“We were just standing here talking, and suddenly he fell over!”
Why does the moth love the flame?
You turn on the porch light and there they are, banging their little moth noggins against the lightbulb, desperate to break through and be consumed in flames. There doesn’t seem to be a good evolutionary explanation for this, but there they are, doing it, all night long. Why?
Well, one explanation is that a moth’s navigation system depends on transverse orientation, keeping a fixed angle on a distant source of light — typically the moon, apparently. So the moth is trying to keep the moon in a fixed place, and then along comes your porch light, and the moth gets all confused, ending up in a spin around the bulb. Or maybe not. It’s possible that people just made up the concept of “transverse orientation” in order to explain the moths, and it doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense. Why couldn’t moths just fly in whatever direction they wanted to fly, like everybody else?
There’s another possible explanation, which is that female moths’ pheromones are slightly luminescent, and emit some of the same frequencies as candlelight, so the moths trying to immolate themselves think they’ve found a spectacularly turned-on lady moth. Except moths are even more attracted to UV light than candlelight, and UV light doesn’t have the same wavelengths as the pheromones, so that’s not it either.
People also use the word “phototaxis” to explain this phenomenon, which once again doesn’t really apply to anything except moths, and another possibility is that flowers reflect UV light, so maybe the moths think that the lightbulbs are a food source. There’s a point at which this is more about you than the moths.
But our actual assignment for the day is to find a living person with feelings that the resurrected shade of Angelique Collins can tear apart and devour, sucking the heat and life force out of his body to perpetuate her own blasphemous existence, which she seems pretty determined to do. The dish of the day is called Larry. He’s an assistant director who’s pretending to be an actor who’s pretending to be a lawyer.
And this is Parallel Time, that raucous what-if space where everything is the same except the stuff that’s different, so it’s hard to say what lawyer warmth even tastes like here, but Angelique’s feeling cold today, and everybody else needs to stop backseat driving and just give her someone to eat.
So this is Larry, another in the long line of doomed investigators — those brave, half-remembered doctors and lawyers and police officers and psychic researchers who ask the questions and unearth the secrets on our behalf, and then pay the terrible price thereof.
Frankly, Larry isn’t much of an investigator. He’s chased John Yaeger around the block once or twice, and asked some impertinent questions about the terms of Cyrus Longworth’s will, but he hasn’t gotten close to the terrible truth at the heart of that story — just beating his wings against the lightbulb, not scorching himself on the hot coils within. In fact, he’s such a lame doomed investigator that he’s not even being killed by the monster in his own story; he has to cross over to the Quentin/Angelique story for his inevitable comeuppance.
And Larry shouldn’t even be here, anyway; this is supposed to be Chris. Don Briscoe showed up stoned at the studio a few weeks ago, so they fired him and came up with a replacement character — another lawyer who works with Chris, played by an assistant director. So Larry is twice-removed from this situation, a fill-in fink who belongs anywhere else but here. Besides, we’ve already had a doomed investigator named Larry.
But here he is, Larry Chase, made of meat and full of heat, just the thing our sinister succubus was hoping for. He sees her shiver in anticipation.
“Miss Stokes, is something wrong?” he says, doomedly. Angelique says she doesn’t know.
“Well, you’re trembling!” he points out. Larry is the kind of actor who says “well” at the beginning of every sentence. There isn’t a name for that kind of actor, because we don’t have enough of them to bother coming up with terminology about it. They’re usually strangled in their cradles at birth.
She says, “Suddenly, this house is as cold as a tomb!” which doesn’t really get a rise out of him, and no wonder. “I don’t feel well” is a matter of opinion, but the temperature can be independently verified. Besides, Larry didn’t come over for a weather report.
She tries again. “I’m so afraid!” she says. This provokes a response.
“Well, what’s frightened you?” he says.
“I hate to be alone.”
“Well, where’s Quentin and Maggie?” he says. I told you about how he starts every sentence with “well”.
She turns on her eyes, full blast. Angelique is a woman you want to say yes to.
“I heard someone down the hall,” she says, and he doesn’t care. What hall?
“Would you stay here with me for a while?” she asks, which turns this into a whole other kind of scene. This is the lonely housewife and the UPS driver, or the pizza delivery guy, or whoever lonely housewives interact with when they’re feeling particularly lonely.
He blushes, and says, “Well, actually…” because he honestly can’t start a line without saying the word “well”.
But this is what they do, the hungry ones, when they see a stranger passing by that nobody in the audience cares about. “Hey, what’s wrong?” says Fred the handyman. They always want to know what’s the matter. They like to think they’re the hero of this story.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked you, should I?” says the pitcher plant.
“Well, nonsense!” Larry replies, giving up all hope of a last-minute appeal for audience sympathy. “I finished my work at the office. I just wanted Quentin to sign some papers I brought.”
“Isn’t your wife expecting you?” she teases, and he replies, “I’m not married, Miss Stokes.” He might as well say, I’m a useless drone, with nothing to offer the world except some papers that don’t really need to be signed.
“I’m the last of the bachelors,” he declares, “and proud of it!” It doesn’t matter whether that means anything or not. You’re definitely the last of something.
I don’t have much, the drone says. I don’t have looks or brains or a storyline. What do I have that I could offer to the queen?
“It’s all right,” she says. “I feel much better, just standing here, near you.”
He grins. “Well, that’s the effect I like women to have.”
And he blew it, his one seductive moment. It finally happened, and then, “That’s the effect I like women to have”? But this has never happened to him before. He’s been rehearsing for this moment every day, sometimes twice a day. The last of the bachelors.
“Feel any better now?” says the second-to-last, gathering her in his arms.
“Yes,” she pants. “Yes, I do!”
The teens are up on the hill, at Makeout Point, and a sharp knife waits for the right moment to punish them for their sinful thoughts and deeds. The moth is circling the candle, asking if it’s free tonight. They think it’s pheromones, or food. It’s actually the terrible price.
“Hold me,” she says.
He looks around. “You’re sure no one’s here?”
“Quite sure.”
“I’ve been wanting to hold you like this ever since I saw you,” says Fred.
“I’ve wanted to do this ever since I first met you,” says Larry.
You thought this was your fantasy, your dream come true. She turns around, and all of a sudden, you’re the one she’s been looking for. You thought this was a story about you.
“Oh, I feel so warm in your arms!” says the ice queen. “Kiss me.” And he does.
Monday: Five Things.
Dark Shadows bloopers to watch out for:
In the teaser, there’s a little bit of audio bleed-through just as the opening narration ends.
When Will examines Larry in the foyer, there’s various bits of marking tape on the floor.
Cyrus promises Angelique, “I’ll drop on back soon.”
When Barnabas leaves Collinwood, you can see a studio light.
This isn’t a blooper, but it’s fun: When Barnabas is sitting with Buffie at the Eagle, there’s a glimpse over his right shoulder of the candle on the table behind him. It looks like his cape’s on fire. This goes on for longer than you think it would.
Barnabas tells Buffie, “Perhaps in another band of time, you’ve left Collinwood.” He means Collinsport.
Barnabas admires the painting in Buffie’s apartment, and while he’s turned away from the camera, he slips his fangs into his mouth.
Behind the Scenes:
Buffie’s got the time-traveling pan-dimensional Raggedy Ann doll, which we’ve also seen in Sarah’s room in 1795, Nora’s room in 1897, and Windcliff in 1968. But what is that picture on the right side of Buffie’s mantelpiece?
Monday: Five Things.
— Danny Horn
Dark Shadows Every Day 
This is one of my favorite episodes! Jonathan Frid has the most powerful sexual animal magnetism in this one than in any other. He growls when he is speaking to Buffy and all the light play on his face in the blue whale is fantastic.
I completely agree – Jonathan could bring it when he wanted to. Too bad Barnabas didn’t have that sexual edginess all along.
Jonathan could be very romantic, too – he totally convinced me in the 1795 episodes that Barnabas loved Josette enough to pursue her throughout time.
I think that’s more a tribute to Elizabeth Eis than it is to Jonathan Frid. She does a great job seeming to be excited by him, so we can imagine ourselves being excited in the same way. The same thing happened with Kathryn Leigh Scott- the only one of her characters whom she played as if she were genuinely attracted to Barnabas was Rachel Drummond, and the scenes with Barnabas and Rachel are indeed fairly sexy.
It’s a whole different kind of sexy than Quentin projects (when he’s not being a total rat bastard.) Quentin seems to say “I could have sex with you any time I wanted.” Barnabas in Vamp Mode simply declares “I’m going to have sex with you and you will like it.”
Now, there’s lots of consent issues with that, of course but he doesn’t come across as a slobbering bear rubbing his hard-on against your coat (eew, KLS shoulda got combat pay for that scene) the way Yaeger does. It’s far more a sense of I know what I am and so do you.
“But what is that picture on the right side of Buffie’s mantelpiece?”
First impression is that it reminds me somewhat of Maurice Sendak’s creatures from the kids’ illustrated book, “Where the Wild Things Are,” published 1963.
I doubt it could be a picture of “Rat Fink” because the ears are way too small. “Rat Fink” is both (1) an underground comic character by Edward “Big Daddy” Roth, and also (2) a vintage 1960s toy. [The toy “Rat Finks” were small plastic toy versions of the anti-Mickey Mouse comic character dispensed to kids in gumball vending machines in the 1960s. Often about 1″ inch tall by 3/4″ inch wide x 1/2″ inch thick in size, a tiny toy “Rat Fink” was molded of hard plastic and would emerge from a vending machine when you inserted a nickel and turned the knob of a vending machine at the local supermarket, department store, or drugstore. Google “rat fink 1960s” to see images of “R.F.”.] But this picture on Buffie’s mantle lacks the R.F.’s great big ears, so I’ll rule out the R.F.
Do you already know what it is, Danny? Or are you trying to figure out what it is?
It looks vaguely familiar, but that’s about it.
It’s the “mascot” for Naugahyde..http://modernkiddo.com/the-cutest-lil-ugly-critter-meet-the-nauga/
And here..http://sellsellblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/advertising-greatness-1-nauga.html. I was a kid when the nauga character was introduced and part of fairly big campaign. I had a hunch about the photo and my memory proved to be right
Maybe it was a product placement or a little bit of humorous intent on the part of the crew. Putting a Nauga on Buffie’s mantel might be an inside joke to viewers since in “real” time she had a Leviathan naga talisman
Tony Edwards-
Tony wrote, “It’s the “mascot” for Naugahyde.”
Great catch, Tony! All the many times I sat in the 1960s on a Naugahyde chair or ottoman, I never knew the company had a mascot in its ads! I don’t recall the advertising at all. Naugahyde! What an unexpected blast from the past …
Thanks. I looked for a TV ad. Haven’t found it yet. Speaking of TV , today in the Russia hearings one of the Senators actually said the words “dark shadows” involving Russian interference in our election
Oh, that’s marvelous, Tony. Thank you! I knew that someone would figure it out, but I didn’t think it would happen so quickly. 🙂 That’s a crazy little bit of 60s pop culture that I’ve never heard of before.
I didn’t notice it at the time when watching DS. It’s amazing how very little ANY news or pop culture references made it into the show
That’s what makes the show so timeless, as a world unto itself one can escape into.
In two very early episodes there was a photo of LBJ in the sheriff’s office. Not prominently, though, just high up in a far corner just inside the door to the office, and only because ABC was to be doing live coverage of daughter Luci’s wedding that weekend, as announced over the end credits of a couple episodes ahead of the event. Then it was gone.
In one early episode, among the magazines on the coffee table in Burke Devlin’s hotel room is an issue of TIME, which has a cover feature on Vietnam as it relates to the graduating college class of sixty-six.
Otherwise, you couldn’t make certain references to elements of the culture at the time on TV, let alone popular brand name products. Before a week of scripts could go into production, they first had to be vetted by the ABC Department of Broadcast Standards and Practices. In one episode, David Collins was to have gone into the diner at the Collinsport Inn to ask for a Coke. But the Department would not allow such a “gratuitous plug,” so a change was made to the script where he has a sundae instead. Even the “COKE” item that is often seen on the diner menu on the wall behind the counter was removed for that episode. Likewise, in one episode, it was scripted that on her way to Collinsport Laura Collins was supposed to have stayed over at the Avery Hotel in Boston. But you couldn’t even name a real-life hotel chain, so that reference got cut as well. Occasionally you would hear certain popular songs coming out of a radio or the jukebox at the Blue Whale — there were two Beatles songs played in the Blue Whale, in two separate episodes, but, alas, they were generic Muzak versions.
“That’s what makes the show so timeless, as a world unto itself one can escape into.”
PrisonerOfTheNight-
So glad you said that! Politics and pop “culture” rarely if ever intruded in Collinsport, although funky fashions and the occasional muscle car were a few exceptions, i.e., Roger’s Ford Mustang with bad brakes courtesy of David and Roger’s ’67 Plymouth Fury convertible, which he and Vicky drove to the Collinsport Inn to confront Burke Devlin. Thanks to Ohrbach’s, we can look back now and enjoy (or even laugh at!) some of the outrageous clothing the fashionable set wore in the 1960s and 70s. And you gotta love Carolyn’s “flip” hair-do!
But thankfully politics and the Vietnam were both kept outside the town limits. And for good reason. One might guess the Collinses were Republicans, and the cannery workers and Joe Haskell might tend to be Democrats. Probably good guesses. But I never gave it a thought as 9-year old kid in 1968. Frankly I think the show is much better without referencing the outside world in an attempt to make the script ‘relevant’ or ‘hip,’ both very overused terms of the 60s. Had politics invaded the show it would made the story seem dated and just plain ugly, and I fear it might have ruined the special world of DS.
You dig, man? 🙂
Phillip Todd did mention that man had landed on the moon in an early Leviathan storyline episode. I was 12 at the time and I was really surprised that that real-life event was mentioned.
Prisoner, I remember hearing the Theme from a Man and a Woman playing at the Blue Whale once in ’67 and then again on the radio when Adam broke into Collinwood and abducted Carolyn in ’68.
Prisoner,
It was on Dark Shadows that I fist heard the term “soda,” as in a beverage (I was 9 at the time and living on a farm in Alabama. ‘Nuff said.) Maggie treated Vicki to a soda at the coffee shop. It looked like a class of Coca-Cola or Pepsi to me.
In the South we tended to use the term “drink” (or as the more redneck would pronounce it, “drank”). Some Southerners supposedly called all the sodas Coke, as in: “Would you like a coke?” “Yeah.” “What flavor?” “Orange.” (Truthfully I only heard a Southern comedian tell that joke.)
Consequently, if you wanted an alcoholic beverage, you’d call it “booze.”
When I loved to Los Angeles, I learned that soft drinks are called “sodas.” So maybe calling a soft-drink a soda is a California/New York thing.
Oh yeah – one more thing.
Many of the TV shows in the 80s that were produced in Hollywood used red milk cartons with the word “milk” printed in white. This was actually a rip-off of the milk cartons in Ralph’s supermarket chain in California. All they had to do was to get rid of the “Ralph’s” logo at the top of the carton.
For those with any interest in it (and who never were in an elevator at any time during the sixties or seventies) here is Paul Mauriat’s version of Theme From A Man And Woman.
Actually, I had always thought this was a ‘cha-cha’ version of Strangers In The Night.
Both the Paul Mauriat and the Francis Lai versions are très magnifique! There used to be more of the versions done by Francis Lai from the film “A Man and A Woman” on YouTube, but many/most of those by Lai have been recently removed.
Well, Danny. I hope you’re not casting aspersions on the acting Jonathan Frid who often used the “Well..” sentence opener. It’s a device used by actors to give them a running start when they might not exactly know their lines and need to stall slightly
Well, yeah, but Larry would do it five times in a row.
TRUE
I’m kind of amazed that Larry HAD any human warmth for Angelique to steal…good thing she wasn’t robbing acting talent, she would’ve starved!
So were they going to kill off the Don Briscoe character had he stayed on, or had they just had enough of Larry Chase and the director’s assistant turned actor who played him?
That foyer scene always amuses me, this poor man’s Dean Martin who fancies himself such a lady’s man. Note how right after the kiss starts Lara Parker opens her eyes as if in annoyance, like she can’t wait for the scene to be over. That’s the effect he likes women to have indeed!
“Everybody loves somebody sometime…”
I have a feeling the Chris Collins character was going to be more important as the storyline progressed but still just as expendable as Larry Chase
My reply is always the same — they had no plans to do anything with anybody. They just did what they could with what they had. Obviously, Angelique needs to stick around until the end, but the secondary characters can go wherever the wind blows. We haven’t seen Bruno in about a month; he just disappeared.
I’ve been spreading the gospel of D Horn in the DS groups I frequent. There was no plan, there was no plan, there was no plan.
Definitely “Not The Marryin’ Kind”!
My grandma was head over heels for Dean Martin. She used to say, “He can put his shoes under my bed anytime.”
Bruno, Chris, Trask, Damian, they’re dropping like flies! Well, technically Damian had already dropped, I mean, well, you know what I mean. There isn’t even a Mrs. Johnson in PT, and has anybody seen Amy around since the last séance?
And I bet the folks in Tarrytown were glad to get “those movie people” out of their mansion; the crew must have left marking tape on all their lovely carpets and marble floors.
Can doomed attorney Larry Chase be counted as a redshirt? I suppose he was investigating, so he gets just what he came for. Like the moth who goes into the flame, he gets the answer. He learns what he wanted to know, but only he understands.
Oops, I meant Dameon, of course. Must have had an Omen moment there.
»»In fact, he’s such a lame doomed investigator that he’s not even being killed by the monster in his own story««
Glad to have the regular supply of this blog back just for lines like these, as we suffer through the strangely and terrifingly dull world of Parallel Time together.
Also, Larry’s so useless I thought he’d already been killed. I forgot the first guy was Fred.
I thought he was Fred DeCordova.
Regarding the safeguarding of DS from contemporary culture and politics: I was always amused by the silent ironclad rule that nobody in a daytime soap could ever be seen watching television–as if such a clash would create a matter/antimatter explosion that would rock the very foundations. But yes, it was part of the escapist value of the show then and now that the historic upheavals (still echoing) around the soap had no bleedthrough; part of what marked the Burton film as going in a different direction was the exploitation of period music, the acknowledgment that there were hippies in the world, and Angelique as a glass-ceiling-shattering businesswoman rather than an old-school omni-coquette.
Okay, that does it! I’m watching Dark Shadows (2012), even if it’s only to see what all the fuss is about. (And despite my disappointment with 2010’s Alice. Maybe I just need to develop my reimagination?)
” … I’m watching Dark Shadows (2012), even if it’s only to see what all the fuss is about. …”
John E-
Uh … uh … I wouldn’t … Uh … The experience could leave you more scarred than Adam!
I’m going in, just like the first guy going into the creepy old house, confident that there’s nothing to worry about, nobody believes that stuff anymore, there’s a rational explanation for this, and it’s just superstitious nonsense.
Naturally I’m doomed. (Doomed! DOOMED!)
“… Naturally I’m doomed. (Doomed! DOOMED!) …”
Eva Green’s no substitute for Lara Parker. I wish I could unsee her Angelique. And unsee Johnny Depp as Barnabas. And unsee Chloe Moretz. And for such a huge budget, the 2012 Burton thing — most shocking of all — lacks a plot!
If I seem overly harsh on it, the reason may have something to do with the fact I traveled all the way to Los Angeles to see it. Fortunately, now I would think one can buy it or rent it for just a couple bucks, which is all it is worth IMO.
As I quipped to actor James Storm (“Gerard Stiles”) outside the Vista Theater in Los Angeles after the “Dark Shadows” movie Premiere Party in May, 2012: “You guys have nothing to worry about from this Burton movie!”
BTW, it was a double feature at the Vista: “House of Dark Shadows” (1970) with “Dark Shadows” (2012). You can guess which of the 2 films got the crowd of DS fans more excited.
-Count Catofi
2012 is DS on acid.
And I am not ashamed, I own it and watch every year.
Do not compare them.
If you must, go after Ben Cross and Lysette Anthony.
As bad as the 90’s DS was, it wasn’t loathsome. 2012 DS is an indelible stain, and I hate that whenever I bring up DS I have to clarify that I’m not talking about the Burton film. But worst of all, it grieves me to know that there are millions of people out there who think that that abomination is Dark Shadows. It’s not.
Yeah. I was really excited to see it after hearing about the casting. It could work! I was expecting a Sleepy Hollow or Sweeney Todd. The theater display was really cool and encouraging too. The first 20 minutes or so we’re pretty good, as was Alice. The rest was a disaster! What a serious disappointment.
We didn’t get to see it in the theater because my mom was in hospice and died that August. We didn’t have the heart to tell her Jonathan had passed (although she might have heard about it on the news.
Just don’t be fooled by the first few minutes, which are the best part. Once it moves into modern day, ech.
With the Frid, Selby, Parker and Scott cameos they each have appeared in two DS feature films, previously accomplished by Grayson Hall, Nancy Barrett, etc. but nobody was in all three.
It is tremendously flawed but arguably more “DARK SHADOWS” than the 1966 “pre-Barnabas” episodes. (Yeah, I said it.)
I don’t think anyone will disagree that there’s more to the Burton film than its missteps. The thing that breaks my heart about the Burton Dark Shadows is actually what it says about the current state of Burton’s talent. The fact is, he was a big DS fan, he loved the show, and wanted to recreate what he loved, and there are flashes of that love that really get your hopes up, but in the event he couldn’t render that love without turning it into another late-period Tim Burton movie, with souped-up visuals, dropped plot, poker-faced Johnny Depp goofiness, and an apocalyptic special-effect free-for-all at the end: he did it with Alice in Wonderland, he did it with Miss Peregrine . . . it’s as if he can’t stop himself, even when he might have wanted to.
Michael E, we may be the only ones here, who give any props at all to the Burton film.
It seems that everyone expected realism from Burton.
Really?
Although I WAS hoping that he would give Moltke her wish, and make Vicki a vampire.
A comedic one.
I enjoyed the Burton movie at the time. I was disappointed with Julia’s role, as I always am, but otherwise I had a good time. But that was before I started the blog, so I’ll probably have some brand new opinions about it when I get there in one of the future pre-emption posts.
You’re not alone. I loved the Burton film. It was a quirky, campy homage. I just tend to avoid discussions about it on the internet. 😉
Also, #TeamBenCross
Speaking of “flashes of love” for DS in the Burton film and “Theme from A Man and a Woman”, I thought it was cute The Blue Whale had a cameo the 2012 version.
I loved it too! Especially the Alice Cooper bit. I wanted it to be serious, but it is what it is. Only wish they had spent a little more time on the original cast cameo. They deserved more.
Tim Burton’s such a big fan of Dark Shadows that he blamed the show for the failure of his film adaptation of it… http://www.collinsporthistoricalsociety.com/2014/12/tim-burton-blames-failure-of-dark.html
I cant do it!
Yes, the Burton film was very much set in the 1970s while the TV series wasn’t “set” in the 1960s so much as filmed there. This might seem a weird distinction but bear with me.
There really are no references to pop culture or society at large beyond the fashions. This, I think, also helped the visits to the past seem otherwise seamless. The characters are dressed differently but generally speaking behave the same.
In this episode, a prop we saw once before gets a lingering closeup- the television set in Buffie’s room. I think it’s the first one we’ve seen in the whole series, and that its presence is supposed to explain why Buffie will let obvious creeps like John Yaeger and Barnabas Collins come home with her. There is nothing waiting for her in her apartment but the idiot box. She’s so desperately lonesome that she might even watch ABC’s daytime lineup before going to work.
Robert Sharp wrote: “I remember hearing the “(Theme From) A Man And A Woman” playing at the Blue Whale once in ’67 and then again on the radio when Adam broke into Collinwood and abducted Carolyn in ’68.”
Robert Sharp-
“Un Homme et une Femme” by Francis Lai being played in Collinsport apparently made an impression on both of us! With so many ba-ba-da-ba-da’s, one could easily mistake it for an instrumental. I can well remember the melody playing for Burke & Vicky at the Blue Whale, and then again later when Carolyn tries to interest Adam in music by showing him a radio playing the same song. Contradicting the Frankenstein monster, Adam says, “Music no good! Music bad!” or some such put down. I still hear the tune playing in my head now:
“Comme nos voix, ba da ba da da da da da da
Chantent tout bas, ba da ba da da da da da da
Nos cœurs y voient, ba da ba da da da da da da
Comme une chance, comme un espoir
Comme nos voix, ba da ba da da da da da da
Nos cœurs y croient, ba da ba da da da da da da
Encore une fois, ba da ba da da da da da da
Tout recommence, la vie repart …”
I’ll admit I don’t mind this particular bit of pop on the jukebox at the Blue Whale. Quite the contrary, for some reason the song makes the scene with Vicky and Burke all the more memorable. So I’m glad the song was included in DS.
Me too. I wish I could find the version/recording they used on DS.
As I recall, the version in the early DS episode # thirty-something with Burke & Vicky at the Blue Whale was one of the versions by Francis Lai. It was associated with the film. I cannot say for sure if the Blue Whale version from DS episode # thirty-something was on the film soundtrack, or if it was released separately as a single, or perhaps both. It used to be on YouTube but unfortunately was removed several months ago, presumably due to unauthorized use. However, as these things go, it will likely reappear there …
Robert Sharp-
This MAY be the version in the link (below), but I am not sure …
Yes! I think this is it!
Also, didn’t they play some cuts from Herb Alpert at the Blue Whale? Or maybe it was Robert Cobert’s imitation of Alpert.
Bob, I know the one you mean. There’s a sort of Tijuana brass type of moment in the Blue Whale. Isn’t it during the Phoenix story, when you see a couple spinning that wicker light ball that hangs suspended near the bar and they walk back to their table laughing? I can’t recall the number of the episode, or even if that’s the scene that matches, but I can recall the tune vividly — very upbeat and trumpet driven.
You know, there’s one instrumental that has me completely stumped, and I’ve wanted for months and months to know the name and artist. In episode 63, the one where Matthew Morgan tries to strangle Burke Devlin at the bar, you hear this funky-sounding soul instrumental with keyboard soloing over the rhythm. At first you might think it might be Booker T and the MGs, but the rhythm section is far weightier, driven by a slow and heavy bass line and there is a vibraphone in the tune as well. You hear it also in episode 65 when Roger offers Sam a bribe to leave town.
Prisoner, I think the Tijuana Brass / Herb Alpert number played at the Blue Whale when Barnabas had first arrived in Collinsport. It might have been when Vicki and the gang were discussing the recent attacks in town, or maybe the mystery surrounding Liz and Jason.
I’ll check out the Booker T. music in the episode you described.
I wish they had used more contemporary music on the show. It’s not like the show isn’t dated-looking already.
This discussion about popular music from the 60s playing at the Blue Whale on Dark Shadows, really brings back warm feelings. Why? Because when the show first began, my mom, dad, and sister would be watching. It was a family thing and we enjoyed talking about the show; if one family member had to miss an episode, another would fill them in on what happened.
The music such as “Un Homme et une Femme” was also something that we heard on the radio quite often, and hearing it on Dark Shadows seemed to make the show more legit.
Sadly, once all the time travel stuff started happening, my family members stopped watching. It was actually the disappearance of Vicki Winters that was the final blow. After that, I was a lone wolf watching the adventures of the Collins family.
“It was actually the disappearance of Vicki Winters that was the final blow. ”
Robert Sharp-
And what a terrible loss it was! Alexandra Moltke was having a baby, as you know. She gave her on-the-record reasons for leaving in interviews. But I always privately wondered (pure speculation on my part) if she left not only to have her baby, but to protect the baby. There was a great deal of interest at the time in the terrifying film “Rosemary’s Baby” (1968). You know what the film’s about: woman gives birth to a baby sired by the devil. Nobody had an inkling yet that the film would shortly be followed by the brutal murder of director Roman Polanski’s beautiful wife Sharon Tate. But what I mean is, if I were going to have a baby, would I want to be nearby on the DS set when the script calls for Nicholas to invoke the devil? I don’t think so …
So, I can’t help but wonder if Moltke left the show at least in part because got spooked by all the occultic activity in the DS scripts and the frequent buzz in the news about the production and the June 12, 1968 release of “Rosemary’s Baby.”
She did mention the concerns with “Rosemary’s Baby” in the interview, though I am not so sure how serious she was. On the other hand, I won’t use a Ouija board in my home anymore, so I wouldn’t blame Alexandra if she did feel that way.
“… I won’t use a Ouija board in my home anymore. …”
A wise choice, I agree with you. I am not one of those who consider a Ouija board just another harmless boardgame. Used one with kids in the old neighborhood. None of us became possessed by a demon or anything like that — at least as far as I know :-). But being a little older and hopefully wiser, I think it’s good policy not to fool with things unknown. Shakespeare said it best:
“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
-William Shakespeare, “Hamlet” Act 1, scene 5
If it helps at all, ghosts aren’t real, and neither is the Devil. So there isn’t much of a threat coming from that direction.
That’s a matter of opinion. While I don’t know if the Devil is real, I do believe that ghosts are. I don’t believe that they are out to get us the way some DS ghosts were. I’ve never seen a ghost, but I believe whole heartedly that my loved ones on the other side do leave my signs and messages from time to time.
As for dark forces, I just don’t know. However, I don’t want to take a chance inviting them into my home. Caring for a depressed husband drains enough of my energy. I don’t need any added difficulties from the other side.
I will use the Ouija board at a different location, though. I just haven’t in a long time. My mom and I were very good with the Ouija. So was my high school history teacher, according to her daughter, and they both were good Southern Methodists; they just happened to have an open mind as well.
I am really late to this post, but I have to add that there are a number of big DS fans who are Christians, who saw the show as wonderful fantasy. The occult in DS always seemed to be fantasy–but no, I have heard too much about ouija boards and as a Christian, I do believe in the devil, though not really in ghosts, so yes, it’s a matter of opinion.
Also, Robert, as a Southern girl, I want to add that your earlier post about sodas. I was raised in Chattanooga, where Coca-Cola was 1st bottled, and yes, we called everything a Coke. People even said, “Let’s get a Coke,” and when asked what kind ordered a Pepsi. I now live in Augusta, Georgia, and it’s not so common here anymore to sat Coke–lots of folks say soda.
In the south, people call soda “pop.”
It’s interesting that Dark Shadows never used a Ouija board. They didn’t avoid other means of contacting spirits or divination like crystal balls, Tarot cards, seances, even magnetic letters that spelled out Danielle Roget!
That’s quite an amusing moment when Adam barges in at Collinwood demanding music and then a radio is switched on and it’s the theme from A Man and A Woman — that look on his face, of confused indignation. So he points at the radio, and with all the conviction of his sewn-together being declares, “Not music!” With one swipe of his gigantic meaty paw he swats the radio clean off the table, and then the screaming starts.
You mentioned Paul Mauriat earlier. You know, for some reason I always confused Paul Mauriat with 101 Strings. They had an album out in 1968 (101 Strings Play Love Is Blue) with Love Is Blue on it, and my parents had it on 8-track in the seventies. I would always request for my dad to play it when we would go out driving in the car — so much so that he was actually getting tired of hearing it. I thought of revisiting that music some 40 years later and ordered a vinyl copy online. Alas, the thirty-three and a third disc cannot fit into my portable compact CD player.
So all this time I thought Paul Mauriat had collaborated with 101 Strings, but I guess not. I have in my collection a Paul Mauriat CD, two albums on one CD, Joue Les Beatles and mamy blue. The bass playing on the Beatles tracks is almost as good as Paul McCartney himself. I’ve just ordered online the original Paul Mauriat album on CD that has Love Is Blue, Blooming Hits.
I also have a 101 Strings CD called 101 Strings Orchestra Movie Favorites. It has Chariots of Fire, Laura’s Theme from Doctor Zhivago, and the themes from The Pink Panther, The Twilight Zone, A Summer Place, Summer Of ’42. Good stuff.
Between Paul Mauriat and 101 Strings, I have enough selections to fill up almost half the Blue Whale Jukebox — that’s a Seeburg Select-O-Matic 100, which means it holds up to a hundred selections, though besides the Bob Cobert instrumentals you only ever hear a handful of other tunes, all instrumentals.
PrsionerOfTheNight wrote: “You mentioned Paul Mauriat earlier. … Love Is Blue … my parents had it on 8-track in the seventies. I would always request for my dad to play it when we would go out driving in the car — so much so that he was actually getting tired of hearing it.”
Sounds like you enjoy many instrumentals, as I do. Paul Mauriat’s “Love is Blue” is one of the greats. Didn’t have a tape of it like your Dad had, but there was a lot of radio airplay. Great song!
Funny thing with instrumentals: We may know the melodies from many years ago, but without lyrics, it’s a bit more challenging to identify the song title, for example, in a computer search when there are no words to look up. But when you eventually find the one you’re looking for, it’s all the more fun to enjoy the tune.
For example, do you recall which instrumental in approx 1968 was used to sell Benson & Hedges cigarettes in TV commercial where frustrated smokers would repeatedly break their Benson & Hedges because the cigs were extra long 100’s?
Or this familiar instrumental, below. I hunted along time before I found out the name of this so, so very familiar melody:
Regards,
-Count Catofi
A heat-seeking succubus always leaves her prey old or cold.
Below, an attractive, much younger 1960s woman embraces a much shorter, older gent to “The Disadvantages of You” (1967) by Brass Ring. The no-chemistry kissing scene we’ve been discussing with Angelique and Larry was what reminded me of the embrace of this other mismatched couple (pictured in the video). I wouldn’t think he is Al Lewis, who played “Grandpa” on “The Munsters,” though there is a resemblance.
Your Excellency, my friend Mark Gunderson invented the mashup & returned to the form years after it caught on with a set called Ritalin Ruckus which included “Promiscuous Intermission” incorporating “Summer Samba”. http://evolution-control.com/sounds/DJ%20Pantshead/ritalinruckus/mp3/24%20-%20Promiscuous%20Intermission.mp3
Prisoner-
Oops. Instead of the Rita Calypso full playlist version I somehow posted by mistake, I meant to post this link, below, to Brass Ring’s instrumental titled, “The Disadvantages of You.” No offense intended, Prisoner, as you are a man of many advantages. 🙂
The essential Paul Mauriat album to own is “The Theme from A Summer Place” with 19-year-old Angela Cartwright on the cover. The music on it is OK, too.
PrisoneroftheNight, I had a radio show in the 80s & included the radio smashing scene in my intro to its 2nd season. I also contributed the intro to the station’s 4:00 Rock program, starring Dr. Lang. “It is 4:00, yes! But 4:00 in the afternoon! [Barnabas screams.]”
If Angelique heard the song, “The Disadvantages of You” by Brass Ring, would it make her think of … kissing Larry?
I can imagine how hard it was for Lara and everyone there, to hold back the laughter,
Which was very loud in dress rehearsal, I’m quite sure.
She actually does crack a smile during a serious scene on the very last episode.
Cyrus promises Angelique, “I’ll drop on back soon.”
That’s just common slang wherever it is that Cyrus comes from. They say on that all the time.
So bummed I’m a year behind you guys. These were the most fascinating comments! This blog has made my re-tour through Dark Shadows (my first since it’s original airing) just so much sweeter. Thank you, Danny for having the mad idea to create this incredible blog.
And to the amazing commenters. I love you all!
Dennis Patrick was also addicted to saying “well” at the start of every line. And his addiction was contagious! I remember scenes between Jason and Willie where they seemed to be dueling with “Wells”.
Couple of thoughts… if they needed a ‘red-shirt’ lawyer for a few episodes, they could have gotten Jerry Lacy to double up as Trask’s identical-cousin-on-his-mother’s-side, Tony.
Also, has anyone else ever tried spouting off Parallel Time theories as a come-on line in a bar?
I just saw a 1971 horror comedy called “The Vampire Happening”, which immediately reminded me of the Polanski film “The Fearless Vampire Killers” starring Sharon Tate (and one contemporary critic actually called it an inferior rip-off of that movie). It also possibly ripped off Dark Shadows, because when the main character, played by Pia Degermark, visits her ancestral castle for the first time she is shown a portrait of her great grandmother who looks identical to her except with black hair instead of blonde. It turns out the great grandmother is a vampire and much of the humor centers around them being mistaken for each other due to the use of wigs. It was a fun but terrible movie. Anyway, the character of Dracula, played by Ferdy Mayne, mentions Rosemary’s Baby twice, which I thought was interesting given the topic of conversation in the comments on today’s episode.
As far as ghosts are concerned, I grew up in a haunted house and not only did every member of my family hear or see these ghosts at one time or another, visitors who were never told about the hauntings experienced them as well. Also, when I was a teenager my friends and I used a Ouija board and ended up contacting a spirit that first told us it was my grandmother who had recently died, and later claimed to be Satan himself. We ended up bringing the board to a priest who promised to douse it with holy water and then burn it. I never used a Ouija board again.
By the way, I like to think that “the time-traveling pan-dimensional Raggedy Ann doll” is actually Annabelle. Unlike in the movie, the real Annabelle was a Raggedy Ann doll, which to me is even creepier.
Barnabas could have meant Collinwood when taking to Buffie, rather that Collinsport; didn’t she once work there?