Welcome back, my dear!  That movie sounds really fabulous.  I had read about it in Christopher Lee's autobiography and have seen references to it here and there.  Agree that Eric Portman is fab.

cheers, G.

Fans,

this two minute clip of a Richard Harris interview from the early 1970s, in which he discusses Marlon Brando's inability to remember lines and a couple of the techniques Brando devised for coping with that, reminded me of how some of the actors had to rely on the TelePrompTer rather heavily in order to get through the typical episode of DS:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUMMPP--Zfc

I've read from other fans' reminiscences in earlier posts on this board that not only did the production unit have the TelePrompTer going; they also for at least some episodes had the lines written on big boards like the kind Richard Harris describes Brando using.

Mention of the TelePrompTer reminds me I've been meaning to do a post on the fascinating "Lara Parker Rehearsal Tape" segment on the final DS DVD set.  It gives an insight not only into use of the TelePrompTer for coordinating the Parallel Time segments in 1970, but also illustrates fascinatingly just how broad a Southern accent Lara still had in her regular speaking voice, at least when she was on the show.  I'm not a personal friend of hers, so for all I know, the "deep-fried" down-home accent comes back when she's with friends and family.  It's very cute.

G.

Hey Gerard,

I love the idea of the bathrooms at Collinwood (just because we never saw them doesn't mean that they weren't there--and you know that Liz had a TV in her bedroom, always just out of sight--she would retire to her room "to rest" at a certain hour of the afternoon and watch "As the World Turns" and "Guiding Light" while enjoying a few treats from a box of chocolates)--being equipped with plumbing for the bathtubs through which sea water ran, like the bathrooms at the Astor place, "The Breakers," in Newport.

G.

Hope you enjoy a relaxing visit.  A change of scene can work wonders.  I'm sure your gran will be delighted to have you with her, too.

cheers,

G.

Funny how on that page, there's a hyperlink to another article on the site with the headline:  "Did CBS miss the vampire bandwagon?"  (It's about the cancellation of Moonlight--the show that seemingly just won't go away!).

G.

To Jeannie--

I have the Honey West set, and the show in my not-so-humble opinion is fabulous!  It's very different from the Avengers and it seems a shame that it got bumped off ABC's schedule because they could only allow one strong female foe of crime on the box back in the day.

I don't recall any DS actors appearing on Honey West offhand, but 16 magazine "fave rave" Bobby Sherman appears as a wayward teen rockstar.  This was before Sherman had actually hit it big with the boppers.

Happy viewing!

G.

Fans, on Thursday evening through the courtesy of Netflix I watched the Perry Mason episode guest-starring Bette Davis, "The Case of the Constant Doyle," from 1963.  I was very surprised to see George Mitchell, the original actor cast in the role of Matthew Morgan, show up as a jail desk sergeant in one scene with Bette Davis and co-star Michael "Tuffie" Parks (*winks at dom*).  Frances Reid, who played MacDonald Carey's wife Alice in Days of Our Lives in 1966 (when Don Briscoe briefly had a role on that series), had a great part as a secretary who turns out to be more devious than meets the eye.  Great slice of television from the early 1960s.

Then last night, my viewing was a DVD of an old Encore Mystery channel airing of the Ellery Queen series from the mid-Seventies co-starring Jim Hutton and David Wayne; a generous fan had sent me the disc.  Thayer David had a substantial role with one lengthy scene (for some reason completely unbilled) towards the beginning of the show.  The show was set in 1946 and in an odd period touch, Guy Lombardo was cast as himself leading the Royal Canadians in the Astor Ballroom.  Great role for Thayer.

G.

Happy Birthday, Sandor!

cheers,

Gothy