I don't know if this link has already been posted here:

https://www.womansworld.com/posts/dark-shadows-tv-show-151600

Best,

G.

Marie Wallace fans may enjoy this magazine article (with photos) from 1973:

https://archive.org/details/TVByDayMay1973

G.

Dear fans,

Last night, I watched a couple of episodes of Strange Paradise written by Ron Sproat in 1970 after he had left DS.  I think the one I saw last night may have been the last script he wrote for Paradise--it was a well written script but had a huge continuity gaffe, I think because the show had no script editor (which was, I believe, also a problem on DS).

Anyhow I looked at Sproat's Wikipedia entry hoping to see which soap he went on to write for after he finished up at Paradise. A foolish place to check, as there was no attempt to provide any detailed chronology for his career. Though they did mention Love of Life, which also became a home for Paradise veteran Tudi Wiggins (an excellent actress nobody really remembers any longer). We are told (footnoting an article by Ann Wilson in one of the PomPress books) that Ron left DS in January of 1969. In another source, he stated that he departed due to conflicts with boss Dan Curtis.

The big surprise in the entry provided for the online encyclopaedia was the bald statement that Sproat "created the vampire character Barnabas Collins."

I am trying to remember now just HOW MANY of the writers--or other personnel--at DS have claimed, or been said, to have created Barnabas. I remember in one of the books Bob Costello said he came up with that name, but so did Art Wallace in an interview somewhere. A year or two ago we had articles posted here where Malcolm Marmorstein said he did the work of actually creating the personality of Barnabas, eternally craving to be reunited with his lost Josette (a character who originally had a completely different backstory on the show).

I wonder if Joe Caldwell (who may have been the best writer of them all until Violet Welles stepped onboard) has claimed to have created Barnabas somewhere??

Regardless of who did the work, I think only Dan Curtis actually made any real money off the character.

cheers, G.

This interesting article about a mention of "Dark Shadow" in an early 70s "Jack Chick" tract was posted on social media today. I don't know if the special update "confirmation" featuring a very rare contribution from "a certain Mysterious Benefactor (tm)" is recent or not.

http://www.collinsporthistoricalsociety.com/2016/10/the-unsavory-jack-chickdark-shadows.html

The second part of the article is a bit disturbing. These old tracts seem so campy and funny now, but we have to bear in mind that the people who produced them were often very disturbed, malignant individuals. This is shown in the second part of the article. Also, it's known that the tracts did inflict psychological damage on untold numbers of young readers.

G.

With the extreme weather here in New England this weekend, I've been continuing to catch up with episodes from one of my favorite Sixties shows, the UK series ADAM ADAMANT LIVES! It ran on the BBC from June of 1966 through the Spring of 1967.  It occurred to me when I got out my DVDs again last week that this show has a couple of things in common with DS. Notably the fact that the hero, a Victorian gentleman adventurer put into suspended animation in 1902, reawakens in the London of 1966 completely out of his own time and place. There are some other commonalities, down to the producer of the show demanding a specific hairstyle for the hero, and the latter occupying a home furnished in the style and manner of his own time, which was the late Victorian era. (I always thought on DS they could have done more with exploring Barnabas's less than happy adjustment to life in the 1960s as an 18th century gentleman. I wasn't at all happy with how this theme was developed in the Burton/Depp film.)

ADAM ADAMANT combined elements of The Avengers, Doctor Who, and James Bond (including a wailing theme song reminiscent of GOLDFINGER). It was more violent than would have been allowed on US television at the time.  And many of the guest players also showed up on THE AVENGERS. Moreover, some of the plots were either similar, or outright recycled.  A good example of all of these facets, including a scene that is definitely echoes what was to happen on DS in 1967, is this story, "The Terribly Happy Embalmers." John Le Mesurier, Jeremy Young, and Alf Joint (a popular stunt fighter), all of whom appeared in THE AVENGERS, show up in this one. It's not surprising that you keep expecting Diana Rigg or Patrick Macnee to show up since the script was written by longtime AVENGERS scribe Brian Clemens.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzWdQlG6T2A

Best, G.

Here’s a true rarity that has surfaced on Youtube—an early Seventies TV version of DRACULA produced in Canada.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLNrRITJKi4&feature=youtu.be

I first heard about this several years ago on the “Monster Kids” board, but some people have been looking for this one since the original decade.

The video looks surprisingly good given the age.  I wonder if this has been prepared for an official release or if they simply decided to distribute for free online.

The first scene in the video (which starts after a pre-story segment with celebrated author Robertson Davies) is a shot through a brandy-glass--it does make me wonder if the director was a fan of DS, but our show never aired in Canada during this period.

G.

DS fans with an interest in Cornwall, pirates, shipwrecks, and Witchcraft might enjoy this episode of a Sky TV series from last year:

https://vimeo.com/238722188

I was amused in the smugglers' pub when there was a rousing chorus of "What shall we do with a drunken sailor?"  The Blue Whale tradition continues!

G.

Marsha Mason, remembered for her memorable appearance in one episode of DS in 1970 as "Audrey the Leviathan Girl," appears in this 1966 TV version of the classic Lerner & Loewe musical BRIGADOON.  This was one of the more memorable TV events in my family during the period when DS was on.  The broadcast was repeated in 1968 and I watched both times.  I never understood why they didn't put it on again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hW5N7K1gFiw&t=235s

Best, G.