to the effect that he was specifically checking out the names on old tombstones for a name that would be good for the vampire. Though one thing that's interesting was back then Barnabas' backstory was taking place in the 1830s.

It's certainly a name that packed a punch!

Indeed! 

[Uncle Roger]

Like the old saying: Success has many fathers.

[patrickm]

I remember coming in to White Plains airport to pick up one of our club members for a DS gathering, I took a  wrong turn and ended up passing a St Barnabas church. Had to stop and take a picture...pretty cool result for a wrong turn. So who really knows where the name came from but like Gothic said - it packed a punch.

[michael c]

Thanks for sharing these, Doctor and K-9! I am just listening to Ron's talk again, with better headphones, so I can hear more.

He confirms twice that Vicki was intended to be revealed as Elizabeth's illegitimate daughter. So, this genuinely does seem to have been part of the original plan for the show.

He also says that he knew Jonathan Frid as a friend before the latter ever started on the show (he calls him "John," which was apparently how Frid was known to his friends), and they discussed the character of Barnabas when Frid was cast. Dan really wanted Barnabas to be "pure evil," but all the writers argued that that would not be sustainable in a serial format. Frid suggested writing it so that he had opportunities to SUGGEST evil through expression and delivery, and Ron gives credit to him for that suggestion.

Ron mentions running into Dan after hoDS came out and Dan told him, "I FINALLY got to do Barnabas the way I wanted in the movie!"

This is fascinating to hear because Ron Sproat offers so much more nuance and detail than I'm used to hearing from people who were interviewed subsequently about the show. Perhaps because in 1983, it was relatively recent, and Ron mentions having watched some of the old episodes when they were being syndicated out again.

whatever tentative outlines there might or might not have been for "revealing" that Vicki was Elizabeth's daughter (and her parentage in general) the reality is that, at the time, DC and the writers lost interest in the plot completely.

even if Alexandra had not left when she did i doubt they'd have ever actually bothered to go back and resolve this. when exactly would this have been shoehorned in?

shortly after the character/actress was written out the story went back to 1897. and remained there for nearly a year. after that it yoyoed back and forth in time, including a series of "parallel worlds", on a near constant basis for the remainder of the run. "normal" things pretty much stopped happening.

in terms of this particular plot point it is the fans that have kept it alive all these years. assorted and sundry "resolutions" thrown around since the series' cancellation largely to satisfy us.

but the sad reality is the writers at the time simply didn't care. solving this particular mystery would have taken screen time away from monsters and time travel.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I've mentioned this before, but I like to think that if AM had stayed with the show perhaps the truth of Vicki's real parentage might have come out as a side plot during Leviathans. It could have involved Paul Stoddard in something besides simply wondering why everyone at the antique shop was so weird and why Barnabas was so evil. Paul and Liz might have still fought when he first shows up back in Collinsport and reconnects with Carolyn, though through that reconnection with his daughter he could eventually persuade Liz that Vicki deserves to know the truth that Liz is her mother. I know I would have liked seeing that a hell of a lot more than some of the other stuff that happens during Leviathans and particularly with Paul.

And if all that took place during Leviathans, maybe, just maybe we could have seen what I would have really wanted to see: an evil PT Vicki, in her rightful place as Liz' daughter during 1970PT, or at least a PT Vicki with a dark side. And just imagine a PT Vicki at odds with her sister PT Carolyn! But alas...

[Gothick]

I am listening to the Manhattan Shadows tape with Jonathan, Joel Crothers and Addison Powell. Some nuggets:

Joel expressed great fondness for the fans, and appreciated how loyal they had been to him through the years. They made him feel like "a star."

Jonathan said he thought John Karlen was one of the sweetest people he ever worked with, and said he wished he could see Karlen more often than when he went out to LA for an event called ShadowCon. He also said that Lara was good for him when they worked together because she goaded him to be better. He commented on having viewed an episode where they had a tempestuous scene together and he thought it was one of the best ones they did: "She turned me on, I turned her on..." (I think he meant "turned on" in the sense of galvanizing one another as actors.)

Addison Powell, when a fan finally asked him a question, commented about Dr Lang in the lab:  "I'm not a gadget person." (One of my favorite comments in the entire interview--old-timers will know what I mean.)

It was also interesting to hear Joel talk about working on TORCH SONG TRILOGY with Harvey Fierstein. One of the fans asked him about it--she'd been to see him in it.

G.

[Gothick]

Wow Wow Wow!  This one is awesome, though it takes awhile for them to get organized for the performance.

Jonathan and Lara reciting Poe's magnificently strange poem,"The Bells," at some DS event:

https://archive.org/details/09FridWithLaraParkerTheBellsByPoe

Doctor and K-9, is this from one of your recordings?

G.

[Gothick]

Just parking this link here--I presume this is the Technical Panel referenced in an earlier post by Doctor and K-9. Description says Jonathan moderated, and Ross Skipper, Ken McEwan, and Ron Sproat were the speakers.

https://archive.org/details/Manhattan1ShadowsTechPanelHostedByJonathanFrid

G.

[KMR]

And if all that took place during Leviathans, maybe, just maybe we could have seen what I would have really wanted to see: an evil PT Vicki, in her rightful place as Liz' daughter during 1970PT, or at least a PT Vicki with a dark side. And just imagine a PT Vicki at odds with her sister PT Carolyn! But alas...

Oh wow, MB, what a hoot that would have been! Your description of an evil Vicki reminds me of "Back in the Shadows Again", a long-form improv parody of DS by the truly genius Chicago improv group Free Associates (alas, disbanded long ago). One night they had a marathon of six episodes, and one of the audience suggestions was "delusions of grandeur" (or something like that). What the troupe came up with was Liz and Roger being away from Collinwood for an extended time, leaving Vicki in charge, and it goes to her head. She has the audacity to rearrange some decorations in the drawing room (that have been there for generations), and even goes so far as to--gasp!--move Roger's brandy bottle! The shows were downright hilarious, and I was frequently laughing so hard I was crying.

[michael c]

i just think it's very telling that the assorted and sundry "resolutions" to Vicki's parentage, including the fan-favorite, near-canonical, "Liz-as-Vicki's-mother" theory, occurred after the series' cancellation.

a "consolation prize" to fans so to speak. during the actual run it just wasn't important. DC obviously didn't care.