the old house exteriors

[michael c]

sorry i'm feeling chatty tonight.

again i've been watching the 1966 episodes.

i had forgotten how cool the episodes were where they filmed exteriors of the old house and worked the storylines around the filmed material.these episodes,especially the one where josette steps out of her portrait and runs around the columns outside,were for me the first "goosebump" episodes when i first watched.one can sense the program's evolution into what it becomes.

the exteriors of the town of collinsport,the inn and such,are cool but here is where the mythology starts.

it looks like for these early episodes that they sent alexandra,kathryn,nancy,david hennesy and thayer david out to newport,RI for the shoot however...

how "goosepimply" would it have been to have shots of barnabas,willie,julia or maybe angelique lurking about in the darkness outside the old house?

once barnabas came onto the scene,and it was decided that the old house would be the main location for his storyline,i wonder why jonathan,john karlen,grayson hall etc. weren't sent out there for some location shooting?it was only a few months later.it would have been so effective.

[Pansity]

how "goosepimply" would it have been to have shots of barnabas,willie,julia or maybe angelique lurking about in the darkness outside the old house?

once barnabas came onto the scene,and it was decided that the old house would be the main location for his storyline,i wonder why jonathan,john karlen,grayson hall etc. weren't sent out there for some location shooting?it was only a few months later.it would have been so effective.

Excellent point. That would have been really cool, and they could have made generic stock shots so they could have been inserted as needed. You do wonder whether it was discussed.since Tarrytown is such a short trip from the studios.

Jeannie

[LeFanu]

i've been watching early barnabas episodes too, and was wondering something similar. there was an episode i saw last week i think in which victoria and carolyn are shown going to the old house to inspect the renovation barbabas and willie have been doing on the place. they actually show the girls climbing the steps up to the porch of the spratt house, and going around to the front door in a great exterior shot. since jf was already on the show, it really makes me wonder why they didn't send him out for some location shooting too.

didn't the spratt house burn down at some point during the original run of dark shadows?

[Pansity]

didn't the spratt house burn down at some point during the original run of dark shadows?

The house burned in 1969.  Here's a link to some very detailed information and photos of the house and the site:

http://www.hudsonvalleyruins.org/yasinsac/spratt/spratt.html

FYI the last time I was at Lyndhurst with an out of town friend (think it was maybe three years ago, now -- it was the last time the Fest was in Bklyn), the docents were singularly uninformed about where on the property one could find the ruins.

Jeannie

[Janet the Wicked]

There are photos of Old Man Frid at the Spratt Mansion. Why they never videotaped him creeping around the property for an episode or two, I don't know. Maybe Kersey has some insight on this subject.

[dom]

I wonder too.

BTW, that is my favorite DS photo series. It has a lot to do with the snow, lol. I've only seen maybe seven photo's from the shoot. I imagine there were plenty more taken. The first time I saw the color stills I almost fainted.

The outdoor photo series of Roger, Vicky (I'm drawing a blank on the accepted spelling of Vicki), and David are a close second. The shot of Vicki running from Collinwood is probably my all-time fave DS pic.

[Nancy]

There are photos of Old Man Frid at the Spratt Mansion. Why they never videotaped him creeping around the property for an episode or two, I don't know. Maybe Kersey has some insight on this subject.

They were probably busy with other things.  It was also freezing out.

[Nancy]

There are photos of Old Man Frid at the Spratt Mansion. Why they never videotaped him creeping around the property for an episode or two, I don't know. Maybe Kersey has some insight on this subject.

Seriously though, all that you suggest costs big money to do.  If DCP didn't have the money to edit embarrassing bloopers, they certainly did not have enough money to pay for actors and a crew to be sent up to Tarrytown, set up, fed, etc.to shoot exteriors for for a show that was already established.  The tendency is to give shows more money at the beginning to set up the said series hence the early exterior shots being done.   As I recall, photos of the Old House at different angles were used to indicate activity heading towards or already going on inside the Old House.  Location shooting is very expensive.  It's not usually up to the producer how to run that with actors and crew involved since the unions do have stipulations as to at one point actors and crew are to be housed after working so many hours, etc. It is an expensive proposition.

nancy

[Taeylor Collins]

I am sure it was money.  The show and cast were growing and DC probably just didn't see it as beneficial since it would "never" be seen again! 

[katrinavantassel]

The house burned in 1969.  Here's a link to some very detailed information and photos of the house and the site:

Thanks for this link. Interesting, and sad, too. Those beautiful buildings! The 'Old House' was really lovely in its heyday - pity no one could have saved it. Wouldn't it be fun to think that some organization could have bought it and fixed it up for conventions and DS could have had one there?

[Pansity]

Yes, that whole property was lovely.  Nice thought about it being saved (and the DS conventions too!).  

That whole area up and down Route 9 is full of what were the mansions and properties of the wealthy, from the Revolutionary period onward. Many of them were, thank goodness, preserved.  Some were taken over by the National Trust, as Lyndhurst was, or by a similar organization that preserves landmarks in Westchester and the Hudson River Valley. Anyone visiting that area of Westchester might want to check out Philipse Manor. It's part of the huge tract of land originally owned by the Philipse family and is now a historically accurate working estate, contemporary with when we were told Collinwood was built.

Others weren't officially adopted by any of the preservation organizations, but became nursing homes, schools ,residential treatment centers for children, or are rented out by private owners for events.  Every year my employer has their Christmas party at one of these properties, now owned by a tony private school and rented out for special events.

Jeannie

[rainingwolf]

One thing I've wondered about the "Old House"--in the early episodes they show the steps going up to the huge pillars. Yet later on, it looks like the front door of the OH is right at ground level. Trees are around it, and people-David, Julia-look in the front windows while standing on what looks to be ground. Are we supposed to pretend the steps are still there?

[michael c]

that's almost as good as adam...and later tom jennings...standing outside vicki's window,then walking right in,even though it had been very clearly established(unless she was abruptly demoted to downstairs servants quarters)that her bedroom was on the second floor.

[katrinavantassel]

That is when his spidey sense came in handy! 

[tragic bat]

Yeah, those stairs definitely vanished - watching just the later show, you couldn't infer they were there - they certainly weren't referred to - people seemed to run out the door and directly into the woods all the time, and nobody ever talked about the stairs being slippery or falling down (or being thrown down) them. 

But those early location shots really seem almost mystical after watching just the later years.