Interested in the contemporary response to the DS music in other programs...

[Darren Gross]

Howdy. Here's a two-part question for fans who watched the series upon its original airing.

I'm curious as to what emotional responses you had or what your critical perceptions were regarding the use of the Dark Shadows music in non-DS programs.

When it turned up in things like DEAD OF NIGHT- A DARKNESS AT BLAISEDON, the DS movies, particularly, and later those video-shot cheapies (Frankenstein, Shadow of Fear, Nightmare at 43 Hillcrest etc.) did most fans think it was fun and a treat, or cheap and tired?

Also how aware were fans when non-DS Dan Curtis projects aired (like Blaisedon and Dr. Jekyll)  and did you notice when the DS started using that music afterwards as well?

Thanks!
D

[Nancy]

Howdy. Here's a two-part question for fans who watched the series upon its original airing.

I'm curious as to what emotional responses you had or what your critical perceptions were regarding the use of the Dark Shadows music in non-DS programs.

When it turned up in things like DEAD OF NIGHT- A DARKNESS AT BLAISEDON, the DS movies, particularly, and later those video-shot cheapies (Frankenstein, Shadow of Fear, Nightmare at 43 Hillcrest etc.) did most fans think it was fun and a treat, or cheap and tired?

Whenever I hear DS music in a non-DS environment/program it reminds me very much of when I was nine years old and watching DS.  I still think of Barnabas and the coffin whenever I hear a loud heartbeat!  It was a good memory whenever I heard DS music.

Also how aware were fans when non-DS Dan Curtis projects aired (like Blaisedon and Dr. Jekyll)  and did you notice when the DS started using that music afterwards as well?

I was not aware of those projects at the time they were happening.

Nancy

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I'm curious as to what emotional responses you had or what your critical perceptions were regarding the use of the Dark Shadows music in non-DS programs ... did most fans think it was fun and a treat, or cheap and tired?

I always thought it was a fun treat.

Also how aware were fans when non-DS Dan Curtis projects aired (like Blaisedon and Dr. Jekyll)  and did you notice when the DS started using that music afterwards as well?

I definitely noticed the music. And I was aware when DC's non-DS projects were upcoming because the various fan magazines would often mention them or sometimes TV Guide would contain a short blurb that DC was working on them.

[Gerard]

I remember when I watched The Night Stalker in its original airing and heard Dark-Shadowish music and started to scream:  "It's from Dark Shadows!  It's made by the same people who made Dark Shadows!"  I pulled out the huge, clumsy cassette tape recorder I got for Christmas (this was 1971, and electronic gadgets were big and clumsy then) and started to audio tape virtually the entire movie right off the TV, holding the microphone up to the speaker.  Of course, I have no idea whatever happened to that tape.

Gerard

[Nancy]

I want to clarify that, like MB, I must have read about the upcoming projects in the fan magazines and chose not to watch them since I had to choose carefully about what I was going to watch. I was only allowed to watch so much television each day or each week.  My parents were strict about that.

Nancy

I definitely noticed the music. And I was aware when DC's non-DS projects were upcoming because the various fan magazines would often mention them or sometimes TV Guide would contain a short blurb that DC was working on them.

[Brian]

When it turned up in things like DEAD OF NIGHT- A DARKNESS AT BLAISEDON, the DS movies, particularly, and later those video-shot cheapies (Frankenstein, Shadow of Fear, Nightmare at 43 Hillcrest etc.) did most fans think it was fun and a treat, or cheap and tired?

Great question, Darren, and since I haven't sent you a personal note of thanks...here it is:  "thanks" for your work on the complete DS music collection CDs.  (Side note:  do you think Mr. Cobert will ever offer his DS compositions in published form?  I'd love to SEE the music on the printed page, even if in his hand-written manuscripts--and follow along as I listen to the recordings.)

First, I saw Jekyll/Hyde before I ever watched DS, and didn't make the connection until many years later.  But I did see the Blaisedon pilot on ABC, and I thought the music was simlar to DS' music.  Later, after DS was off the air, I watched the late-night ABC Wide World of Entertainment programs, with particular interest in the Dan Curtis shows (i.e., Dorian Gray and Frankenstein, and the repeat of Jekyll/Hyde.  To me it was a treat to hear the music again.  I even taped (on my old Panasonic cassette recorder, with the mic next to the TV speaker) Frankenstein (as I recall) and maybe even Dorian Gray.  Those cassette's are long-gone, of course.

Interestingly, some years later I saw the movie Ladybug, Ladybug (long overdue for a DVD release, BTW) on TV, and I knew immediately the music was by Robert Cobert.  Same with Scalpal, which I watched on a rented VHS tape from Blockbuster some years ago (okay, probably 20+ years ago!).

As for the other late-night shows, I didn't see them when they were aired, so I had no connection to them as DS shows/Cobert music.  Same with Turn of the Screw.  Somehow that escaped me.

Now, one more note--and does anyone else remember this?:  The Julie Andrews Hour featured Rich Little as a regular (I think) and I recall one show where Rich was (maybe) a mad scientist and drank some strange potion....and they had DS music playing as background for the sketch.  I recall/think it was what we now know as the "Barnabas" theme (but it might have been the "Laboratory/Cyrus Longworth music--hey, it's been 35 years, what more can I say.  LOL).

Can I add that Cobert's music opened the door for me to a variety of musical languages, including atonal music and dissonance...most pop music at the time (except for Broadway and film soundtracks) was pretty boring in it's I-IV-V chord progressions, and I found Cobert's music very exciting and different.  AS for modern pop music--I won't even start on rap/hiphop and heavy metal...anyone who calls those styles "music" should study the classics--or at least the film/TV composers of the past 75 years.
 
Brian

[loril54]

I remember when I watched The Night Stalker in its original airing and heard Dark-Shadowish music and started to scream:  "It's from Dark Shadows!  It's made by the same people who made Dark Shadows!"

Gerard
I always liked the Night Stalker and I did recognize the music. But for awhile we didn't have a working TV. So somethings I misssed.

Lori

[joe integlia]

i was very young when darkness at blaisdon aired on abc. hearing the music and seeing the girl with long dark hair and thayer david walkin around with that lantern, i thought i was watching dark shadows! when i watched night stalker on abc movie of week, i was older and even before reading the credits, i knew this movie was made by the same people that made dark shadows! the same goes for when i saw burnt offerings in the theatre. even if it wasnt  the ds music playing in a horror/sci-fi movie theres something about robert coberts scores that just instantly reminded me of dark shadows!

[Janet the Wicked]

For me it's always a treat to recognize DS music in other settings.
The only time it becomes tiresome is in The Picture of Dorian Gray when Pansy's Theme is played constantly throughout the movie.

[Gothick]

Like some others in the room, I got an emotional rush whenever DS music turned up in such things as the DC Frankenstein or Picture of Dorian Gray.  (I did see one of the broadcasts of the Jack Palance Jekyll/Hyde but don't recall the music so perhaps I saw it before I started watching DS--I started the latter in June of '68.)

Part of the emotionality of my response was the fact that DS was totally unavailable in Maryland from the time it went off the air in '71 until the syndication of the 1967 shows (which I of course had never seen the first time around).  I followed the latter on Philadelphia-based UHF station Channel 48 from its inception--as I recall it started around January of '76--and audio taped several episodes.  I was literally breathless with excitement the night Dr. Hoffman first appeared!  You bet your sweet bippy I had that tape recorder going that night!

So, during that period of five years or so, coinciding with a very traumatic period of my adolescence, my favorite TV show was not around.  I would play the old 1969 soundtrack LP, look at my Viewmaster reels, and get out my old magazines from time to time to get my DS fix.

A friend of mine recently watched DC's Picture of Dorian Gray and the music was one of the things that ruined it for him because he found it disconcerting and anachronistic.  I just shrugged and pondered how tastes differ.

cheers, Steve

[Pansity]

I probably saw the Jekyl/Hyde and Dorian Grey but can't say for sure.  I DO remember making a special point to see Darkness at Blaisdon when it came on (and it may just be a defective memory, but does anyone else recall that it wals supposed to be a pilot for a proposed series?).  Blaisdon I remember sounded interesting on its own account to a horror movie junkie -- and Thayer David being in it.  Prof. Stokes was my favorite character (aside from the 10 year old's obligatory crush on Quentin that is.  ).  I remember liking Blaisdon very much, but keep forgetting to pick up a copy at a fest to see how it holds up to my memory.

I did see the DC Dracula and Jekyl/Hyde when I got into the fandom in 02, and I liked the mix up of music from DS.  I wanna Dance with You and Q's theme fit well into the Victorian music hall atmosphere of the latter.

And just as a FYI who likes the bawdier music hall lyrics of I Wanna Dance... better than the sweet lyrics in the duet done by Barrett and Selby? 

[PennyDreadful]

And just as a FYI who likes the bawdier music hall lyrics of I Wanna Dance... better than the sweet lyrics in the duet done by Barrett and Selby? 

 Oh I quite prefer the bawdier version.

[MagnusTrask]

Anyone who loves that low strings, cello/bass-viol sound should look for anything arranged by Paul Buckmaster.  He orchestrated the early, darker Elton John albums (1970-1), and did the soundtrack to the Terry Gilliam movie "12 Monkeys".  That soundtrack is something people here might like.

[Darren Gross]

Thanks for the feedback, folks!