Hi Patti, just a line to let you know that besides the roles he plays in the 1840 storyline, Thayer David also appears in a few key episodes as the redoubtable T. Eliot Stokes.

Heck, even Cassandra gets mentioned again.

G.

Well, I for one will be happy to help dear Quentin out with his burgeoning twig... er, branch, er... STAFF!!!

That reminds me of this weird dream I had the other night that I was watching DS, and Selby was on screen, and the camera panned down to his crotch, and well... respect for the children who may be reading these boards forbids me to go any further, but, let's just say, it was a feast for the eyes.

that devil Gothick "the DEVIL made me do it!!!"

Darling MB, these are marvelous!  I don't recall having seen the one with cub scouts and kiddies before.  Those kids must have thought they had died and gone to Heaven!

Joe, I was in NYC a few years ago when a Generation Gap episode was aired.  David Henesy and his Mom were both contestants.  I was disappointed that the Barnabas episode was not chosen, but as usual, time at the Festivals is limited, and seeing David Henesy in a non DS context is a much more unusual experience than seeing something involving a Jonathan Frid publicity appearance.

G.

Well, this is starting to sound excellent!

maybe we could do the Halloween parade in Greenwich Village!

Sat. before H'ween is likely to be a good one for me.  I'm in  Canada the weekend of Columbus Day, and am helping to run workshops the following weekend.

I'm feeling very excited at the thought of being once again in the company of the legendary Marginalia du Pres!  Not to mention the handsome and mysterious Claude North ... and the Legend That Is Connie!

Jennifer, would be great to have you come too!  maybe we could do the bus from Chinatown together.  Having a companion would make the time on the road pass more pleasantly.

G.

Hi Love at First Bite,

at this point, I'm feeling more negative than positive about going to the Festival.  I just had another harassing weekend of dealing with stuff connected with my move, and I'm just not sure I have the stamina for a day trip into NYC next Sat.

I am asking folks who live in the area whether we might be able to meet up in NYC later in the Fall, if I can't make it to Brooklyn for the big whoopsie.

Is your Mom back online now?

cheers, G.

I'm still on the fence, too, though I would love to come and visit with my friends, plus any new folks who can find me.  Just bear in mind that the crowds are HUGE, especially in the main rooms--you'll be amazed that there are that many Dark Shadows fans who live and walk the earth.

John, hope I can see you there!

G.

I would have loved to have seen Gale Sondergaard appear in DS, hopefully in a role that would have required her to have had some juicy scenes opposite Grayson and Joan.  According to KLS, not a terribly reliable source, Gale visited the set one day and DC talked about wanting to have her on the show--it may have all just been a joke.  Gale did play a wonderful DS-esque part in one of my favorite 70s telefilms, The Cat Creature, directed by queen bee Curtis Harrington.  (WHEN will it be released on home VHS???)

A lot of the Forties horror stars would have been great guests on DS.  Think of Elizabeth Russell, for example--"moya sestra" in Cat People.

G.

Thank you for posting this, Luciaphil.  I am excited by this project.  Today's Pagan community is divided on evaluations of the original Wicker man.  Some regard it as a blasphemous caricature of Pagan spirituality; others regard it as a fascinating artistic exploration of light and dark aspects of surviving Neolithic religions in a modern context.  I saw the restored DVD a few months ago, and was impressed by it.  As I see it, the point of the original film was a critique of "varieties of religious experience" and the role of religion in human social life.  I really loved the music, especially the Maypole song.  There's an interesting new book out by British scholar Miranda Green, Dying for the God, about human sacrifice amongst the Celtic peoples.  It is very difficult to document the practices, role, and beliefs around human sacrifice. Green points out that the Roman writers, who were so critical of the "barbarism" of Druid sacrifices, had their own skeletons rattling around in their closets on this issue.  In the Wicker Man, Robin Hardy makes a similar kind of statement by presenting the *symbolic* sacrifice of the Mass at the beginning of the film, counterpointed with terrible irony by the literal sacrifice at the end.

Having said all that, "May Day" could be just plain awful, but I'm hoping it will be done with wit and intelligence.  There was talk of Ewan Macgregor participating in it.  He would look beautiful clad in nothing but a stag-horn headdress.  sigh.

G.