Fans of the Gothic soap "Dark Shadows" will remember that Quentin Collins was cursed with Lycanthropy-- actually, that boy had a LOT of problems, but I'm trying to keep this relatively short and interesting for the Masses-- but as you'll see, my title is just a pun.
Step into the Wayback Machine, Sherman, and set the controls for 42 years ago, late March, 1970. This week "Dark Shadows" begins a story in "Parallel Time." That is a device, as writers of episodic television and comics know, by which you can do all sorts of new and shockingly dramatic things to your characters without creating story continuity problems in your established "real world."
(Back in the 60's, DC comics loved to do stories about Superman being murdered, or being married, or having three-headed sons and such, and labeled them "Imaginary Stories." That was a funny concept, like all the other comics stories they did were Documentaries.)
Anyway, in this alternate universe, Quentin Collins has just married Maggie Evans and carries her over the threshold of Collinwood. What makes it of special interest to me is that David Selby is carrying Kathryn Leigh Scott (no relation to Erica) right toward the camera in her miniskirt!
TaDAA!!
Long way to go for a blurry upskirt shot, eh?
But what cute li'l panties on a lovely bottom!!
Awoooo!!
The actual scene has a slightly better (more revealing) view, but this is the only version I have right now for you.
Naturally, jaded web wanderers will say, "Meh," but I was 14 when this occurred, and Oh Em Gee.
And I noticed that this particular episode was directed by Lela Swift, and was kinda surprised that she would let this shot pass for millions of viewers to enjoy. The other directors, who were GUYS, well, sure!
It's possible (maybe not likely, but possible) that Lela and her crew just didn't notice this. I did, because I was and am an Obsessed Pervert. But this li'l upskirt "accident" was maybe seven to ten seconds long, and these things happen. In TV production, especially live, or "live-to-tape" TV, there are hundreds of details to attend to at once, which is why (to do it right) it takes a team of people.
Now if it WAS on purpose, maybe Lela thought it would spark ratings. Maybe she wanted to get the sponsors and network brass all hot and bothered, in more ways than one. Maybe Kathryn's skirt stayed down in rehearsal. Maybe Naughty Kathryn changed to a shorter skirt for the actual taping! If that's the case, maybe someone gave her a spank after this episode aired. (Wolfie's paw shoots up and waves around frantically to volunteer.)
Well, whatever the reason, it now lives forever on tape and DVD and BluRay and future Holographic Brain Inserts or whatever the next format will be, and I'm grateful.
By the way, here's a recent picture of the law firm of Selby, Parker and Scott. I mean, "Dark Shadows" cast members David Selby (Quentin Collins), Lara Parker (Angelique) and Kathryn Leigh Scott (Maggie Evans and Josette du Pres Collins).
Selby, lucky devil, got to kiss his lovely co-stars often. I don't recall that he ever got to spank them, at least not on camera. Or maybe that's not the gentleman's particular thing. because he's had TWO chances to spank Erica Scott and not availed himself of the opportunity!
I TOLD you Quentin had some problems!! But we can fix that! From an older WolfieToon:
Wolfie, you know I love these memories of my beloved gothic soap opera. :-) And yes, a panty glimpse in 1970 was a major deal. Kathryn Leigh Scott (also not a real Scott; she was born Kathryn Kringstad and chose her name from a box of tissues) wore mighty short skirts! As did Nancy Barrett (Carolyn) who also flashed her panties when she fainted in the Leviathan storyline.
ReplyDeleteI am planning a major blog rant about the new Dark Shadows movie, as I'm sure you can well imagine. The latest? Apparently Tim Burton thought the original DS was "awful." Mr. Burton can bite me... and not my neck, either.
A box of tissues?? I didn't know that! :-D
ReplyDeleteHi, Erica!! I remember Nancy's momentary moment, too-- it was a close-up as she hit the floor, I believe?
Odd you should mention that Burton thought DS was awful, because I just read two different interviews where he said exactly the opposite. In fact, he seemed quite passionately delighted with it.
Now, they had some awful moments to contend with, like all those damn flies invading the sets so often; or their unfortunate shoestring-budget tombstones nearly falling over; maybe that's the sort of thing he was talking about?
I'll have to find out what interview quote you're talking about and go see what's up!
I watched Dark Shadows but was never a big fan of it. I think because I missed a lot of episodes. I am not surprised anyone's panties showed we wore our skirts really short back then.
ReplyDeleteTo say something made years ago is awful isn't fair the technology wasn't what it is today and for a soap opera I think it was probably really low budget. It adds character to those characters. ;-)
Wolfie -- that's one of my favorite bits of DS trivia. KL Scott was with someone, I forget whom, and it was suggested that she needed to change her last name for acting. The first thing this person's eyes fell on nearby was a box of Scott tissues. KLS said in one of her books that she's lucky the tissues were that brand, or she might have ended up Kathy Kleenex.
ReplyDeleteOh, and here ya go: http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/rorschachsrants/news/?a=56841
ReplyDeleteThanks, Erica! The quote makes sense IN CONTEXT now-- Burton was talking, as Kaki indicated, about the reaction Kids Today would have to its TECHNICAL aspects.
DeleteHere's the relevant quote from the MAIN ARTICLE by Geoff Boucher:
"Burton, Depp and Pfeiffer...have nearly identical memories about racing home from school to catch the same strange transmission. (Dark Shadows)
“It was a real thing for me, I had to watch it, and it was tough because you’d miss the beginning — it started at like 3 p.m., but that’s when we got out of school,” said Depp, who grew up in the sunbaked suburb of Miramar, Fla. “And then it moved later because all the kids wrote in letters. When you met someone who knew the show and loved it, there was an instant connection.”
That connection doesn’t exist with young moviegoers today, however, and the producers of the new movie aren’t going to encourage anyone to check out the originals because, well, it wasn’t, technically speaking, a great show. “I think,” Burton said evenly, “you could say it was actually awful.”
You know, I'm not sure when these came out, but Kathryn also coulda been Patricia Puffs!
I just remembered a similar example: I put on one of the old animated dinosaur movies I'd loved as a kid for the grandgirls-- who, having been raised up after "Jurassic Park" and with the CG critters of "Walking With Dinosaurs," had their socks bored off.
DeleteMy sons had Christopher Reeve as Superman, and thought George Reeves was kinda clunky and goofy. (Gasp!)
Larken and I were swapping notes over the weekend about how the things that were dear to you in those formative "twixt twelve and twenty" years-- the music, the shows and movies, the fashions-- the things that expressed us when we couldn't quite express ourselves, and the things that got us through that cement-mixer, will always be the best, damn near sacred. But of course the gang behind us has a whole new set of things.
Happily, the original "Dark Shadows" has been preserved and will always be there. There may come a younger crowd who will appreciate it on its own merits, like those of us who weren't there can still enjoy some of the better silent movies or Big Band, and if nothing else, this hubbub is getting it discussed!
You might like this as well -- it's KL Scott's rebuttal to Geoff Boucher, from her blog: http://networkedblogs.com/vBB4a I like this woman! :-)
ReplyDeleteMe, too! Wow, I didn't know "Maggie" had a blog! And here I went on and on in front of her back about her lovely behind.
ReplyDeleteWell, it IS.
Ahem, anyway--
I've been thinking what she said so well, that they did five half hours (minus commercials) a week, virtually live, for YEARS with a Daytime Budget,and though there were some gaffs, there were some especially fine moments, too!
For instance, the scene with dying Barnabas forced to take Carolyn was never equaled for unsettling, creepy, subtle and genuine scariness in the movie version nor the "reboot" series!
But what I'm getting from everyone involved, including the original cast members, is that all the folks involved in the new movie loved the original series and that it will not be a put-down.
I'll have to check in later and see if Ms Scott answers Ms Scott!
I suspect the panty shot was left in either because no one noticed or no one cared. But either way it wouldn't have mattered, because I don't think the budget allowed for retakes.
ReplyDeleteI was a young fan of the show at the time, and I remember reading that the cast did a dry run-through of each episode in the morning, followed by a camera blocking in the afternoon to make sure everyone was standing in the right place, and then they did the actual taping, presumably in one take because it's hard to believe they would have left in all the mistakes and accidents they did if time and the budget had allowed for re-takes.
Under such horrendous time-pressure, it's no wonder the actors would occasionally blow their lines, especially Joan Bennett, who was used to the more leisurely pace of the movie set. As for spanking, Dave, I'm sure either you or I would remember one if it had occurred on the show, since I suspect between us we must have seen all the episodes.
Nonetheless, there IS a spanking connection to Dark Shadows, however slight, and it's this: Joan Bennett, who received nominally top billing because of the movies she was in during the 40's, was a strict mother and grandmother. I have a newspaper clip from the Chicago Daily News in 1970 in which Bennett mentions her grandchildren and that when they misbehave she asks them, "You know what I did to your mother when she misbehaved like that?"
The grandchildren answered, "You spanked her!"
As I say, I was a young fan of the show, but in retrospect, it WAS pretty awful.
"An ill-favored thing, sir, but mine own!"
Delete(Touchstone the Fool in "As You Like It")
As a matter of fact, Web-Ed, I have seen every episode, and there were a few spanking threats in the course of "Dark Shadows!"
In the first week or two, Burke Devlin threatened to spank Carolyn Stoddard for inappropriate behavior in public; later, she and Victoria Winters were in the bedroom giggling about it, and Carolyn was subtly excited thinking of "a man like that!"
The other threats involved a couple of the young boys, so we needn't bother with them.
If I remember correctly, DS taped one day ahead, so there were time constraints as well as the near-impossibility of editing videotape back then. But these were all stage-trained actors, and they knew how to keep the show rolling and not fall to pieces, even if the curtains fell off the wall!