All posts by Prisonerofthenight

Yes, that drawing room liquor cabinet portrait does appear to be based on Wagner -- I say based on, because there are some subtle differences between the one seen on Dark Shadows and the official portrait posted here below. With the limited Dark Shadows budget, they likely just had someone from the art department, or whoever it was they hired to do the various portraits (e.g., Barnabas, etc.), work up a copy of the original. <figure class="article-thumb tright show-info-icon" style="width: 180px"> <figcaption> <p class="caption">Portrait of Richard Wagner</p> </figcaption></figure>

<p>Very thought-provoking comments above. </p><p>
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Dark Shadows was James Hall's first job in television, so he wasn't as adept as he might have been, both in the timing and delivery of his lines, whereas John Karlen had already had many jobs in television going back a number of years. </p><p>
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I'm always intrigued by the transition brought about by the change in casting around this time, and I find myself scrutinizing Karlen's performances in his first few outings as Willie especially closely, comparing them to Hall's and wondering how scenes in subsequent episodes might have been handled by the first Willie. No doubt about it, Karlen's performance is cleaner, that is, he's perfect with his lines, but perhaps a little too smooth, a bit too polished in the theatrical sense, though he uses that quality to a great advantage in Willie's post-Barnabas transformation. </p><p>
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If given more time, Hall could have used the frequent lapses in his dialogue delivery to his advantage, compensating during those gaps with an added brooding intensity for character depth through use of stage business and body language, the way he does in his very final scene in episode 205 when he grips his jacket hard wondering what he should do next, a rather magnificent Marlon Brando/James Dean type of moment, before finally stepping out the front doors of Collinwood. </p><p>
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I especially wonder how James Hall would have handled himself in the bar brawl scene with Burke Devlin in episode 207, when Willie pulls a knife on Burke. Given Hall's intensity, someone might have really gotten hurt, both Hall and Mitch Ryan.  </p>

<p>There isn't any connection between Jeb Hawkes/Leviathans and Peter Bradford in 1797. </p><p>In 1968 (episode 650), Vicki Winters disappears with Peter Bradford since he must return to his own time of 1796. </p><p>Barnabas then had to project himself back to 1796 to save Vicki from hanging (episodes 662, 664, and 665). </p><p>What is written in episode 967 is most likely the result of discussions with Alexandra Moltke about returning to Dark Shadows and reprising the role of Victoria Winters. </p><p>But she wanted a different type of role, a more dark and evil character like a vampire or some kind of monster, since her last months as Vicki were less challenging and the character was always a victim and becoming increasingly dull and dim-witted. </p><p>So having the character killed off screen was likely Dan Curtis' cynical response over having been unable to get Moltke back on the show after refusing her request to play another role. </p>

<p>The most authoritative source is the book <i>Barnabas & Company</i> by Craig Hamrick and R.J. Jamison, which has all the Dark Shadows cast bios. For David Henesy, the following birth information is given: </p><p>Born: October 20, 1956, Glen Ridge, New Jersey </p>

<p>The exteriors at Newport, including the ocean, were filmed in the spring of 1966, before the first episode was taped, so before the storm of June 14. </p><p>The waves intro was filmed in Newport. </p><p>There's a YouTube video showing a short minidocumentary made in 1985 where Jonathan Frid serves as a tour guide for the grounds of the estate in Newport used to represent Collinwood. Before visiting the outside of the Black Pearl, used to represent the Blue Whale, Frid shows us the cliff walk area used to represent Widow's Hill, and points toward "the breakers, the world famous breakers, is right over beyond the white gabled house that you see at the point..." </p><p>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8EOhWaLZwI </p>

<p>The original poster wanted to know the address of the Evans cottage. A page from the Collinsport Historical Society tells of a photo essay for Dark Shadows locations in Essex, Connecticut:  </p><p>http://www.collinsporthistoricalsociety.com/2012/10/mysteries-of-real-life-collinsport.html </p><p>There's a mention that the property used for the Evans cottage has a graveyard behind it -- in which there is the grave of a "Barnabas Bates". But the CHS page doesn't mention the name of the cemetery or the street where the Evans cottage is. From the photo of the Evans cottage in present day you can make out a two-digit address -- the first number isn't clear, but the second number is a 7. </p><p>Then there's a YouTube video where a Dark Shadows fan films extensively in the nearby cemetery, then gets a close-up photo of the Evans cottage in present day (at 5:02) -- the address number in the video shows clearly as 17. </p><p>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MRq5ndxrsI </p><p>The blog page for the person who posted the YT video mentions that the nearby cemetery is the Riverview Cemetery, which is on North Main Street by the North Cove waterfront. </p><p>All that was left was to check for side streets off North Main Street slong the waterfront, and a Google Street View search confirmed the address of the Evans cottage as: 17 Little Point Street, Essex, CT. </p> <figure class="article-thumb tright show-info-icon" style="width: 180px"> <figcaption> <p class="caption">Evans cottage_17 Little Point Street Essex CT (August 2013 Google Street View)</p> </figcaption></figure>

<p>Here's the address for the Scarborough Metro North Train Station used as the exterior for Collinsport Train Station in episode 1: 156 Scarborough Station Road, Scarborough, New York.  </p>

<p>While searching online -- yet again in vain -- for a source that might have a copy of Dark Shadows: A View of Collinsport, I came upon this blog site that took a (2014) photo tour of some of the locations used for Dark Shadows. They included the tomb of Barnabas from House of Dark Shadows and the train station where Alexandra Moltke and Mitchell Ryan were filmed for the Collinsport Train Station exteriors for episode 1 ("Scarborough: Briarcliff Manor"). </p><p>The first poster asked about places used for graveyard shots. From around 1967 on, you see a still of this really old-looking cemetery with worn and weathered tombstones -- it's the cemetery in Sleepy Hollow (where Washington Irving is buried), which is near Tarrytown. </p><p>Turns out the Collins Mausoleum from HODS is "right above the hill behind Washington Irving's tombstone". </p><p>The metro station used for episode 1 was just a 5-minute drive from there down toward the Hudson River. </p><p>This blog page is called "Hotel of Dark Shadows (Part II)" and is presented by a group of fans called "Dark Shadows Lives": </p><p>https://ibarnabas.wordpress.com/2015/04/26/hotel-of-dark-shadows-part-ii/ </p>

<p>The publisher, Bethany Press, LLC, seems to no longer exist -- search engines take you only to a Christian publisher out West. Online sources relating to "Dark Shadows: A View of Collinsport", even the one listing the few books published by Bethany Press, LLC, has the book as no longer available. There's one dodgy-looking site that offers a free download, but which you have to sign up for -- I'd rather the author get reimbursed, to know that someone is still interested in her project. A search of "Shelly Weiss Losty" shows several public records (Bethany, Connecticut voter records, etc.) with a full mailing address, but I'd feel uncomfortable about writing her out of the blue that way. But if I'm ever going to get a copy of that book, I suppose that's what I'll have to do. How did your online contact come by her email address? </p><p>   </p>

<p>That looks like an interesting book, and is one I've never heard of before. I'd love to get a copy, but it seems to be out of print and unavailable even as used. I'll try contacting the publisher. </p>

<p>I'm not an admin here, and I didn't mean to give that impression. </p><p>It just seemed such an odd comment, in a community where everyone is so helpful to one another. </p><p>This thread has been here for over a year, so if it had been deemed out of place no doubt an admin would have deleted it at the time. </p><p>If I had started posting anonymously at first and then under a handle, I would have done the same thing -- started a thread right here asking for help that folks who post here might be able to provide from experience. </p>

<p>In episode 1, after Vicki steps off the train at Collinsport Station, there is location footage of Alexandra Moltke and Mitch Ryan standing in front of a train station as the train pulls away. This was filmed in Scarborough, New York. </p>

<div class="quote"><i>EMP1966 wrote:
Shouldn't this be in the off topic section?  This section is for Q&A about the series, movies, etc.</i></div>
<p>That's a little harsh, isn't it? Not to mention hardly helpful in answering a question presented in good faith. </p><p>What about the thread below where one of the contributors is merely promoting their fan fiction? And other threads created simply by way of introduction and hello? </p><p>Are you bucking for an admin position here?  </p>

<p>There's an episode from the Leviathan story where newly married Jeb Hawkes and Carolyn are entering a hotel room. Jeb enters first and switches on the light but is spooked to discover a quivering phantom in the room with him, so he switches off the light to escape it and then suggests to Carolyn that they leave. </p><p>In participating in the comments section of Danny Horn's Dark Shadows Every Day and seeing occasional comments here on Dark Shadows Wiki, I have found that this is almost universally one of the least favorite special effects among Dark Shadows fans; they tend to make fun of it, find it laughable, and think of it as cheap looking. </p><p>But I was three years old, watching during the original broadcast in 1970. For some reason, it really intrigued me and was one of the memories of the show I always kept with me, until I could finally view it again on DVD some 43 years later. In those days, like any three year old, I would wake in the night with strange, out of body "flying" dreams -- the equivalent of "the thing under the bed." To readjust, I'd have to go back to sleep with the light on. </p><p>But here in this Dark Shadows episode, it's exactly the opposite. Turning on the light does not help Jeb Hawkes get back to normal. In order to be free of the specter that haunts him, he has to switch off the light and be in the dark with it. At that young age, that scene just struck me in a certain way. </p><p>It also provided me with an additional childhood memory I otherwise wouldn't have had. Thanks to Dark Shadows, I know exactly where I was and what I was doing and thinking in the first half of the four o'clock hour of an afternoon that was four months and fourteen days before my fourth birthday. </p><p>   </p>

<p>They used an actor named Dean Perchall for when Willie is in a coma -- and that's why they use that tent device. Being always on a tight budget, Dan Curtis and/or other production personnel must have figured that since John Karlen isn't going to have any lines in that episode, they may as well just get an extra that will agree to be uncredited, that way they don't have to pay a larger amount to have Karlen in the episode. They did the same sort of thing when Barnabas' hand reaches out from the coffin to grab Willie by the neck. The character of Barnabas may have debuted in episode 210, but Jonathan Frid didn't make his debut until episode 211. In episode 210, the hand of Barnabas is that of uncredited extra Tim Gordon. </p>

<p>I would doubt that was Nancy Barrett in the opening credits of Room 222. As Carolyn Stoddard, Barrett played a seventeen year old in 1966 when she was turning twenty three, and by 1969 she would have been turning twenty six -- too old to have blended in with those young students shown in the opening credits. It was just a look that was popular at the time. The girl seen with long blonde hair walking with the two other girls has a similar face, but is distinctly younger. Those exterior scenes were filmed in Los Angeles, and at that time Barrett was heavily committed to the weekly schedule of a daytime TV show based in New York. </p>

<p>No, sorry, I meant by "two sources" MPI and the Dark Shadows Fan Club. </p><p>But, hey, that "Two Sources" does sound kind of cool as a production company, doesn't it? If I had enough time and capital, I might copyright it! :) </p>

<p>If I were trying to contact Jim Pierson, I would try c/o two sources. </p><p>MPI Home Video, which is the company that distributes the Dark Shadows DVD sets, and the Dark Shadows Fan Club, especially since he organizes the Dark Shadows Festivals: </p><p>http://www.darkshadowsfestival.com/ </p><p>Good luck!  </p>

<p>If you mean who is it that looks after the business of Dan Curtis Productions, I would say the best bet is Jim Pierson, who is more or less the curator of all things Dark Shadows and who worked closely with Curtis in later years: </p><p>http://darkshadows.wikia.com/wiki/Jim_Pierson </p>

<p>I have this CD of UK guitar instrumental groups from the early sixties (Phantom Guitars), and I could almost swear that one of the tracks from that CD is the one in that 1967 episode. Next time I view that episode, maybe I can confirm for certain. </p> <figure class="article-thumb tright show-info-icon" style="width: 180px"> <figcaption> <p class="caption">Phantom Guitars CD collection_front cover</p> </figcaption></figure>