Hmmm... Tim Burton is directing, and John August is writing the script... I foresee the Blue Whale madeover as a goth chick bar, with Maggie Evans now known as Margaretha, fronting a Siouxie and the Banshees tribute band, and being really into Barn's "deathly" vibe.

Wonder what the gaming component of the marketing will look like? 

Sardonically,

G.

The staircase photos (there were several of them, of course--I think a couple are still unpublished) were probably done as part of the Viewmaster people photographing for the DS Viewmaster set (check Wikipedia's entry on Viewmaster if you don't know about this--it was a big fad in the Sixties and early Seventies).  I would guess that there was very little planning for the staircase photos and it may have happened just because so many cast members happened to be on hand that day.

If it was a day when Joan, Joel, Roger, Clarice et al just happened not to be on hand (I would guess that it was done after the day's taping when some more actors had arrived for the late afternoon read-through of the next day's shoot) then that would account for why they are not in the photos--not because they were deliberately excluded.

G.

Pennock looked Beyond Super Groovy in those tight, TIGHT leather trousers... Go Not, Happy Day!

I seem to recall that when Jeb first showed up I (then age 11) thought "he's supposed to be a hippie, but they gave him totally the wrong clothes."

G.

Just chiming in here to say that I was also surprised (to put it mildly) by Sam's claim that he and Gordon Russell somehow "gave Joan Bennett more to do" as Liz.  I think what he meant was that they created a brilliant storyline for Bennett as Judith (although Naomi is a favorite character of mine, she really wasn't given all that much to do--do note, however, that Naomi's speech about the death of Sarah has to rank as one of the most poignant, quietly heartbreaking moments in the entire series).  After the Jason Maguire storyline, Liz just was never written with the kind of spunk, fire, and stern New England backbone the character had shown during the first year of the series.

I also disagree with Sam about Malcolm Marmorstein.  I imagine that Sam was so dumbfounded by the notion of a vampire feeding off a cow that he couldn't get beyond the plot to see the great quality of Marmorstein's scripts.  To be honest, it's been a really long time since I watched Marmorstein's shows from the summer of '67 when Grayson was being introduced.  I do know that Marmorstein's 1966 scripts are some of the best episodes of the series (in my not-so-humble opinion).

And for the record, Grayson *was* able to tone it down and be on camera for the end of a scene without looking like "1967's answer to Mary Pickford" or however Sam described it...

G.

Dear fans,

this past weekend, I had time to catch up with some of my DS DVDs.  I was "test driving" my copy of set three (in the Barnabas series), and found clips from an interview with Lela Swift obviously dating to late 1990 or early 1991 (I noticed that several of the interviews on the early sets seem to be from this period). 

Lela only spent significant time discussing one actor on the show--Joan Bennett.  Lela praised how down-to-earth, warm, gracious, and generous Joan was.  She mentioned some things I had never heard discussed before.  For one thing, Lela said that Joan would arrrive, as would all the actresses, without any makeup because they needed to start out that way so the makeup for the cameras would take properly.  She said that even with just "her own eyes and her own skin," Joan always looked beautiful, even at 8 a.m.!  She also said that Joan always wanted to help, and that included helping to set up chairs for the first script reading of the day, AND running lines with anyone who needed to do so--not just people who were in her own scenes!  Lela recalled that she exclaimed to Joan at one point that she would have made a great production assistant!

Lela spoke so warmly about Joan, and her feelings for our very own "mistress of Collinwood" seemed quite genuine.  I thought it was worth mentioning for those who don't get to see the discs.

G.

Having re-watched a couple of the episodes in question over the weekend--
[spoiler]The scene of Jenny's death played exactly as I remembered it.  Quentin disarmed her, then pushed her down on the bed and squeezed the life's breath right out of her, his face a mask of murderous rage, while Beth screamed and wept and begged him to stop.  She died with her eyes still open, staring in horror at what was happening (unfortunately, probably due to awkwardness in manoeuvring around a rather tight sight, we didn't get a very artistic shot of Marie's face with eyes glaring sightllessly upwards at the end.

However, in a subsequent scene with Edward, both Beth and Quentin describe what happened as an "accident."  Since I have not seen the script, I've never known whether it was written to be played as if Quentin was just trying to make sure she had really been disarmed and "acciidentally" strangled her to death, or whether it was the director and David Selby's decision to play it as if Quentin was in a state of coldly murderous rage, bordering on bestial (an interesting choice of words given the curse that falls on hiim shortly thereafter).

Also, although I had not remembered it, some weeks later, when Magda has been ordered by Angelique to fetch Quentin, Quentin and Magda have a scene in which Quentin does express how much he loved Jenny and hints at feeling something like remorse for her death.  It's a short scene but the two of them play it beautifully (I think David and Grayson had great onscreen chem--they did a play together later in the Seventies, too).

One final comment--I really love the sequence of Quentin's nightmare of being forced by Magda and Sandor to bless Jenny's dead body.  I love the staging, the accompaniment by what might have been a live-on-set quiet bongo, the feel of something you could have seen in a New York off-off B'way production of the period.  Grand stuff.

[/spoiler]

G.

I can definitely understand why Quentin, and David Selby, became such a huge hit in '69-'70.  The original Quentin Collins stooryline put the character through his very own Greek tragedy.  He went from charming, ruthless rogue, to scheming lothariio, to money-hungry black magician, to bawling, traumatized victim, all within a couple of months.  The actor simply radiated emotional energy in the role--in every way this was a bravura performance. 

After 1897 he never was given such wonderful material to work with again, although a montage of Quentin/Desmond scenes run at a Festival at which Selby and John Karlen shared a stage did show how beautifully both men played off one another in the otherwise somewhat lacklustre 1840 storyline.

Just some thoughts--I'm sure other fans will have their own opinions.  I'm not a "Psycho for Selby," but I did enjoy the shots of his fine derriere in the movie The Girl in Blue (added for purposes of full disclosure--of course!).  And I've talked to him a couple of times about Grayson and found him to be that rarissime in today's world--a gentleman.

G.