Sorry about the goof--the quoted post was written by Mad Margaret.  Somehow, her name got cut off when I copy & pasted.

G.

This is a very cool 30 minute radio show about the cult phenomenon around CHILDREN OF THE STONES, a 1977 serial shot at a village inside the stone circle of Avebury in England.  There are a number of themes DS fans would find of interest, including how occult themed TV shows you watched as a child can change your life (for the better, IMO).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01n1rbx

I think the recording will only be available for a month or so.  I found it really fascinating.  The entire serial was on Youtube last time I checked.

G.

Last Sunday night, after spending hours in the kitchen cooking up a lot of vegetables, I sat down and re-watched one of my favorite DS spinoffs, "A Darkness at Blaisedon."  This was Dan Curtis's attempt to launch a regular weekly evening series that would be "a version of DS at night." The proposed series was called DEAD AT NIGHT. I think that Roger Davis hints that this was in the works in the Ron Barry radio interview from 1968 (August or September of that year, I believe?). 

It's been a few years since my previous viewing of "Blaisedon."  The main thing that stuck out for me this time was how it was almost like a montage of several "fan favorite moments" from the daytime show.  We have a spooky old mansion with a fab spiral staircase (I was surprised to see that Sy Tomashoff did not get the credit for the sets), a half-mad caretaker played by Thayer David, Marj Dusay foreshadowing Kate Jackson's performance as the ingenue heroine, a psychic investigator (Kerwin Mathews) and his assistant (Cal Bellini in a role very reminiscent of Michael Stroka), a sobbing ghost in a white dress, a swag portrait of Louis Edmonds, a seance, an exhumation, lots of dry ice and Bob Cobert's lovely cues that make us all feel so much at home.

I was fascinated to see that the Roman bust that nearly killed Julia in 1995 showed up here, and I presume that this was its first appearance onscreen.  MB happened to notice recently that the bust also showed up in hoDS--I am not sure that that post is still available.

The script was by Sam Hall.  Although the series wasn't picked up (and I have no idea what studio politics were at work in that decision), I realized at the end of this viewing that the script did have an interesting kind of afterlife.  Perhaps I'm wrong, but I'd call this I kind of preliminary draft of some of the ideas that eventually coalesced in the feature script for NIGHT OF DS.
 
G.

I had the same experience getting on the Board today that Midnite reported.  It asked me to log in but because Chrome has saved the log-in and password, I just clicked "log in" and immediately I was taken to the refreshed page.

As Grayson was wont to say, "Who can figure anything?"

G.

I also had to log in again even though I checked the Forever box earlier.  Ah well.  It could be much worse.

Lovely to see our home looking more familiar again with the theme and the photos!  And you've posted a gorgeous shot of Grayson from hoDS, too, for today's show!  Awesome!

Oddly, the "Monster Kids" board for Classic Horror Film fans also just had a move, but it seems as if they didn't lose as much.  It sounds as if the people who took care of their move did their homework better than our hosts here did.

I'm very sorry for the losses, but it's fabulous that you have been able to restore so much in such a short time, Mysterioso Darling!  As always, I'm so impressed by the quality you and Midnite make such a foundational part of our experience here.

cheers, G.

Last night I was making one of my periodic attempts to find a copy of the 1966 film THE HAND OF NIGHT, alt title THE BEAST OF MOROCCO, and I found this clip of the title credits and opening dream sequence here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJFp2v9MiT8

Reminiscent of DS?

Best,  G.

Beautiful shots of beautiful Don Briscoe.  I bet his pajama pants fell down frequently while they were filming that.

This scene was, IMO, based on one in the 1966 Hammer film DRACULA, PRINCE OF DARKNESS, featuring the incredible Barbara Shelley.  But I think this sequence is more effective--and more brutal. 

G.