Dark Shadows Festival
This article or section needs expansion. |
| Convention | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Dark Shadows Festival |
| Dates: | 1983-2019 |
| Frequency: | |
| Location: | |
| Type: | |
| Focus: | Dark Shadows |
| Organization: | The Collinsport Call, Inside the Old House, Shades of Grayson, Shadowgram, and The World of Dark Shadows (various clubs and zines) |
| Founder: | |
| Founding Date: | |
| URL: | darkshadowsfestival.com |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Dark Shadows Festival
Starting in 1983, the convention was held on the west coast and east coast of the United States.
Some fan memories: by Wilusa; archive link.
1983
- September 30-October 2, 1983 in Newark, New Jersey
a 1983 flyer
1984
flyer for 1984
1985
front cover of 1985 program book
1986
1986 flyer
front cover of 1986 program book
1987
two 1987 flyers - one in Los Angeles, California and one in New Jersey
flyer for Los Angeles 1987 con
front cover of 1987 program book
cover of the Los Angeles 1987 program book
inside the Los Angeles 1987 program book
1988
front cover of 1988 program book
1989
flyer for 1989
front cover of 1989 program book
1990
The Dark Shadows Actor Directory was published for this festival.
front cover of 1990 program book
1991
June 28-30, 1991
front cover of 1991 program book
1992
front cover of 1992 program book
1994
There is a con report and photos for this con in Inside the Old House #48.
flyer for 1994
1995
flyer for 1995
1996
front cover of 1996 program book
back cover of 1996 program book
1996: Con Report
Festival Report -- 1996 (Los Angeles)
Here are my observations of highlights and lowlights.
The crowd seemed very large, though I never heard an official estimate. I do know there were over 500 attendees at the Banquet. Ten people were seated at each table, and the highest table number was 51.
The only announced actors who didn't appear were John Karlen, Mitchell Ryan and Paul Michael. (I assume most fans knew Nancy Barrett had been forced to cancel.) John Karlen was ill that weekend, sent his regrets. Mitchell Ryan was an unexplained no-show, again. Festival organizers tried to reach him by phone and couldn't. I never heard an explanation of Paul Michael's absence.
We learn something new, it seems, at every Fest. This year, while a number of stars were onstage, someone asked Louis Edmonds whether he got along well with young David Henesy. He said he did...gave a bland, innocuous answer.
But at that point, Diana Millay spoke up--as though she felt she had to tell us something that had been covered up too long. She said David was a very unhappy child, the "victim" of a stereotypical "stage mother." He had never wanted to act! He did a "superb" job, and everyone got along well with him. But he was being forced to act against his will...and sadly, he has very bad memories of DS and that part of his life.
Diana said she finds it especially sad because of the contrast with her own childhood. She was also a child performer, but was never pressured to do anything she didn't want to do. Her mother was always asking her, "Are you sure you want to do this? Really sure?" Denise Nickerson and Sharon Smyth-Lenz have also said they were acting by choice, and were allowed to quit when they wanted to.
Diana, by the way, was selling a new book--celebrity recipes she's collected over the years. She said there was more to it than that, but I wasn't interested enough to buy a copy.
Lysette Anthony was the only attendee from the 1991 cast. To my surprise, she asked us to write to both Dan Curtis Productions and NBC, urging them to go ahead with those proposed TV movies. Marcy Robin had already said we shouldn't write now. I asked Marcy again, in light of what Lysette had said. Marcy still feels this would be a bad time to write, because the proposal is being considered by low-level people, and we wouldn't be able to address our letters to specific execs. She thinks letters written at a later stage of project development, to specific execs, will have more impact if we don't begin writing now.
Lara Parker clearly believes the planned DS novels are going to become a reality. She's resumed work on the novel she was writing (originally for comic-book publisher Innovation) about the background of Angelique. I received the impression she has a contract. She said these will be "the sort of paperbacks you buy in the supermarket, like Star Trek novels--about $1.25." (Guess she hasn't priced those Star Trek novels lately!) She read us a portion of what she stressed was merely the outline of her novel--and asked fans for ideas, good-humoredly adding that we wouldn't get any credit for them.
An interesting sidelight about Lara. Most of us associate her with strikingly blue eyes. But one fan asked her, "How come your eyes look blue in some episodes, green in others?" Lara said she couldn't imagine why that was, adding, "If you're really asking whether I ever wore tinted contacts to change my eye color, the answer is no." Then some one of the other actors onstage offered the opinion that Lara's eyes are actually hazel, and "hazel eyes pick up the color of the clothes you're wearing." Personally, I'm more inclined to believe her eyes are blue, and the variation was caused by poor color photography.
Marcy Robin told us (based on her not having been informed otherwise) that Jonathan Frid isn't retired. But Diana Millay, who had a long telephone chat with him recently, said he told her he is retired. Diana said he thinks of himself as old now. She always makes a joke of pretending to believe she really is a Phoenix. So she said, "Of course, I don't believe anyone's getting old until he reaches at least 300!"
Marcy and Diana agree Jonathan is in excellent health, and very happy in his new home in Canada. Diana said she called him one morning--he had just come in from watering his garden--and they talked for an hour. Then Jonathan said, "Say, this is your nickel! How about if I call you back this evening, and we talk for another hour?" So they did!
It's good to know Jonathan is well. On a less happy note...Louis Edmonds was at the Fest, but he seems very frail and feeble now. His biography was on sale. (I didn't buy that either.)
The high point of the weekend for me was seeing my idol, David Selby. He looks terrific! For some reason, I unconsciously expected him to sound like Quentin Collins. I was surprised that he still has a West Virginia drawl after all these years in L.A. But I loved it! I still wonder if it's completely natural, or if he has to work at keeping the accent when he's being "himself." I could understand his not wanting to lose touch with his roots. I'd never want to lose my regional accent.
[...]
We didn't have a chance to ask David many questions, because he arrived so late. And he couldn't stay to sign many autographs. But I asked Marcy the next day if she knew any more about the play he's written (Lincoln and James). She said she had asked him about that, and he told her he was hoping to get some definite word on it--whether someone will produce it--by the end of that week.
On Saturday morning, Kathy Resch and Dale Clark moderated a session during which we could discuss storylines and offer our own ideas on some of those tricky plot problems. Not many fans seem to be interested in that sort of thing, but I loved it.
I also enjoyed the relatively new "Dark Shadows Onstage" feature, in which stars recreate scenes from the show, reading their original roles. Obviously, the choice of scenes is limited by the actors available. But the performances were good fun. Diana and Denise gave us a mother-daughter scene between Laura and Nora--a hoot, with "Nora" now a woman in her thirties. And Marie Wallace, Chris Pennock and Michael Stroka portrayed Megan, Jeb and Bruno in a scene. Megan managed to conceal from Jeb that she was a vampire's victim, being summoned again...and Bruno seemed to allay Jeb's suspicions of him. But after Jeb left, Bruno discovered Megan's secret, and gloated over his plan to send Jeb to "kill the werewolf" with no silver bullets in his gun. The actors had fun with it, repeatedly yapping at one another, "Stop stepping on my lines!" (Michael never speaks up loudly enough--but we all love him anyway, right?)
On the less successful side...this year's Costume Gala was dull. I suppose I've been spoiled by the highly inventive "performances" of previous years. This time around, participants were just "modeling" uninspired costumes.
"Tales of Terror"--read by Marie, Michael and Denise--fell flat, as usual. The stories weren't very scary; Michael was still mumbling; and we were getting a lot of noise from the hall and from people talking in the auditorium.
My friends and I didn't think the Collinsport Players' skits were very funny. We couldn't decide whether the Players are simply better in New York (where some different people participate), or are going downhill in general.
Finally, one of my friends insisted there was much less in the Dealers' Room than in previous years. I can't vouch for that. I usually know what I want (new fan fiction, etc.), and make just one quick pass through the room. But MPI had clearly put no effort at all into setting up their display. They didn't lay stacks of anything out on the table--if you wanted, say, a sweatshirt, they had to go and get it out of a box somewhere. They didn't even have the new "Dark Shadows Resurrected" tapes in their permanent boxes. They'd hand you the tape in a temporary white box, and the folded "permanent" box to go with it.
As for the "extras"...I didn't go on the trip to Greystone, so I can't comment on that. I didn't enjoy the Banquet, except for being with two good friends. It was so crowded I couldn't even see any of the stars. The food and video programming were only so-so. And I'm always bored by the ritual handing out of a "prize" to one person from each table! The larger the crowd, the longer it takes--not only because there are more tables, but because it takes each "winner" longer to thread his or her way through the maze and get to the podium. (In the years I've attended, I've only really enjoyed one Banquet...the year a star, Chris Pennock, was at my table.)
On the whole, though, the Fest was terrific. High points far outweighed low. It's a thrill to see the stars--Lara, Kathryn and Marie are still so gorgeous.
But...I wouldn't believe this if I hadn't heard it myself. There was actually a fan(?) who couldn't remember Lara's name, or even her character name, and addressed a question to her as "you in the green dress"! [1]
1997
front cover of 1997 program book
back cover of 1997 program book
1997: Con Report
Festival Report -- 1997 (Marriott Marquis Hotel, New York)Arguably the best Festival ever, but hard to describe.
First, a delightful personal experience. On my way to the Fest, I went to catch a train at the Rensselaer Amtrak station. That's directly across the Hudson River from Albany, 150 miles north of New York. I sat down in the waiting area. And before I even got settled, I heard someone directly opposite me mention "Josette's music box"! Naturally, I had to say, "Uh, excuse me...are you by any chance going to the Dark Shadows Festival?" The woman I'd heard speaking actually wasn't, but the two men with her were, and they were as blown away as I was by this chance meeting. They were changing trains in Rensselaer--they'd come from much farther upstate.
On to the Fest! It's a good thing I'd had to travel over a hundred miles to get there. Because almost at the outset, I had an experience that so infuriated me that if I'd lived across town, I would have picked up my marbles and gone home.
[...]
I thought that experience [of being identified as a elderly person] would ruin the Festival for me. Fortunately, it didn't.
The crowd was enormous (I heard a figure of 2000), undoubtedly because of David Selby's play. Yet it wasn't just a one-day bulge in attendance. There were, if I remember correctly, at least 800 people at the Banquet.
I'll try to share my impressions of the play, Lincoln and James. It's about a black man who works as a janitor at the Lincoln Memorial. The statue of Lincoln comes to life (which may or may not be interpreted as "all in his head"), and they have an extended conversation. Two acts' worth of conversation. It was suggested by a real incident a few years back, when James (I forget his last name), the longtime janitor at the Memorial, collapsed and died on the job. There was a big stir about employees like him not having adequate insurance or death benefits.
The play (it was a reading, the actors had scripts) was a constant barrage of rapid-fire dialogue--some of it humorous, some deadly serious. It brought in and tied together the Civil War, the Vietnam War (James was a veteran), and racism. At one point James was taking Lincoln to task, accusing him of being a racist. Then there were Fourth of July fireworks going off in the background (impressive FX), and the noise of the explosions was taking James back to Vietnam.
In the end, I believe he did collapse and die. To be honest, there was so much to digest that a lot of it went over my head. I'm sure some other fans must have had the same reaction. But it was clearly idealistic and well-intentioned, and we all love and admire David, so we applauded like mad. I was hoping there'd be a way to purchase the text or an audio recording of the play, so I could get to understand it better. But nothing like that has been mentioned.
David gave a fine performance, and so did John Wesley as James. (Amusingly, David was the one who fluffed a few lines!) There was also a "Musician," Allen Collins, who provided accompaniment to the dialogue--like a musical score for a film or TV episode. Collins, like Wesley, is black. They're both extremely handsome!
After the play, the three guys came onstage for a question and answer session about it. It took quite a while for David to come out, because he had a lot of costume changing to do; but the others held down the fort. The most interesting points: Wesley and Collins were very impressed that David, who's neither black nor a Vietnam veteran, was able to capture those experiences so well. And someone asked an intriguing question--whether they knew what the family of the real James thought about all this. They didn't know, and they were very anxious to find out when they took the play to Washington.
The second most anticipated event at this Fest was the appearance of Nancy Barrett. Her first Fest ever! Louis Edmonds told us the reason she had never come, and had to be coaxed this time, was that she's extremely shy. She had only performed her cabaret act for much smaller groups, like hospital patients, and she was very nervous.
She came onstage dressed in black (pants and top), beautiful as ever, blond hair a trifle above her shoulders but thick and lustrous as ever. We went wild at just the sight of her! And her first number brought the house down. It was a song written especially for the occasion--about DS, and her happiness at being back with us, with the refrain, "It's just as if we never said goodbye." Yes!
I forget what other songs she sang, but there were quite a few. We let her know we still love her madly. Truthfully, I thought she was a trifle off-key in her upper register. But the lower register was great, and it was a thrill to see and hear her. I didn't stick around for that day's autograph session, but I heard she didn't stay to sign autographs--again, because she's so shy.
A related thought. Picture-taking (except by the Fest's official photographer) is banned during formal "performances" like David's and Nancy's. And one of my friends told me she'd heard a rumor that the real reason Jonathan Frid stopped coming to these events is that fans were ignoring the rules and filming his performances.
Another Festival highlight was Kathryn Leigh Scott's reading aloud some sections of a diary she had recently found, that she kept during the filming of House of Dark Shadows. She kept asking us, "Are you really interested in this?" We were eating it up!
It was so funny. She was reminding us how very young she was at the time, and apologizing for the, um, grumpiness of actors... For example, she had noted that she could hardly believe Dan Curtis had shelled out the money to have the cast driven to the set in limos one day. And then, the sarcastic follow-up: She should have known. He only did it because he needed the stupid limos for a funeral scene!
In the diary, she was griping incessantly about Roger Davis (who always seemed to have a knack for rubbing his colleagues the wrong way). And brimming with girlish delight at getting to spend time with her "two favorite actors," Jonathan Frid and "Johnny" Karlen. One of my pals said she suspected Kathryn might actually have had a crush on Karlen at the time.
It sounds like Karlen hasn't changed a bit--except for his girth! He was as wacky then as he is now, and already a major-league drinker. Kathryn described him, well in his cups, getting up to entertain cast and crew with an impromptu performance during the filming of House. First, in character as Willie, he did a monologue about how Barnabas made all this mess, blood all over the place, and he was the one who had to clean it up. When that was well received, his encore was a hilarious impression of Mussolini. (Hey, Kathryn said it was good. How either of them knew anything about Mussolini is a mystery to me!)
If she ever edits and publishes that diary, I'd advise everyone to buy it.
My biggest regret at the Fest was that I missed almost all of Lara Parker's presentation on the planned DS novels. There's so much going on that you have to skip some things in order to eat; and the program is usually running behind schedule, so you have to guess how far behind it will be at a given time. I guessed wrong. I intended to skip Diana Millay (I don't care much for her, sense a phoniness in her). But I missed almost all of Lara's time onstage as well. What I did catch...the editor was on with her, and someone had asked if unknown writers have a chance to be considered to write future novels. The editor said, possibly, but Lara will be given preference if she wants to write another one. Whereupon Lara said, "That's the first I've heard that!"
Another story involving Lara...her teenage daughter, Caitlin Hawkins, was in one of the Collinsport Players' comedy skits this year. The skit wasn't very good (the Players are definitely going downhill), and I regret to say Caitlin wasn't very good in it. It was called, "Bye, bye, Vicki," and was meant to spoof several different actresses' having played Vicki in original DS. If that sounds like a weak idea for a skit, it was. Caitlin's problem was that no one had told her she should speak much more loudly than usual, to project her voice. But she was pretty, we gave her a big hand, and Lara beamed with pride.
As skits go, what I recall as the funniest was a spoof of the 1991 DS that I saw at one of my first Fests. Remember how Angelique, in the duel scene, casts a spell that causes the ball from Barnabas's gun to appear in her hand? Here, she called out, "Barnabas, I have your ball!" And Barnabas clutched frantically at his groin. Also, remember how Natalie sniffs that her Josette has more delicate features than Vicki? Here, immediately after she said that, Josette came out--played by a hulking, 6-foot guy in drag. Watching the zombie Jeremiah try to lift this "Josette" was priceless!
Back to 1997. I had been disappointed in the Costume Gala at the '96 Fest, but this one was terrific. Probably a record number of participants, great costumes, great mini-performances. One of the best (reprising, I admit, his act from a previous year) was a guy who plays banjo(?) and sings a nutty "tribute" to Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi. It has a great beat, and he gets the whole crowd singing, at the top of our lungs, the repeated refrain: "Boris, Boris is the chorus...Bela, helluva guy..." (Okay, maybe you had to be there!)
The Banquet, usually a dud, was sensational at this Fest. To begin with, the organizers had gotten Roger Davis to emcee it. He was very funny. Then, to liven things up still more, John Karlen wandered into the midst of the proceedings. Everyone else was more or less presentably dressed. Karlen, bless him, was wearing shorts. At the height of the zaniness he began saying he wanted to kiss Roger on the mouth. Asking Roger, "Are you afraid to discover what you really are?" And appealing to the audience, "Should I kiss him?" We were all shrieking, "Kiss him!" Finally, he did--on the cheek. But a minute later, Roger suddenly grabbed him, and kissed him right on the mouth! Then Karlen was screaming, "I was only kidding! I want you to know I had my mouth closed!" We were practically in hysterics.
So...on balance, I'm glad I didn't have a hissy fit and go home. Vegas, anyone? [2]
1998
front cover of 1998 program book
back cover of 1998 program book
1998: Con Report
Festival Report -- 1998 (MGM Grand Hotel, Las Vegas)I HATE LAS VEGAS!! I REALLY, REALLY HATE THE MGM GRAND!!!
Now that I have that off my chest, I can go on to say that the '98 Fest was, overall, a positive experience, though not as memorable as last year's.
The main reason most fans hated the hotel is that the convention area was too far from our rooms. A long walk to the elevator; elevator down to the lobby; a second, much longer walk; then down an escalator, yet another long walk, and finally, up two levels on another escalator. Whew! At a normal pace, getting there took about twenty minutes. The distance made it impossible to zip back and forth between convention area and guest rooms to drop off purchases. Other problems: there was no separate Video Room; there were two Dealers' Rooms, but that was because they were both small; and a friend of mine who was taking pictures complained that the auditorium stage wasn't high enough.
For those who are wondering about the planned new DS, the situation at the time of the Fest was still as reported in the last Shadowgram. Talks are continuing; the focus seems to be on a TV series, but no interested network or networks can be named. Beyond that, it's premature to speculate. But I can't resist passing this on: some fans had heard a rumor that Dan Curtis wants to start with the Quentin storyline.
The most-anticipated Festival guest, David Selby, was forced to cancel. He was in eastern Canada, working in that syndicated series now called SOF: Special Ops Force. Unfortunately, he had to work both Saturday and Monday. He sent word that he regretted having to cancel; if the Fest had been in New York he would have come down on Sunday, but with no direct flights between Montreal and Vegas, he couldn't possibly fly out in the time available.
Louis Edmonds also had to cancel. He's been very frail since a bout with pneumonia last winter. He's at home on Long Island, and doing well--he could also have attended if the Fest had been in New York. But he decided he shouldn't risk the trip to Vegas. He sent us a videotaped message, even sang a little song for us. And they played a great video of his old cabaret act. Within the last couple years, Louis acted in two scenes of a film called Next Year in Jerusalem (he plays an old Jewish grandfather in a troubled family during Passover). He has said this will be his acting swan song. The film is going directly to video, and will also air on Cinemax next year.
About Festival locations--of course, if they had stuck with the rotation, it would have been L.A. this year anyway. New York is set for next year. But beyond that...they said they went with Vegas this year because they knew there were a lot of fans in Nevada who'd never been able to get to a Fest. And whenever they asked for a show of hands, there were a lot of first-time attendees. On the Fan Questionnaire, they let us vote on other cities as possible sites.
Getting back to who was and wasn't there--the only other cancellation was a person who hadn't been announced as a guest, Terry Crawford. She had made a late decision to come, then came down with the flu.
But we saw Nancy Barrett, Lara Parker, Kathryn Leigh Scott, John Karlen, Dennis Patrick, Roger Davis, Chris Pennock, Marie Wallace, Denise Nickerson, Diana Millay, James Storm, Donna Wandrey, and Paul Michael. Paul Michael brought longtime love Marion Ross (Happy Days) with him. I hadn't realized they were married, but he introduced her as his wife.
One major disappointment for me: there was no new fan fiction for sale at this Fest. Not even new issues of TWODS or ITOH. Dale Clark wasn't even there. (His professional work was at a critical point, where he couldn't leave. He raises butterflies, and they were due to come out of their cocoons that weekend.) Kathy Resch was there, but neither she nor Dale had been able to get any new fiction ready because of the pressure of their "real-life" work.
I did buy Kathryn Leigh Scott's Dark Shadows Movie Book, and a bizarre comic book by Chris Pennock, Fear and Loathing in Dark Shadows. That's the kind of thing that leaves you wondering, is any of it true? Much of it is clearly farfetched invention. (Chris has a bad trip and is carted off to Bellevue, and they send the stage manager on to play Jeb Hawkes because no one else knows the lines.) But is it basically true that Chris and Mike Stroka were stoned half the time, and Mike was Chris's supplier? Given my age bracket, I wouldn't be critical if that were true--but I wouldn't venture a guess. It doesn't help that I haven't read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas or seen the film, so I don't know exactly what Chris was parodying.
One of the Fest highlights was Lara Parker's reading of part of the first chapter of her book, Angelique's Descent. It sounds great! The title is meant to tie in with a myth about the goddess Inanna visiting the Underworld after her sister's death. The main story deals with Angelique's youth, but it's told in a flashback within a story set circa 1971. Lara said her editor suggested that. It's being published by Harper Collins. The official release date is December, but it may be out by the end of October. After that, they hope to have DS novels at roughly six-month intervals.
Dennis Patrick is working on his memoirs, which should be available next year. He read us some great bits. Also, he feels very passionately about the troubles in Ireland, and delivered a poem he's written, lambasting the clerics on both sides. Very strong stuff, quite profane, yet it all scanned and rhymed perfectly. As I recall, it ended with "up your canonical asses." That was the one thing that had me not merely applauding, but screaming, "Bravo!"
Hard to believe Dennis is 80. He's slowing down physically, needs a bit of help. But oh, that rapier-sharp wit! As usual, he shot off the best one-liners. Unfortunately, I can't remember any of them.
And John Karlen was, as always, one of the most irreverent and delightful guests. I would have liked to see more of him and Dennis onstage together.
Sadly, the sweet Denise Nickerson has been having problems in her life. Her sister is near death, and Denise is caring for her. On top of that, she's going through a divorce. And she can't quit smoking, even though she knows that's what did her sister in. We felt so bad for her! It was only about three years ago that Denise came to her first Fest--the organizers had been unable to locate her for years--and then, she was a happy newlywed.
Diana Millay gave us some news about the privacy-craving David Henesy. He's been living in Central America for four years. She didn't have his permission to tell us what country. She said David is very successful in his field, restaurant management. He's married--to his third wife--and has a new baby. He also has two children by previous marriages, living in the States.
I was surprised at how handsome Jim Storm still is. He looks very good for his age. I had only seen him at one previous Fest--then he was performing country music, which I hate. He's gotten away from that now, and his son is into it.
Nancy Barrett's cabaret act seemed about the same as last year, with some bits added for relevance to Las Vegas and the theme of movies (more on that later). She had worn black last year, chose white this time. And much as I love her, I still think she sings off key. They angered the crowd by making us clear the auditorium before her performance, giving up seats we'd been hanging onto for hours. My friend and I had been in the third row.
Again this year, that was the only time we saw Nancy. (Though I understand she did sign autographs this year.) She was scheduled to be onstage with some other stars the day before, but canceled, supposedly because of an earache. Given all we've heard about her shyness, I suspect that may have been an excuse.
This entire Fest was tied to the theme of the DS movies, which didn't make me particularly happy. I think of the movies as a very minor adjunct to the TV series I loved. The organizers tried to make the actors onstage reminisce specifically about their movie memories. But they didn't succeed very well--the actors, bless them, rambled all over the place!
Probably because of this attempt to focus on the movies, they cut one of the features I've liked at recent Fests: recreating scenes from the show with the original actors.
And supposedly, it was because of the movie tie-in that they held the Fest at an MGM hotel. Hello? Did I miss something? You'd think DS had a long and happy relationship with MGM! Never mind that MGM butchered Night of Dark Shadows, destroyed the footage cut from both films, and made no serious attempt to save DS91 after NBC canceled it...
I was especially livid after reading, in Kathryn's new book, exactly what happened with NODS. When Dan Curtis showed MGM brass the print he and his editors had labored over for weeks, they told him they hated it--and gave him 24 hours to cut 25% of his film, or they'd do it themselves! Writer Sam Hall was reduced to tears.
Back to the Fest. The Collinsport Players were terrible. The pits. Beyond belief. They should be put out of their misery.
As usual on the Coast, there wasn't much in the Dealers' Room or the Display Room.
And also as usual on the Coast, the Costume Gala had only a few entrants, and most of it was deadly dull. But two "performances" redeemed it. One guy--who's legally blind--wasn't in costume, but gave a great performance of the Daniel-Gabriel scene in which Gabriel finally reveals he's able to walk, and deliberately scares his elderly father to death. He played both parts, jumping back and forth between the two chairs, and finally "died" on the floor in great style. That was cool. And another guy did a far-out Liza Minnelli impersonation--Liza Minnelli as DS fan!
I sat through both auctions, and was thoroughly bored. I don't know if they really are running out of interesting things to auction, or if it was just "me." One thing: people struck me as much more conservative in their bidding than usual, showing sales resistance and common sense. No one bid anything for a quite good drawing of Humbert Allen Astredo.
Last year's Banquet was the best ever, with Roger Davis emceeing and John Karlen spontaneously joining in. This year it was back to Dullsville. (Wonder if they had to pay Roger to emcee last year? Knowing Roger...) At least the food was good. But the "prizes" were really crummy. They actually handed one person a DS coaster!
On the whole, it was fun, and I'm sure the many first-time attendees were thrilled. But I'll leave you with a final, fitting image. Before the Banquet, everyone packs away the DS T-shirts and changes into something more dressy. When my friend and I got back to the convention area for the evening's festivities, we ran into an acquaintance from Winnipeg. She was in her stocking feet, shoes in her hand--those elegantly-shod tootsies hadn't been able to take the hike back from her room! [3]
1999
front cover of 1999 program book
back cover of 1999 program book
2000
2000: Con Report
Festival Report -- 2000 (Los Angeles)
Wonderful! Can't use enough superlatives. Fourteen actors attended, including the "biggies": David Selby, Lara Parker, Kathryn Leigh Scott, Nancy Barrett, John Karlen, Marie Wallace. Large, enthusiastic crowds. And for a change, some new fan fiction in print. Kathy Resch had a new issue of TWODS, and was also selling a new fan novel about Willie and a great Forever Knight fan novel by Jean Graham.
Kathy'd had some of my stories for years, and I finally asked and received her permission to go ahead and post them online. She included two of them in the new TWODS, and to my delight, she picked up all the revisions and improvements I'd made when I posted them. I wouldn't have presumed to ask her to go to the bother of doing that.
Back to the Festival proper. The highlights: David Selby read us very moving poems from his new book of poetry, which was inspired by his mother's death. The book is available for purchase, as well as his CD. Also, Sunday afternoon, the ever-wonderful John Karlen gave a terrific reading of a monologue by Willie (written by an outstanding fan author, Mary Elizabeth Overstreet). James Storm gave a great Country/Western performance--just him and his guitar, no band to drown out his vocals. I've always thought I hated Country/Western, but he won me over. And Lara told us she's working on another DS novel, but it's still at the outline stage.
Less enjoyable: Roger Davis is really a terrible blowhard, going on and on about his financial success and the multimillion-dollar real estate projects he's involved in (while also busily hawking the shirts he sells). By contrast, David Selby and Marie Wallace are always selling their creative works (she's a photographer) to benefit charities.
Nancy Barrett gave a cabaret performance at the Banquet. I have mixed feelings here. We all love Nancy (she and Grayson Hall were my favorite actresses in the cast). And in DS, I thought her singing was fine. But now, frankly, I think she sings off key--and to start with, should have all her material transposed significantly lower. Her singing was no match for Jim Storm's: his voice seemed like an instrument, of which he had total control.
All these people look absolutely wonderful! The women are still great beauties. James Storm is a gorgeous guy whom I'd guess, from a little distance, to be in his thirties. David Selby is also still gorgeous, though he's let his hair go gray and looks closer to his real age. Among the musings in his book: his mother had raven-black hair till the end, and was distressed that his had turned gray. The only photos she displayed of him were those in which his hair was dark.
John Karlen, of course, is quite overweight--but he actually seemed to have lost a few pounds since last year. Looks his age, but his delivery of that monologue proved he's still a great actor. It's a shame he's not working.
Louis Edmonds seems very frail and feeble now, though he's "only" about 76. And Dennis Patrick (who's 81, and just had a bout with pneumonia) was a shadow of his former self. I hope he'll be able to bounce back by next year. [4]
2003
Brooklyn, NY over Labor Day Weekend
2003: Con Report
The Dark Shadows Festival held in Brooklyn over Labor Day Weekend, 2003, was a magnet for fans because we'd been led to believe it would be the last. There were between 2500 and 3000 attendees, making it the largest Fest in several years.Organizers indicated it was the last full-scale convention they're planning--full-scale meaning 3 or more days. They were vague about what will replace it. (The last thing we've heard: a 2-day event in Tarrytown next year. Ugh!) But in response to protests, they said that doesn't mean they'll never have more full-scale cons. I suspect it will depend on how many fans indicate they're still willing to fly cross-country and spend several nights in expensive hotels. The wild card: new fans have been embracing DS in droves, but there's no way to predict how long that will continue.
Young, first-time attendees seemingly had a wonderful time at this Festival. It didn't make that favorable an impression on me, attending my 12th. The highlights for me were seeing old friends, being able to buy great fan fiction (three novels by Mary Elizabeth Overstreet, which I could have ordered by mail), the Collinsport Players' skit (wonderful!), and a Costume Gala that had some terrific performances to offset the inevitable bad ones.
The first event, Friday, was a New York Harbor Cruise.
[...]
On to the Festival proper. I'm always interested in learning things I hadn't known about the show or actors. I picked up plenty of new information this year...but all of it was unpleasant.
First, we were told Mitchell Ryan was fired from the show because of a drinking problem (which he later overcame). I had never dreamed of such a thing. I'd suspected he left because he was originally intended to be the male lead, and resented losing that status to Jonathan Frid.
Worse yet, someone told us Thayer David "drank himself to death"! I find that hard to believe. At the time of his death, he was set to star in a Nero Wolfe TV series. If his drinking was out of control and had caused major damage to his health, wouldn't it have been well-known in the industry? Why would producers have taken a chance on him?
Diana Millay gave us the sad-if-true information that when she last spoke to Jonathan Frid, he was depressed about being 80 years old. We had never before heard anything negative about Jonathan's state of mind, only that he's in excellent health and enjoying his life in Canada. If what Diana said is true, I'm sure he wouldn't have approved her telling us.
About speaking out of turn...Lara Parker had every right to tell us she's a liberal Democrat, but not to add that Kathryn Leigh Scott is a Republican! Kathryn didn't look happy about it.
When a fan asked why Joel Crothers left the show, there seemed to be some snappishness among the actors onstage. Someone gave the too-brief answer that he left for a role on another soap. Diana Millay began rambling about having worked with him on "The Secret Storm," and about his having been very ill. (I think everyone knows now that Joel was gay and died of AIDS.) Kathryn said he'd been on "Santa Barbara" after that--apparently trying to shoot down Diana's claim that he'd been seriously ill at that time.
I'm sure I've heard or read somewhere that Joel left DS for the same reason as Alexandra Moltke--they were sick of playing "good," bland characters. Joel was given a chance to play the villainous Nathan Forbes, and was terrific; but then it was right back to Joe Haskell. I think I've read that he wanted the role of Quentin; it seems reasonable.
But if he really didn't leave out of dissatisfaction, whoever answered the question should have said more than, "He left for another soap." Some newer fans may not understand that when an actor--even a Lara Parker--was "killed off" or otherwise disposed of, and there was no immediate plan to use him or her in the next storyline, the person was not still under contract. He or she was simply out of work, with no guarantee of ever being brought back. It's actually surprising that so many actors were available when Dan Curtis wanted them again.
John Karlen's reference to Dennis Patrick Friday night was disturbing. Dennis had died in a tragic house fire at age 84. While other actors were offering affectionate reminiscences, John cut in with, "Dennis Patrick is dead. Dead!" Without his actually saying it, it seemed he meant, "He's dead, stop talking about him!" I'm not being critical; it made me worry about John, since he and Dennis had seemed to be close friends. I gather some fans thought John was either drunk or ill.
Friday night in particular, I thought that while there were some good fan questions and comments, a high percentage were stupid or downright weird. (One fan insisted Dennis had been married to her for 50 years. Brrr.)
I heard something else that may be true or only a rumor. Most fans' favorite convention site was New York's Marriott Marquis. We were unhappy at having to go to the WTC Marriott; the Brooklyn one isn't ideal, either. The story I heard is that the Marriott Marquis refused to have any more DS Fests because fans allegedly made too much noise. The person who told me that claimed DS fans had been wrongly blamed for noise that was actually made by a wedding party.
Other Fest events: I thought Chris Pennock's reading from his comic book was hilarious--for about the first ten minutes. Then it dragged on and on, repetitious and ultimately going nowhere.
Diana Millay gave us a cock and bull story about having experienced a time warp. She said that during the filming of "Night of Dark Shadows" in Tarrytown in 1970, she was the last person leaving the Lyndhurst mansion one night, and encountered a mysterious "night watchman" she believes was a living 19th-century man. She interacted with him, telling him she "was there with the film crew." Their being able to see each other and converse--if one believes it--would imply she had stepped through a time warp. She found the experience so creepy that instead of trying to go any farther, she retreated into the house and slept there. She found that creepy too. In the morning the house felt normal again--and she learned that as she'd suspected, there was no night watchman in 1970.
A friend of mine said immediately, "Why didn't she mention this watchman-from-another-time asking what she meant by a 'film crew'?" Beyond that, I forget whether she claimed to have been leaving the mansion in her 19th-century costume. If she wasn't in costume, a 19th-century man should have commented on her clothes. That's so obvious that I think she must have said she was still in costume. But how likely is it that (a) an actress would be leaving a location site in costume, and (b) she'd just happen to step through a time warp while she was suitably dressed?
If someone else had told this tale, I'd make the charitable assumption that the "watchman" had been pulling her leg. But Diana has always struck me as a phony. At a previous Fest, she told us a story about the late actor Telly Savalas's encounter with a ghost. A variation on the Phantom Hitchhiker: Savalas didn't pick up a hitchhiker, but was aided by someone after his car broke down, and the man who helped him turned out to have been dead for years. I don't know whether this story is true or a myth. But it had been circulating for a long time, and Diana had the gall to pretend it was something she only knew because Savalas had been a friend and confided in her. Bull.
I normally don't care for country music. But I listened to James Storm at a Fest several years ago, and his performance blew me away. He's just magnificent, so expert--or inspired--musically that I can appreciate anything he chooses to sing about.
I thought his performance would be a highlight of the Fest for me again this year. But it wasn't. Why? Because of the incessant chatter of people around me. Will convention goers never learn that when a musical performance is in progress, the fact that it's loud and their conversation can't drown it out does not mean they aren't ruining it for those near them?
One of the intended highlights was cast members' performance of a DS "sequel," read before mikes like an old radio broadcast. Titled "Return to Collinwood," it was written and directed by David Selby's son Jamison. I didn't expect much, so I wasn't disappointed. But the plot was rudimentary: Angelique had stolen Quentin's portrait, but she'd hidden it in a too-obvious place and he quickly recovered it. Meanwhile, Elizabeth had just died, and they read her will--which divided her estate predictably among Carolyn and husband Ned Stuart, Quentin (who was dating Maggie, concealing his not aging by adding some gray to his hair), and Willie (who got the Old House, in which he was living with a wife played by Marie Wallace). It was established that Roger was dead, Barnabas and Julia were traveling in the Far East, presumably married, and David was mining gold in South America.
Also, Elizabeth's will revealed that she had another child...the absent Victoria Winters (groan). I'd been hoping the buildup would lead to a surprise revelation that the child was someone else. That would have been interesting. In fact, having an evil mind, I was hoping it would be Carolyn's husband Ned! Hey, Roger was married to his grandmother...
Puzzling and unpleasant: when Maggie said, quite seriously, that Quentin was the first man she'd cared for in the I-forget-how-many years since Joe Haskell's death, many fans laughed. Coming when they did, the laughs implied they thought the idea of Joe's being dead was funny. The actors looked as startled as I was.
Loose ends: Sebastian Shaw had been catatonic for years (Angelique succeeded in activating him as a zombie). But the script never explained why he was catatonic--or, for that matter, how the still-young Joe Haskell had died. Some fans think a continuation is planned.
We got only a quick look at Jamison Selby. He appeared to be a dreamboat. I was less interested in the play than in him!
The Sunday night banquet was an even worse disaster than usual, with its interminable waiting lines--first just to pick up tickets, then to get in the hall. The process was delayed by autograph-signing still going on. That's always a problem, but it was compounded by Nancy Barrett's not having been available to sign at any other time.
Someone on a list I'm on later made a nasty comment about "handy's and some of the elderly" being allowed in the banquet hall early. The "handy's" slur was despicable.
[...]
This year there was more after that night: a trip to Newport, R.I. on Monday, Labor Day, to see the "Blue Whale" (a bar actually called the Black Pearl) and "Collinwood" (a mansion called Seaview, now a university dormitory, which we knew we wouldn't be allowed to go in). Only the exteriors were used in DS.
[...]
Aside from our seeing the Black Pearl and "Collinwood"--which was, admittedly, the point of going--the only good thing that happened all day was that we arrived back at our hotel at almost exactly the planned time of 10:30.
I seem to have had bad karma throughout this Fest. And I doubt I'll ever attend another DS event. I've sworn off flying since 9/11, at least without better reason than a fan convention. New York is the only convention site I can reach without flying; the city is far from a favorite of mine, and this New York con may have been one too many.
But I'll always be able to say my friends and I were victims of...the Curse of the Black Pearl!
[5]
misc unknowns
- ^ from con report; archive link by Wilusa
- ^ from [con report; archive link by Wilusa
- ^ from con report; archive link by Wilusa
- ^ from con report; archive link by Wilusa
- ^ con report; archive link by Wilusa