That Julia & Liz story was just... THE BEST.

When I was watching DS as a child, although I started in 1968 and had missed the whole intro of Julia, I never questioned why the family had her living on the estate.  Apart from the fact that they all appeared to be quite fond of her, they were all so dependant on her sedatives that it would have been a real nuisance to have her suddenly living off the estate!

Yes, gang, Julia WAS Dark Shadows' very own "Dr Feelgood"!

groovin' on,

Gothick

What exciting news!  A dear friend was kind enough to share the old video of The Girl in Blue with me, and I can attest that it provides a truly superior showcase for David Selby's gorgeous, abundant... talents!  (Why are you staring at me like that... what did you EXPECT me to say?)

I do hope a new print has been prepared for this release.  I can just hear the ladies (and certain gentlemen!) firing up their scene capture software even as we speak...

G.

I'd like to comment just how fine Joan Bennett is in certain of these scenes on Dark Shadows.  I particularly think of some of the Liz '66 storyline, the Jason Maguire sequence, Naomi mourning her daughter's death in 1795, and Judith in 1897.  As Flora, it was fascinating to see JB play a frivolous lady's novelist in the early weeks of 1840, given that I doubt JB had a frivolous bone in her body.

Not to mount the soap-box, but as I have written before, I think the whole concept of "realism" in acting is given far too much critical emphasis.  Only occasionally did a more muted, "realistic" style of acting play well on Dark Shadows... in the case of Grayson, you see this in some of her scenes as Hoffman in PT 1970.  By and large, DS was a big, theatrical canvas which had to be played with a carefully mixed blend of style, elan, and emotional commitment.  The commitment the regulars showed to the scripts, even when the latter went off the cliff, is truly inspiring.

G.

The original stage play was markedly changed for the film version.  I think the play was set in the 1930s and there was a German family staying at Mismaloya...  I still can't get my mind around Bette Davis on Broadway playing the role taken in the film by Ava Gardner!

G.

ANGELIQUE: (voiceover) At this moment, dear Nicholas has no idea that I just pinned a "KICK ME" sign on the seat of his trousers...

Penny, when I first saw this thread heading, my response was "doesn't she mean:  where were the writers' brains in 1840?"  But I digress...

[spoiler]When Julia first arrives in 1840, at the very beginning of the storyline, she's hiding out at Collinwood waiting for Ben Stokes to help her with her plan to pass herself off as yet another long-lost cousin (from the Philadelphia branch!) of the Collins family.  Daniel discovers her and begins to strangle her, saying that he knows she's really Harriet, and words to the effect of "you were such an interfering harridan, why don't you stay dead?"  I believe Ben intervenes to save Julia.  I understood from this episode that Daniel had seizures/attacks a la Caroline Lamb and that his mania took the form of killing his own wife. I suspect that Daniel's words in that show were the origin of the persistent fan rumor that Grayson played Harriet's ghost--actually portrayed by Gaye Edmond, as another fan noted.[/spoiler]

I've been away for a few days, playing with the Faeries.  The amusing chat here is one of the few things today that makes me feel that it's actually good to be back. Thanks, everybody.

G.

Thanks for those quotes, MB.  I just watched those tapes about a month ago.  Anybody who doesn't remember, go back and watch.  (I heard you can get the DVDs through Netflicks now.)

Barnabas does comment repeatedly on Burke's physical resemblance to Jeremiah.  He also makes a ghoulish comment along the lines of "Ah, if only Devlin could be as dead as Jeremiah is now, I would be a most contented man."

Frid was so good in the role of the nasty, devious, scheming Barnabas.  He spoke so many of those lines with a cold, deliberate relish.  Great stuff.

G.