What Was Your Introduction to DS Fandom?

[PennyDreadful]

I was going through some of my old zines the other day and it got me thinking about the days when I first discovered DS fandom.  I remember around maybe 1984/85 at the end of the bootleg syndicated VHS recordings my uncle used to have there was a voiceover for a DS Fan Club.  I wrote to the address but the envelope came back to me as undeliverable.  Apparently, that particular DS club had closed its doors, so to speak.  

A couple of years later, in 1986 I believe, I picked up a copy of Monster Land Magazine and found an ad in the back for something called 'The Dark Shadows Files'.  These were written by forum member Edward Gross.  I immediately ordered all of the available issues.  After several months, these books finally arrived.  Now you have to remember, this was long before the days of internet and forums like these.  At that point, nobody in my school really knew about DS and there was very little media about the show.  These DS Files books were the only connection I found to DS.  Inside one of the issues was an address for the Media Sound Record albums.  I freaked out over these.  I couldn't believe there was new DS merchandise available at that time.  I ordered those, and while eagerly awaiting their arrival, I ran across KLS' My Scrapbook Memories of Dark Shadows in the local bookstore.  I was floored!  Like I said, there was very little going on with DS at this time so it was amazing to find these things all at once.  

When the record albums arrived, Media Sound included an address for the DS Fest and (I believe) a flier for the Transcending Time DS article collections!  I wrote to the Fest address and received fliers for The World of Dark Shadows fanzine,  Shadowgram.  It's quite possible that I passed out from excitement over this newly discovered goldmine of DS awesomeness!    Inside the Old House, TWODS, SG, fan novels, concordances, etc. -the world of zines was opened up to me and I loved it!

Fortunately, I had just gotten my first part-time job in 1986/87.  Perhaps unfortunately, almost every cent I made went into the purchase of DS stuff!  Anyway, that's how I discovered the once-secret world of DS fandom.

I know The World of Dark Shadows zine has been around since 1975, and of course there were fan clubs for the show while it was on the air too, so I'd love to hear from some of the early fandom pioneers if they're reading this.  Actually, I'd love to read everyone's stories!  How did you first discover DS fandom?

~Penny~

[The Doctor and K9]

I grew up in Newport RI and had vague memories of the show's original run. When my best friend, Jim brought a copy of Barnabas, Quentin, and the Body Snatchers to school, I had to read it. This was late winter/early spring 1976, so the show had just been picked up by WLVI TV, Boston. It was on 11:00 PM, so that meant that I'd only be able to watch on Friday nights and not every week by any means!  I scoured book stores, thrift shops, and sales of every kind in the hopes of finding anything related to DS. After the syndication run ended in Boston, I was sure I was the only person besides Jim who remembered it.

One day a lady in one of my classes at URI saw me reading a DS book. She brought me an ad for Jeff Arsenault's zine The Collinsport Call.  I sent away for information and waited and waited. I discovered later that he had recently relocated from RI to NY and his mail had had to be forwarded. In the meantime, I picked up a copy of Famous Monsters of Filmland and got the address for another zine. I believe it was The World of Dark Shadows. I'm not sure which zine arrived first, but they both had ads to other zines. Shadowcon was this distant dream. I knew I'd never make it to those early DS conventions! Fortunately Kathy Resch got in touch with me and told me about the Festivals. I'm not sure if their trip to Newport was before or after the first Fest. I showed them and Joe Collins around my hometown.

I was fortunate enough to work at the hotel where Jonathan Frid stayed during his first trip to Newport. He set aside some time to talk to me, and I carried his luggage when he checked out. Alexandra Moltke Isles stayed at the Treadway as well, but my boss kept it a secret. This was during the Von Bulow trial, and she didn't want me doing something stupid like asking the distraught lady for her autograph.

Through my invlolvement with DS Fandom, I've made many friendships that have lasted several decades.

[Gothick]

Since I am of the Ancient Blood (heh heh) my introduction was through the teen mags of the late Sixties.  When I started watching the show, I think it was sometime around July 1968 I happened to be in the supermarket with my Mom and on a magzine stand there was 16 Magazine and it mentioned DS on the cover.  I bought the issue with my allowance and soon was collecting Tiger Beat and some others as well.  The mags would mention fan clubs, and in the book Barnabas Collins: a Personal Photo Album which came out, I think, towards the end of '69, a Frid fan club was mentioned and there was a photo of the President.  But for whatever reason I never managed to get involved.

When I came back from several years of living in Taiwan in 1986, a friend took me on a jaunt to Baltimore and in a bookshop I stumbled across the Grayson memorial zine, A Gift of Memory.  I was stunned to learn she was dead.  A year or so later Scrapbook Memories was published and I saw and bought it at Forbidden Planet in NYC.  It's hard to believe that was nearly 25 years ago now.

It wasn't until sometime around 1993, I think, that I attended a fan convention, and my visit to the first one I attended was really brief. I missed the fuss around the 1990/91 series because I was living in Beijing for 18 months during those years.

And here we are now in 2011 with all the hoopla around the Depp film... what a strange dance it's been.

G.

[michael c]

my introduction to the series came at a time when the sci-fi channel aired two episodes back to back at i think 11:00pm. this was 1999? 2000 i think?

anyways i'll always remember my first episodes were the ones where david locked victoria in the closed off section of collinwood and she saw the ghost of bill malloy. this action was intercut with a scene at the blue whale where burke and sam sing "what would you do with a drunken sailor" to an amused carolyn.

sometimes i used to watch tv with my landlady and she must have been watching this with me because later she always asked me about joan bennett and "that girl that was locked in the attic".

i loved it from that minute and shortly afterwards i started watching on video from episode one. i'd order two volumes at a time from mpi and it took me years to get through it. in fact when i attended my first fest(brooklyn '03 i think)i had just finished the laura collins storyline and had only just gotten to the barnabas part of the series. diana millay set up her table(books and so forth)early so she was the first one of "them" i had ever met in person and i was just mesmerized. it was the first of several odd exchanges i'd have with diana over the years.

i tried to watch it all the way through but i started to lose interest with the 1840 storyline. i just couldn't get through it. it all got too far away from what i had first started to watch for and i just couldn't muster up much enthusiasm or develop any affection for yet another round up of characters that would mostly end up dead by the end of the storyline anyways. still i might finish it someday.

now i end up watching favorite storylines again in their entirety. i've watched 1966 all the way through twice. the laura storyline three times. 1967 three times. 1968 twice and i'm currently giving 1795 a third viewing. after that i'm not sure which i'll pick. i've only seen 1897 through the summer of 1970 once so i may try and get through that whole segment again and then think about 1840.

it's been great fun(for the most part)and the series actually helped get me through a very difficult period in my life. having this project set for myself(watching the series end-to-end)was comforting. that period is now over but i'll always have a deep fondness for the series for being there at a time when i needed something to cheer me up.

[joe integlia]

i wonder if those vhs tapes were from me or from louis wendruck that ran the fan club in the mid 80s. i think we both placed ads for the club at the end of the tapes. was the address in west hollywood? the club stopped running years ago but victoriawinters runs one here in socal now. i first watched an episode of ds in 1967 with my older sisters. it was the 1 where sarah helps maggie escape from the old house. didnt watch it regularly till it came back in reruns in the mid 70s in philadelphia and then again in the 80s when i worked at a tv station in atlantic city that aired ds and then again a couple years later on nj network and yet again when i moved to socal and kdoc showed it in the late 80s and then again on sci fi/mpi vhs and dvds.

[Taeylor Collins]

My Dark Shadows story starts out not visually but with sound!

I used to go to my grandmothers after school to stay while my mom stayed at school to prepare her lessons for the next day. She was a teacher, needless to say.  I remember in 1987 at the age of 10, I discovered the famous DS album that came out in 1969!  I decided to put it on and play it because I was fascinated with the characters on front and back.  My aunt had introduced me to horror (vampires getting staked, pretty gory) when I was 8 and I loved it.  My brother would hide behind my dad watching The Wizard of Oz while I was right in front of the TV as close as I could get to ogle the witch.   LOL     So things like that never bothered me.  So I would listen to this music and it would sincerely creep me out.  I loved it.  I cannot count the times I listened to that album.

Cut to 1991.  I subscribed to TV Guide, because I have always loved TV, and I saw the "Close Up" add for Dark Shadows. I put two and two together and noticed it said "RETURN" and I had read an article about it also.  My mother is a very religious woman and we always went to church Sunday, Sunday Night and Wednesday and did not miss.  However, I talked her into to letting me and my brother stay home on Jan. 13 1991! I remember the familiar "NBC Miniseries" music and opening and we waited with anticipation.   We were instantly hooked. We adored the new show and were on the edge of our seats waiting to see what happened next.  I still have my VHS tapes I recorded that faithful night.  I taped all the episodes and watched them repeatedly through the summer.  At one point my parents even told me that I had to take a break from watching them as they felt I was getting "obssesed"  I have to   at that.  Perhaps they were right, because here I am  20 years later telling you fine people about how I got into fandom.  I was 13 when it premiered and I just turned 33 in October.  It has been an amazing ride.  I remember being upset when it didn't come back on in the fall of 1991 and finding The DS Companion at a store.  It was the first DS book I bought.  There I found TWODS ad and wrote Kathleen about the show.  This was before we had the internet and I guess it wasn't really around then. I had heard nothing about the cancellation.  She informed me that it had been cancelled and I was heartbroken.  I turned to the old series to satisfy my DS craving and I fell in love with DS all over again.  As I have said before Revival series will always be a bit more special to me because it was my first “visual” DS experience. However, I have a GREAT love for the original show and I only have a that higher plane of love for the Revival because like I said it was my first visual encounter with Dark Shadows.  I only recently was able to watch the entire series when the collectors came out on VHS.  I knew in the late 90S that VHS tapes were declining so as much as it pained me I decided not to by the tapes.  I started collecting the DVDs and almost have my collection complete now.  I took a break for a while from fandom because of some negative things that happened; however, I let go of them and found this board and it really brought “hope” and DS back into my life.  I was behind the 2004 pilot and really sad that it didn't come to fruition.  I am also behind the new movie and I hope that it will revitalize fandom like the new show did.  The Revival really gave DS a great shot in the arm and I feel the movie can do the same. I am not way trying to get off on the new movie I am just stating my position.  I love the new audio drama's and think that they are absolutely brilliant and inventive.

Through Dark Shadows I met one of my best friends.  I have made countless friends all over the country. I have been embraced immediately by so many DS fans and it really has given me a place to call my own.   I published a fanzine at the age of 19 called The Lara Zine and I and introduced my best friend from my hometown to Dark Shadows and we still laugh and talk about it all the time. And this past October I was able to go to Seaview and take a trip to NYC where I visited local Grayson haunts and realized a childhood dream of visiting the DS studio.  It has been a great ride for me.

Now I am currently working on a new fanzine called Seaview Shadows to benefit Seaview Terrace.  I know there are still people out there who miss fanzines and would like to have them going in fandom again.  I know at this time Twods is no longer being published so I am hoping that this will renew interest in zines.  I know there are still a lot of people who love them and are looking forward to the zine.  If it does well I plan to do more in the future.  I absolutely love doing fanzines. They are such a joy to me and so many others. And in many other fandoms they are still thriving.  I hope to see that happen again in this fandom.


Dark Shadows literally changed my the course of my life. It is amazing to behold the power of art!

[Mary]

I watched the original series in its original run when I was a child (plus I watched the syndicated reruns several years later and on PBS in the 80s, and was into the '91 series) and got into fandom many years later at the age of 27 when I bought a book about haunted houses or true ghost stories or something (can't remember the title right now) which had a chapter in it about the DS Festival and a woman who came to the Fests who believed she was a vampire and people lined up outside her hotel room for her to bite them!  (Holy cats!)  Anyway, there was an address for the Fest in the back of the book so I wrote to it to inquire about the Fests and fandom and memorabilia and soon received a flyer for the upcoming Fest that June (of 1990) -- woo hoo!  LOL!  There was also info about Shadowgram so I immediately subscribed to that and then to The World Of DS, and Inside the Old House and was totally freaking out when they arrived!!!  LOL!  I had known the Fest existed before this because I'd seen pictures from one in Fangoria, which actually looked down on DS at the time (ggrrrrr!!!), but I didn't think I'd ever get to one.  However, at the time I received the info about the June 1990 Fest I had enough money and thought I'd treat myself to a one-time experience, but little did I know how wonderful it would be and that it would completely change my life forever and I wouldn't be able to stay away and I would meet such wonderful friends and just have a whole new amazing life!!!  Woo hoo!!!!  (Never did see any vampire woman though with people lined up wanting her to bite them -- LOL!  Probably just as well -- LOL!)

[Nancy]

During the run of the original show, my friends would talk about the daily episodes on the phone and/or at school.  I stumbled upon DS in syndication in 1984 (New Jersey Network) and videotaped episodes.  I learned from the aftermath of one episode that there was going to be Dark Shadows Festival in Newark, New Jersey and I attended.  I had no idea what to expect or what people did for a week at a DS Festival but the introduction turned out to be fun.  I've gone to all the east coast festivals except for one ever since.

Nancy

[PennyDreadful]

It's great reading about these first encounters with fandom!  Thanks for sharing folks.

[petofi]

I indulged in the original series in its original run from about mid-'67 until the end.  16 magazines with article titles like "We're Not Freaks!" and "Quentin Quits!" kept me fired up about the show in between actual episodes.  I read a good deal of the paperbacks as well.  After the show was cancelled, I really became disconnected with the idea of DS until late 1989, when I happened across the "Best of Dark Shadows" VHS in a local video store in Bangor, Maine, where I lived at the time. 

This same video store began carrying the episode tapes in 1990, and I rented them religiously.  Then, a friend was getting rid of his DS collection, which included many issues of The World of Dark Shadows, Inside The Old House, and various other DS Zines.  For 100 dollars, I bought these, along with several of the DS concordances, and a nice copy of the Barnabas Collins Game. There was also info on several fan clubs, and I began getting MPI catalogues and newsletters from The DS fan club and Fest. 

As I slowly watched the Barnabas episodes in their entirety, I was also building a considerable collection of DS books, cards, and other memorabilia.  Although I have since divested myself of the majority of this collection, I still have DVDs of the show, and several of the latter-day books.   

Petofi

[Janet the Wicked]

I found out about the fests purely by accident. I was home from work durinig a blockbuster snowstorm and happened upon DS on Sci-Fi Channel. I don't recall what year. Late nineties, maybe. I believe KLS came on at the end of the episodes mentioning the fests or Shadowgram or something. It may have been the Halloween Weekend in Tarrytown. That was the first event I attended. I got all squishy when I saw David Selby up close and personal. I joined a couple fan sites and was hooked.
I really enjoy the show. In fact, just bought the Laura storyline DVD. I am so looking forward to manly Burke Devlin kissin all the girls!

[Taeylor Collins]

This is a great thread. I am enjoying everyone stories.  I am sorry for my typographical errors. I checked it but missed a few.  Thanks for starting this thread.

 

[Patti Feinberg]

What a TERRIFIC topic!

I remember a few eps 1st go around (late 60s & early 70s).

That said, I started to really watch during the late 90s on Sci Fi. Then I hit the old interweb and found great friends like the ones on this board.

I got a book (sorry, it's downstairs & I recently had a fall, so I'm not going down to see which it is); I also purchased a shirt MADE by I *think* Castle Bee.

I had plans to to attend the 2001 fest; we had a babysitter for my kids; my husband had taken the Saturday off. Then it was announced on here that that ONE day was SOLD OUT! waaah!! (But, considering what was to happen a month later, I will be eternally grateful that I could not attend.)

That's my story....

Patti