Mysteries of the Real Life Collinsport

[retzev]

I'm not sure if this article has been mentioned here or not, it's a must-read:

http://www.collinsporthistoricalsociety.com/2012/10/mysteries-of-real-life-collinsport.html?m=1

[Midnite]

Thanks for the link, retzev!

"Finally," he said, "in the cemetery behind the home used as Evans’ Cottage there is a grave for Barnabas Bates. This has to be where they got Barnabas from. These cannot be coincidences."

I suspect it really is a coincidence.  DS fan Guy Haines has talked about hearing from Robert Costello at a very early Fest that he (Costello) got the name from a gravestone in Flushing in NY.

[DarkLady]

I read somewhere that Barnabas Collins originally was going to be called Jared or something similar.

[Uncle Roger]

I remember Mr. Costello saying back in the Newark days.

[Gerard]

I read somewhere that Barnabas Collins originally was going to be called Jared or something similar.

I think I remember reading that Jared was one of several possible names, until Barnabas was, indeed, selected from a tombstone.  Also (it's been mentioned here before) that Burt Convy was on the final list of possible actors to portray him.  He didn't get the part, but went on to star in a far more horrifying daytime show, Tattletales.

Gerard

[retzev]

I think, at this point, who "created" Barnabas, who came up with his name, etc, is anybody's guess. If Costello did in fact say that he named Barnabas after a tombstone he spotted in NY, that doesn't really settle the matter. It's hearsay. And memories have a way of evolving over years, certainly over decades.

[Midnite]

If Costello did in fact say that he named Barnabas after a tombstone he spotted in NY, that doesn't really settle the matter. It's hearsay. And memories have a way of evolving over years, certainly over decades.

Don't know if this helps, but I mentioned it was from a very early Fest, and pulled out a Q&A from the event (1984 in Newark, as Uncle Roger recalled) in which Costello says:  "I named Barnabas. ... At any rate. Dan was away and we were going to introduce this character, and remembered we hadn’t a name for him. So, I was raised in NY-- Jackson Heights. In Flushing, long Island, there is an old Dutch burial ground, and on the grave was 'Barnabas somebody-or-other . . Smith' and I thought, 'Jesus, that’s a name for you.' So we voted and 'Barnabas' got it. That’s how we named him."

[retzev]

Wow! Nice reference work! I don't mean to suggest that anyone said anything they knew was not true, I just wonder if anyone's account can be considered definitive. Seems like lots of folks want to take credit for bringing Barnabas to the table (can't say I blame them!), and there are so many variations on the story of how it happened, and so many years have passed. Even back in '84, we're talking 17 years from 1967. And again, I know nothing about Bob Costello's character, and I'm not suggesting anyone has purposefully been dishonest, but was there anyone else involved in that Q&A that could have remembered things differently?

[Gothick]

Pace the whole Barnabas snarl, it would really help if we could see whatever it was that Art Wallace produced as an outline or treatment that led to his victory in the court case MB has mentioned.

I have never heard or seen any material on the case beyond what's been presented here on the Forum, so I don't have a clue.

It may be that Wallace wrote a treatment for "Jared Collins" appearing as a "cousin from England" ... and the name for the vampire was eventually chosen/changed in the meeting Bob Costello remembers.

I doubt whether anyone other than Dan Curtis or Art Wallace (but only after the court case) made much money off of their work on the Barnabas character. 

G.

[Janet the Wicked]

I've seen stones around here with Barnabas on them. Doesn't surprise me if they actually did get the idea in a cemetary.

Nice to see they cleaned up the Evans cottage front yard.

[retzev]

Court case?

[Gothick]

Hi Retzev, I guess you missed the latest discussion of this in the Malcolm Marmorstein thread.  Quoting MB's Oct. 31st post there (I apologize for not using the site's copy and paste software--I looked for it but couldn't find it):

As for the actual creation of Barnabas on paper before Frid was cast, that honor would seem to go to Art Wallace. Robert Costello has said that Wallace created the character and came up with the whole backstory connecting him to Josette and Jeremiah, and that that backstory is what they went with during the entire '67 present day storyline (until it was completely thrown out the window during the 1795/96 storyline). And, well, there's also how Wallace's law suit against DC for a share of the profits from all the Barnabas/DS merchandise was settled in Wallace's favor - and that wouldn't have happened if Wallace hadn't had a provable claim to Barnabas. (end quote)

I don't know anything more about this event other than what MB has shared in this, and previous posts.  Art Wallace's success in this suit is the reason why Wallace gets a credit every time another redaction of DS hits the screens.

G.