Gaslight Digest Wednesday, November 10 1999 Volume 01 : Number 112


In this issue:


   Re: Today in History -- Nov 09
   RE: Today in History -- Nov 09
   Re: Seeking origins of Vampires, Vampyres, Nosferatu
   checking original periodicals
   Sunday's Gemini awards
   Sunday's Gemini awards
   Sunday's Gemini awards
   Re: Sunday's Gemini awards
   Stephen's mail
   Re: Sunday's Gemini awards
   _Dracula_ gets a new filmscore
   Re: _Dracula_ gets a new filmscore
   RE: _Dracula_ gets a new filmscore
   Today in History -- Nov 10
   Re:  Today in History -- Nov 10
   Re:  Today in History November 10
   Re: _Dracula_ gets a new filmscore
   Etext avail: Col. A Court Repington's "New wars for old" concluded
   Re: _Dracula_ gets a new filmscore
   Re: _Dracula_ gets a new filmscore
   Re: _Dracula_ gets a new filmscore
   Vampires
   A map of 'The Mysterious Island'
   Lupin Still Amazing After All These Years
   Re: Vampires
   For vampire lovers
   Re: For vampire lovers
   Chat:  Illustration and stories

-----------------------------THE POSTS-----------------------------

Date: Tue, 09 Nov 1999 07:04:32 -0500 (EST)
From: TFox434690(at)aol.com
Subject: Re: Today in History -- Nov 09

Bob

Are you sure Lee surrendered to Grant on this date in 1865. My recollection
is that is was in May of that year.

Tom Fox

===0===



Date: Tue, 09 Nov 1999 09:24:01 -0500
From: "James E. Kearman" <jkearman(at)mindspring.com>
Subject: RE: Today in History -- Nov 09

Tom Fox wrote:

> Are you sure Lee surrendered to Grant on this date in 1865. My
> recollection
> is that is was in May of that year.
>

April 9, 1865.

An illustrated US Civil War timeline: http://www.historyplace.com/civilwar/

Cheers,

Jim

===0===



Date: Tue, 09 Nov 1999 09:06:59 -0600
From: Chris Carlisle <CarlislC(at)psychiatry1.wustl.edu>
Subject: Re: Seeking origins of Vampires, Vampyres, Nosferatu

Paul Barber's wonderful Vampires, Burial and Death is
the best book I know of on the subject.  It's widely available
from libraries, and may even still be in print.

Kiwi

>>> <sdavies(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA> 11/08/99 01:17PM >>>
I received the following post this weekend, but am not sure what pointer to give
this casual visitor to the Gaslight website.  I'm presuming he read:  "Vampyres
and ghouls" (1871) http://www.mtroyal.ab.ca/gaslight/vmpghoul.htm

                                   Stephen D
                          mailto:SDavies(at)mtroyal.ab.ca
- ---------------------- Forwarded by Stephen Davies/Academic/MRC on 11/08/99
12:12 PM ---------------------------

Subj: Vampires, Vampyres, Nosferatu

Hi, I'm writing to ask about the article I read on your site.  I've sort
of made it my hobby to find out the origin of the vampire legend/myth.
I was wondering if you guys might be able to point me in the right
direction.

===0===



Date: Tue, 09 Nov 1999 13:34:23 -0700
From: sdavies(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA
Subject: checking original periodicals

Richard K. asks:

>>Has anyone ever seen a copy of Dickens's ALL THE YEAR ROUND?<<

     I've looked at both _All the year_ and _Household words_ as well as other
contemporary publications.  They are usually to be found in libraries with
larger collections, but bound into volumes.  This process means removing the
endpapers and any inserts (yes, there magazine inserts back then), so all you
get to see is the meat of the issue: the articles and stories.  Sometimes the
special numbers, that is the Christmas and occasionally summer issues, don't
even get collected in a volume.
     The surprise for me when I started reading these originals was how little
Dickens wrote fiction for his own periodicals.  It seems to have been common,
tho, for authors identified closely with one publication, to sell to other
publications just to bring in the money which kept their own publication afloat.
_Argosy_ didn't publish everything by Mrs. Henry Wood and _Belgravia_ certainly
didn't publish everything by Miss Braddon.
     Dickens took another route, however, by selling his novels in advance to
the printers who published them in installments as short-lived series, and the
printers added their own pages to carry advertising.

     A more gratifying read, when one wants advert-mediated examples of the
current culture to provide a contemporary context, is to look at newspapers.
The best example of all is the _Illustrated London news_.

                                   Stephen D
                          mailto:SDavies(at)mtroyal.ab.ca

===0===



Date: Tue, 09 Nov 1999 14:56:14 -0700
From: sdavies(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA
Subject: Sunday's Gemini awards

     I watched most of the Geminis (Canadian TV awards) on Sunday night, and
apart from not recognizing anyone who hasn't grown old and grey in the business,
I found it very entertaining.

     Here's some highlights of interest to Gaslight members:

     An award went to Raymond St. Jean for his direction of _Out of mind: the
stories of H.P. Lovecraft_.  Never heard of the series.
     Meredith Henderson won an acting award for "The adventures of Shirley
Holmes".
     I didn't see any awards go to _Emily of New Moon_ tho I would like to think
some did.
     On a related subject, the third and final installment of _Anne of Green
Gables_ should be showing up on fall TV.  It's a strange brew tho, since Anne
Shirley follows her beau, Gilbert, to WWI.  The original characters should have
had kids who went to war, but so be it.
     Details can be caught at the Sullivan Entertainment website, along with
mention of a new movie about the disappearance of Ambrose Small in 1919:

http://www.sullivan-ent.com/

     An evaluation of the as-yet-unseen Anne sequel, written by a fan of the
books:

http://www.nucleus.com/~dalen/newmovie.htm

     And a news article about how Sullivan Entertainment owes the Montgomery
royalties as far back as 1985 (which may explain why one of the TV events of the
 year has yet to be given its broadcast date):

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsArchiveJul99/candigest_jul6.html

     In an off-topic note, _Due South_ the program several Gaslight listmembers
have admired, won a people's choice award as best TV series.  The co-producer
made a crack about it being the most popular Canadian television series, for
which he expected to receive a letter from the Sullivans' lawyer.

                                   Stephen D
                          mailto:SDavies(at)mtroyal.ab.ca

===0===



Date: Tue, 09 Nov 1999 14:59:09 -0700
From: sdavies(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA
Subject: Sunday's Gemini awards

     I watched most of the Geminis (Canadian TV awards) on Sunday night, and
apart from not recognizing anyone who hasn't grown old and grey in the business,
I found it very entertaining.

     Here's some highlights of interest to Gaslight members:

     An award went to Raymond St. Jean for his direction of _Out of mind: the
stories of H.P. Lovecraft_.  Never heard of the series.
     Meredith Henderson won an acting award for "The adventures of Shirley
Holmes".
     I didn't see any awards go to _Emily of New Moon_ tho I would like to think
some did.
     On a related subject, the third and final installment of _Anne of Green
Gables_ should be showing up on fall TV.  It's a strange brew tho, since Anne
Shirley follows her beau, Gilbert, to WWI.  The original characters should have
had kids who went to war, but so be it.
     Details can be caught at the Sullivan Entertainment website, along with
mention of a new movie about the disappearance of Ambrose Small in 1919:

http://www.sullivan-ent.com/

     An evaluation of the as-yet-unseen Anne sequel, written by a fan of the
books:

http://www.nucleus.com/~dalen/newmovie.htm

     And a news article about how Sullivan Entertainment owes the Montgomery
royalties as far back as 1985 (which may explain why one of the TV events of the
 year has yet to be given its broadcast date):

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsArchiveJul99/candigest_jul6.html

     In an off-topic note, _Due South_ the program several Gaslight listmembers
have admired, won a people's choice award as best TV series.  The co-producer
made a crack about it being the most popular Canadian television series, for
which he expected to receive a letter from the Sullivans' lawyer.

                                   Stephen D
                          mailto:SDavies(at)mtroyal.ab.ca

===0===



Date: Tue, 09 Nov 1999 14:56:00 -0700
From: sdavies(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA
Subject: Sunday's Gemini awards

     I watched most of the Geminis (Canadian TV awards) on Sunday night, and
apart from not recognizing anyone who hasn't grown old and grey in the business,
I found it very entertaining.

     Here's some highlights of interest to Gaslight members:

     An award went to Raymond St. Jean for his direction of _Out of mind: the
stories of H.P. Lovecraft_.  Never heard of the series.
     Meredith Henderson won an acting award for "The adventures of Shirley
Holmes".
     I didn't see any awards go to _Emily of New Moon_ tho I would like to think
some did.
     On a related subject, the third and final installment of _Anne of Green
Gables_ should be showing up on fall TV.  It's a strange brew tho, since Anne
Shirley follows her beau, Gilbert, to WWI.  The original characters should have
had kids who went to war, but so be it.
     Details can be caught at the Sullivan Entertainment website, along with
mention of a new movie about the disappearance of Ambrose Small in 1919:

http://www.sullivan-ent.com/

     An evaluation of the as-yet-unseen Anne sequel, written by a fan of the
books:

http://www.nucleus.com/~dalen/newmovie.htm

     And a news article about how Sullivan Entertainment owes the Montgomery
royalties as far back as 1985 (which may explain why one of the TV events of the
 year has yet to be given its broadcast date):

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsArchiveJul99/candigest_jul6.html

     In an off-topic note, _Due South_ the program several Gaslight listmembers
have admired, won a people's choice award as best TV series.  The co-producer
made a crack about it being the most popular Canadian television series, for
which he expected to receive a letter from the Sullivans' lawyer.

                                   Stephen D
                          mailto:SDavies(at)mtroyal.ab.ca

===0===



Date: Tue, 09 Nov 1999 16:10:57 -0700
From: Deborah McMillion Nering <deborah(at)alice.gloaming.com>
Subject: Re: Sunday's Gemini awards

Was that a lapse into chronic historesis, as Dr.Who would say, or did
we just get three copies of that?

I would like to know about that H.P. Lovecraft series, myself.

Deborah

Deborah McMillion
deborah(at)gloaming.com
http://www.gloaming.com/deborah.html

===0===



Date: Tue, 09 Nov 1999 16:49:27 -0700
From: sdavies(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA
Subject: Stephen's mail

     We all have email hiccoughs some time or another, and I would brand anyone
who disagrees as willfully misrepresentative.

     My problem is that one of the college's servers is wonky which means I am
still getting some of the weekend Gaslight email, altho yesterday I had already
read the replies made by other Gaslight listmembers.  I know what you're saying,
"How can Stephen, the listowner, be the last to get a copy of the email by about
48 hours."  Well, it's indisputable, but when it started coming thru I got
several copies of each one by way of recompense.

     The triple bombardment of the Geminis you just received was not intended as
a distinction of how worthy the post was, but rather it was caused by the
server's inability to close my mail program after sending.

     Let it be remembered that I do not hold the record for consecutive
respostings of the same email to Gaslight.  After this little blip, I still hold
my amateur status.

                                   Stephen D
                          mailto:SDavies(at)mtroyal.ab.ca

===0===



Date: Tue, 09 Nov 1999 18:56:54 -0500
From: Linda Anderson <lpa1(at)ptdprolog.net>
Subject: Re: Sunday's Gemini awards

but, three times? <G>  Even in the TARDIS, we didn't have this problem.

Linda


At 04:10 PM 11/09/1999 -0700, you wrote:
>Was that a lapse into chronic historesis, as Dr.Who would say, or did
>we just get three copies of that?
>
>I would like to know about that H.P. Lovecraft series, myself.
>
>Deborah
>
>Deborah McMillion
>deborah(at)gloaming.com
>http://www.gloaming.com/deborah.html
>

===0===



Date: Tue, 09 Nov 1999 20:31:35 -0700
From: sdavies(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA
Subject: _Dracula_ gets a new filmscore

I'm catching up on my Internet entertainment news and saw this tidbit from
StudioBriefing:

http://us.imdb.com/StudioBrief/1999/19991007.html
>>
7th October 1999

A Little Fright Music
                          Oscar-winning film composer Philip Glass (Kundun) has
                          recorded a new soundtrack for the 1931 version of
Dracula
                          (1931/I), starring Bela Lugosi, the BBC reported
                          Wednesday. Since audio mixing was only in its infancy
at the
                          time, music was used only sparingly in the original
film, Glass
                          observed in an interview. He said that he merely
created a
                          new element for the film that helps to heighten the
suspense.
                          The BBC said that the new version of the film,
employing
                          the Glass score is due to be released on video this
month,
                          presumably with a Halloween tie-in. On Oct. 23 and 14
the
                          composer is due to conduct a live orchestra for a
screening
                          of the film at Royal Festival Hall in London.
<<

                                   Stephen D
                          mailto:SDavies(at)mtroyal.ab.ca

===0===



Date: Tue, 09 Nov 1999 23:39:36 -0500 (EST)
From: Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu>
Subject: Re: _Dracula_ gets a new filmscore

What, no more "Swan Lake"? I don't even know if I'll recognize the film.
Let's hope Glass knows what he's doing.

Bob C.


On Tue, 9 Nov 1999 sdavies(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA wrote:

>                           Oscar-winning film composer Philip Glass (Kundun) 
has
>                           recorded a new soundtrack for the 1931 version of
> Dracula
>                           (1931/I), starring Bela Lugosi, the BBC reported
>                           Wednesday.
_________________________________________________
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

Robert L. Champ
rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu
Editor, teacher, anglophile, human curiosity

Whatever things are pure, whatever things are
lovely, whatever things are of good report, if
there is any virtue and if there is anything
praiseworthy, meditate on these things
                                 Philippians 4:8

rchamp7927(at)aol.com       robertchamp(at)netscape.net
_________________________________________________
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

===0===



Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1999 00:16:01 -0500
From: "James E. Kearman" <jkearman(at)mindspring.com>
Subject: RE: _Dracula_ gets a new filmscore

> Let's hope Glass knows what he's doing.

Glass is someone whose work you either love or hate. I happen to like him. I
heard something of his performed at Tanglewood in the summer of 98, and the
Sunday afternoon crowd, which tends to be somewhat conservative in its
taste, really loved it. I think his style, which frequently uses repetitive
phrases to build momentum and tension, lends itself to cinematic use. I look
forward to hearing that score.

Cheers,

Jim

===0===



Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1999 01:26:52 -0500 (EST)
From: Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu>
Subject: Today in History -- Nov 10

Interesting things that happened November 10th:

Birthdays on this date:
  In 1793 Jared Kirtland, American physician, naturalist
  In 1794 Matthew Perry, U.S. Admiral, opened the East to Western exploitation
  In 1819 Cyrus West Field, financier known for the success of the first
          transatlantic cable
  In 1827 Lewis Wallace, soldier, diplomat, novelist (Ben Hur)
  In 1829 William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army
  In 1844 Sir John S.D. Thompson (C), 4th prime minister of Canada (1892-94)
  In 1847 Joseph Pulitzer, journalist, publisher
  In 1882 Frances Perkins, the first woman Cabinet member
  In 1883 Kahlil Gibran, poet, philosopher
  In 1895 John Knudsen Northrop, aircraft designer
  In 1903 Clare Booth Luce, journalist, diplomat
  In 1919 Clyde "Bulldog" Turner, NFL center (Chicago Bears)
        + George Fenneman
  In 1921 Chuck Connors, actor (Rifleman)

Events worth noting:
  In 1801 Kentucky outlaws dueling.
  In 1836 Louis Napoleon banished to America.
  In 1864 Austrian Archduke Maximilian became emperor of Mexico.
  In 1871 Stanley presumes to meet Livingston in Ujiji, Central Africa.
  In 1891 First Woman's Christian Temperance Union meeting held (in Boston).

===0===



Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1999 07:49:14 -0500 (EST)
From: Zozie(at)aol.com
Subject: Re:  Today in History -- Nov 10

Another birthday of exceptional note (at least to me)  Emily Dickinson, born
1830.

cheers,

phoebe

 "And God said: 'Let there be Satan, so people don't blame everything on me.
And let there be lawyers, so people don't blame everything on Satan.'" - John
Wing



===0===



Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1999 08:16:26 -0500 (EST)
From: LoracLegid(at)aol.com
Subject: Re:  Today in History November 10

>In 1794 Matthew Perry, U.S. Admiral, opened the East to Western exploitation<

Bob, your date is way off.  Also Perry was a Commodore
My records show the Perry first went to Japan in 1853. He returned in 1854.
The Treaty of Kanagawa was signed March 8, 1854.

Perry was authorized to spend $20,000 to buy presents for the 'Emperor.
Perry brought with him a complete set of John James
Audubon's BIRDS OF AMERICA and QUADRUPEDS OF NORTH AMERICA.  Also a case of
firearms made by Samuel Colt, a daguerreotype camera, and a telegraph machine
from Samuel Morse.  Most impressive of all was a quarter-scale (steam)
locomotive which ran on a 350-foot circle on a narrow-gauge track.  The
Japanese delegation line up for hours to take a ride:

        and as they were unable to reduce themselves to the capacity of the
            carriage..they betook themselves to the roof and, clinging to its
edge,           went whirling round, their robes flapping in the breeze,
grinning with           intense interest.

Pat Barr, THE DEER PARK PAVILION, A STORY OF WESTERNERS IN JAPAN, 1868-1905

Carol Digel
LoracLegid(at)aol.com
www.focdarley.org

===0===



Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1999 06:47:57 -0800
From: Robert Birchard <bbirchard(at)earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: _Dracula_ gets a new filmscore

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     Since the newly-scored "Dracula" has been a subject here of late, I thought
I'd re-post my impressions which were first sent to alt.movies.silent on 
November
1, 1999.

*****


     I confess!

     I went to UCLA last evening to see/hear the live Glass/Dracula
event--however, my principles (such as they are) remain only slightly
compromised because the tickets were free and I did not contribute to the
dastardly cause.  [NOTE:  The reference here is to my long-standing opposition 
to
altering movie sound tracks, which I believe is akin to colorization]

     To advertise this event as being Dracula with a score added is a
misrepresentaton.  It would be more accurate to state that it is a concert
piece during which the musicians are sometimes obscured  by a picture
dancing on the screen in front of them.

     The effect was not unlike watching a film on a screen in the dark
confines of your living room only to have your mother, wife, girlfriend or
significant other march in and open the window shades on the window behind
the screen and then turn on the stereo to listen to something entirely
unrelated to what you were watching.

     To be honest, the audience reaction in general was quite
positive--partial standing ovation. I was the only one in the theater
shouting BOO.

     What disturbed me more than the concept (whch I have gone on about at
some length here and elsewhere) was the fact that Glass and company took
every opportunity to say Look at US, Listen to US, WE are the Show.

     The score (and I do like much of Glass's music) was pathetic.
Repetitious (you'd expect that from Glass) but often in the vein of a bad
"hurry music" pastiche in homage to J. S. Zamecknik.  [NOTE:  J.S.Z. composed
generic movie themes in the early silent era--many of the now-cliched "hurry"
themes we associate with early silents were written by him]  No attempt was 
made to

synchronize the score with the picture, in fact every opportunity was taken
to call attention to the music.  So, the music would pick up right in the
middle of a line of dialogue, play through dissolves and fadeouts, end
before the climax of a scene.  Glass made no effort to clear any of the
dramatic moments in the sound track.  Dracula's off-screen cry as Van
Helsing pounds in the stake, for example, was virtually drowned out by some
rather monotonous sawing from the ensemble.

     The print itself was beatuiful--the best I have seen on Dracula--but it
was hard to judge because every time there was a scene with some visual
complexity or camera movement the lights would go up backstage with red,
blue, green gels--usually in opposition to the mood of the scene--and one
would get the effect of this cloud of musicians sweeping across the screen.
Interesting in a music video, maybe--but distracting if you were really
trying to watch the film.

     To be sure, Dracula creaks as a movie--in many ways it is a
photographed stage play--and there are moments that are more hilarious than
horrific for audiences today.  But it is also an iconographic film.  So much
of its imagery and mythology has become common in our culture that we forget
all of this was once new and fresh to audiences unfamiliar with Stoker's
novel.  By treating the film and score the way he did, Glass effectively
dismisses it as a quaint artifact unworthy of anything but ridicule and
dismissal.

     Whatever Dracula's weaknesses as a movie, however, it was still the
attraction that brought people to the theater.  How would Glass score the
film?  What would the impact be on the film?  Will the film be more or less
scarey with the new music?  I believe Glass understood this, and it pissed
him off.  No matter what he did, he and his music would play second fiddle
to Lugosi's legendary presence--and so he set out to say:  Look at ME!  I'M
the important one here!  This film is unworthy of your attention.  MY music
is more important tan the picture.

     He succeeded.  But, standing ovation to the contrary, in the process he
created one of the most dreadful evenings in the theater that I have had in
a long time.
- --
Bob Birchard
bbirchard(at)earthlink.net
http://www.mdle.com/ClassicFilms/Guest/birchard.htm


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===0===



Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1999 07:47:07 -0700
From: sdavies(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA
Subject: Etext avail: Col. A Court Repington's "New wars for old" concluded

From: Stephen Davies(at)MRC on 11/10/99 07:47 AM


To:   Gaslight-announce(at)mtroyal.ab.ca
cc:
Subject:  Etext avail: Col. A Court Repington's "New wars for old" concluded

(NEWWARX1.HTM) (Nonfic, Chronos)
Col. A Court Repington's _New wars for old_ (1910)


               newwarx3.non
     This article completes a series of three written by Col. A Court/
     Repington for _Blackwood's magazine_ (1910) in which he predicts
     the alterations which will be made to warfare because of the
     introduction of submarines and dirigibles.  This 3rd part consitutes
     a rebuttal to critics who scoffed his ideas in various newspapers
     of the day.

 To retrieve all the plain ASCII files send to:  ftpmail(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA

 with no subject heading and completely in lowercase:


 open aftp.mtroyal.ab.ca

 get newwarx1.non
 get newwarx2.non
 get newwarx3.non

 or visit the Gaslight website at:

http://www.mtroyal.ab.ca/gaslight/newwarx1.htm

 and follow the links at the bottom of each article to reach the next one.

                                   Stephen D
                            mailto:SDavies(at)mtroyal.ab.ca

===0===



Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1999 07:55:09 -0700
From: Deborah McMillion Nering <deborah(at)alice.gloaming.com>
Subject: Re: _Dracula_ gets a new filmscore

>I was the only one in the theater shouting BOO.

Balletomanes and Dracula purists unite in one cause:  Keep Swan Lake!

Deborah

Deborah McMillion
deborah(at)gloaming.com
http://www.gloaming.com/deborah.html

===0===



Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1999 09:18:28 -0600
From: Chris Carlisle <CarlislC(at)psychiatry1.wustl.edu>
Subject: Re: _Dracula_ gets a new filmscore

Heavens, Phillip Glass?  Now that will REALLY make it a horror
movie.  Someone once tried to get me to see Koyanisqaatsu (sp?)
but I told them the only way I could get through the film would
be if they tied me to my seat, blindfolded me, put in earplugs, AND
gagged me.

Glass did once have the honesty to admit that his classmate at
Juillard, Peter Shickele, is much the better composer.  As PDQ
Bach, Shickele wrote a magnificent parody of Glass, titled "Einstein on the 
Fritz".  It's full of ostinato, has a section of
violins doing bowing exercises, and at one point, the conductor
has to say "Koy-hoty-totsy".  Shickele would do a MUCH
better job with Dracula.

Nah...keep the swans!

Kiwi

===0===



Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1999 09:34:42 -0600
From: athan chilton <ayc(at)UIUC.EDU>
Subject: Re: _Dracula_ gets a new filmscore

Glass?  Hmph.  Give me dear old Bela, unaccompanied, any day.  Conceivably
there are composers who could write a score that would complement, not
obscure, that film.  Not Glass, though.

On the other hand, a bit of Claudia Schmidt playing the pianolin wouldn't
be amiss.  Check out her song 'The Darkening' on her 'Midwestern Heart'
album (yes, it was vinyl--maybe tape--but as far as I know, no CD version).
The pianolin is an exceedingly rare instrument; there are less than 200 of
them around.  They were invented in the 30s, I believe, and combine
autoharp-like strings with a set of strings that are bowed.  It's not
particularly easy to play, and a real bear to tune.  But listen to Schmidt
play the thing, and imagine Dracula.  It fits.

Athan (eternal Dracula fan, but then, with a name like Athan, it's only
appropriate!)
ayc(at)uiuc.edu

===0===



Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1999 13:06:04 -0500
From: Jack Skoda <jskoda(at)lucentctc.com>
Subject: Vampires

Hi folks,

 I have constructed a timeline of vampire myths for a
mythology class.  Vampires are a favorite topic of
mine and I read almost anything that has a vampire
in the plot, no matter how "mass-market" we all have
our fault, non?

 The time line accompanies a 28 pages essay on the myth
and the myth of the myth.  Modern vampire stories are myths
of the original myth.  Fangs and neck biting are modern contrivances
and not representative of the original vampire myth.  Included
in the timeline is a mixture of vampire fiction, vampiric
historical figures, and real vampire research.

 There are stories of blood drinking creatures that are before
1163.  The eldest is an image of a female form drinking blood
from the chest of her lover from a shard of pottery found in
Sumeria and dated around 4000 BC.  In some respects the anchient
myth is tied closer to the modern sexually agressive female archetype
where the Medieval European vampire is more like a zombie or ghost.

1994 Interview with the Vampire movie
1992 Dracula directed by Francis Ford Coppola
1992 Forever Knight television series
1987 Near Dark movie
1987 The Lost Boys movie
1985 Fright Night movie
1976 'Interview with the Vampire' published by Knopf
1973 Anne Rice writes 'Interview with the Vampire' and is rejected, secures 
agent in '74
1966 'Dark Shadows' television series
1949 John George Haigh is tried and executed
1941 Anne Rice is born
1931 Bela Lugosi plays Dracula
1931 Peter Kurten is tried and executed
1925 Fritz Haarmann is executed
1922 'Nosferatu' directed by F.W Murnau
1912 Bram Stoker dies
1897 'Dracula' Bram Stoker
1872 'Carmilla' Sheridan Le Fanu
1854 Near Norwich, 2 brothers are exhumed and burned for causing consumption in 
the family.
1853 Sakoku ends, Admiral Perry lands in Uraga Japan
1847 Placedale RI, William Rose exhumes daughter and cremates the remains to 
stop consumption epidemic in his family.
1847 Bram Stoker is born
1846 'Varney the Vampire: or the Feast of Blood' attributed to James Malcom 
Rymer
1827 The word revenant enters the English language
1824 Lord Byron dies
1819 'The Vampyre' John Polidori
1816 Stranded by a storm in the home of Lord Byron, Byron, John Polidori, Percy 
and Mary Shelly tell ghost stories, thought to be the birth place of 
Frankenstein and 'The Vampyre'
1813 'The Giamour' Lord Byron
1800 End of the Vampire craze in Japan
1795 John Polidori born
1788 Lord Byron born
1772 End of the Eastern European Epidemics
1746 Treatise on the Vampire of Hungary and the Surrounding Regions Don 
Augustine Calmet
1734 The word Vampire enters the English language
1731 Visum et Repertum the case of Arnod Paole
1728 Dead men that chew in their graves Ranft
1728 The case of Peter Plogojowitz
1701 Vrykolakas De Tournefort
1679 On the Chewing dead Rohr
1672 Beginning of the Easter European Epidemics
1638 Sakoku begins Japan closes it?s borders to everyone but China and Holland
1631 Dead lover urban legend recorded in Paris
1614 Countess Elizabeth Bathory dies
1611 Countess Elizabeth Bathory is imprisoned
1603 Tokugana Ieyasu becomes shogun, founds Edo shogunate, ends the Civil War 
era in Japan
1591 The Shoemaker of Silesia
1573 The parliament of D?le allows hunting of Loup-Garou
1560 Countess Elizabeth Bathory is born
1501 Beginning of the Vampire craze in Japan
1477 War of Onin ends (Japan)
1476 Vlad Tepes is killed
1467 War of Onin begins, marks the beginning of the Civil War era in Japan
1431 Vlad Tepes born
1136 William of Newburgh begins chronicles British revenantsfor a
mythology class.

- --+----------------------------------------------------------
- -- Jack Skoda <jskoda(at)lucentctc.com>      Lucent Technologies
- --
- -- "Those that would trade essential liberty for temporary
- -- safety deserve neither"  ... Ben Franklin

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Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1999 13:08:09 -0500
From: Jack Skoda <jskoda(at)lucentctc.com>
Subject: A map of 'The Mysterious Island'

 Hi folks,

 Does anyone have a map of the Mysterious Island from
Mr Verne's novel of the same name?  I have been surfing
and searching the Vernes web sites with little luck

- --
- -- Jack Skoda <jskoda(at)sover.net>

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Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1999 14:04:48 -0500 (EST)
From: Richard King <rking6king(at)netscape.net>
Subject: Lupin Still Amazing After All These Years

I believe this week's story is Maurice Leblanc's "Two Hundred Thousand Francs
Reward!" and since no one has started on it yet I thought I'd try to get the
ball rolling. Though I am a bit bewildered as usual by Lupin's detections (how
does he do all this?), I am impressed by Leblanc's ability to develop and
sustain the action in an exciting (or perhaps melodramatic) manner. From
paragraph to paragraph things happen, mental leaps are made, fast-paced
decisions occur. Often I wish Leblanc would slow down a bit, tell me what the
weather is like, if the birds are singing, what the people on the streets are
doing (I usually get this sense in Sherlock Holmes stories, that there are
rich descriptions being made by Doyle, or whoever wrote the Canon). But Lupin
is certainly a detective of action, who says: "These are cases that require
much more intuition than redaction" (did Holmes ever use much intuition--he
seems to base his conclusions on reason, deduction and science, less on
intuition). As you can see, Holmes's contemporaries always bring comparisons
to my mind.

I won't say much more now, other than to recommend the story as being a fun
one, with its gunshots, poor murdered victims, unusual stabbings, and Lupin's
amazing intuitions.

Richard King
rking6king(at)netscape.net

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Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1999 12:53:07 -0700
From: sdavies(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA
Subject: Re: Vampires

Jack,
     there is a little known but thoroly charming addition to the vampire lore
recently created in France in a children's book.  I could send you details,
possibly even scans, if you are interested.
     It's Martin Matje's _Le buveur d'encre_ (transl. _The ink drinker_ (1998)),
and it has a companion story, _A straw for two_.  The story involves a young boy
whose father runs a second-hand bookshop.  The boy sees a strange character
glide into the shop and surreptitiously drink all the ink from the pages with a
straw.  Compulsively, he follows the man back to his graveyard home, and...
     Well, it turns out to be a vampire who is tired of blood after so many
centuries.  Perhaps this just seems a novelty, but it is the most refreshing
take on the genre that I've found.

                                   Stephen D
                          mailto:SDavies(at)mtroyal.ab.ca

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Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1999 16:56:13 -0700
From: Deborah McMillion Nering <deborah(at)alice.gloaming.com>
Subject: For vampire lovers

A new book coming out in December by Edgar Allen Poe called DEAD
BRIDES (a title after my own heart) and illustrated by lithographs
from symbolist artist Odilon Redon is certainly worth a look see.

Deborah

Deborah McMillion
deborah(at)gloaming.com
http://www.gloaming.com/deborah.html

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Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1999 20:23:01 -0500
From: Linda Anderson <lpa1(at)ptdprolog.net>
Subject: Re: For vampire lovers

Deborah:

Have you ever illustrated a book that might be available?  I love your web
page and think, when reading certain books, how you might have drawn that
scene.

Sorry to bother Gaslight with this, but hey- she's great and ought to be in
books! <G>


Linda Anderson


At 04:56 PM 11/10/1999 -0700, you wrote:
>A new book coming out in December by Edgar Allen Poe called DEAD
>BRIDES (a title after my own heart) and illustrated by lithographs
>from symbolist artist Odilon Redon is certainly worth a look see.
>
>Deborah
>
>Deborah McMillion
>deborah(at)gloaming.com
>http://www.gloaming.com/deborah.html
>

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Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1999 19:01:42 -0700
From: Deborah McMillion Nering <deborah(at)alice.gloaming.com>
Subject: Chat:  Illustration and stories

>Have you ever illustrated a book that might be available?

Well, thanks!  I am working on that project now as a matter of fact
since I have a break from the gallery.   I have done some recent book
covers for fellow Gaslighters' ASH TREE PRESS series of ghost story
book which usually illustrate a specific story.

My last show featured an illustration of "Rose DeDe" which absolutely
no one got. Only a very few people 'got' another painting, "The
Bridge To Tarrytown", mostly the local librarians who come for the
literary references.   This brings up a topic for me that I've wanted
to share with Gassers.  How much to do you explain?  Most of my
paintings have bits and pieces of the books I read, names, incidents,
and absolutely no one gets the obscure references.  I have been told
repeatedly to please put explanations up next to them but I think
this is condescending.  I'd rather someone get their own
interpretations out of it than hitting them over the head.  My recent
show had an excellent review from someone who didn't have a
'weird-lit.' background and they made some pretty interesting
interpretations that I thought were just fine.  However, it is
frustrating sometimes.

Is there a way to introduce people to the strange and unusual (I have
a bad enough reputation with all the tombstones that gnaw at the
edges of the so-called Contemporary art scene) without bringing into
it weird Victorian literature.  Thanks for any pointers to this
ongoing dilemma.

Deborah

Deborah McMillion
deborah(at)gloaming.com
http://www.gloaming.com/deborah.html

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End of Gaslight Digest V1 #112
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