Question re: NODS collectible item

[PennyDreadful]

I was at a friend's toy/comic shop recently and he excitedly asked me if I knew anything about the following item:



It's a rubber ghost toy and it says, "Beware the Night of Dark Shadows" underneath the ghost.  I think this was a promotional giveaway when the VHS was released, but I'm not entirely sure.

Does anyone know about this?

[Mysterious Benefactor]

While supplies lasted (which wasn't much beyond the third day of opening week, as I understand it), it was a giveaway when you went to see NoDS. I received one when I went to a local drive-in to see it on August 6, 1971, along with a "glow-in-the-dark" bumper sticker that also said "Beware the Night of Dark Shadows." The bumper sticker never actually glowed in the dark.    But I count the Angelique figure as one of my favorite pieces of DS memorabilia.    And they're extremely rare these days. In fact, on the rare occasions that they've turned up on eBay, I've seen them sell for hundreds of dollars.

[PennyDreadful]

Wowzers!  Thank you so much MB!!!  I will let my friend know.  For anyone interested, it's currently at The Fun Box Monster Emporium in Portland, ME!

[Darren Gross]

Hi Penny,

It's the one item I've never been able to get.  They show up rarely on ebay these days, and are either worn out or carved into some kind of bong.

Any chance you could see how much it is and if reasonable, snap it up for me?

[KMR]

While supplies lasted (which wasn't much beyond the third day of opening week, as I understand it), it was a giveaway when you went to see NoDS. I received one when I went to a local drive-in to see it on August 6, 1971, along with a "glow-in-the-dark" bumper sticker that also said "Beware the Night of Dark Shadows." The bumper sticker never actually glowed in the dark.    But I count the Angelique figure as one of my favorite pieces of DS memorabilia.    And they're extremely rare these days. In fact, on the rare occasions that they've turned up on eBay, I've seen them sell for hundreds of dollars.

Wow, this is the first I've heard of it.  I went to see the show on opening night (Aug. 4, 1971--I sat through both screenings) and they didn't hand those out.  Granted, this was at a small town theater, and the distribution/promotion was pretty screwy.  (The trailers at the previous week's movie, and the posters, were all for HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS, and that's what the marquee said; when I left the theater on opening night, they were changing HOUSE to NIGHT on the marquee...  I had gone into the theater expecting to sit through HOUSE twice, and was quite surprised to not hear the DS theme right after the lion roar, and to see the word "Night" appear on the screen.  I thought maybe they had changed the title for a re-release, but once the music started playing and the picture faded in, I realized it was the new movie.  What a thrill that was!)

Maybe they had the figures there for people exiting the theater, and they ran out after the first show.  Or maybe I was just in a daze from seeing NODS twice through.  Or, more likely, they just didn't have a supply there.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Not all theaters had them - but the ones that did said so right in their ads in the newspapers: