Mrs. J is  seen in, I think, one of the early Quentin episodes (from early 1969) scrubbing tiles in front of a hearth in one of the bedrooms.  It was shortly after this that Dr. Julia Hoffman informed another resident of the Great House that Mrs J was "a neurotic hysteric" (I think that was the deathless phrase).

Mrs J also [spoiler]inadvertently caused Eric Lang's death by bursting in on Cassandra who was busy with a voodoo doll and a needle.  Cassandra had left a note for the redoubtable housekeeper asking if she and Roger could have breakfast later than the crack-of-dawn hours set for the rest of the household.  I also remember that Mrs J barked at Cassandra "I only have two arms and two hands!"  I always thought it would be fun if Cassandra smiled beguilingly and murmured, "We could change that, my dear--but not as you might have wished!"[/spoiler]

As we've discussed several times in the past, during the original broadcast I barely noticed Mrs J, but watching the show as an adult, Clarice Blackburn's performance in the role is one of the great delights of the series!

G.

Welcome, Mrs McGuire!  That's fabulous that the local library is collecting Dark Shadows.

Another good site for finding the DVDs cheap is DeepDiscountDVD.  They sometimes run sales where you can purchase a set for around $33 which is pretty amazing.  Thanks to them I've actually been able to buy several sets of the show.

G.

LOVE the photo of "bedhead Barnabas" (oh, I know I'm bad) and in a pink bathrobe--swanky!

Glad to hear the old dear is doing well and keeping the flag flying at 82!!

cheers, Gothick

My roommate still uses the rabbit ears.  I've officially given up on broadcast TV although a friend of mine has been taping the new Dr. Who which I watch (I'm still halfway through Christiopher Eccleston) so I guess I'm cheating.

Thanks, Buzz, for posting this.  I'd figured out that the shift was to Digital, not HD, but in running a Google search I discovered that a lot of the consumers who are aware of the 2009 cutoff date are confused on this point.  Since it's Digital, that means that old shows on video will still be available to broadcasters, so long as they are in digital format--like our DVDs from the Dark Shadows master reels.

G.

Greetings, fans,

I've read that the US government has passed legislation requiring all broadcasts in the US to switch over to "HD" standard by 2009.  Given something Darren wrote a couple of weeks ago about the basic requirement for content broadcast in HD, I'm wondering whether this means that old shows that were done on tape will no longer be able to be transmitted because of the low grade of their video bands.  I can't recall the numbers but I have read that old video is WAY below the acceptable numbers for HD.

If this is true, I am presuming that as of 2009, there will no longer be any prospect of DS broadcasts on ANY channels in the US.  I am quite curious as to what the results of this shift will be.  I always said that if you took television away from the American people, revolution will result.  As of 2009, from what I can understand, non HD sets will no longer be able to receive any signal whatsoever, which will cut out a sizable chunk of the US population that either can't afford to purchase HD equipment or refuses to do so for whatever reason.

cheers, Gothick

I don't think it's been posted here, but Jack Palance's characterization in Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde strongly influenced the whole Cyrus Longworth/John Yeagar scenario on DS in the Parallel Time 1970 storyline.  Of course, Chris Pennock brought very much his own energy to the role, but I seem to recall the Yeagar makeup being a pretty clear variation upon the makeup Palance was given for Mr. Hyde in the 1968 video.

I believe,too, that besides Quentin's theme, one of Pansy Faye's theme songs was first heard in the soundtrack of Jekyll/Hyde.

Jack Palance did a fun film in England in the early 1970s called Craze.  I think it was directed by Herman Cohen and was sort of a remake of Horrors in the Black Museum but with a voodoo twist--and there's a gay subtext, too.  It's very over-the-top and really does not make any sense but it's a lot of fun for a rainy night.  The immortal Diana Dors has a small role in it, too.

G.

For reasons unknown to me, I got an email a few days ago about Amazon (which I prefer to call amazombie--it's what Quentin Collins was heard chirping outside Rachel Drummond's window during a certain storyline:  "amazombie! amazombie! amazombie!" yeah, I know I have WAY too much time on my hands) starting up a "store" on their site where one could "buy" episodes of Star Trek for upload onto their laptops.  I have a friend who has been watching a current series called Heroes this way, buying episodes at the Apple Store and then watching it in his car in the bumper-to-bumper traffic of the LA mega-glopolis.

I can already foresee classic TV shows such as DS getting this treatment.  If I had access to the software to do it, it would depend upon the fidelity of the upload.  I am of the opinion that a lot of the stuff that's shared online winds up looking or sounding utterly wretched.  Maybe the quality of the hardware you play the thing on enters into all of this.

G.

Hey MSC, I got the tape out last night just to watch that scene between Laura and Magda again.  It's better than Special K!

I'll look next for the other scene you mentioned.  I recall roughly when that happened.  Pistol-packin' Magda!  As I recall it, both Grayson and Joan chewed the scenery with maximum elan!

It's not so much catty as an example of extreme complacency, but another fab scene around that time involves Laura and Minerva Trask comparing notes on their favorite topic of PROPER child-rearing.  Hysterical!

G.