"MY COUNTRY IS THE WORLD AND MY RELIGION IS TO DO GOOD." THOMAS PAINE

The lights were reaching into the sky when I arrived at the Vista Theater just after 6 p.m., and a crowd had already formed to the left of the red carpet that stretched to the street. For some reason, no one was in front of the rectangular opening in the forecourt on the other side of the "rope" that would be filled with cement by the end of the evening, but that's where I chose to wait for the festivities to begin. Soon I was joined by Joe Integlia, David Nahmod, and Bobubas from the board. I got one of Bobubas' NoDS buttons that he made to commemorate the event. David N. was researching an article for Scary Monsters and Joe was assisting him as photographer. David had also recently visited the set of Passions and invited Jade Harlow, who plays Jessica Bennett and is a big DS fan, to the event. Auntie Foundling soon made an appearance, and as suspected he had changed his appearance drastically-- hair cropped short, and BLONDE. Then Dean joined us, and later we were able to say hello to ProfStokes plus MordecaiGrimes from Tim's DS board.

The auction began at around 7:30 and was emceed by Jim Pierson with assistance from Marcy Robin. Items included an MPI music box, a hard cover copy of DS Resurrected autographed by Dan Curtis, Nancy Barrett's and David Selby's record which they'd autographed, MPI Barnabas ring, Barnabas poster, 2 David Selby posters that he'd later sign, the DS commemorative plaque with cast photo, reunion cast photo, set of 4 Innovation DS comics, photo of Barnabas and Vicki autographed by Alexandra Moltke (which went home with me), and a DS script autographed by Nancy Barrett (which went home with DEAN WILSON OF CRAWFORDSVILLE…-- I couldn't resist!). All proceeds went to Women's Care Cottage, which assists homeless women and their children.

When the hour-long auction was over we were told that the limo containing the stars was approaching and also that Jim Storm was added to the roster of guests. Workers then immediately got to shoveling the wet cement into place. The black car soon pulled up to the front of the theater and the following stars emerged: Nancy Barrett, John Karlen, Diana Millay, Lara Parker, Chris Pennock, David Selby, and Jim Storm. Each took the microphone to say a few words and in their own way expressed their happiness at being there with all of us. John Karlen was ebullient, and David Selby was the last to speak after stopping on the carpet to talk with fans and sign autographs. David announced that this was the first time he was seeing the movie in all the years since it was made.

The space was smaller than for the HoDS signing and the stars were plentiful, so John Karlen stood aside as the other stars quickly took their places on one side of the cement, and then the waiting began. Apparently it was just too wet and they were told to wait until it dried a bit more. Occasionally they would give it a test run but the surface would be troweled over again. (Do you suppose the Sopranos ever have this problem?) They were all great sports about it, joking and laughing with each other and everyone around them. Pennock at one point commented that his Prozac was wearing off, hee hee!! It took a while, but eventually they were able to sign and leave handprints.

It was after 9 when we were invited into the theater. The side ropes were removed and the crowd swiftly moved forward, but it wouldn't be a DS event if we weren't left like that, right? So there we stood, now tightly bound together and waiting, waiting, until we each got our chance to squeeze through one door and into the lobby.

Everyone received a program chock-full of NoDS photos and also a popcorn if they so desired, and t-shirts commemorating the anniversary were on sale for $15. We watched trailers for Burnt Offerings and HoDS before the movie started, which of course was the 94-minute version. It looked fantastic, and there was plenty of audience participation. Occasionally I could hear Selby react to certain scenes, and especially amusing was his reaction to the final possession of Quentin by Charles. The most confusing scenes in the movie garnered collective "huhs?" from many in attendance. BTW, there were several empty seats, unlike the sold out HoDS screening of a year ago-- a sad indicator of current times and events?

Several people began to leave during the closing credits but returned to their seats when Pierson made the announcement that additional footage would be shown, and historian Darren Gross was introduced. Darren explained his quest and then regaled us, first with the 7 "explicit" scenes cut to prevent an R rating, and then the formerly lost piano scene (with Angelique in the dress worn in the portrait) and the fabulous séance scene. Lastly, he played the 2-minute trailer which contains glimpses of the lost pool scene and the séance scene in color, woo!

Afterwards, Pierson auctioned one last item-- a poster of Angelique's portrait. MUCH to my surprise, and despite it having been announced on flyers for the event, there was to be no autograph signing. He mentioned something about it having been too crazy when held in the lobby at last year's HoDS event (as if craziness has ever been an excuse at any DS gathering). So anyway, most of the stars had left by now, but John Karlen remained to chat with fans and Nancy Barrett graciously signed several autographs and posed with fans in the lobby. Diana Millay was also chatting a bit with fans in the front of the theater. The cement was dry and contained a smattering of gold particles-- all coming from Ms. Millay's glittery blouse, or if you prefer her explanation, "Phoenix dust". By this time, everyone not staying inside to watch a 1971 episode (#1187, with commercials intact) was calling it a night-- and a fun one at that!


Preview: David Selby