Jonathan Frid Dies - This Dark Shadows Vampire Is Truly Immortal

Article first published as Jonathan Frid Dies - This Dark Shadows Vampire Is Truly Immortal on Blogcritics.

If you are anxiously waiting for Tim Burton's Dark Shadows film (opening on May 11) starring Johnny Depp as vampire Barnabas Collins and are a fan of the original series, you probably cannot believe that the iconic actor who played that role in the TV show has died. Jonathan Frid was 87, but for all those fans of the 1960s soap opera know, he is eternally ensconced in their minds as the love sick but thirsty vampire that became a national sensation.

I can still recall looking at my watch in school, waiting anxiously to get out that door and home to watch Dark Shadows. Filled with eccentric characters living in a spooky mansion on the coast of Maine in fictional Collinsport, Dark Shadows stoked my imagination with images of vampires, werewolves, witches, warlocks, and ghosts. The "ordinary" Collins folks (and they were really all rather bizarre each in their own way) were bewildered by the preternatural happenings in their house and town.


Frid broke on the scene in the show's second season. As a hapless caretaker stumbled upon his chained coffin in an old mausoleum, the vampire Barnabas is unleashed upon the unsuspecting populace. Looking just like the man in a portrait hung in the mansion's main hallway (because it was actually a portrait of him from the 1700s), Barnabas claims to be a "cousin" from England wearing the same ring, carrying the same cane, and having the same strange hair cut that seemed like a vampire's cowl.

This was certainly a far different soap opera than the ones my mother and grandmother watched like All My Children or The Secret Storm. Here the opening credits showed a silhouette of a mansion with eerie music playing, a sea crashing against a shore, and then the waxy letters of the show's title splashing against the screen. It got me excited every time I saw it, and even the thought of it now still does (even though I haven't seen the show in almost thirty or so years).

Frid's Collins was a vampire with a conscience and a heavy heart, long before all the current incarnations of vampires in sappy movies and TV shows that have watered down the genre. Barnabas is made a vampire not by the bite of a bat but by a witch's curse, because he spurned her love for another woman named Josette. Centuries later in the modern day (1967 that is) Collinsport, Barnabas runs across the nanny to the Collins children named Victoria Winters, who bears an uncanny resemblance to his Josette. Of course, you can see where this is going.

The show had a fresh feel to it back then and was rather experimental, dealing with not just the gothic but science fiction too. There were trips back and forth in time and even into a parallel universe. All of this on a half hour soap opera along with werewolves, gypsies, tramps, and quite a few thieves, and you could understand why this young fan couldn't wait to get home and let the homework wait until after dinner.

Looking at Frid now, many would probably not believe he became a sex symbol, but that he did. In those days before e-mail, Frid was showered with letters from amorous females who found his conflicted vampire sexier than many of the more handsome but rather boring fellows on other soaps. Barnabas just didn't kiss the girls, he sunk his teeth into their throats.

Frid somehow kept the show together, being the center of the action and making it a big hit. I know in later years that I read various things about him disliking the attention he received because of the Barnabas role, but towards the end of his life he seemed to embrace the insanity of being loved for playing an undead Romeo. He even appears briefly in the new Burton film, a fitting connection to his enduring legacy to be sure.

Jonathan Frid, the man who played an immortal who only wished to be normal and see another sunrise, is gone but his legacy as Barnabas Collins will not be forgotten. In pace requiescat!

Photo Credit: news24.com

Golden Globes Reminiscent of the Drunken Golden Age of TV

Article first published as Golden Globes Reminiscent of the Drunken Golden Age of TV on Blogcritics.

What stood out most for me during the 69th Golden Globe Awards Ceremony was not host Ricky Gervais and his brazen humor and wit, nor was it the wonderful gowns worn by the beautiful women or the acceptance speeches or the botched readings from the teleprompter by an array of presenters. What captured my attention most was that this is an awards show awash in booze, and no one associated with it has even a glimmer of embarrassment about it.

After Gervais gave his monologue, which was a bit disappointing in terms of its shock and awe, he introduced Johnny Depp as the first presenter with the line, "Please welcome the man who will wear literally anything Tim Burton tells him to." Depp sauntered on stage and sniffed Gervais's libation.

Obviously contented to discover it was pure booze, Depp turned and spoke, seemingly channeling his inner Captain Jack Sparrow (not to mention Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, and the Mad Hatter too). So the Golden Globe Awards were off to a well lubricated start.

Throughout the broadcast Mr. Gervais could be seen with glass in hand (he switched to wine at some point during the evening). As the director gave generous glimpses of the audience throughout the night, we saw images of the glittering Hollywood stars drinking, eating, kibitzing, and drinking some more. One shot revealed champagne being poured, others showed the glasses clinking and faces getting rosier than Santa's after too many cookies washed down with shots of whiskey.

While this may seem a bit shocking in 2012, it actually reminded me of the old days of television. I remember when I was very young and saw Jackie Gleason come out on stage after the show, knocking down the fourth wall with a cigarette in one hand and booze in the other as he talked with the audience. Legendary newsman Edward R. Murrow always was seen cigarette in hand, and I recall guests on The Tonight Show (and others of its kind) smoking and drinking as they talked with Johnny or the other hosts.

In fact, even characters in sitcoms and dramas would be seen drinking and smoking regularly. It was almost a given that you would see at least one light-up and one drink per episode. Standing out in my memory was a scene featuring the great Lucille Ball on I Love Lucy having her cigarette lit by guest star William Holden and having the flame burn the edge of her putty nose (part of a disguise she was wearing).

Somehow things all changed for television. I am not sure when and where it happened, but I think it may correspond with Disney taking over Times Square in New York City and ABC Television. The Disney version of life seemed so pervasive that it wiped out the dens on inequity in the center of the real world New York and the liberal use of smoking and drinking on the tube. It may not have been all Disney's fault, since the censors on all stations seemed to kick in, and everyone from the Huxtables on The Cosby Show to stars in serious dramas suddenly went cold turkey. No one smoked or drank, and it does seem like that is more or less still expected on TV today (unless you count Super Bowl commercials).

So last evening when I was watching the Golden Globes, I was reminded of those shows of my youth. A memory of Dean Martin on one of his celebrity roasts came to mind, and old Dino was hoisting a glass and smoking a cigarette throughout the proceedings. Last night no one was smoking at the Globes (at least that we could see), but they were certainly drinking copiously. Mr. Gervais summed it up best by comparing the broadcast to the Oscars, saying that the Globes show is "a bit louder, a bit trashier, a bit drunker, and more easily bought." I am not sure about that last part.

Somewhere up there Gleason, Carson, Martin, and the rest were no doubt hoisting a few and enjoying the show. It is something of an anomaly in the world of entertainment to see stars loosen up like that, reminding us of a time long ago when it was common. This doesn't mean we won't watch the Academy Awards broadcast, because we will, but that mostly dry affair is a little bit more stodgy than it should be, and maybe the open bar has something to do with it.

Photo Credit- Getty Images

Blizzard of December 2010: Surviving Cabin Fever

Article first published as Blizzard of December 2010: Surviving Cabin Fever on Blogcritics.

There is always a point after a big snowstorm that everyone starts getting what is known as cabin fever. When I hear that term, I always think of a log cabin covered with snow with only the top of the chimney exposed and the smoke drifting up into the snowy air. While we are not that snowed in, we are kind of trapped in some ways and have had to think of things to make the best of it.

The problem in New York City is that Manhattan always gets the best attention during snowstorms. Mayor Bloomberg was on television telling people to take mass transit and go to a Broadway show, go out to eat, blah, blah, blah. If Mr. Mayor ever made it to the outer boroughs, he would find that not only are the streets not plowed, but that many subway lines and bus lines are not running either. Sure, we'd love to see a show, but how are we going to get there?

I ventured out today to get coffee, only to see cars, taxi cabs, and even a city bus stuck in the snow. Plows can't get down these streets with vehicles in the way. It is a frustrating situation to be sure. What was worse is that my local Starbucks was closed and completely covered with snow over the windows and doors, so I had to trudge back home and make my own coffee.

Still, getting out and walking was good for me. I got to breathe the cold fresh air, and I also saw that many other people still hadn't even been out yet because their front doors were still covered with snow.  At least I had made it outside.

Later in the morning my daughter and I went back out to have some fun. I did some more shoveling as she scouted for the arms for our snowman, and then she started finding the best packing snow to commence the creation of the base.
I joined her and we fashioned a snowman we called "Mike" in honor of the mayor who forgot that Queens and the other boroughs besides Manhattan existed. When finished, Mike seemed a pleasant enough chap, but his biggest attribute was silence. I always wince when Bloomberg speaks, so I wish he would take a cue from his namesake snowman now and then.

We then prepared snowballs for the snowball fight of the century. I was no match for my Lauren's onslaught of carefully aimed volleys, and then had to capitulate after she caught me off guard with one last shot to the kisser. She packs a mean snowball and has quite an arm and pinpoint accuracy.

After this contest was over, we made our snow angels. This is an art that depends on many things, mostly the depth and quality of the snow. Finding virgin snow is much harder on the second day after a storm, with all the varmints running around the yard (in this neck of the woods, varmints are squirrels, raccoons, and birds). Still we were lucky to find a good patch of snow on our patio and the angels came out quite nicely.

Since my son was sick with a bad cold inside, we decided it wasn't fair to enjoy ourselves too long without him. Besides, the cold was really starting to get to us, so we put our shovels away, bid adieu to snowman Mike, and headed indoors for cups of warm soup, English muffins, and hot tea.

As the day waned, the cold wind blew harder, and even cabin fever seemed preferable to the frosty bite of the outdoors. Besides, we have it much better than those poor folks in the old days in that cabin with the lone chimney sticking out of the snow. We have cable television with hundreds of channels - even though the last few days it seems that all we watch are either Nick Jr. or Disney. We have our computer connected to the Internet for our amusement and entertainment, and we have a video cabinet stocked with an infinite number of movies from which to choose (though we have had to watch Johnny Depp in Alice in Wonderland and Despicable Me too many times to mention).

So there are ways to avoid cabin fever, like getting out and taking a walk or playing in the snow, but there is also a time when you must acquiesce to its presence and accept your circumstances. Pop a log on the fire, make some hot cocoa, and sit back and relax. Before you know it you'll be back at work and school and wishing you could do something like this, so enjoy it while you can!