"Builder Creates Haunted House," 1966

Builder Creates Haunted House
Dec. 18, 1966

Sy Tomashoff's house is dark and brooding. Pale light filters through the stained glass windows, casting eerie shadows on the foyer balcony. At the foot of the stairs, a baroque grandfather's clock guards the entrance to the drawing room, where ranged family portraits are fitfully lit by flames from the massive fireplace. Somber velvet flutter funerally, moved by sudden gusts from the latticed windows.

This is a house filled with srxx»ks ami mystery, and Sy Tomashoff has designed it exclusively for TV's "Dark Shadows," the daytime suspense drama that is seen weekdays (4-4:30 p.m.)

Tomashoff's interior sets for Collinwood, the huge stone mansion where ghosts walk and evil lurks behind the balustrades, are probably the most detailed scemc works in daytime television. Months before the show went on the air, be was exploring antique shops, art galleries and even junk yards to create his 19th century manse.

"The prototype for Collinwood is a great, Gothic-styled estate in Newport, R.I.," said Tomashoff. "The object was to carry over that kind of mood and architecture in our studio sets. especially in the permanent ones of the foyer and drawing room."


'LOOK' CREATED
Each of these two rooms are 18 feet high, and because they are built three-dimensionally, they create a massive look in a very limited space. Light and shadow play on the mantlepiece, the candelabra and the face of Joan Bennett, who stars as the mistress of this macabre house, set in a tiny fishing village in Maine.

"According to the story line, the house was built in the 19th century, so we had to find and create material typical of the era," explained Tomashoff. "In addition to the paintings, which are authentically of the period, we made stained glass windows by painting transparent color on plastic. Balustardes and newel posts were built and walls were antiqued and glazed to lend a stony effect. Much of the wallpaper was imported from England."

Sy Tomashoff is a small, jovial-looking man who might never be suspected of creating a set in which a ghost of a drowned man appears draped in seaweed. Nor would one expect to find him rummaging through a junkyard, rounding up eight identical sets of door knobs.

Alexandra Moltke in VOGUE, 1949

Today is the birthday of Alexandra Isles, the original “Victoria Winters” on DARK SHADOWS. It’s usually not the kind of occasion I’d recognize here, but a photo crossed my desk involving the former actress that’s just too good to not share.

Above is a photo by Frances McLaughlin-Gill from the April, 1949, issue of Vogue. That’s Isles (then Alexandra Moltke) pictured at far right. The rest of the children in this image are just as interesting. From left are:

• Actor/author Nat Benchley, the son of author Nathaniel Goddard Benchley and brother of JAWS author, Peter Benchley. He’d go on to play “Det. Augustus Polk” on THE WIRE (among a great many other things);
• John Steinbeck IV, the son of Nobel Laureate John Steinbeck, who would go on to become a journalist and author; 
• his brother Thomas Steinbeck, author of 2003’s “Down to a Soundless Sea” and 2011’s “In the Shadow of the Cypress.”

It's nice to see that Alexandra turned out to be such a happy, well-adjusted person given the sketchy characters she grew up with.

The Morgue: KING KONG coloring contest, 1933

I love KING KONG. Hyperbole aside, it really is one of the greatest films ever made. It has a dreamlike quality that still manages to attract audiences almost a century after it's release in 1933. So, it seemed appropriate that I launch this new Sunday feature (which will focus on horror-themed newspaper clippings) with the 8th Wonder of the World, himself.

The first installment is a clipping that dates back to the year KING KONG was released. It comes from a California newspaper that was hosting a coloring contest for children, giving away tickets and puzzles to five winners. The blank contest entry is above. The news clipping is below, as well as a short transcript. Make sure you read this post to the end, because I'm giving away a Kong-related prize, myself.

Free Tickets to See "King Kong" at the Fox Redondo Theatre
The Torrance Herald, Torrance, Calif., June 1, 1933

For the first five school children who turn in the best jobs coloring the above picture of King Kong, the Fox Redondo Theatre will give each a ticket to see “King Kong,” which starts a four-day engagement at the Fox Redondo Theatre at the midnight show, Saturday, June 3, and continues Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. In addition to the free tickets, each of the first five children will be given a puzzle of King Kong, free of charge.

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But wait! There's More!

To commemorate the opening of THE MORGUE, the Collinsport Historical Society is giving away a copy of the original KING KONG on Blu-ray. Much like the children in Torrence, Calif., back in 1933, though, you're going to have to earn it.

All you have to do is color the vintage contest entry at the top of this post. You can use whatever medium you like: Crayons, markers, paint, Photoshop ... go nuts. E-mail me your entry by noon Saturday, Jan, 24, 2015. You can find my address in the top left corner of this page.

Kids visit the set of DARK SHADOWS, meet the "Cool Ghoul"

Golden Magazine visits DARK SHADOWS 
The Golden Magazine, Feb. 1970

By Pat Fortunato

(Note: The Collinsport Historical Society presents the text from this story as it was originally published, complete with errors. Yes, we know "Barnabas" is not spelled with a "u.")

Here's a little test to see how much you know about a certain television show.

Question #1: True or false? Dark Shadows is spooky, mysterious, exciting and fun.

Question #2: True or false? Dark Shadows is not really dark, and not at all fun. It's full of lights, cameras - and plenty of hard work.

If you answered "True" to both questions, give yourself 100%. Because there really are two Dark Shadows: the one you see on your TV screen, and the one that goes on behind-the-scenes at the TV studio.

You probably know about the first one. It's a half-hour drama seen on ABC Monday to Friday. You might even be one of many fans who writes regularly to Jonathan Frid, a "cool ghoul" who receives more than 700 pieces of mail of week.

But how about the second Dark Shadows, the one that goes on behind-the-scenes that you never get to see. Lisa and Scott Gilliam did, and here's what they discovered.

A TV studio is like a three (or four of five!) ring circus, with lots of things going on at once. There are always several sets used for different scenes in the story. On this day, there was a mysterious cave entrance, the dark insides of the cave, an old-fashioned living room, a bedroom and a dining room. While actors performed on one set, cameramen and crew were preparing to use another, a conference was going on between the director and stage manager, and an actress was leaning against a coffin, learning her lines for the next day's performance.

Leaning on a coffin? That's right. Remember, Dark Shadows does have a vampire or two. And you know how vampires are - they like to sleep in coffins.

But no one sleeps on set - there's too much work to do. Each day an entire show is recorded on video tape, to be aired on television at a later time. The taping Lisa and Scott saw was going to be seen 3 weeks later.

Do you think you work hard at school? Would you rather be an actor or a cameraman instead of a student? Not so fast! Before you answer, you had better listen to the facts.

There are about 60 people who work on the Dark Shadows set every day - the producer and his assistant, the director and her assistant, the actors, makeup artists, wardrobe mistress, cameramen and crew. All 60 go through a daily schedule enough to tire out someone your age, not to mention a 175-year-old vampire! On the set each day at about 8 a.m., they leave at about 6 p.m. or later. And for the actors and director, there's more to be done after work and on weekends: they have to learn their parts for coming performances.

The day begins with a morning rehearsal. This takes place off the set in the studio rehearsal hall. Then the actors go to the set for the next step, blocking, in which they move into the different positions they have to take, without reading their lines. This is done do the camera positions can be set up. Then there is a run through - like a rehearsal, but performed in front of cameras. And finally a dress rehearsal, with all actors in full costume.

By the later afternoon, everything is set for the actual taping of the show. And this taping is what you'll see of Dark Shadows on your TV set. Was all the work worth it? Well, what do you think?

(Magazine clippings courtesy of the blog LOST AND FOUND VINTAGE TOYS. Go visit them!)