Happy 50th Anniversary, Night of Dark Shadows

[Mysterious Benefactor]

You know, MB, I did see the vampire reference in one other place. It was in one of the columns from The New York Daily News, quite possibly Earl Wilson, though I can't be positive after so many years.

Well, there's also been a reference to vampires in something else I posted in this topic, though I suppose it's possible that it's somewhat debatable as to whether or not it qualifies as inaccurate. In Reply #15 the caption for the Boston Herald Advertiser's photo of Quentin with the candles says that Quentin is "one of a family of vampires." Of course, Quentin isn't a vampire in NoDS, but Quentin is a Collins and the Collinses certainly turned into a family of vampires in hoDS, with both Carolyn and Roger becoming one over the course of events, and then there's head-vampire Barnabas. So, even though there are no vampires in NoDS, the caption isn't completely inaccurate - though it certainly gives the wrong impression that there might be vampires in NoDS. And who knows where the caption came from because, unlike the photo The Boston Globe published, the photo of Quentin with the candles is not part of the NoDS Pressbook. If someone at the Boston Herald Advertiser wrote it, shame on them for giving a wrong impression. And even deeper shame on MGM if someone there wrote it...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Ad that appeared in the local newspaper 50 years ago today for the opening on the 25th:

And the version I put together from the NoDS/hoDS Pressbooks:

This is the first theater in my area since the Boston ad on August 1st that used a version of the NoDS A poster for its newspaper ad. Why? Like I said, who knows why most theaters and drive-ins preferred some version of the B poster...

[The Doctor and K9]

I know absolutely that I have a magazine blurb for NoDS that identifies Kate Jackson as Kate Harrington, .....But while Kate Harrington did do soaps in the early '70s, she's something like 30 years older than Jackson. How they could be confused is beyond reasonable understanding

I wonder if the confusion had to do with Kate Jackson playing Daphne Harridge, which is at least somewhat close to Harrington.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

   You know, I also thought about giving the writer that excuse as a possibility. But then I ruled it out because the writer thought Jackson wasn't even on DS, so he/she wouldn't have had her DS character in mind when he/she wrote the blurb...

[The Doctor and K9]

  You know, I also thought about giving the writer that excuse as a possibility. But then I ruled it out because the writer thought Jackson wasn't even on DS, so he/she wouldn't have had her DS character in mind when he/she wrote the blurb...

That's true, I didn't think of that.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

The whole blurb is just a disaster from start to finish. I can think of a few administrations the writer would have been perfect to write for. 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

If you want to learn about or refresh your memory concerning the background of today's quote -

Page 11/Scene 33 - Quentin: 'I have a terrible feeling my ancestors would never have bought my work.'

- check out -

Setting up Scene 33:

- this post. And yet again, some things are different. But then it's probably best to just presume things are different because 99.9% of the time at least one thing is going to be...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

If you want to learn about or refresh your memory concerning the background of today's quote -

Page 11/Scene 33 - Tracy (at the window): 'His paintings are very abstract.'

- check out -

Continuing with Scene 33 with today's quote:

- this post. And once again some things are different. But then I should probably stop saying that because everyone should just come to expect that things are different 99.9% of the time...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

This is the first theater in my area since the Boston ad on August 1st that used a version of the NoDS A poster for its newspaper ad.

However, for the opening day ad even they went with a version of the B poster:

And the version I put together from the NoDS/hoDS Pressbooks:

And as it turns out there was probably a good reason why they went with versions of both the A and B posters for their first two newspaper ads, as I discovered when I went to the theater on the 25th to see NoDS/hoDS. But more on that down the road because I have other things about that day that I want to get into before getting into that...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Before we move on from the subject of the B poster, there's a rather unique version in the NoDS Pressbook that I never saw used in any newspaper. But then the type of ad that it is would most likely only have been published in something like the New York Times or the Los Angeles Times. And I'm sharing it running down the left side of this post.

As for the main purpose of this post, it's to give a sort of tutorial about the sizes of the various NoDS posters for those who may not be familiar with the terms for them. (Click here for a 940X1490 version) 3 SHEET 41" x 81" Larger lobby displays. No longer used today. 1 SHEET 27" x 40" Theatre lobbies, theatre marquees and glass display cases. Still in use today. INSERT CARD 14" x 36" Theatre lobbies and glass display cases. Still in use today. 28 X 22 LOBBY CARD Self-explanatory. Still in use today. 6 SHEET 81' X 81" Huge lobby displays and theatre marquees. No longer used today. As you may have noticed, only the 3 Sheet and Insert Card versions of the NoDS A poster feature the full artwork. Back in the day copies of the 3 Sheet poster were available to fans for purchase through companies like Cinema Attic (where I bought most of my hoDS/NoDS promotional materials) but I've never seen a copy available online for purchase. (Though, of course, that's not to say it never has been available.) On the other hand, I've seen multiple copies of the Insert Card available online for purchase. I own a copy (a rather special copy as far as I'm concerned - but more on that down the line). I also own a copy of both the A and B 1 Sheets, and the 28 X 22 Lobby Card.

I've already posted copies of the A and B 1 Sheets. A copy of the Insert Card will be forthcoming (though not my version just yet). And here's a copy of the 28 X 22 Lobby Card:

(Click here for a 1897X1486 version)

That 71/285 code appears on most of my NoDS theater memorabilia. I've always presumed it's the internal MGM code for the film. Though one thing that's interesting about my copies is that most are missing the GP rating...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

If you want to learn about or refresh your memory concerning the background of today's quote -

Page 11/Scene 33 - Carlotta: 'How interesting.'

- check out -

And continuing with Scene 33 with today's quote:

- this post. And if you're presuming things are different in the film, you are correct...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Something I forgot to mention is that I do find it somewhat odd that the NoDS Pressbook doesn't feature any version of the B poster on that page that I shared in the previous post. While it mainly focuses on the A posters, the hoDS Pressbook does indeed feature an image of the B poster. Though, as I said with regard to there being both a color and a B&W B poster for hoDS and there apparently only being a color NoDS B poster, I suppose what was done for hoDS has no bearing on what was done for NoDS...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

It's funny the things you remember like they happened yesterday but actually happened dozens of years ago. Such is the case with all the circumstances surrounding the three different days I went to see NoDS. The most exciting was certainly August 6th, most probably because I was going to see new DS for the first time in almost 4 months and the cancellation of the daytime show had been so devastating. But I have no less clearer memories of August 25th. In fact, my memories of the 25th actually start on the 24th because that was the day the ad announcing NoDS was finally going to open at the Durfee Theatre appeared in the newspaper. Given my friend's sister had seen the trailer there back in July and the film had opened in so many other places on the 4th, as August went on, we couldn't help but wonder if NoDS wasn't even going to open at the Durfee! But at last it was going to. And it was funny that my friend and I saw the ad at the same time because we were together when we checked the newspaper that day. Immediately we began making plans to see NoDS the next day. Being a Wednesday, though, our parents were all going to be working, so we were going to have to take the bus downtown because the theater was four miles from both our houses. But taking the bus downtown wasn't anything new to us because we took the bus downtown nearly every Saturday, checked out the stores, then took another bus to a nearby mall to check out those stores and meet other friends. Needless to say, we planned to be at the theater for the very first showing at 1pm and to remain at the theater to see NoDS multiple times, which is something that was possible to do back then (we'd done the same when hoDS had originally opened at the Durfee).

We always met up downtown at the local record store where we always bought our favorite 45s of the day. And as I arrived at the store first and needed to kill time, I picked up Paul and Linda McCartney's Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey. (And I'm sure I must have driven my mother insane whenever she was around when I played it because I loved it so much that I played it OFTEN. Although I also often played the only other 45 I'd bought that summer, The Raiders' Indian Reservation - and I like to think both records went to #1 on Billboard magazine's Top 100 Singles Chart because I bought them during the week they peaked - though obviously it really took a lot more than my copies to reach #1 - but I digress...)

Now, even though we'd already seen NoDS, it was no less exciting that we were going to see it again - and not just simply for the film itself but especially because, unlike some other drive-ins in the area, the Ponta Drive-in's snack bar didn't display promotional materials for the films they showed. On the other hand, the Durfee Theatre showcased just about everything you could think of for the films they showed. This post is going to focus only on the outside of the theater.

And so to better picture what I'm going to be talking about, here's a photo of the outside of the Durfee Theatre (a photo that was taken slightly more than a week after the 25th and which I've scanned from a book about the losses of magnificent structures due to the addled '70s notion that progress is worth the loss of anything, but maybe more on that some other day):

As you can see on either side facing the street were glass cases in which the Durfee displayed the main attraction's Insert Cards. Adjacent to those cases but at an angle toward the entrance were glass cases in which the main attraction's 1 Sheet was displayed. And above the entrance was normally where banners for the associate attraction were displayed. All that meant that what was displayed outside the theater for NoDS was two copies of these -

(Click here for a 1092X1000 version)

- and I'm pretty sure that the hoDS banner was the same design as the ad the Ponta had used for hoDS in the newspaper ad I'd shared back in Reply #1 -

And as I was preparing the materials for this post I couldn't help but think that if our 15-year-old selves had been experiencing all this in this day and age and not in '71, my friend and I would have surely had our cell phones in hand taking all sorts of selfies outside the theater to share on social media. But back in '71 the idea of having even an instamatic camera with us and snapping photos outside the theater was completely a foreign concept. I can only imagine what the other patrons that day would have thought of us if we had done that. Though part of me almost wishes that we had. 

Next up in the saga: what was to be discovered after entering the theater and while ascending the slope of the outer lobby...

[KMR]

As you may have noticed, only the 3 Sheet and Insert Card versions of the NoDS A poster feature the full artwork. Back in the day copies of the 3 Sheet poster were available to fans for purchase through companies like Cinema Attic (where I bought most of my hoDS/NoDS promotional materials) but I've never seen a copy available online for purchase. (Though, of course, that's not to say it never has been available.) On the other hand, I've seen multiple copies of the Insert Card available online for purchase. I own a copy (a rather special copy as far as I'm concerned - but more on that down the line). I also own a copy of both the A and B 1 Sheets, and the 28 X 22 Lobby Card.

I own a copy of the 3-sheet for HODS that I won at auction at the 1991 DS fest in LA. What's interesting is that it actually consists of *two* sheets, one of which is the size of a one-sheet, and the other double that size. It's the size of three one-sheets, thus the name.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

What's interesting is that it actually consists of *two* sheets, one of which is the size of a one-sheet, and the other double that size.

Yes, that's standard practice. And usually the top of the poster is the large piece and the bottom is the small piece.

As nice as it might be, I can't even imagine owning a 6 Sheet poster because what would you do with it other than know you own it but have to keep it packed away? I mean, 6 Sheets measure 81 inches by 81 inches - that's 6 feet, 9 inches by 6 feet, 9 inches. You would need a wall with an awfully large free space to display it. Plus, if you want to frame it, you'd have to have a custom frame built - 81 X 81 frames aren't just sitting around in stock in the poster section at the local craft store. (And a custom frame of that size could easily cost way more than what you paid for the poster, particularly because plexiglass isn't routinely made in that size, and to have custom sized plexiglass made can cost hundreds if not over $2000 for something that size! Don't believe me, check out: TIPS FOR FRAMING: OVERSIZE POSTERS) Not to mention you'd need to have a really understanding significant other to tolerate something that huge on display on a wall in the house...