DS 60th Anniversary Celebration in Los Angeles

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I'm sure that it's just coincidence that this is the NBC show's 35th anniversary.

  Yes, I'm sure it's a total coincidence. 


But what is a coincidence is that this is the current entry in the '91 Series' slideshow:

Ep #6 - Maggie: 'I think it's a transference of entities. If it is,
wherever this girl came from, that's where Vicki is now.'

[KMR]

My previous (and first) DS fest was 1991, the 25th anniversary, and the first fest with 1991 series stars. I'm excited that Ely Pouget will be attending this year. I really loved her in 1991 DS, and wish she could have picked up more major roles.

[Uncle Roger]

Like a lot of actors whose careers faded, Ely moved into selling real estate.

[Uncle Roger]

Donna McKechnie has canceled her appearance. Scheduling conflicts

The autographs will be handled differently this time. Fans may receive one free autograph from each actor. Any additional autograph will cost $10. Also, the actors will have photos for sale for $10, which will include a signature. This is certainly a change from the usual festival routine where every autograph was free. But, considering how much celebrities charge at other conventions ($40 and up!), this is still a relative bargain.

[Uncle Roger]

David Selby just announced that due to "pressing family commitments", he will be unable attend the DS 60th event.

[Uncle Roger]

John Karlen's son Adam is a late addition to the guest list. Adam and John's caregiver will be part of a presentation about John. This will fill the spot in the events that would have gone to David Selby.

[Uncle Roger]

Marie Wallace has also canceled her appearance.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

If this continues, pretty soon none of the stars to originally announce will be there. 

[Uncle Roger]

Marie is at least 90 and has been in frail health for a while now. So it's understandable that she may not be well enough to make the trip. I don't know what the story is with David Selby 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

And Donna has a scheduling conflict...

[Uncle Roger]

Unlike a lot of her DS cast mates, Donna still works quite often.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I just came across these videos on YouTube:

Dark Shadows 60th Anniversary Celebration - The Men of Dark Shadows panel

Dark Shadows 60th Anniversary Celebration - The Ladies of DS panel

Dark Shadows 60th Anniversary Celebration - Tribute to Grayson Hall

Dark Shadows 60th Anniversary Celebration - Guest - Adam Karlen

Though apparently they've been up for two or three days.

[Gerard]

Did anyone here attend?  We haven't received nary a report or update about the goings-on.  In the past, whether it was a full-blown annual festival, or a smaller, more localized event, we'd get them not only every day, but sometimes every few hours, resplendent with pictures.  This time here, crickets.  I know there's stuff on youtube and probably a whole bunch of other "social media," but what happened to cousins attending these soirees reporting in here? 

Gerard

[Bob_the_Bartender]

Gerard,

Maybe many (if not all) of the DS fans accidentally wandered into Angelique’s Parallel Time Room in the East Wing of Collinwood like Tony Petersen, the Garners, Adam, Susie - The silent waitress, and the immortal Buzz Hackett apparently did, and they’re all trapped over there for eternity? 

Bob

[ProfStokes]

With so many people now posting videos of DS events to YouTube, I haven’t seen any point in writing lengthy personal descriptions; one can see for oneself what was said and done.   

One change I appreciated this time around was having a variety of panel moderators: Penny Dreadful, Julia99, John Logan, Jim Pierson, and Mark Perry each moderated at least one panel. It was fun to see the different hosting styles. Another change I sincerely appreciated was featuring fans in on-stage panels, not only because I got to participate in such a panel myself, but because I enjoy hearing from the fans. Previous Festivals have often exclusively on the actors or on people who have DS merchandise to sell, such as books or CDs. This time, we got to hear from longtime fans Kathleen Resch, Guy Haines, and Kristi Nelson about the early fan conventions and from Nancybe, who hosted one of the early online fan groups for Grayson Hall/Julia Hoffman. 

 Although I’ve never seen the 1991 series, I enjoyed hearing the actors on that panel. I hadn’t known that Roy Thinnes was such good friends with the Curtis family. It was also fun to hear from the actresses, who had been fans of the original series. Rebecca Staab told a particularly funny anecdote about getting scared by DS when she was home alone. I also enjoyed hearing from John Karlen’s nurse and his son Adam, who told some terrific stories. Yet another highlight was seeing the BBC's behind-the-scenes footage of the show that Stuart Manning recently discovered. It played late Friday night in the upstairs theater, and I believe it was supposed to be shown again on Saturday. This year, instead of playing videos and having live panels in the same room, all live activities took place in the first floor ballroom and videos and films were supposed to screen in a second floor theater. Unfortunately, on the first day of the Festival, the entire second floor was reserved for people taking the state bar exam, so the theater was inaccessible until nighttime. No schedule was ever posted for Saturday. I know The Devil's Daughter and the two DS movies played but I'm not sure what else was featured.

ProfStokes