Dark Shadows
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Dark Shadows was a gothic television soap opera that originally aired weekdays on the ABC television network, from June 27, 1966 to April 2, 1971. Produced by Dan Curtis, it became hugely popular when, a year into its run, the script introduced vampire Barnabas Collins, played by Jonathan Frid. In addition to vampires, Dark Shadows featured werewolves, ghosts, zombies, man-made monsters, witches, warlocks, time travel, both into the past and into the future, and a parallel universe. A small company of actors each played many roles and, as actors came and went, some characters were played by several actors.
Dark Shadows has the distinction of being the only long-running soap to have every one of its episodes released for home video (including a reconstruction of the one episode of its 1,225 that is lost), first on VHS and currently in progress on DVD.
Now somewhat of a camp classic distinguished by its vividly melodramatic performances, atmospheric interiors, memorable story lines and an unusually adventurous music score, Dark Shadows continues to enjoy intense cult status among its followers. Director Tim Burton and Madonna have both gone on record as fans of the series.
Brief synopsis
For the Dark Shadows Storylines, see [Dark Shadows Storylines].Victoria Winters: episode 1 (27 June 1966) to 127 (20 December 1966)
Laura the Phoenix: episode 128 (21 December 1966) to 192 (21 March 1967)
Barnabas: episode 193 (22 March 1967) to 365 (17 November 1967)
1795: episode 366 (14 November 1967) to 460 (29 March 1968)
Dream Curse/Adam and Eve: episode 461 (1 April 1968) to 637 (3 December 1968)
Werewolf/Quentin's Ghost: episode 638 (4 December 1968) to 700 (28 February 1969)
1897: episode 701 (3 March 1969) to 884 (13 November 1969)
The Leviathans: episode 885 (14 November 1969) to 980 (27 March 1970)
Parallel Time: episode 981 (30 March 1970) to 1060 (17 July 1970)
1995: episode 1061 (20 July 1970) to 1070 (31 July 1970)
Gerard's Ghost: episode 1071 (3 August 1970) to 1109 (24 September 1970)
1840: episode 1110 (25 September 1970) to 1198 (27 January 1971)
1841 Parallel Time: episode 1199 (28 January 1971) to 1245 (2 April 1971)
A synopsis of some of the major stories
Originally conceived with a gothic twist on the usual afternoon soap, Dark Shadows did not break much new ground during its first year. The story "bible", Shadows on the Wall, written by Art Wallace, does not mention any supernatural elements. Set in the fictional fishing village of Collinsport, Maine, the series revolves around the rich and powerful Collins family, owners of a fishing fleet and cannery, and residents of the decaying old Collinwood Mansion. The story begins when a new governess, Victoria Winters (Alexandra Moltke) arrives to tutor young David Collins (David Henesy). Other characters include the matriarch of the family, Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (Joan Bennett), her daughter Carolyn, and David's father Roger Collins (Louis Edmonds). Also among the early characters were Burke Devlin, (Mitchell Ryan), Matthew Morgan (George Mitchell (actor)), and Bill Malloy (Frank Schofield).When the introduction of a ghost proved popular, producer Dan Curtis encouraged the writers to take more chances. The character of Laura Murdoch Collins (Diana Millay), Roger's estranged wife, appears as a phoenix reborn in fire every hundred years. (In the later time travel episodes, we see two of her past incarnations.)
The unscrupulous Jason McGuire (Dennis Patrick) tries to blackmail Elizabeth Collins Stoddard. Jason's friend Willie Loomis (John Karlen) goes to the family crypt, looking for hidden treasure.
Dark Shadows did not really become a hit until Willie Loomis opened a coffin, and a hand reached up out of the coffin and grabbed him by the neck. Willie had unwittingly released the vampire Barnabas Collins.
Once released, Barnabas ingratiates himself with the present-day Collins family, claiming to be a "cousin from England." Barnabas becomes obsessed with local waitress Maggie Evans, believing her to be the reincarnation of his lost love, Josette DuPrés (who the original timeline claimed died in 1822. This was later retconned to 1795). Barnabas kidnaps Maggie and holds her prisoner in an attempt to brainwash her into becoming Josette. Eventually Maggie escapes, but suffers from mental trauma and memory loss about her captivity. She is placed in Windcliff Sanitarium, and becomes the patient of Dr. Julia Hoffman (Grayson Hall), a psychiatrist and blood specialist.
Dr. Hoffman's interest in her mysterious patient leads her to investigate Maggie's missing time. This brings Julia Hoffman to Collinwood, where posing as a historian, she meets the family, and quickly learns Barnabas's dark secret. Dr. Hoffman attempts to cure Barnabas, and while it is never spoken of, we see that she falls in love with him. Barnabas loves only the memory of Josette, whom he now believes to be personified by Victoria Winters. An interesting side note here is that Grayson Hall's husband, Sam Hall, began around this time to write many scripts for the show.
A séance is held in the great house of Collinwood, and Victoria Winters travels back in time to 1795, where she witnesses the events leading up to the death of Josette. Josette DuPrés (Kathryn Leigh Scott) comes to Collinwood from Martinique to marry Barnabas, but her maid Angelique (Lara Parker), with whom Barnabas shared a dalliance in Martinique, becomes bitterly jealous. Using witchcraft, Angelique makes Josette fall in love with and wed Barnabas' uncle Jeremiah, whom Barnabas then kills in a duel. Angelique forces Barnabas to marry her, but, learning that she is a witch, Barnabas kills Angelique, whose dying curse turns him into a creature of the night. Josette, discovering that Barnabas is a vampire, throws herself off the cliff at Widow's Hill. Barnabas' father chains him in a coffin (where Willie Loomis will discover him in 1967).
Meanwhile, Victoria Winters has been falsely accused of witchcraft by the evil Reverend Trask (Jerry Lacy). She is tried and sentenced to death, but at the moment of her hanging she is returned to the present day.
Back in the present, Barnabas overcomes his curse with the help of Doctor Eric Lang (Addison Powell), who uses Barnabas's life force to creates an artificial man, Adam. As long as Adam lives, Barnabas will be free of his curse (or so we are led to believe). Angelique turns up in the present, as Roger Collins' new wife, disguised with a black wig, and calling herself Cassandra Blair. She uses a dream curse in an attempt to make Barnabas a vampire once again. She fails, and is seemingly destroyed as punishment by the warlock Nicholas Blair. Blair forces Barnabas and Julia to create a wife for Adam, in hopes of spawning a race of soulless creatures, but Adam's mate Eve hates him.
Quentin Collins (David Selby) first appears as a ghost haunting the children of Collinwood, David Collins, (David Henesy) and Amy Jennings, (Denise Nickerson) whose strange possesive behaviour eventually causes all to flee the great house at Collinwood, Then with the help of Professor Stokes (Thayer David) and Dr. Julia Hoffman (Grayson Hall), Quentin's history and past as to how he became a werewolf, and then a Ghost is revealed when Barnabas travels back to 1897 via the I Ching, in an attempt to rid Collinwood of the spectres of the past (It should be noted that David Selby became a star virtually overnight in this breakthrough role).
When Barnabas returns to the present, he is first controlled by and then fights against the ancient Leviathan people. To punish his betrayal, the Leviathans restore Barnabas' vampiric curse.
Next, the concept of "parallel time" is introduced. The story is set in the present day, but the characters have different lives and personalities. Barnabas, and later Julia, cross over into parallel time.
When they return to their own band of time, they find themselves in the future, in the year 1995. Collinwood has been destroyed by the ghost of a man named Gerard Stiles. Returning to 1970, Barnabas and Julia try to prevent the destruction of Collinwood. Failing, they travel back in time to 1840, to try to circumvent present horrors by changing the past. They are successful in their attempt, and in this time band the series has a happy ending.
In the final story, the viewer (but none of the original characters) visits parallel time in 1841, where all of the actors play different roles. Jonathan Frid portrayed Bramwell Collins, who has a star-crossed romance with Catherine Harridge (played by Lara Parker); after great difficulties, the two eventually marry.
For more information on this, click here [Dark Shadows Storylines]
Sources
During the latter half of its run, Dark Shadows often used classic stories with gothic themes. Revisiting such literary masterpieces as Dracula, Frankenstein (and also The Bride of Frankenstein), The Wolf Man, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Turn of the Screw. The series modified this material freely, giving the familiar stories unusual twists. No author of the macabre was exempt from inclusion in subplots. Edgar Allan Poe, Shirley Jackson, Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker, Mary Shelley, Guy Endore, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry James, H.P. Lovecraft, and others were explored, exploited, and exposed in a history of the Collins family. Stylistically, "Dark Shadows" appears to have been somewhat inspired by Roger Corman's movie "The Pit and the Pendulum" [1961].Series production
Working within the constraints of the live-on-tape format -- with almost every scene done in one take -- Dark Shadows displayed an unusually inventive use of costume, make-up and, in particular, special effects. Both time travel and ghosts allowed characters killed in earlier sequences to return, often in period clothing. Séances held in the old mansion were often visited by ghostly apparitions of quivering ectoplasm. Dream sequences included colorful psychedelic spectacles superimposed over ethereal, fog-filled fantasies. Individuals of normal appearance were transformed into hideous creatures of the netherworld.At times, however, the special effects could appear cardboard-cut-out and amateur. And this, together with the show's heightened melodrama and stilted dramatic moments, is where the show’s very modern – and in its way, sophisticated – camp appeal enters the picture. The difficulty of keeping up with the demanding schedule of a daily half-hour show manifested itself on screen, often to laughable but endearing effect. In addition to sets wobbling unintentionally, actors – especially Frid and Bennett – often struggled with their lines. Occasionally a stagehand could be spotted wandering onto the back of the set. And at other times the microphone boom appeared in the frame, or a fly hovered around the head of an actor. In retrospect, however, the actors — who effectively formed a repertory company as they played many different roles — created memorable characters, and overcame the challenge of daily scripts combined with brief and demanding rehearsals.
Of particular note is Robert Cobert’s inspired music score, which broke new ground for a television programme. The original soundtrack cracked the top 20 of Billboard’s national album chart in 1969 and still ranks as one of the top-selling TV soundtracks ever. The spoken-word instrumental track “Quentin’s Theme”, for which Cobert earned a Grammy nomination, was covered by the Charles Randolph Grean Sounde. The single peaked at number 13 on Billboard’s Hot 100 (and number 3 on its Easy Listening chart) in the summer of 1969, when Dark Shadows was perhaps at the peak of its popularity.
Dark Shadows has the distinction of being one of the few classic television soap operas to have all of its episodes, except one, survive intact (although a handful of early episodes are available only in 16MM kinescope format). For the one lost episode (#1219), only the original audio track survives (syndicated airings of this episode were reconstructed from this soundtrack and from still pictures taken at the time of the episode's production). Dark Shadows has been syndicated almost continuously since its first network run, while almost all of the other soaps from this time period are either locked in a vault or lost forever. Recently, however, original network master tapes to the series were discovered in an L.A. warehouse, so it is quite possible the master to the "lost" episode could be among them.
For many years, the show was syndicated on the Sci-Fi Network. The network stopped airing Dark Shadows in December 2003.
MPI Home Video currently holds the home video rights to the series. All episodes are now available on VHS, and episodes on DVD are released on a schedule that will result in the complete series on DVD in 2006.
Cast
Notable actors among the cast included Joan Bennett, Louis Edmonds, Jonathan Frid, Thayer David, Grayson Hall, Lara Parker, David Selby, Kate Jackson, Roger Davis, and child actors Denise Nickerson and David Henesy. During the past thirty years, Dark Shadows has developed a large and loyal fan following. This is due largely to the willingness of former cast members to participate in several gatherings each year, notably the Dark Shadows Festival held alternately in California and New York and a Halloween fright fest centering around the mansion used in taping the stock outdoor footage. Both theatrical films, "House of Dark Shadows" (1970) and "Night of Dark Shadows" (1971) were shot primarily on location at the Lyndhurst estate in Tarrytown, New York. The Collinwood stand-in mansion used for the TV series is an ocean-front property in Newport, Rhode Island. It is currently used by Salve Regina University as a dorm called Carey Mansion.The series, though on the air for only five years, put enough of a dent in the audience of competitor soap The Secret Storm to eventually drive it off the air (both shows were usually scheduled opposite each other in the 4PM EST timeslot).
Revivals
In 1991, a shortlived primetime remake was made by NBC, airing from 13 January to 22 March, and ending with Victoria (played by Joanna Going) learning that Barnabas Collins (played by Ben Cross) was a 200-year old vampire, which Victoria never knew in the original. It also started veterans Jean Simmons as Elizabeth and Roy Thinnes as Roger, as well as future "3rd Rock from the Sun" star Joseph Gordon-Levitt as David.Plans for another revival series had been discussed; in 2004, a pilot for a new WB network Dark Shadows series, starring Marley Shelton as Victoria Winters was written and shot, but never picked up.
The Gilmore Girls paid a tribute to the show in a Season Five episode in which a character watches Dark Shadows.
In other media
MGM released a feature film entitled House of Dark Shadows in 1970. Dan Curtis directed it, and Sam Hall and Gordon Russell wrote screenplay. Many cast members from the soap opera reprised their roles. These included Jonathan Frid, Grayson Hall, Roger Davis, and Kathryn Leigh Scott, among others. 1971 saw the release of "Night of Dark Shadows," also directed by Dan Curtis. In addition, Curtis and Sam Hall wrote it. Players included David Selby, Grayson Hall, Kate Jackson, and Laura Parker, among others.There have been 33 Dark Shadows novels and numerous comic books. There have also been a comic strip, two board games, a jigsaw puzzle and a View-Master reel. There also have been several books about Dark Shadows, including The Dark Shadows Almanac and The Dark Shadows Companion.
During its original run, Dark Shadows was featured in many magazines, including Afternoon TV; Daytime TV; Famous Monsters of Filmland and Castle of Frankenstein. In 2003, a two-part article entitled "Collecting Dark Shadows: Return to Collinwood," appeared in Autograph Collector magazine. It was the first major article to chronicle the show in years. In 2005, Scary Monsters magazine #55 devoted an entire issue to Dark Shadows. Included were full-length interviews with cast members Marie Wallace, David Selby and Kathryn Leigh-Scott, as well as "Don't Open That Coffin! A Baby Boomer's Adventures in the Land of Dark Shadows!" Both the Autograph Collector and Scary Monsters articles were penned by freelance writer Rod Labbe, who once ran a fan club for Dennis ("Paul Stoddard") Patrick. Labbe is currently working on a third article, a 40th anniversary retrospective of the show.
Dark Shadows audio drama
Based on a stage play performed at a Dark Shadows convention, Return to Collinwood is an audio drama written by Jamison Selby and Jim Pierson, and starring David Selby, Kathryn Leigh Scott, John Karlen, Nancy Barrett, Lara Parker, Roger Davis, Marie Wallace, Christopher Pennock, Donna Wandrey, James Storm and Terry Crawford. It provides a satisfying conclusion to the Dark Shadows saga and is available on CD.From Summer 2006, Big Finish Productions will be continuing the 'Dark Shadows' saga with an original series of audio dramas, starring the original cast. More information can be found at [www.darkshadowsreborn.com].
External links
- [DarkShadows.com]
- [CollinWiki] - A Dark Shadows encyclopedia.
- [Dark Shadows Obituary Page]
- [Encyclopedia of Television]
- [Chronology Central's Dark Shadows revival series chronology page]
- [Exterior Set of Collinwood]
- [Dark Shadows Journal Online] - Dark Shadows news, information and interviews
- [Dark Shadows Online] - Dark Shadows news, information and interviews-including official pages of several cast members
- [Dark Shadows Audio Dramas] - Official Dark Shadows audio dramas from Big Finish Productions
- [Dark Shadows Storylines]
Bibliography
Dark Shadows Almanac, edited by Kathryn Leigh Scott & Jim Pierson, Pomegranate Press, 1995.
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