THE LOST SCRAPBOOK OF CADAVRA

When I was 15, my parents drove me out to the Berkshire Playhouse in Stockbridge, MA to see a summerstock production of “Dracula” (the original 1930’s play script by Hamilton Deane and John Balderstone) that starred a young actor none of us had heard of. I was working as a soda jerk in a drugstore at the time, in the habit of browsing through most of the magazines and newspapers that came into the store, which explains how I came to see the above photo in The New York Times. It was the first professional theatre I ever saw. I thought that Frank Langella was pretty good, though he seemed much too young to me to play Dracula (he was 29 at the time). This was ten years before he played the role in the famous Broadway production designed by Edward Gorey, and twelve years before he played the role on film. Tom Klunis is credited in the program as having played Van Helsing, but my memory tells me the role was played by Thayer David of “Dark Shadows”, though I can find no corroboration of that other than the fact that David was from Medford, Massachusetts and was a founding member of the Brattle Theatre Company in Cambridge, which means it’s at least possible my memory is correct. Joanna Miles was Lucy  and Saylor Creswell played Renfield. It was directed by Frank Corsaro, who had also directed the original Broadway production of Tennessee Williams’ “Night of the Iguana” with Bette Davis and later became head of the Actors Studio. (Click on the image for a larger view.)

— Bob Deveau