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Dark Shadows

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Dark Shadows was a Gothic television soap opera that originally aired weekdays on the ABC television network, from June 27, 1966 to April 2, 1971. Produced by Dan Curtis, it became hugely popular when, a year into its run, the script introduced vampire Barnabas Collins, played by Jonathan Frid. In addition to vampires, Dark Shadows featured werewolves, ghosts, zombies, man-made monsters, witches, warlocks, time travel, both into the past and into the future, and a parallel universe. A small company of actors each played many roles and, as actors came and went, some characters were played by several actors.

Dark Shadows
File:Darkshadows.jpg
This logo was seen throughout the series run (seen here in black and white; the series changed to color on August 11, 1967).
Created byDan Curtis
StarringJoan Bennett
Jonathan Frid
Grayson Hall
Louis Edmonds
Nancy Barrett
David Selby
Kathryn Leigh Scott
Alexandra Moltke
David Henesy
Denise Nickerson
Thayer David, et al
Country of origin United States
No. of episodes1225
Production
Running time0:30
Original release
NetworkABC
ReleaseJune 27, 1966 –
April 2, 1971

Dark Shadows has the distinction of being the only long-running soap to have every episode released for home video (including a reconstruction episode #1219, the film for which is lost), first on VHS and currently in progress on DVD. (Episodes were numbered from #1 to #1245, but some episodes were pre-empted due to holidays, news, etc. so the number of episodes actually broadcast is 1225.)

Dark Shadows was distinguished by its vividly melodramatic performances, atmospheric interiors, memorable story lines and an unusually adventurous music score. Now regarded as somewhat of a camp classic, it continues to enjoy intense cult status among its followers. Director Tim Burton and pop icon Madonna have both gone on record as fans of the series.

Brief synopsis

For the Dark Shadows Storylines, see Dark Shadows Storylines.

Victoria Winters: episode 1 (27 June 1966) to 127 (20 December 1966) The first plot line established some of the basic characters of the show and established the eroding relationship between the people of Collinwood (the mansion) and Collinsport (the local town).

Laura the Phoenix: episode 128 (21 December 1966) to 192 (21 March 1967) David's mother returns after about ten years, searching for her son. She wishes to have him join her in the sacred fires of Rah and become an immortal phoenix being.

Barnabas: episode 193 (22 March 1967) to 365 (17 November 1967) This plotline was what dragged Dark Shadows out of almost being canceled. Barnabas Collins, a nearly two hundred year old vampire, is released from his coffin and wreaks terror on the local area, so much so that Dr. Julia Hoffman is called to investigate the strange kidnapping of one Maggie Evans.

1795: episode 366 (14 November 1967) to 460 (29 March 1968) Victoria Winters is thrown back into the year 1795, the same year that Barnabas Collins was to be married but rather became a vampire and lost his bride. Although she does not learn Barnabas' secret, the viewers do. We learn of the complicated love triangle which led to Barnabas' curse and the near end of the Collins family.

Dream Curse/Adam and Eve: episode 461 (1 April 1968) to 637 (3 December 1968) Angelique, Barnabas' witch exgirlfriend, rises out of hell to give Barnabas misery. Meanwhile, Barnabas and Dr. Julia Hoffman explore the possiblity of freeing Barnabas from his curse, by giving life to Adam.

Werewolf/Quentin's Ghost: episode 638 (4 December 1968) to 700 (28 February 1969) A werewolf is loose on the Collins' estate, and meanwhile a ghost is terrorizing the children, David and Amy.

1897: episode 701 (3 March 1969) to 884 (13 November 1969) Barnabas and Dr. Julia Hoffman travel back in time to save the ghost of Quentin.

The Leviathans: episode 885 (14 November 1969) to 980 (27 March 1970)

Parallel Time: episode 981 (30 March 1970) to 1060 (17 July 1970)

1995: episode 1061 (20 July 1970) to 1070 (31 July 1970)

Gerard and Daphne's Ghosts: episode 1071 (3 August 1970) to 1109 (24 September 1970)

1840: episode 1110 (25 September 1970) to 1198 (27 January 1971)

1841 Parallel Time: episode 1199 (28 January 1971) to 1245 (2 April 1971)

A synopsis of some of the major stories

Template:Spoiler Originally conceived with a Gothic twist on the usual afternoon soap opera, Dark Shadows did not break much new ground in its opening episodes. The story "Bible", Shadows on the Wall, written by Art Wallace, does not mention any supernatural elements. Set in the fictional fishing village of Collinsport, Maine, the series revolves around the rich and powerful Collins family, owners of a fishing fleet and cannery, and residents of the decaying old Collinwood Mansion. The story begins when a new governess, Victoria Winters (Alexandra Moltke) arrives to tutor young David Collins (David Henesy). Other characters include the matriarch of the family, Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (Joan Bennett), her daughter Carolyn, and David's father Roger Collins (Louis Edmonds). Also among the early characters were Burke Devlin (Mitchell Ryan, Anthony George), Matthew Morgan (George Mitchell, Thayer David), and Bill Malloy (Frank Schofield).

When the introduction of a ghost proved popular, producer Dan Curtis encouraged the writers to take more chances. The character of Laura Murdoch Collins (Diana Millay), Roger's estranged wife, appears as a phoenix reborn in fire every hundred years. (In the later time travel episodes, we see two of her past incarnations.)

The unscrupulous Jason McGuire (Dennis Patrick) tries to blackmail Elizabeth Collins Stoddard. Jason's friend Willie Loomis (James Hall, John Karlen) goes to the family crypt, looking for hidden treasure.

Dark Shadows did not really become a hit until Willie Loomis opened a coffin, and a hand reached up out of the coffin and grabbed him by the neck. Willie had unwittingly released the vampire Barnabas Collins.

Once released, Barnabas ingratiates himself with the present-day Collins family, claiming to be a "cousin from England" – his own last living descendant, as Barnabas was generally believed to have died in England. Barnabas becomes obsessed with local waitress Maggie Evans, believing her to be the reincarnation of his lost love, Josette DuPrés (who died in 1822 according to the original timeline, later retconned to 1795). Barnabas kidnaps Maggie and holds her prisoner in an attempt to brainwash her into becoming Josette. Eventually Maggie escapes, but suffers from mental trauma and memory loss about her captivity. She is placed in Windcliff Sanitarium, and becomes the patient of Dr. Julia Hoffman (Grayson Hall), a psychiatrist and blood specialist.

Dr. Hoffman's interest in her mysterious patient leads her to investigate Maggie's missing time. This brings Julia Hoffman to Collinwood, where posing as a historian, she meets the family, and quickly learns Barnabas's dark secret. Dr. Hoffman attempts to cure Barnabas, and while it is never spoken of, we see that she falls in love with him. Barnabas loves only the memory of Josette, whom he now believes to be personified by Victoria Winters. An interesting side note here is that Grayson Hall's husband, Sam Hall, began around this time to write many scripts for the show.

A séance is held in the great house of Collinwood, and Victoria Winters travels back in time to 1795, where she witnesses the events leading up to the death of Josette. Josette DuPrés (Kathryn Leigh Scott) comes to Collinwood from Martinique to marry Barnabas, but her maid Angelique (Lara Parker), with whom Barnabas shared a dalliance in Martinique, becomes bitterly jealous. Using witchcraft, Angelique makes Josette fall in love with and wed Barnabas' uncle Jeremiah, whom Barnabas then kills in a duel. Angelique forces Barnabas to marry her, but, learning that she is a witch, Barnabas kills Angelique, whose dying curse turns him into a creature of the night. Josette, discovering that Barnabas is a vampire, throws herself off the cliff at Widow's Hill. Barnabas' father tries to kill Barnabas, under his son's orders, but is unable to. Joshua Collins then orders servant, Ben Stokes to destroy the vampire, but Ben only chains up Barnabas in the family mausoleum (where Willie Loomis will discover him in 1967).

Meanwhile, Victoria Winters has been falsely accused of witchcraft by the evil Reverend Trask (Jerry Lacy). She is tried and sentenced to death, but at the moment of her hanging she is returned to the present day.

Back in the present, Barnabas overcomes his curse with the help of Doctor Eric Lang (Addison Powell), who uses Barnabas' life force to create an artificial man, Adam. As long as Adam lives, Barnabas will be free of his curse (or so we are led to believe). Angelique turns up in the present, as Roger Collins' new wife, disguised with a black wig, and calling herself Cassandra Blair. She uses a dream curse in an attempt to make Barnabas a vampire once again. She fails, and is seemingly destroyed as punishment by the warlock Nicholas Blair. Blair forces Barnabas and Julia to create a wife for Adam, in hopes of spawning a race of soulless creatures, but Adam's mate Eve hates him.

Quentin Collins (David Selby) first appears as a ghost haunting the children of Collinwood, David Collins, (David Henesy) and Amy Jennings, (Denise Nickerson) whose strange possesive behaviour eventually causes all to flee the great house at Collinwood, Then with the help of Professor Stokes (Thayer David) and Dr. Julia Hoffman (Grayson Hall), Quentin's history and past as to how he became a werewolf, and then a Ghost is revealed when Barnabas travels back to 1897 via the I Ching, in an attempt to rid Collinwood of the spectres of the past. (It should be noted that David Selby became a star virtually overnight in this breakthrough role.)

When Barnabas returns to the present, he is first controlled by and then fights against the ancient Leviathan people. To punish his betrayal, the Leviathans restore Barnabas' vampiric curse.

Next, the concept of "parallel time" is introduced. The story is set in the present day, but the characters have different lives and personalities. Barnabas, and later Julia, cross over into parallel time.

When they return to their own band of time, they find themselves in the future, in the year 1995. Collinwood has been destroyed by the ghost of a man named Gerard Stiles. Returning to 1970, Barnabas and Julia try to prevent the destruction of Collinwood. Failing, they travel back in time to 1840, to try to circumvent present horrors by changing the past. They are successful in their attempt, and in this time band the series has a happy ending.

In the final story, the viewer (but none of the original characters) visits parallel time in 1841, where all of the actors play different roles. Jonathan Frid portrayed Bramwell Collins, who has a star-crossed romance with Catherine Harridge (played by Lara Parker); after great difficulties, the two eventually marry.

For more information on this, click here Dark Shadows Storylines

Sources

Dark Shadows often used classic stories with gothic themes. Revisiting such literary masterpieces as Dracula, Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Turn of the Screw, and Wuthering Heights. The series modified this material freely, giving the familiar stories unusual twists. No author of the macabre was exempt from inclusion in subplots. Edgar Allan Poe, Shirley Jackson, Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker, Mary Shelley, Guy Endore, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry James, H.P. Lovecraft, and others were explored, exploited, and exposed in a history of the Collins family. Stylistically, "Dark Shadows" appears to have taken inspiration from Roger Corman's movie "The Pit and the Pendulum" [1961].

Series production

Working within the constraints of the live-on-tape format — with almost every scene done in one take — Dark Shadows displayed an unusually inventive use of costume, make-up and, in particular, special effects. Both time travel and ghosts allowed characters killed in earlier sequences to return, often in period clothing. Séances held in the old mansion were often visited by ghostly apparitions of quivering ectoplasm. Dream sequences included colorful psychedelic spectacles superimposed over ethereal, fog-filled fantasies. Individuals of normal appearance were transformed into hideous creatures of the netherworld.

At times, however, the special effects could appear cardboard-cut-out and amateur. And this, together with the show's heightened melodrama and stilted dramatic moments, is where the show’s very modern — and in its way, sophisticated — camp appeal enters the picture. The difficulty of keeping up with the demanding schedule of a daily half-hour show manifested itself on screen, often to laughable but endearing effect. In addition to sets wobbling unintentionally, actors — especially Frid and Bennett — often struggled with their lines. Occasionally a stagehand could be spotted wandering onto the back of the set. And at other times the microphone boom appeared in the frame, or a fly hovered around the head of an actor. In retrospect, however, the actors — who effectively formed a repertory company as they played many different roles — created memorable characters, and overcame the challenge of daily scripts combined with brief and demanding rehearsals.

Of particular note is Robert Cobert’s inspired music score, which broke new ground for a television program. The original soundtrack cracked the top 20 of Billboard’s national album chart in 1969 and still ranks as one of the top-selling TV soundtracks ever. The spoken-word instrumental track “Quentin’s Theme”, for which Cobert earned a Grammy nomination, was covered by the Charles Randolph Grean Sounde. The single peaked at number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart (and number 3 on its Easy Listening chart) in the summer of 1969, when Dark Shadows was perhaps at the peak of its popularity.

Dark Shadows has the distinction of being one of the few classic television soap operas to have all of its episodes, except one, survive intact (although a handful of early episodes are available only in 16 mm kinescope format). For the one lost episode (#1219), only the original audio track survives (syndicated airings of this episode were reconstructed from this soundtrack and from still pictures taken at the time of the episode's production). Dark Shadows has been syndicated almost continuously since its first network run, while almost all of the other soaps from this time period are either locked in a vault or lost forever.

For many years, the show was syndicated on the Sci-Fi Network. The network stopped airing Dark Shadows in December 2003, only two weeks short of completing the series.

MPI Home Video currently holds the home video rights to the series. All episodes are now available on VHS, and episodes on DVD are released on a schedule that will result in the complete series on DVD in 2007.

Cast

See also: List of Collins family members

Notable actors among the long-running regular cast included Joan Bennett (1966-71), Louis Edmonds (1966-71), Alexandra Moltke (1966-68), Kathryn Leigh Scott (1966-70), Clarice Blackburn (1966-70), Thayer David (1966-71), Jonathan Frid (1967-71), Grayson Hall (1967-71), John Karlen (1967-71), Lara Parker (1967-71), Roger Davis (1967-70), David Selby (1968-71), Humbert Allen Astredo (1968-71) and child actors David Henesy (1966-70) and Denise Nickerson (1968-70).

Other notables with shorter runs on the show included Mitch Ryan (1966-67), James Storm (1970-71), and Kate Jackson (1970-71).

Many other well-known names appeared in minor and/or recurring roles on Dark Shadows, including Dana Elcar (1966-67), Diana Millay (1966-1967, 1969), Donna McKechnie (1969-70), Conrad Bain (1966, 1968), Abe Vigoda (1969) and Marsha Mason (1970).

A more extensive list can be found on TV.com's Dark Shadows Cast & Crew page.

During the past thirty years, Dark Shadows has developed a large and loyal fan following. This is due largely to the willingness of former cast members to participate in several gatherings each year, notably the Dark Shadows Festival held alternately in California and New York and a Halloween fright fest centering around the mansion used in taping the stock outdoor footage.

Scheduling History

Perhaps one of ABC's first truly popular daytime shows, DS found its perfect demographic niche in teenagers coming home from school in time to watch the show at 4 p.m. Eastern/3 p.m. Central, where it aired for all of its network run (except for a 15-month stretch between April 1967 and July 1968, when it aired a half hour earlier). With mothers (and, sometimes, grandmothers) usually away from the television set at that time of day in order to tend to household chores such as preparing the family's dinner, the young people got control of the family set and claimed DS as a badge of the then-burgeoning youth consciousness in the culture at large. They likely saw the show as radically different from what they perceived as the déclasse and stodgy TV fare (games, traditional soaps) their mothers imbibed earlier in the day in between their household duties.

Whatever the cultural context or audience composition of DS, it became one of ABC's first daytime shows to actually win its timeslot, leading to the demise of NBC's original Match Game and Art Linkletter's long-running House Party on CBS, both in 1969. Even the launch of a much-ballyhooed spinoff of NBC's Another World, Somerset, the following year did not hurt DS.

By early 1971, though, with an economic recession causing a sharp dip in advertising revenues and a record-high number of soaps (much more expensive to produce than game or talk shows) on the networks' daytime schedules, ABC decided to cut costs by weeding out supposedly unproductive programming. Despite its relatively high ratings (and, at that time slot, station clearances) and low production costs, DS fell victim to the purge mainly because of its young audience, who usually did not make decisions about the purchasing of household goods and food products for the family, which were the two chief industries that bought airtime on daytime television in that era. Practically no other daytime show skewed so much under the 18-35 demographic threshold as DS did. Furthermore, primetime shows and movies with horror or science fiction themes had been on the decline for some time, and, of course, the serial appealed heavily to fanciers of those genres, people who usually snubbed their noses at the often sentimental domestic or romantic themes that traditional soaps had relied on since their inception on radio in the 1930s.

So, despite massive letters of protest from outraged fans, ABC cancelled the five-year-old show on April 2 and replaced it with a new version of the hit 1960s game Password. Although some highly irate viewers threatened to protest the cancellation by disrupting the taping of Password at ABC's Los Angeles studios, nothing ever came of it. Since that time, the only daytime drama to use horror and occult themes in its plotlines has been NBC's Passions, which began in 1999, but will end its run in September 2007.

Revivals

In 1991, a shortlived primetime remake was made by NBC, airing from 13 January to 22 March, and ending with Victoria (played by Joanna Going) learning that Barnabas Collins (played by Ben Cross) was a 200-year old vampire, which Victoria never knew in the original, although storylines for the planned second season had her collapsing after seeing Banabas and losing her memory of what happened to him in the 1790s. It also starred veterans Jean Simmons as Elizabeth and Roy Thinnes as Roger, British character actress Lysette Anthony as Angelique, and future "3rd Rock from the Sun" star Joseph Gordon-Levitt as David.

Plans for another revival series (or film) had been discussed off and on since the '91 series' demise. Finally, in 2004, a pilot for a new WB network Dark Shadows series starring Marley Shelton as Victoria Winters and Alec Newman as Barnabas Collins was written and shot, but never picked up. Bootleg copies of the pilot circulate at fan conventions and around the internet.

The Gilmore Girls paid a tribute to the show in a Season Five episode in which a character watches Dark Shadows.

In other media

MGM released a feature film entitled House of Dark Shadows in 1970. Dan Curtis directed it, and Sam Hall and Gordon Russell wrote screenplay. Many cast members from the soap opera reprised their roles. These included Jonathan Frid, Grayson Hall, Roger Davis, and Kathryn Leigh Scott, among others. 1971 saw the release of Night of Dark Shadows, also directed by Dan Curtis. In addition, Curtis and Sam Hall wrote it. Players included David Selby, Grayson Hall, Kate Jackson, and Lara Parker, among others.

There have been two series of Dark Shadows novels: the first, released during the show's original run, were all penned by romance writer Marilyn Ross (actually Dan Ross, using his wife's name as a pseudonym); the second consists of two novels by Lara Parker (who played Angelique in the series) and one by horror authors Elizabeth Massie and Stephen Mark Rainey. In the early 1970s, Gold Key Comics released a long-running comic book series, and in 1991, Innovation Publishing released a short-lived comic book series based on the NBC-TV revival show. There have also been two board games, a jigsaw puzzle and a View-Master reel. There also have been several books about Dark Shadows, including The Dark Shadows Almanac and The Dark Shadows Companion.

From March 14, 1971 to March 11, 1972, the Newspaper Enterprise Association syndicated a Dark Shadows comic strip by illustrator Kenneth Bruce Bald (credited as K. Bruce due to contractual obligations) to dozens of newspapers across the country.

During its original run, Dark Shadows was featured in many magazines, including Afternoon TV; Daytime TV; Famous Monsters of Filmland and Castle of Frankenstein. In 2003, a two-part article entitled "Collecting Dark Shadows: Return to Collinwood," appeared in Autograph Collector magazine. It was the first major article to chronicle the show in years. In 2005, Scary Monsters magazine #55 devoted an entire issue to Dark Shadows. Included were full-length interviews with cast members Marie Wallace, David Selby and Kathryn Leigh-Scott, as well as "Don't Open That Coffin! A Baby Boomer's Adventures in the Land of Dark Shadows!" Both the Autograph Collector and Scary Monsters articles were penned by freelance writer Rod Labbe, who once ran a fan club for Dennis ("Paul Stoddard") Patrick. Labbe is currently working on a third article, a 40th anniversary retrospective of the show.

The show was discussed in an episode of This American Life entitled "Conventions", available at thislife.org as streaming audio.

Dark Shadows audio drama

Based on a stage play performed at a Dark Shadows convention, Return to Collinwood is an audio drama written by Jamison Selby and Jim Pierson, and starring David Selby, Kathryn Leigh Scott, John Karlen, Nancy Barrett, Lara Parker, Roger Davis, Marie Wallace, Christopher Pennock, Donna Wandrey, James Storm and Terry Crawford. It provides a satisfying conclusion to the Dark Shadows saga and is available on CD.

From Summer 2006, Big Finish Productions will be continuing the 'Dark Shadows' saga with an original series of audio dramas, starring the original cast. The first season comprises four discs, featuring David Selby (Quentin Collins), Lara Parker (Angelique), Kathryn Leigh Scott (Maggie Evans) and John Karlen (Willie Loomis). More information and online ordering can be found at www.darkshadowsreborn.com.

BIG FINISH

Season 1

TV and film locations

Both theatrical films, "House of Dark Shadows" (1970) and "Night of Dark Shadows" (1971) were shot primarily on ___location at the Lyndhurst estate in Tarrytown, New York. The Collinwood stand-in mansion used for the TV series is the Carey Mansion in Newport, Rhode Island. It is currently used by Salve Regina University. The Lockwood-Mathews Mansion in South Norwalk, Connecticut was also used for shots during both movies. Some outdoors shots for the series were filmed in the famous Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, not very far from the Lyndhurst Mansion.

Influence

Dark Shadows pioneered the concept of a soap opera with a supernatural theme. In later years, the prime-time satire Soap would introduce an Exorcist-inspired storyline. Days of our Lives would feature a groundbreaking plot in which its leading female character, Marlena Evans (Deidre Hall), was possessed by Satan. Coming full circle, the soap operas Port Charles and Passions would emerge in the 1990s, both largely driven by supernatural-based plots involving vampires, witches, and werewolves; Twin Peaks was a prime-time soap with many supernatural elements, but without the classic movie monsters. Even the popular Joss Whedon series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, with their continuing subplots, could be described as treading a path first laid by Dark Shadows.

Bibliography

The Dark Shadows Companion: 25th Anniversary Collection, Edited by Kathryn Leigh Scott, Foreword by Jonathan Frid, Pomegranate Press, 1990. ISBN 0-938817-25-6

Dark Shadows Almanac, edited by Kathryn Leigh Scott & Jim Pierson, Pomegranate Press, 1995. ISBN 0-938817-18-3

Dark Shadows: The Comic Strip Book, by Kenneth Bruce Bald (illustrator), Pomegranate Press, 1996. ISBN 0938817396

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