Diana Millay (DM): I don't have any ears to raffle off. But I did cut my ear! If only I'd have known I'd have saved it for a raffle! (Much laughter from the audience and KLS) When I talk about what I'm doing, It sounds terribly as if I am Jack-of All-Trades and master of none. I hope you don't think that's true. (Diana laughs) Aside from being a wife and a mother, I am a New York City commercial real estate broker. But I only go to the office once a week. I sell city buildings, and whole blocks and garages and office space. So if you're looking for a thirty million dollar property, I have one. Just the thing. Very cozy. Aside from that, design jewelry. I give a seminar twice a month on etiquette. One's to teenage children, who certainly needed it. And the other two - it's called corporate etiquette for gentlemen who simply don't know what to do with these vast functions or how to order wine or all these other things. I do that here in New York in a mansion on 67th street. A very fascinating little sideline! I'm trying to think of all the other things ... I'm a drama coach and have been for ten years here in New York. And I though of myself of somewhat of a writer until I didn't sell a thing and became a ghost writer this year and finished writing a ... redoing a book for a quite well known person who obviously paid a lot of money so I can't tell you what it is. My son and I are sad to say that Marie neglected to mention when she mentioned just having done "The Lark" at the York Theater here in New York and on Broadway theater ... this is mommy's brag book, but my son does the lighting for that theater and (Audience laughter) did it for Marie's production and has been doing it for five years and he graduates from New York University this year. He's a cinematographer, a director, hopes to be a producer and for one year he's going to do the lighting in New York City. And I've really said entirely too much!
Diana hands the microphone to Sharon Smyth.
Audience applauds.
Sharon Smyth (SS): Hello! I'm certainly am excited that I didn't miss this year. I almost did. I'm very happy to be here. I'm still living in Philadelphia County I'm no longer in insurance. I'm still an administrator for a party goods corporation. It's a fun job. I don't talk about insurance policies, I talk about kazoos and balloons and fun stuff! (Audience laughter) As far as my career, it has been put on hold. I was involved in community theater, I haven't done anything in the last season because my husband and I are under construction. We put a second floor on our home as was said before, it's an all encompassing job. We're having fun doing it, but it's very busy and hopefully this spring if they want me I will go back to that community theater and get involved again. Thank you.
Sharon passes the mike to TIMOTHY GORDON (who has a mike).
Timothy Gordon (TG): I have my own. Look what happens to life. Amy grew up and I grew old. (Sharon corrects him, "Amy's the other one."). Sarah! Sorry. She [inaudible] sanctuary anyway. I've still got my touring players the SRO Hotel Touring Company of Players. We play for the homeless here in the city, all five boroughs. We're now in production for rehearsing "The Importance of Being Ernest". We intend to take it out to ten different shelters. We are desperately looking for a Gwendalyn and a Cecilly. If you're young and beautiful and talented, please see me afterwards. (Audience laughs)
Sharon raises her arm, tugs on Timothy's sleeve and jokingly asks: How much do you pay?
TG: We don't pay a cent!
Much laughter from audience and panel guests.
TG: It's all volunteer work. This is our tenth year and it is most rewarding. I hope, thank God we'll be out of business next year because there won't be any need to go play for homeless because there won't be any. There will always be the poor, I suppose, and there will always be the people who can't make it to the theater, and that's the fundamental basis for the company; where the people can't get to the theater, the theater will go to the people. And that's what we do. That's what I'm involved in right now and will be from now on in, I guess. And thank you very much.
Much audience applause.
ROGER DAVIS takes a microphone from TERRAYNE.
Roger Davis (RD): Hi everybody. (Audience cheers and applauds) It's great to see as big a turn out as last year. I'm really surprised. It's wonderful! Where are you all from? (Much laughter) I want you to tell me, each one of you, slowly. We'll start on this side of the room. Let's see, what am I doing? Well I did that merger you know with UAL and I'm going down to see Jim and Tammy tomorrow (Audience laughs) Yes, Jim has asked me to come down and do his make up. Mike Westmore used to do some makeup for me (Roger laughs) that was twenty years ago. I have just finished - the day that I left - I had just finished a new show. It's called "Strange Bedfellows" and it will be on NBC in November. It's kind of a the producer says a cross between that old movie "the Philadelphia Story" and "Batman". (Much audience laughter) Figures, right? Easy! Easy to put those two together. It has some very attractive people in it. I can't tell you any of their names - they're all new. I, of course, play - I play the Mayor of Los Angeles, actually. Ok? And I won't tell you anymore than that. You have top see it. It should be on in November. If it doesn't get on in November, it will be because it didn't sell. (Audience laughs) And I do have a few voice-over campaigns. I have a nice thing on for IDS, which is the financial arm of American Express and they're just starting. But next year they should be everywhere. It's a two or three year campaign. I had a Matlock on last Tuesday night, so I've started back working again. As you know, last year I was actually coming out of a cloistered life in Louisville Kentucky. But generally speaking, every day is terrific. I live out in Los Angeles now and I'm very, very happy to be here. It's good to see all of you and I'm ... (Roger looks to the rest of the panel guests) What's next folks? Oh, questions! Yes.
JF: I'd like to make a little comment here. We have Matthew Hall coming down here. He should be up with us, but I'm sure he's more comfortable where he is. But he said something today, which really is the most important thing that's been said. (Matthew Hall joins the panel guests on stage to much audience applause) What fascinated me is when he told us today that he and his father and I guess Ron and whoever else was writing - they used to sit in their living room and he saw all this business being written from square one and that's the for me - the priceless remark of the whole festival so far anyway. That's exceptionally fascinating that he's sitting in their apartment and listening to all of this - all of the dialogue being brought out by these men sitting around when he was a young boy. That's fascinating.
JF then asks: Who's going to start all this?
Jeff Thompson reminds everybody of the procedure to follow for asking questions.
FAN QUESTION: I have two questions. The first one, did you at anytime as a group joke around or practical jokes on each other (Lara glances at Roger, Panel and audience laugh) Roger says something inaudible and mentions Jonathan and says: Gee, I ... speaking for myself. I was very, very straight and very nice and no one had any ... (Roger laughs) We did all have times when things happened to us and I'm sure that Lamar - she's got one for you.
As ROGER hands the mike over to LAURA, he says: Wait until you hear this.
LP: Towards the end of the show, Kate and I got the giggles all the way through rehearsal and couldn't stop when we got to taping. I don't know why. It just struck us that it was extremely funny, everything we had to say. I had to take a cross out of a drawer once and it was rehearsal and I had to substitute a black brassiere (Much laughter from panel and audience) and the camera was on it and I pulled it out (LAURA mimes the gesture) and everybody laughed and (LAURA looks down the line of panel guests) anybody else have one?
Much audience laughter.
KLS: I remember Mitch Ryan was one of the great practical jokers and he's the one who short sheeted me once when I was spending a lot of time in bed and but he was the one who actually arranged for the short sheeting. Try to say THAT five times fast.
FAN QUESTION: My second question involves the ratings issue. It was often mentioned that the Barnabas story was story was being written the ratings weren't going well and it was written to jazz it up. people here after twenty years still coming
LP: I think Jim should answer that one - Jim Pierson.
JIM PIERSON: Yes.
LP: You should answer that question.
JP: What is the question?
Much laughter from the panel and audience.
KLS: She was saying that the show went off the air because there was all that talk of low ratings and all that and twenty years later, here we all are. So is there any talk of getting the show back?
JP: Well the ratings actually went back up the last few months of the show. Dan Curtis had other plans for his career and the production costs had gone up quite a bit, the last were probably five times cheaper. And as Jonathan and the rest of you know, the show had pretty much run its course, but there were certainly other things that might have been pursued. The last few months turned into a romance with Laura playing Catherine and Jonathan playing Bramwell, and it really wasn't the same show, really, when it went off the air.
FAN : What can we do now?
JP: There have been quite a few people have wanted to get the show back, one way or the other, and I suppose Dan Curtis needs to be convinced that it's worth pursuing.
TC: So writing letters.
MW: Letters. I think letters from the audience. Very important.
Do you have his address, Jim?
RD: He just moved his offices to MGM, right? Where should they write at MGM?
JP: Care of MGM.
FAN QUESTION: I have a similar question that's along this line. I don't know all these proceeds are being donated to Public Broadcasting as well as the American Cancer Society and does anybody know - they're off on July 1st on Channel 31, which is very disappointing to me because I grew up on the channel and I've ever since and taped it so that I can enjoy myself once again. Maybe people who are at the festival know what's being done to bring it back on Public Broadcasting , because otherwise it's just a fine memory when we come here just to see the tape and we don't have a continual rush of Dark Shadows.
JP: Right now we're encouraging everyone to write to WLIW, Channel 21 out on Long Island. They've shown some interest and of course it's always the give and take with any sort of program trying to convince them to make room in their budget and the more letters the better. WNYZ, it took quite a while to convince them to put the show on the air. And unfortunately, a change of management took it off. But fan letters, as everyone knows, they count if enough people will take the time and trouble. So, WLIW Channel 21 - we can give you the address if you did not get it already and for New Yorkers, that seems to be your best bet.
MW: And excuse me, letters are great. Telephone calls are not good. And going directly to the stations are not good because they resent that. But letters - intelligent letters that state exactly what you said just now and what you've all been voicing really works. So I think that's the route that you have to take.
FAN QUESTION: Roger, I recently just went to see the in the Round in Disneyland in Anaheim. Did you do the beginning narration of that film?
RD: Yes. I did that a long time ago. They've been playing it forever.
FAN: Well, they've just redone it or remade it somehow because it's a different one than I'd seen before and I was just wondering how that came about.
RD: The picture is different, actually. The voice stuff is pretty much the same, I think. She's talking about that big drama at Disneyland, right? That big drama on America.
FAN: Yes.
RD: Yep. That's it! Did I answer that? I didn't answer that?
Q&A ends here. There might be more.
