MB, I collected some of the gum cards in the late Sixties.  I wish I could supply more details but they were with some other DS memorabilia that my mother tossed in the trash shortly after I left home for college in 1976.  I did own a card with the shot of Barnabas and Liz you scanned, but mine did not have fangs and that crazed expression in Barnabas' eyes "enhanced" on the printed card as yours did.  I think my cards had a green background, rather than pink, but after all these years it's hard to be sure.

Anyhow I am afraid I think the way the card looks doctored up as you scanned it is really cheesy.  This kind of thing really conveyed the wrong idea of what the show was all about.

G.

One of the Frid/Grayson photos was used in the 1969 paperback, Barnabas Collins: a personal picture album, and underneath Jonathan wrote a caption that read something like "I was almost more scared of her than she was of me," which I always read as JF feeling intimidated by Grayson's Oscar nom and "Queen of Off Broadway" chops.

When I saw the photo, I presumed it wasn't used simply because in the storyline, Liz never knew Barnabas' secret.  A fan once wrote an article very thoughtfully and ingeniously elaborating his theory that Liz had learned "the secret" from Jamison and that she did know the truth about Barnabas, but she never let him--or anyone else--know that.  I found it a really fascinating lens through which to view Liz's scenes with Barnabas--particularly one memorable scene from 1967 where they're both standing at the top of Widow's Hill together, discussing life and death.

G.

I'd really like to know more about these "long lost set and cast photos" they keep mentioning.  Unfortunately Hermes Press books are usually shrink-wrapped so I don't get to browse.

G.

What on earth is the hunger games?  Surprising to see it getting more play than the Avengers and the Dark Knight's erector-set.

I am amazed at how much buzz there is around Depp Shadows as well.  For it to be so much in the air, given how heavily hyped other projects on sched for next year are... that's pretty remarkable.

G.

My theory about the trailer, such as it is:  I do not know whether the studios still have the habit of releasing mega blockbusters on the actual date of Xmas Day, but if they do, and the WB has one of those in the wings, the trailer may be showcased at that premiere.

I could of course be wrong... Burton is clearly treating this project with kid gloves... as would I, if I had been given a blank check to create my very own version of my all time favorite show!

G.

Was that Las Vegas?  I did not attend but one of my friends who did might have sent me the program. 

The same program has a really cute photo of Thayer David taken off-set on the hoDS shoot modeling his fangs.  Another one I haven't seen anywhere else.  I'm glad I always check through these things before consigning them to recycling.

cheers, Gothick

Hey Willie, I think Dan "Marilyn" Ross who wrote the books had the script for episode 1 plus some notes from Art Wallace's original story bible.  The latter was published as a Pomegranate Press book, Shadows on the Wall, and does include the projected outline for the first year or so of DS as Art Wallace originally envisioned it.  I don't have the book but a friend recently got hold of a copy (it is unfortunately out of print).  The first main storyline ended with Roger being even more explicitly villainous than was the case in the aired episodes from 1966.  Laura was set to come back but she wasn't a Phoenix; she was simply a troubled alcoholic.  I think even in the first five books Ross added a number of characters who were not in the original material he was given.  From what I remember of those first five books, apart from the opening couple chapters of book one, there was very little resemblance to what aired on the series.  Even the first novel about Barnabas was  to all intents and purposes a different story and the character very different from how he appeared in the series.

A man named Jeff Thompson wrote an entire MA thesis on the Ross books.  I don't know if it was ever published.  Some here are huge fans of the books.  I read them back in the day.  I find the covers the most interesting aspect of the novels now.

G.