The real reason for the curse on the family had nothing to do with the house.  It was Angelique.

I really don't care for the revised history of the core narrative unveiled in the 1840 storyline.  But I guess, Lela, who was running the show at that point, felt they had to go somewhere different.

G.

According to the episode guide compiled by Ann Wilson in the 35th Anniversary Edition of DS Memories, the PT 1970 Costume Ball sequence was taped over 5/21 and 5/22.  I think the film shoot had already wrapped some weeks previous to that.

G.

They did often tape shows out of order.  In Thayer David's Spring 1969 radio interview, he refers to taping of shows having been re-scheduled from what had initially been posted.

A lot of the people on the show reportedly worked without contract, which may have had to do with juggling schedules if they chose to go off and do a play, as did happen with several of them from time to time.

G.

too bad he's shopping it to NBC.  That means it's automatically doomed.  Given their track record and inability to let our kind of shows build an audience.

Great photo of the Brides!  btw, the Hammer studios 1960 film BRIDES OF DRACULA is a totally awesome movie, even if the Count himself does not appear.  The Brides in that one have nothing to do with the Stoker characters.

G.

Dear Fans,

This lovely remembrance was posted on a Facebook group in honor of Thayer David.  It is run by a relative of Thayer's--his nephew, I think. I had never seen this particular note before:

Actor Conard Fowkes (Frank Garner, 1966) remembers Thayer David: "I loved being with those actors in the dressing room. The work was hard, but people like Thayer David, who was a real hoot, kind of a Sydney Greenstreet-like, very educated man, would sit in the makeup chair and he would pontificate. He would tell us meanings or derivations of certain words. I remember he did an entire piece on “hoist on your own petard” and where that came from. I won’t go into it because it’s slightly smutty… but it’s that kind of camaraderie that brings you close together.

Best, G.

Thanks for this news.  I wouldn't have remembered him without the photos.  Was he the one in that scene set in the Phoenix morgue?  The set they built for that one scene was incredible.

G.

In all fairness, whenever DC was in town, he DICTATED the storylines to the writers.  That's right, Dan Curtis was not only the producer, he was also the uncrowned head writer on the show.  There were longish periods when Dan was in England or elsewhere pursuing other projects and in those periods, the stories actually managed to make sense.  I think the first Laura Collins story (1966-67) was so well written because DC wasn't around to interfere--I believe he was in England throughout that period.

According to Sam Hall, if one of the writers tried to protest that what Dan ordered did not make sense, he would bark, "Are you writing the show or not?  I can get a lotta people to write this show."  So they would have to give in and do what he said, regardless of how loopy or incoherent.

In the final two to three years, the rhythm of the stories with all the cliffhangers and increasing avalanche of occulture meant that the writers themselves simply could not follow what was going on.  Add in the fact that many if not most of the shows were taped way out of sequence.

The reintroduction of Quentin in 1970 was purely driven by the character's huge popularity.  What I remember from what was revealed is that Frederick Thorne had been a previous alias adopted by Quentin before he assumed the Grant Douglas identity.  Immortals have to keep doing this because otherwise, people become curious why somebody that old still looks so young.  (It was before the invention of botox, guerilla plastic surgery, etc.)

cheers,  G.

Veteran DS fan Nicky confirmed to me that the intro of Angelique episode on the new compilation is NOT restored.  Same old muddied kinescope we've all seen before.

I did find it highly unlikely that MPI would spend the money required for this.  I doubt whether they have direct access to the software and equipment required, so it would have involved setting up a contract with a special DVD restoration service.

Best,  Steve