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 A
few minutes after seven p.m., in one of the lecture rooms of Northwest
Georgia Trade and Convention Center Mr. Frid held a group of people
from across the country spellbound.
I didn't see him enter the room but I did see Mr. Frid quietly walking
along the far side of the room to the stage. My breath caught in
my throat and I began wildly applauding. The others joined me. We
were with Jonathan Frid. Graciously, he accepted our applause and
then he began his presentation.
I am a fan of Jonathan Frid. Have been since that TV show. Like
my mother, I am a sucker for a great voice. That voice. That talent.
Mr. Frid's
reading choices for the evening were Back
for Christmas by John Collier,
My Fridean Connection
by Jonathan Frid, The Retroactive
Existence of Mr. Juggins
by Stephen Leacock, Caliban's
Island from The
Tempest by William Shakespeare,
The Open Window
by H.H.. Munroe (pen name Saki), Senor
Payroll by William E. Barrett,
Here There be Tygers
by Stephen King, and The Ghost
by Richard Hughes. Mr. Frid's final performance was a pre-recorded
reading of The Cask of Amontillado
by Edgar Allen Poe.
I was a fan of Mr. Frid from Dark
Shadows. I thought he did
an excellent job of portraying Barnabas Collins considering that
the shows were recorded live and to paraphrase the late Flip Wilson,
"what you saw was what you got." Bloopers were recorded and from
time to time one could see the microphone or the occasional stagehand.
Nevertheless, Jonathan Frid was excellent. You could feel the angst
his vampire character was experiencing.
After his evening of readings, I admire the man and his talents
even more. One solitary man became several distinct and individual
characters. And all within less than a millisecond's change. His
facial expressions and voice intonations changed for each character
and, in turn, the characters came to life. In The
Open Window, Mr. Frid instantly
changed from the coquettish fifteen-year-old girl with an active
imagination to a stressed young man knowing he was seeing ghosts
to that of an older, proper lady intent on providing an evening
of polite conversation and entertainment for the acquaintance of
a friend.
Mr. Frid became the husband intent on killing his wife and hiding
her body in Back for Christmas.
Chills ran through the audience as Mr. Frid became filled with the
panic that grips a killer who might be caught by nosy neighbours
dropping by.
Here There be Tygers
was my personal favourite. Mr. Frid's facial expressions and voice
clearly conveyed what it was like to be eight years old and being
too shy to raise your hand to get permission to go to the restroom.
He relayed the shame the boy felt when his teacher discovered he
had used a sink in lieu of a urinal and the fear felt by the child
when the tiger ate his friend.
The most heart-wrenching reading was the final one, The
Ghost. A man is convinced
she has killed him and the story would have you believe that to
be true. His ghost follows her through the village, screaming at
her. Other living souls respond to his screams -- why doesn't
his wife? In the end, it is he that kills his wayward wife and she
leads him through the streets and to the police station.
Mr. Frid promised us a surprise and brilliantly delivered with a
recorded reading of The Cask
of Amontillado by Edgar Allen
Poe. For those not familiar with this story, Fortunato is entombed
by someone he has wronged. Sound effects of jingling bells and dripping
water took us into the catacombs where Fortunato was shackled and,
with stone and mortar, entombed alive. I won't even try to explain
how splendid Mr. Frid's reading of this Poe classic was.
Yes, I was and am a fan of Jonathan Frid's. But, if I had never
heard of the man and had accidentally entered the lecture hall,
I would still have been held his prisoner for two hours. Now, I
am more enamoured with him as an actor. His talent is boundless
and ageless. I am now a bigger fan of the gentleman's.
After the performance, Mr. Frid graciously answered questions for
the audience and then signed autographs and posed for pictures.
His presence is still larger than life. His being is kind and generous.
And his voice is still as smooth and rich as fine brandy. No one
I spoke with was dissatisfied with any aspect of his performance.
We all felt honoured to be in his presence.
Mr. Frid has promised he would do his best to entertain us and he
did. He is not a 'superstar' in today's meaning of the
word. He is beyond that. Mr. Frid is an icon.
Back
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Shadows Journal
Original Content and Design ©
Copyright Stuart Manning
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