All of the scenes between HHA and Grayson were so fab because they were so evenly matched in terms of talent and training.  I loved it when a horrified Julia, finally learning of Nicholas's master plan, blurted out "That is monstrous!" and he leered evilly and gloated, "it is MEANT TO BE."  A great moment...

Thanks to the kindness of a friend, I just learned that KLS posted this to FaceBeast earlier today:

I am so sad to hear that Humbert Allen Astredo has passed away. He was charming, funny, loving and so very handsome . . . we all adored him. During the time he starred with Elizabeth Taylor in a production of The Little Foxes, he lived in our London Cottage and wrote hilarious letters about his stay in England. Long before I worked with him on Dark Shadows, he was a close friend of my husband Geoff. I'm so very sad we've lost this dear man. I'd hoped we'd see him at the 50th anniversary Dark Shadows Festival. (end of post from KLS)

Best, G.

No timeline is given for the demolition of the studio, but it sounds as if it will be gone well before the date of the DS event.

G.

Fans,

I finally found the DVD set for the Jonathan Rhys Meyers DRACULA series which aired on NBC in 2013-14.  The set includes several deleted scenes from various episodes.  I was surprised to see one between JRM and Alec Newman from Alec's episode; I think the title of it was "From Darkness to Light."

The scene lasts around 3 minutes and is pretty intense between the two.  Alec played a warrior from Vlad Tepes's court who had become a vampire and come to London to serve his former liege.  There is a kind of hypermale energy between the two that has some slashy overtones.  Because it aired on NBC, however, it's just suggested, nothing more.

I checked YT and I don't see any of this posted there.  I am thrilled to have the discs.  I found them on Amazon priced at $7.99 last week.

Best, G.

If David Selby was given a contract at all, it was probably for 13 weeks.  A lot of the actors on DS worked without a contract.  I don't know how they got away with that.  Once it became obvious just how huge a hit Quentin had become with the fans, presumably they did put him under some kind of contract.  Towards the end of the series, it was reported in a teen mag that Keith Prentice had been signed for a 5 year contract.  I don't know how many actors they did that with.  I think Alex Moltke may have been signed for that length of time.

G.

One illustrious survivor that's about to bite the dust is the recording studio.  the Collinsport Historical Society posted a link to a story a couple of weeks ago about the building being demolished.  I think they're going to build a parking garage there--either that or a block of condos.  Can't recall.

Sad to see it go!

G.

From what I recall, Daniels was female and a fairly prolific novelist in her own right.

IMNSHO she was a much better writer than Dan Ross, who was a hack... but given how quickly he churned the stuff out, he could hardly be expected to produce work of a high calibre.  I loved this one article that explained that he was under deadline as always for some publisher and he took the typewriter and a ream of paper in the car with him and he sat in the car at the typewriter and typed the entire last chapter, then stuffed the completed MS into an envelope and dashed inside to mail it just before closing.

Email makes this kind of thing so much easier...

G.

Carlotta was the real Mistress of Collinwood.  That becomes crystal clear in a much later scene with Tracy.

G.