Dom and John,

You both have me bustin' up laughing!  Now Dom, you know you're not supposed to let people KNOW my terrible secret.  I sleep with the key to Tom's boudoir ...er, I mean crypt ... around my neck at all times.

And it is a vicious LIE that I am the first vampire victim in history to leave hickeys on my be-fanged honeypie.

Dom, I'll be the next Vicki Winters, as long as YOU will be my Liz.  Because you CHOOSE to do so!

Getting all batty,

Gothick

Hi Julia,

I'm ba-ack from my trip to Maryland.  Sorry to hear about your computer woes.  I hope everything is all sorted out now!

In the Seventies, Grayson suffered from osteoperosis, and I think if you look carefully you can already see signs of a stoop in her Sixties episodes on Dark Shadows.  One fan who spent some time with Grayson in the early Eighties told me that she thought a big reason why G avoided attending the DS conventions that they held then was because she was worried about pushing, shoving fans such as she had been around on certain occasions in the Sixties.  She could have easily fallen and suffered another major break (she broke an arm in 1977 and her hip in 1980).

In addition, I have been informed that an actress who did stage work with Grayson recalls her wearing a back brace.  I don't have a time frame for that but I imagine it was in the Seventies, possibly at some point in the early Eighties.  

One last note on this topic--I believe that in the script for the conclusion of the 1995 Parallel Time sequence, Barnabas was supposed to pick Julia up from the floor and carry her up the Stairway through Time.  If you play the tape you'll see that they settled for having her lean on him.  I suspect that back issues may have been responsible for how they played that scene.

Given all this, it is truly remarkable that Grayson seemed so limber and physically vibrant in the video of the Suicide production in 1980.  She had just recovered from a broken hip when she did this!

She was, in every sense of the word, a truly REMARKABLE woman.

Steve  

I often think of Jeff Clark and his relationship with Vicki as the true Curse of Collinwood!

Gothick

Mark--always happy to be of service!

Best wishes,

Steve

Boy, am I finding it difficult to concentrate since looking at the Montage today and that luscious, delectable shot of hunk Tom Jennings helpfully proffering his neck for our fave B*tch-on-Wheels vampire chick, Missus Angelique Collins.

It's a lucky thing I wasn't in the room, cuz I would have shoved her aside and said "Outta my way, WITCH!  I get to hickey that man FIRST!"

Gothick who's wondering why on Earth the mortician buried Tom in his ... hospital pajamas???

Em hotep, Per'ankh!

My major in college was Egyptology.  Tells you what lovely people I have for parents, that my Dad didn't just take me out and shoot me when I informed them of my career choice.

I wound up a library assistant.  I read with a diligence generally associated in our society with physical training and hair care product application.  I've tried to stop but I can't.

Fortunately, in my early 20s I learned how to meditate; otherwise, by now, my brain would probably be worn to a cinder with all the information that's passed through it (only some of which has taken up personal residence, thank the Gods).

I am still a fan of Egyptian topics, btw.  My parents brought my copy of Gardiner's Egyptian Grammar from the house on a recent visit so that I could revisit some delightful temple corridors of yore ("memory lane" somehow does not seem appropriate for Egyptian studies).  And I've been reading Ellen Cannon Reed's Circle of Isis, which has some really fascinating material on working with the Gods of Ancient Egypt in a modern day setting.

TTFN, Gothick

My theory is that Nicholas did want to get rid of Angelique permanently, but his master wanted her to remain on Earth for reasons of his own.