Do You Recall Which Theatres You First Saw HODS and NODS?

[David]

I just heard that the Marboro Theatre on Bay Parkway in Brooklyn NY, the old hometown, is gone.
Either condos or office space will replace it.

Though I saw my first movie, South Pacific, at another theatre in 1960, the Marboro was the first theatre I ever went to by myself, without Mom & Dad.
That was in 1964, when I saw Mary Poppins & My Fair Lady.

In 1970, I saw HODS at the Marboro.
The Marboro was a block from my Grandma Sophie's house.
I remember stopping in, in Sept 1970, to look at the coming soon posters and whooping it up when I saw the HODS poster!!
Over at Grandma, everyone was getting ready to celebrate Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, but all I could talk about was HODS!
They couldn't calm me down, LOL!

I'll never forget going there in Oct 1970:
Here was the marquee design:
Jonathan   Joan
   Frid      Bennett
"House of Dark Shadows" GP
It was thrilling to see, and I can't believe I recall the actual desgn of the marquee lettering after all these years.
I went out of my way to walk by the theatre every day for the 10 day run.
 
Inside, the day I saw the film, some two thousand DS fans cheered and applauded
the credits and the first appearences of each cast member.
Frid and Grayson pretty much got standing ovations!!

It was the most fun I've EVER had going to the movies!!!

The Marboro opened in 1927.
It was HUGE, and had a beautiful mural of the sky on the auditorium ceiling.
In 1982 it became a quad and lost it's charm/soul.

I last visited the Marboro in 1997, for my third viewing of Titanic.
The theatre was no longer what it was, and I'm glad that I first saw Titanic in a theatre that still had good sound!

The Marboro closed in 2002, and the building was demolished recently.
I just found out about this at www.CinemaTreasures.org
where the histories of thousands of movie palaces are preserved.

Coming tonight:
the theatre where I first saw NODS!

Share your theatre memories of HODS & NODS!

David

[Doug]

I never seen HODS and NODS at the theater. But I do remember the previews shown on TV when I
was a kid.

I hate to hear about The Marboro being demolished.

[Breebell]

Hi!  Newbie giving up my lurker status for this post.

Thank you for the link, the theater I saw HODS in is listed.
It's the Grove Theater in Upland, California and tickets were fifty cents at the time.
I barely remember it, but I do remember being scared out of my mind by

[spoiler]Carolines staking scene.  It still scares me.  Her screams were just so real.[/spoiler]

I'm sorry about your Marboro theater being torn down, that's very sad.  I still live in my hometown
and I hope we keep our Grove theater forever.

[Midnite]

Hi, Breebell, and welcome!

[Gerard]

I saw both at the Capitol Theater (and when I saw NODS, I got to see HODS again, since they ran as a double-feature - remember when they still had double features? - the one for HODS was a western).  The Capitol was erected opened in the 1920's as a regular performance theater, with a stage, orchestra pit, two balconies, box seats and all the gillding.  It became a movie theater solely probably by the 1950's (before then, for several decades, it still had live performancess - including Lawrence Welk! - along with films).  In the late 80's, it went through extensive renovations and restorations, reverting back to a performing arts center named the Capitol Civic Center.  Films are no longer shown there.

http://www.cccshows.org/html/ccc_history.html

Gerard

[Maggie Babe]

    I remember seeing HODS at the Levittown Theater on Long Isaland. Yes the good old days here too, the matinees we also 50 cents. I went with a group of my friends.  We usually walked to the theater from the neighboring town of East Meadow. I was about 11. My twin daughters are now 12. I can't imagine giving them that much freedom now days.  ( As a sideline one of my daughters loves watching the DVDs with me. !)

[Gerard]

We paid 35 cents for a matinee, and that included not only the double-feature, but also a cartoon and a short documentary.  When I went to see HODS (and walked to the theater, too), my mom begrugingly gave me a dollar to pay for admission, popcorn, soda and candy - and she told me to make sure to give her back the change when I got home.

Gerard

[Doug]

If I remember. I think both HODS and NODS were shown in drive-in theaters in Pensacola,FL. We only had
one indoor theater at that time call "The Florida Theater". It still being used today and it is now call "Pensacola
Little Theater" and they don't show movies anymore, but I think they shown HODS.

All of drive-ins we had are all gone.

[David]

Were it not for the Mayfair Theatre on Avenue U in Brooklyn, I might never have watched DS.

In April, 1967, I went to the Mayfair to watch The Deadly Bees, the first horror movie I ever saw in a theatre.
The death by 10,000 bee stings scene scared the shit out of me, and I was hooked on horror for life.
(Deadly Bees comes to DVD this summer, BTW)

Because of The Deadly Bees, I sought out DS, which I had heard was "scary."
So it all began at the Mayfair.

In Oct 1971, I went to the Mayfair to see Night of DS.
I laughed my butt off at the marquee:
David SHELBY in
Night of Dark Shadows
Yup, Shelby!

The Mayfair was around the block from my childhood home~~I saw many a Hammer film there.
At about 1,000 seats, it was large but not grand.
Not sure when it opened.

The Mayfair was the first of the old theatres in Broolyn to go. It closed in 1980, and was torn down.
A McDonald's now occupies the site.
Sad.

David

[I Ching]

I watched both movies on their original releases.  I saw HODS at the Page Theater in Luray, Virginia and NODS at a theater on the Boardwalk in Ocean City, Maryland (I don't remember the name of the theater becasue I was on vacation that summer).

[Josette]

One of the friends I watched DS with at Vassar lived in Scarsdale, NY, and there was some sort of brief vacation or holiday weekend or something when it (HODS) came out, and I went to her home for the weekend and we saw the premiere.  (It's interesting, she was someone my other DS friends and I became friendly with in connection with DS, but with whom we evidently would not otherwise have been friends, because once the show was over, we no longer maintained the relationship!)

I had graduated and was back home by the time NODS came out.  I don't recall which theater I saw it in, but I know I went alone.

[bluefielder]

I first saw HoDS at the Granada Theatre in Bluefield, WV.  The next year was a double-billing of HoDS and NoDS at the same theatre.  The Granada Theatre closed in the mid-1970's and was last used as a nightclub.  Another Bluefield theatre was the Colonial which showed every Hammer Horror Film that came out.  It too closed in the mid-1970's.

[Nancy]

I saw HODS with my older cousin (I was too young to go alone due to the rating) at the Cinema House in Newark, Delaware.  My father had dropped off us and picked us up.  When I got into the car, I was devastated that Barnabas had been killed at the end of the movie - not sure what the bat flying out at the end of the death scene meant.  "Do you think Barnabas is dead on the show too?" I asked.  Dad's memorable reply, "No, honey, don't worry. That guy makes them too much money to really kill off!"

I didn't see NODS because Barnabas wasn't in it.

Nancy

[Master Tad Collins]

Hello,
First I would like to say hello to everyone on this site. It looks like I'm the newest member. I was introduced to this site by my co-worker, we now both use the last name Collins. (Not our real name - what a surprise  ) I've been reading the posts for awhile and lt's been fun. I thought I'd intoduce myself and start posting.
I ask one favor, please don't tell our boss that we do this on company time  .
The topics here are very interesting. Unlike my co-worker I've never been to a festival. Maybe this year. There is much I'd like to comment on, but I guess I'll start here and say I first saw HODS in my living room on the Turner Classic channel and I've never seen NODS. Is it ever on TV?
Anyway, I'll be responding to other posts. It's nice to be here.
__Master Tad Collins 

[jeffreywj777]

I to never saw HODS or NODS in the theatre. In 1970 I was not old enough to drive and someone had tipped off my parents about the gore in the films. Every time I saw a preview for the show on TV, I pestered my parents about going, but to no avail.

I remember doing some channel hopping in the late 1980's and came across a movie with Kate Jackson in it. I said to myself " Their's Kate Jackson, she used to be in Dark Shadows". Then there was John Karlen, Nancy Barrett, and then David Selby. At that point I realized I had to be watching NODS for the first time. It was like seeing old friends again.

I checked the TV listings to confirm what I was watching and was horrified to find out that NODS had played just before and I missed it. This was on TBS and they were playing as some Friday the 13th or Halloween marathon. I religiously checked the listings for the next marathon they would have and was finally rewarded with the double showing again. At last I got to see NODS and the complete HODS. I loved every second of it.

I also taped it that evening, and despite having bought the official release tapes years later, I still have those taped copies with comercials and everything. It wasn't long after that when MPI started releasing the show on video.

Thanks
Jeffrey