DS 1795, "A Message from Charity" & "I'll Never Forget You"

[Philippe Cordier]

I've recently viewed two film adaptations whose stories may have influenced Dan Curtis and "Dark Shadows." After many years of waiting (speaking for many), the 1951 movie "I'll Never Forget You" finally came out on DVD last year as part of a Tyrone Power collection. This is the second movie based on the John Balderston play "Berkeley Square," and the movie was alternatively titled "The House in the Square" in the U.K. I haven't seen the original 1933 movie "Berkeley Square" with Leslie Howard and Heather Angel, which has never been released on VHS or DVD. I've read the play "Berkeley Square," though, and liked the 1951 version. It's a bit creaky, but I especially liked the early B&W interior scenes - the house looked too detailed and realistic to be a movie set but I haven't been able to find out for certain. The original play (itself inspired by Henry James' unfinished novel "The Sense of the Past") concerns a man obsessed with his family's history who goes back in time to the 18th century in England, where he falls in love. Some might see similarities here with the 1795 DS storyline when Victoria Winters goes back in time and meets the "original" Barnabas Collins. The ending of "I'll Never Forget You" was definitely borrowed by Dan Curtis for the ending of his excellent Hallmark production of Jack Finney's "The Love Letter." (The love interest from the past re-appears, reincarnated, in the present day.) I've written in the past how Jack Finney's original short story, "The Love Letter," inspired a sequence in DS where Julia finds a letter in a secret compartment in a desk by which Barnabas in the past is attempting to communicate with her.

Now I've just re-watched a two-part episode of "The New Twilight Zone" (1985) that I recorded on my DVR from the Chiller channel some months ago. The episode is called "A Message from Charity" and is based on a 1967 short story of the same name by a writer named William M. Lee. It's not a full-fledged time-travel story, but instead involves communication by the two young lovers across the barriers of time, similar to Jack Finney's "The Love Letter," but here involving telepathic communication rather than letters. The time periods involved are the teenaged boy in the present day and the girl living in the American colonies before the Revolutionary War. What was uncannily close to the 1795 DS storyline is that the girl, because of her advanced knowledge of the future, is accused and tried as a witch.

"A Message from Charity" was published in "The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction" in November 1967. Dark Shadows' 1795 storyline began in November 1967 and ended in April 1968. What could be the explanation between the two similar themes appearing at virtually the same time? Was it already decided that Vicki would be accused of witchcraft when the DS producers decided to send her into the past? Or might that have been a later development, influenced by the story "A Message from Charity"?

"A Message from Charity" is well acted and poignant, though the production values don't quite match "The Love Letter." California stands in for Massachusetts, and in a scene where Peter is pacing in the school library, I noticed a palm tree out the window (shades of the 1991 DS Revival!).

Stories about time travel have been around since at least the 19th century. I've guessed that Henry James might have borrowed the concept from his friend H.G. Wells. Mark Twain and others had previously used the idea.

- Philippe Cordier

[Gothick]

Philippe, have you ever seen Roger Corman's early (and bargain-basement-budget) feature, "The Undead" (I think released in 1957?).  It weaves together a number of plot elements that were recycled in the Vicki Winters time travel storyline on DS.

I think these themes were very much in the air in the 1960s.  btw, you may be interested to learn that there's a letter (published in a small-circulation zine format by Bobubas several years ago) from Jonathan Frid to his mother dated August of '67 in which Frid mentions DC telling him that "soon," the show was going to go "back in time" to explain the origins of Barnabas Collins.  The original Barnabas narrative, as we all know, was set in the 1830s, but I could swear that Jon mentions in the latter that the backstory narrative would be set in the 18th century.

Anyhow, both "I'll never forget you" and "Message from Charity" are now candidates for my Netflix queue.  Thanks!

cheers, G.

G.

[barnabasjr]

I absolutely LOVED A Message from Charity. I caught it when it first aired and never forgot it and I finally got to see it again when the New Twilight Zone DVDs were issued. 2 scenes in particular stayed with me over the years: Charity's reaction when Peter drank the orange juice and the expression on Charity's face when Peter was looking out of the window on the plane. I still watch it occasionally, one of my favorite TZ episodes ever.

[Philippe Cordier]

Philippe, have you ever seen Roger Corman's early (and bargain-basement-budget) feature, "The Undead" (I think released in 1957?).  It weaves together a number of plot elements that were recycled in the Vicki Winters time travel storyline on DS.

I think these themes were very much in the air in the 1960s. 

This is the first I've heard of the movie "The Undead," Gothick. It doesn't seem to be available anywhere, but someone wrote a detailed description of the plot on amazon.

I guess your observation that "these themes were very much in the air in the 1960s" must explain the similiarities with DS. It seems almost more uncanny if DS 1795 and"A Message from Charity" were not connected by a direct inspiration of the other. Sources say that the story was published in the November issue of the science fiction magazine. I just wonder if the actual issue might have come out a month earlier, or if one of the DS writers could possibly have read the story earlier, because it is so similar to what happens in 1795 a few months later.

Barnabasjr, I agree with you that the TZ episode was well done by the two young actors. I liked the part where Peter was drinking wine and Charity got tipsy. Their characters were good, but not goody-goody.

[Gothick]

Dear Philippe,

The Undead is or used to be available on VHS from Sinister Cinema, I believe (remember them?).  I gave my tape away some years ago, but shortly thereater a DVD version popped up somewhere--maybe it was on eBay.

It used to air quite regularly on the Creature Feature circuit way back when.  One of my favorite scenes in it is a Witches' Sabbat featuring these sort of quasi-Martha Graham moderne dancers in black leotards; there's a similar sequence in an episode of Boris Karloff's Thriller involving an old, cackling witch played by Jeanette Nolan, so this must have been something else that was "in the air" back in the day.

I've always been sorry that they never did a full-on Witches Sabbat sequence on DS.  Probably it would have required far too many extras for DC's narrow purse.  There was a wonderful Black Sabbat sequence in the DS newspaper comics, of course, and I'm pleased to report that Mrs Barnabas Collins (nee Bouchard) WAS among the honored guests.

G.

[Joeytrom]

Gothick: In that collection, there were three letters I remember of JF corresponding to his mother where first he states his last airdate on DS was to be late October.  The second one says his last airdate would be late November, and the third one states about the origin story.

I looked for it today but it wasn't where I thought it was, I'll have to do some searching.

[fridfreak]

1795 storyline has always been my favorite in the entire series (save for some parts of the 1897 storyline).  However, i was always a bit upset with the fact that Vicky ends up being the accused.  It certainly was a distraction but in hindsight suspician had to be diverted agaisnt Angelique and who else with knowledge of the future would have that except Victoria Winters with her ever revealing mouth?  I will certainly try to get a copy of A message from Charity.  Anything that relates to the 1795 storyline is of most interest to me.

[Philippe Cordier]

There was a wonderful Black Sabbat sequence in the DS newspaper comics, of course, and I'm pleased to report that Mrs Barnabas Collins (nee Bouchard) WAS among the honored guests.

I purchased the comic book compilation published by Pomegranate Press a few years ago, but never read more than a few pages of it. I remember thinking it was better than I expected, and I stopped reading because I thought I'd save it in order to have something DS-related to look at in the future. I pretty much forgot about it after a while, and now I don't know where my copy of that book is. Your comment has whetted my interest though.

fridfreak, the Twilight Zone DVD is the 1980s series, Season I. It's rather expensive (about the same as the DS DVD sets). I know I won't be purchasing it soon for that reason, especially since I don't know anything about any of the other episodes. The short story has been published in a number of science-fiction and fantasy anthologies, all out of print as far as I can tell. I may look into trying to get one of these through interlibrary loan at my local library, or perhaps look into a used book purchase online. No one has posted the story online, and it may well be under copyright by the writer's estate.