There are several interview clips on YouTube where Judith Light discusses getting the part of Karen Wolek. I queued them up and let them run, listening to them as I was working on other things. There's no mention of the Halls at all. The significant story she tells is of her being in a lot of plays and failing every audition for TV and Film work and she was about to give up acting altogether when she went on a specific audition and landed the Karen role. I would think if Sam & Grayson Hall were part of her transition from stage to television she would mention it in public interviews, don't you think?

Now, there's the later story about the two of them -- in 1980 -- when Hall wrote the storyline that won her the Emmy for Best Acting. But Light had already been on One Life to Live for a few years at this point, it had nothing to do with her landing the role. You can Google "Judith Light and Sam Hall" and several references to the story come right up at the top of the list.

Perhaps the writer of the book you mentioned got a few story threads crossed? I wouldn't want to say that for sure because I don't know the book, not do I know much about One Life to Live. I'm just speculating. Memory does that to you. I have to admit when a writer approached me recently about the evolution of the DS Proposals, I related the story to him as I remembered it, but managed to leave one huge chunk of the story our because I had completely forgotten it. When I got to read Ed Gross's Dark Shadows Files articles, it came back to me clear as day, and I had to contact that writer and amend what I had told him so he had the actual timeline. I've noticed more and more as I navigate my 60s that my memory isn't as good as I've boasted it to be.

Anyway, sorry for the ramble...

Oh, I definitely believe things weren't all wine and roses behind the scenes of Dark Shadows. Sam Hall wasn't unpleasant per se to deal with when I encountered him, but he was opinionated and was determined to only look out for himself. He didn't want to collab with Violet and Ron, he wanted to be in charge of the whole thing and be the only writer.

One aspect of that brief encounter with Mr. Hall has always amused me -- He was horrified that anyone would put as much effort into writing something like we were doing and not be paid for it. I did offer to let him read what we had at that time, hoping he would add critiques, notes, ideas, etc., but that was asking way too much from him without offering a payment to go along with the request.

Jim was good about warning me in advance of anyone he thought might be difficult to deal with, and there were a couple. I never really had any surprises when talking with the original cast and crew. Sometimes it was actually quite fun. I remember Jim saying Alexandra would be lovely to talk with, but in the end I would be wasting of my time. After I explained the simplicity of a Letter of Interest, she was like, "Oh, I can do that for you, and then we'll see how it goes"

Bob-the-Bartender...

As Uncle Roger said, this really hit home. Pissing matches aside, I'd like to say your timing was well-targeted. You posted this on my birthday, and the official day of my retirement, though I still haven't processed all of that yet.

Until reading your post, I never really gave much consideration to my connection to or involvement with Dark Shadows. I was one of those “Dark Shadows Kiddies,” having discovered the show one day after school in 1967. I missed the early episodes, but I never missed a single one after that day. Growing up in San Diego put me in the perfect position to attend the very first ShadowCon in 1977. And then a decade after that I was part of the team working on a new DS soundtrack album, and I was writing a proposal to Dan Curtis to try and get a DS reunion TV Movie off the ground.

However, my most significant memories have always been my DS friendships, several of which are now over 50-years strong.

I was an avid convention and festival goer in the 70s, 80s, and early-90s, but work became demanding, and I didn't like traveling, and I was growing weary of large groups of people. So, I stopped attending altogether, and I can't say that I miss any of it. I wouldn't have minded going on one of the Lyndhurst events over the years, or returning to a festival or two, but the timing never worked out. And now, with the economy as bad as it is, and my transition to a fixed retirement income, I don't see that happening at all in the future. And there are health concerns, as well.

Frankly, if Kathryn wants to keep organizing and hosting DS events, more power to her. She has been Dark Shadows biggest cheerleader for over 40-years, and she seems to enjoy doing what she does. As for the prices you mentioned, I don't have an opinion either way. I've seen far worse. I guess it all depends on what's included. For example, the “Champagne at Collinwood” event, did the $125 cover unlimited refills, or did it include a solitary obligatory glass of champagne? Did the guests receive a commemorative champagne glass, or was the champagne served in plastic throwaway cups? The price could be reasonable if it had some value added to it. So, not knowing all the details, I can't comment on it.

Anyway, thank you for the thought-provoking post. You gave this sexagenarian a lot to think about.

Thank you for the birthday wishes.

Uncle Roger: We didn't discuss casting much, but we did have some ideas. Writers tend to visualize certain actors in roles as they write. It helps develop better characters to have a sense of what they look like in your mind. Do keep in mind that this was the late-1980s, and also take into consideration that this was Dark Shadows 20-years later. Here are some names we had in our thoughts as we wrote:
"David Collins" played by Terry Lester
"Susan Collins" played by Pamela Sue Martin
"Dr. Melissa Stokes" played by Meg Foster
"Seth Martin" played by Roy Thinnes
"Anton Rakosi" played by Ken Wahl
"Armand Delacroix" played by Geoffrey Holder
Of course we were amused to see Roy Thinnes show up as "Trask" in the 1991 revival series.
I'll write a separate post about my thoughts on contemporary casting. I'm sure you'll find it amusing.

Hi everyone...

It's a little strange to find out people have been discussing and writing about something I worked on so long ago. This same sort of thing happened a few years ago when I learned an unproduced TV script I wrote had been the topic of much discussion and writing for nearly 20-years. And now, last year I was contacted by a writer about this old Dark Shadows proposal and I happen across this forum to learn things like Darren Gross was looking to contact me over 20-years ago, and this proposal has been the topic of much discussion. Don't get me wrong, I think it's great! And I appreciate the fact that something I had my hands in has sparked so much interest, especially since I thought it was a completely dead topic. So, I've gone through this thread and have answered some of your specific questions and comments.

Specific replies:

Mysterious Benefactor: Regarding Reply #4, Lisa Morton isn't mentioned in the DS Files articles because they predate her involvement. The whole project was actually TWO attempts to launch a new DS project, not just the one. With the first attempt (mentioned in the DS Files articles), we didn't have any sort of storyline attached to the proposal. It was simply an attempt to gain the proper permissions from Dan Curtis to proceed ahead with developing something new for TV. When that failed, we came back two years later with a full blown proposal to launch a brand new continuation series based on Dark Shadows. That's where this outline (known in TV lingo as “the bible”) came from. Lisa is one of my oldest friendships (50+ years now!) and during the 80s we collaborated on many TV pilots and episodic scripts. I went to her and we spent nearly two months writing the original first draft of the First Season Story Projection, which was no easy task. I was on the phone constantly with Jim Pierson picking his brain on original series story details. Plus there was Frid's reluctance to express any sort of interest, not to mention his aging 20+ years. I know there are continuity issues from where DS left off in 1971 and where we picked up in this storyline, but they were minor enough that we felt they wouldn't ruffle too many feathers with the fans. Jim acted as our sounding board. I would throw an idea at him and ask if he thought we could get away with it since it didn't fit 100% into the original series canon.

patrickm: Regarding Reply #5, The “new” characters, like Dr. Melissa Stokes or Susan Collins or Anton Rakosi, were never meant to be filled by DS alum actors. And you hit the nail on the head about the involvement of David Selby. We didn't even talk to him when we were developing this proposal because he was busy playing Richard Channing over on Falcon Crest. Since I worked at Lorimar at the time, I knew how much he was making per episode, and I knew if this series idea got off the ground the producers would never have been able to buy him out so he could return as Quentin. The unspoken plan was if the show got off the ground and stayed on the air long enough, and if Falcon Crest ended, we would approach Mr. Selby at that time to try to woo him back into the Quentin Collins character.

Mysterious Benefactor: Regarding Reply #6, indeed we never wanted to go back to Square One and rehash the Barnabas origin story yet again. Curtis did it in the original series, then again in House of Dark Shadows. We wanted to follow what revival TV series of the time were doing, a la Star Trek: The Next Generation or The Brady's or Return to Mayberry, all of which brought the original series forward into the modern day. So, yes, it's much the same idea that Mark B. Perry decided to follow with his Dark Shadows: Reincarnation proposal.

Penny Dreadful: Regarding Reply #7, thank you for posting these articles/interviews. I had completely forgotten that we attempted to approach Mr. Curtis twice about a revival or reunion show, and re-reading those pages helped me sort out the memories and timeline.

Uncle Roger: Regarding Reply #11, your casting ideas are interesting, but I should point out that we wouldn't have been able to go after William Devane at that time, as he was a regular on Knots Landing. I addressed the continuity errors in an earlier reply, so won't repeat myself here. And the only reason it took so long for this to surface in book form on Amazon is that it was tucked away in an archival file cabinet for decades, pretty much forgotten. When I came across it, Amazon's self-publishing unit made it so easy to format and release that I couldn't resist putting it out there. However, in the roughly 7-years it was available on Amazon, it sold a whopping 17 copies, which is why I retired it last year. As for Diana Millay's involvement, she was a good friend that I had known by that time for several years. On one of her visits to L.A. we got together and I filled her in on what we were doing. She insisted on being in the loop throughout the process, whether or not we were developing a character for her to play. In the early drafts of the bible she offered quite a lot of valuable input on the storytelling, but it was all verbal via phone calls or sitting and talking over lunch. I took copious notes when she had anything to say, but none of her input could be called “writing,” which is why I opted to mention her as a story consultant only, which wasn't an issue for her in the least. Ultimately, she was like a cheerleader for us, keeping us going when we knew the odds were stacked against us.

Naturally, if anyone has more questions, please feel free to ask me at any time. Thank you all for keeping this topic alive all these years. I still think it's a little strange, but I'm not going to argue with anyone about it.

I'm a terrible proofreader these days, so please forgive any typos you might stumble over. All best wishes from Scott Young.