Happy Birthday to The Ghost of Sarah Collins!

It was wonderful seeing you again at the Fest.  Hope your day is great!

Sheenasma ,

Sending love and good thoughts on your special day!

Our Nicky is off doing summer repertory and has asked me to announce that Chapter 57 of the ongoing serial Shadows on the Wall has been posted by our charming host, Tim Choate, at

http://members.tripod.com/~MrJuggins/shadows/wall.htm

In this latest contribution by Luciaphil, we find that Nora has developed strange powers following her ordeal, a feud continues between enemies-- one the spirit of a witch in possession of Tim Shaw and the other in a "poison green dress", the latter attempts to lure Quentin into an uholy alliance, and a dangerous guest pays a visit to Collinwood.  Enjoy!

I'm enjoying all the Fest photos that are starting to pop up, especially the lovely pictures of the stars, and I decided to put a spin on the traditional fan photos by focusing more on photos of the fans-- in other words, pictures of some of the fabulous fans that support DS.

More will follow, but I thought I'd start with a big o' group photo...


Taken Saturday nite and featuring, from left to right:
Nancybe, Julia99, Midnite, Scott (front), Peter (?), Kelly (Anna) (front), Vlad, CynD (rear), Dawn, Sid (rear), David, Bobubas (front), PatrickM (rear), ProfStokes, Jeff, Cathy (peeking), Rich, Ben (who played for all of us), Minja, Bette (front), Teresa (peeking), Sheenasma, Criseyde

Many thanks to Rich for the photo!!!

***********************************************************
ShadowGram Online Dark Shadows Updates List
Marcy Robin's Cyberspace "Dark Shadows" Update List
An Internet Publication of SHADOWGRAM
< ShadowGram@aol.com >

Number 80. June 17, 2002.
***********************************************************
Hello, Dark Shadows Fan,

ShadowGram (SG) announces the following breaking news for Dark Shadows (DS).
* SG NEWS FLASH!   6-17-02:
Several of the DS actors are planning to appear on the  ABC SoapNet cable channel "Soap Talk" program, projected to air between June 25 and July 10.  

* The new print issue, SG #96, is being mailed now to all current postal-mail subscribers with the latest DS news, updates, and pictures. Following are some key highlights, plus much more:

* SG Exclusive Photos:
--- DAVID SELBY (Quentin) relaxing on-set during a filming break - 1969

NOTE: David was honored with the Distinguished West Virginian Award 3-19. He and his wife Chip share material from his appearance at the 3-18/19 premieres of the film "The Griffin and the Minor Canon."

--- JONATHAN FRID (Barnabas) in a candid photo (approximately 1969). Also: Pictures of Jonathan from his one-man show performance 9-29-01.

--- LARA PARKER (Angelique) is pictured with her daughter Caitlin.

NOTE: SG explains Lara attends the DS Festival convention, probably only Friday evening. Her oldest son Rick is being married that weekend.

--- DAVID HENESY (David, Daniel, Jamison, Tad) with his mother Jeanne Avery, who kindly provided this recent photo to SG. Jeanne also reports what David is doing now.

NOTE: Jeanne is a Saturday guest at the DS Fest and plans to talk about David's years on DS. She is a renowned past life regression therapist and astrologer; this SG notes her accomplishments.

The Fest's tentative weekend schedule is below.

* SG Rare Photos:
--- The late JOEL CROTHERS (Joe Haskell, Nathan Forbes) is pictured casually from his days on "Somerset" in the early 1970s.

--- The late CHRISTOPHER BERNAU (Phillip Todd) is pictured from 1981.

* SG #96 News Highlights:
--- Update from Dan Curtis Productions about TV Guide's recent brief DS article.

--- SG Premiere Announcement:
MPI tells SG that DVD Collection 2 expects an Aug. release, and Collection 3 is planned for Sept. "Subsequent editions will be released early next year,  continuing approximately every 3 months." The 3rd "online chat, date, and person - to be announced - should be in Aug."
Website: www.darkshadowsdvd.com

SG #96 includes DVD Collection 1 media reviews and announcements. More DVD information will be in SG #97 later this year.

--- DONNA McKECHNIE (Amanda Harris/Olivia Corey) stars in "Follies" through 6-23 at LA's Wadsworth Theater. 213-365-3500. www.reprise.org

--- Blind actor DANA ELCAR (Sheriff Patterson) is pictured with information about his recent performance for the blind in "The Devil's Disciple."

--- KATE JACKSON (Daphne) participated in a discussion as part of a 20th anniversary screening 4-18 of her groundbreaking 1982 film "Making Love" at UCLA. This SG features publicity material.

--- PAUL MICHAEL (King Johnny Romano) and his "lady," actress Marion Ross, provide publicity material for her 5-6 "Intimate Portraits" biography.

--- JAMES STORM (Gerard) is profiled in the program book for his recent play "Dog Mouth."

---BEN CROSS (1991 Barnabas) now is starring in the play "Art" in London. SG #96 has theatre publicity and a picture.

--- Publicity material and news updates for the syndicated series "Tracker" and other projects for ADRIAN PAUL (1991 Jeremiah).

--- BARBARA STEELE (1991 Julia, Natalie) participated in a discussion about her classic 1960 horror film "Black Sunday" at a 6-1 retrospective for director Mario Bava in LA. SG #96 features publicity material.

* Interview excerpts, news updates, and publicity material for DAN CURTIS (Creator/Director/Producer), JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT (1991 David, Daniel), EDDIE JONES (1991 Sam Evans), ADRIAN PAUL (1991 Jeremiah), ROY THINNES (1991 Roger, Rev. Trask), MICHAEL T. WEISS (1991 Joe Haskell, Peter Bradford), ELLEN WHEELER (1991 Phyllis Wick), and more.

* Also in SG #96: DS in the Media references; DS Filming Locations' pictures and information; DS Books and Merchandise; DS Fan News; and more.

* Last-minute DS Fest update: NANCY BARRETT, PAUL MICHAEL, and JIM STORM are unable to attend as planned.

Also:
* The Fest asks SG to pass along the schedule of events for this year's convention at the Anaheim Marriott, 700 Convention Way, Anaheim, CA.
714-750-8000.

Please note the schedule is subject to change.

Schedule Of 2002 Dark Shadows Festival Events - Anaheim Marriott Grand Ballroom (Main Level)

Friday, June 28

4:00 Registration Opens
6:00 Opening Ceremonies/DS Skit I
6:30 Sci-Luv: Dark Shadows
7:00 Guest: Lara Parker
7:30 My Favorite DS Bloopers
       with Kathryn Leigh Scott
8:15 The Best Of Willie Loomis
       with Guest: John Karlen
9:00 Autographs/Best Of Dark Shadows 1991
10:00 House Of Dark Shadows
       (with Jonathan Frid video
        interview and more)

Saturday, June 29

11:00 DS Panel: What's New
12:00 Remembering Louis Edmonds
1:00 Guest: Roger Davis
1:30 Guest: Jeanne Avery
       (mother of David Henesy)
2:00 Charity Auction I
2:45 A New Look At Night Of  Dark Shadows
3:30 Guest: David Selby
4:00 DS Cast Reunion
5:00 Autographs/DS In The Media
6:00 Evensong - Vampire Musical
7:15 Premiere: DS Documentary
8:00 Costume Party
       with Free Refreshments/DS Skit II
10:00 Night Of Dark Shadows
      (with behind the scenes
       interviews and more)

Sunday, June 30

11:00 DS Fan Videos
11:30 Greetings & Song From Donna McKechnie
12:00 DS 35th Anniversary Tribute
         video with Dan Curtis & Cast
1:30 DS Video Vault
2:00 Charity Auction II
3:00 DS Skit III
3:15 Guest: Chris Pennock
4:00 Guest: Diana Millay
4:30 Guest: Robert Rodan
5:00 Guest: Marie Wallace
5:30 DS Dramatic Showcase
       with John Karlen and
       Kathryn Leigh Scott
6:00 Autographs
7:30 Banquet With The Stars*
       (dinner/door prizes)
10:00 Farewell

SG print issues have detailed the Fest since last year and this Updates List has noted Fest developments.

* Note: Those who have not pre-registered may pay at the door. Unlike last year's Fest in NYC, which sold out due to space limitations, there is ample room at the Anaheim Marriott for walk-in attendees. All Banquet payments must be received in advance by June 21. Send check/money order payment of $40 per person to: Dark Shadows, P.O. Box 92, Maplewood, NJ 07040. Please include the full name of each person.
Website: www.darkshadowsfestival.com

SG invites fans attending the Festival to send their reports, in-person photos, and video footage to the SG postal- or e- mail addresses below. These are shared with SG's international readership and the DS cast/crew, who directly receive complementary copies of each SG print issue. A Contributor's Copy of SG is given in thanks for major donations.

The next print issue SG #97, subsequent SGs, and this SG Updates List will have more information on the above, reports and photos from the 2002 DS Festival, and all the DS news and developments.

Thank you.

Marcy Robin
ShadowGram Editor / Publisher
Marcy Robin,  P.O. Box 1766,  Temple City, CA  91780-7766
E-mail: ShadowGram@aol.com

*********************************************************
SHADOWGRAM (SG) is the * Official * "Dark Shadows" Newsletter. Much of its news is provided by the show's personnel and those involved in both the 1966-71 and 1991 TV series. Established in 1979, SG works directly with companies and others involved in Dark Shadows' creation, distribution, promotion, merchandise, etc.

The complete print issues are published throughout the year, with free bonus complimentary breaking-news published updates as needed.

Marcy Robin's ShadowGram "Dark Shadows" Cyberspace Updates List / ShadowGram Online "Dark Shadows" Updates List is sent via e-mail between regularly-published issues to quickly notify "Dark Shadows" fans of time-sensitive developments. You also can receive this identical SG Online Update by joining the ShadowGram Group at yahoogroups

First Class postal-mail subscriptions for SG print issues:  $12.00 for 4, $24.00 for 8 (US & Canada). Overseas Air Mail subscriptions are US $20.00 for 4, US $40.00 for 8.

Send print issue subscription payment to: Marcy Robin, P.O. Box 1766, Temple
City, CA 91780-7766.

Online subscription payment via Paypal to: Shadowgram@aol.com

For more information on the newsletter, please write with a SASE (Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope) to the above postal-mail address or e-mail to  ShadowGram@aol.com

If your e-mail address changes, please notify me immediately.  Please include your old and your new e-mail addresses.

If you do not wish to receive this online "ShadowGram / Marcy Robin's Cyberspace Dark Shadows Update List," please notify me via return e-mail.

Thank you.

With all the talk about drinking on the Current Talk board today, I'd like to propose a toast to Jennifer, who's only the 2nd person (so far) to reach Senior Membership on the forum!  Woo!!

I was recently sent this interview with Jonathan Frid from Film Threat, a magazine that primarily covers independent and underground films.  In it, he speaks very candidly about the original and revival series.


FILM THREAT
Spring 1991

Barnabas Collins: Back From the Dead


Low ratings can scare off a television vampire quicker than garlic. But you can't keep a good bat down. Two decades after the demise of the Gothic soap opera Dark Shadows, that suave 175-year-old fangster Barnabas Collins and his clan have swooped back to TV.

Perhaps best remembered for its eerie music, creepy (if somewhat cheap) sets and blood-tinged suds, the ground-breaking 1960s soap was already enjoying a cult afterlife prior to NBC's primetime remake-- thanks to a 20,000 member fan club and the release of all 1,225 episodes by MPI Home Video. More recently, the old shows began airing on the new SciFi cable channel. Executive Producer Dan Curtis, who created the original in 1966 and saw it through five seasons, has clearly had his fill of Dark Shadows-- just ask him why the saga was resurrected. "Well, a lot of people (namely, NBC chieftain Brandon Tartikoff) wanted it," he says impatiently. "I'm in the television business, so that's why it's back on."

Good enough. What then, killed it the first time around? "Oh, you mean twenty years ago or whenever the hell it was? Um, yeah. We just ran out of steam. We couldn't think of another story. So, with a bad story, so go the ratings."

Curtis, who went on to better things like the highly acclaimed miniseries The Winds of War and War and Remembrance, should have known history has a way of repeating itself. Although the new hour-long Dark Shadows benefits from a bigger budget and an infusion of big names including Ben Cross (Chariots of Fire) and two-time Oscar winner Jean Simmons (Guys and Dolls, Spartacus) as matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard, the story is cornier than ever and the ratings have, well, sucked. What's worse, the character that was introduced to bolster the old soap's sagging viewership near the end of its first year has been with the new show since the outset:  Barnabas Collins. Though admirably played by Cross, the lovelorn neck-ripper just doesn't have the same mixture of pathos, dread and dark appeal that Jonathan Frid brought to the role twenty-five years ago.

Frid, now 66, wasn't even asked to be a part of the new show, which is too bad since his career hit a weak vein after the old show's cancellation in 1971. The Yale Drama School grad did a couple of big screen features (House of Dark Shadows and Oliver Stone's 1974 shocker debut Seizure) and some work off and on Broadway (most notably in "Arsenic and Old Lace") before forming his own production company in 1986.

These days the gravelly-voiced Canadian actor, who makes his home in Manhattan, haunts college campuses and community theaters around the country in a one-man show that includes readings from works as diverse as Shakespeare and Stephen King. Herewith he sinks his teeth into the Dark Shadows phenomenon, past and present.


FT:  Were you disappointed that you weren't asked to appear in the new series?

JF:  It was rumored that they wanted me to play Barnabas' father, but I was never approached. I've attended Dark Shadows fan festivals for the last eight or nine years, and people would always ask me if I would reprise the role if the series were revived. I doubted it would ever happen, so I would say that I'd want at least a million dollars or two to do it. And that's my answer now. I'd start with two million dollars, and I might come down to a million for a cameo. I mean, I'd want big money. I'm not going to do it for sentimental reasons. So I'm not surprised they didn't ask me to return.

FT:  Did you like the original show?

JF:  It was absurd. I thought it was perfectly dreadful. But I'm knocking myself more than the show. Some of my performances were so appallingly bad. I'd forget lines, I'd forget names. I had done television previously, but not too much, and the fact that there was a lot of money involved in the production intimidated me to an extent. I was nervous and it showed. The irony of it all is that they're making videos out of those very shows where I didn't even know what I was talking about!

FT:  So you felt your neck was on the line, so to speak?

JF: I was afraid I'd get canned, that I'd get kicked out of the unions. In a sense, Barnabas and I went through hell together. Imagine yourself coming out of a coffin a hundred and thirty-five years from now. You're in a kind of predicament, and you're a little nervous about how you're going to pull this one off. And, of course, that's what I did for four years. I played a vampire. I don't know what that is really. I played the lie. So Barnabas' predicament on television and my own kind of meshed-- one sort of helped the other. I mean, I was just a scared, dumb actor. If I had had to play some cock of the walk, debonair Clark Gable, I would have been canned in two days.

FT: Dark Shadows itself was almost canned before Barnabas Collins was introduced ten months after its debut. How did your character save the show?

JF: True, the show wasn't working until they brought this creep on. I wouldn't know why, because I don't watch soap operas. The silly things are so full of shit.

FT: Certainly, there was something about the character that audiences responded to.

JF: With Barnabas, I played against the obvious as much as I could. It was difficult under this problem I had with nerves. I didn't try to make Barnabas a lovable vampire, but I tried to play common sense; I tried to humanize him.

FT: Barnabas was a hit with young female viewers. How did it feel to be featured on the cover of Tiger Beat?

JF: I had no intention to do that. I was just playing a man with common sense. Of course, mind you, he was pining for his lost love, and I was certainly going through unrequited love at the same time. But I think the fact that Barnabas was always a threat, if you took all the show's shenanigans seriously, was one of his appeals. He was in love and wanted to be cured. He was like a drunk-- belligerent and unpredictable.

FT: The quality of the show was unpredictable, too. You could sometimes see the microphone dangling and the wires holding the bats. I remember one scene where you had this pesky fly buzzing around your head...

JF: Oh, yes. [Laughs] I just tried to pretend it wasn't there. I guess I gave it a couple of swats, but all I can remember about that is thinking, "Keep going.. Keep going... Don't let it make you lose your concentration." It was a little awkward, but it didn't bother me. In fact, I rather enjoyed the challenge of it.

FT: Did you find it tough going after Dark Shadows?

JF: I didn't try to make Barnabas a lovable vampire. In a sense, Barnabas and I went through hell together. Yes. I went with an agency that promised to rebuild my career. And they didn't do a damn thing. I just sat and waited and waited. I eventually took up Spanish so I wouldn't have to wait by the phone all day. But I think the reason was that I wasn't accommodating enough. I didn't want to be used as some sort of a commodity. I wanted to get away from all that. I thought it was perfectly dreadful. But I'm knocking myself more than the show. They wanted to exploit it. So I didn't do an awful lot. But now I'm in control of my own destiny.

FT: Your one-man show incorporates readings from Edgar Allan Poe and Stephen King. Do you enjoy horror stories?

JF: I'm not a great fan, no. There's enough horror in our everyday life without having to conjure up these strange images. Subtlety is what I don't find in today's horror stuff-- it's all so obvious. It gets more and more violent. It's so boring. But I know what side my bread is buttered on, and I still appear at Dark Shadows festivals because it stirs interest in my current work.

FT: How much longer will you continue with the Reader's Theater tour?

JF: Til I drop dead, I guess. I'm as happy as a lark doing this. I get to play all the parts.

FT: Do you hope the new Dark Shadows flops?

JF: No, because I'm still basking in reflected glory. I'm calling myself the Johnny Weismuller of Dark Shadows instead of a retired sage who's passed the curse on to Ben Cross. If it lays an egg, then I'm pretty well washed up too as far as any reputation is concerned.


Dean LaManna

On Friday, May 31, Farscape will air in DS' timeslot.  It's the last pre-emption, though, til July.

If any unregistered user would like the distinction of becoming our 200th cousin, right now is the time to register!