Writers naming of Barnabas?

I have copies of the Dark Shadows writers episode synopsis' from the 1966-1967 year up to the episode prior to Barnabas being released from his coffin by Willie.  I got these from one of the fan clubs in the 80's and these synopsis' have the character/actors, video/air dates and the scene breakdowns.

Looking over them I see that they did not come up with a name for Barnabas, even up to the episode before his release.  I am not sure how far in advance  they were written prior to being scripted.    Barnabas is never named in any of these summaries.  He is either referred to as "young Collins" or "the young man" in the descriptions.

I never saw any of the summaries for the week after the last episode I have. I wonder when the name "Barnabas" was first thought out.  The episode Summary Book "History of Dark Shadows: 1966-1967" (a different guide written
by the DS fans) states the writers were  onsidering "Jered" or "Jeremiah" originally for Barnabas.

If you have 'Dark Shadows Companion' on page 118, Robert Costello recalls "I got the name Barnabas off a tomestone in Flushing New York, from an old Dutch graveyard that dated back to the 18th century...."


And when you think about it, yea, that's probably how they got the name.

The only thing I could think of was that someone might have been flipping through the Bible. I think the tombstone story sounds more like it too.

Joey, I don't know why Barnabas' name was not given in those old summaries.  My guess is that they had not seen the actual episodes of the storyline prior to the episode before Barn's release because that was where the old syndication package *started*.  I well remember tuning in in 1976 at the start of syndication with tremendous excitement to see an episode that started with Willie staring at Barnabas' portrait.

IIRC, Liz names Barnabas and gives Willie, or somebody, a sentence or two of family lore about him being buried with his jewels, approximately one week before his release.

btw, I also remember that 16 Magazine back in the late Sixties ran a feature called "The Whole True Story of DS" that was based on somebody reading through old scripts, or outlines, and writing up some of the stories.  Seems as if in some cases the info on which these articles was based was a bit shakey, to say the least.  I remember reading in the very first installment about the beginning of the show that David played in the ruins of the Old House and met the ghosts of Josette and Barnabas there.  Although David and Vicki visited the Old House in episode 70 and he showed Vicki Josette's portrait, and her ghost did come and dance after they left the house, so far as I know, Barnabas was never mentioned before late March or early April of 1967.

I cite this because it goes to show that you can't always rely upon old fan produced (or even commercially published) materials in researching the history of DS.

cheers, G.

The episode synopsis' I was referring to was written by the DS writers themselves prior to writing scripts for those episodes.  I got copies of them from some fan who copied them from microfilm I believe.

Those synopsis can be found on any DS script on the first page.  They were not written by the fans at all.  It was one or all of the DS writers who used "young Collins" or "the young man" instead of a name for the character of Barnabas.

Sorry Joey, I misunderstood what you wrote in your initial post.

That's interesting about those synopses.  I don't collect the scripts (a costly undertaking) and didn't know about the materials you mentioned.

The version of how they got the name I have always heard is the one Terry reports.  There was another thread a while back where people were debating how much of the initial Barnabas storyline (including his name) could be attributed to Art Wallace; apparently, there's an interview where Wallace claimed the credit for creating the character of Barnabas.

G.

Well to be contrary to everyone and even the "sources".  .there is a large hospital in New York called the St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx. . I think it more likely that's where the name came from .. and maybe Costello saw it on some ole tombstone ..and thought. . 'oh yeah. . the hospital, that is a real name--.'  Kinda like how i was when I was told "Walt Disney" was a person not a glowing castle on NBC tv every sunday night. . .I still remember how shocked i was . .

Kinda like how i was when I was told "Walt Disney" was a person not a glowing castle on NBC tv every sunday night. . .I still remember how shocked i was . .

LOL - Oh, that was too funny J99. Similar thing happened to me when I was little... lol.   

One of the players on the gold medal winning Hungarian water polo team was named Barnabas Steinmetz!!!!

And, just today I learned that there is a street in a suburb near hear named Collinwood Drive!

One of the players on the gold medal winning Hungarian water polo team was named Barnabas Steinmetz!!!!

Steinmetzwood?  It was just a thought. 

I believe that there is a church named St. Barnabas in the Westchester area.  Saw the name someplace while reading about the Hudson River/Westchester area of NY.  During the 1600/1700's, individuals could hold huge tracts of land north of New York City and were often given the title of 'Lord of the Manor'.

I believe that there is a church named St. Barnabas in the Westchester area.  Saw the name someplace while reading about the Hudson River/Westchester area of NY.  During the 1600/1700's, individuals could hold huge tracts of land north of New York City and were often given the title of 'Lord of the Manor'.

  There is.  The church and school are located in the Bronx and right near the border of where Yonkers & the Bronx meet.

Cassandra

The church and school are located in the Bronx and right near the border of where Yonkers & the Bronx meet.

I'll betcha that's where the writer's got the inspiration for the name.    I've seen the name Barnabas mentioned in one other place.  It was in a book titled 'Possession'.  Can't think of the author's name.  I want to say something like A.J. Beatty(?).  It's English and they made a movie based on the book with actors Jeremey Northern, Jennifer Ehle and Gwynth Paltrow.  The name Barnabas was mentioned briefly in the book as someone's cousin. The movie was actually pretty good.  It's a a romantic, going between different time periods, sort of story.  It's based on the discovery of the lost poems of a Victorian poet and the discovery of his love affair with another poet (a female  ).  The searchers for the poems are a modern day English woman and an American man and several others who are caught up in the emotional rollercoaster of their discovery.  It's good.

The author of "Possession" is A.S. Byatt. 

And of course, there is the Barnabas in the Bible, for whom all these churches and hospitals are named.