Get Dark Shadows book signed by David Selby!

Welcome to the Marilyn Rossaissance! Who would have guessed that a 1960s hack writer of gothic pulps would ever see such a revival in the 21st century? All 32 of his/her Dark Shadows novels are now available as audiobooks from Oasis (and read by Kathryn Leigh Scott), which is staggering enough. But the company is also producing audio editions of Ross's other gothic stories, such as Memory of Evil, Dark Legend and Shadows Over Briarcliff.

Not to be outdone, Hermes Press is publishing trade paperback reprints of the Dark Shadows line. Now available for pre-order are books 15 and 16 in the series, Barnabas Collins and the Gypsy Witch and Barnabas, Quentin and the Mummy's Curse. The latter of which is also available in a special edition limited to 200 copies that includes a signed plate by actor David Selby.

Hermes Press previously offered editions of Dark Shadows the Complete Newspaper Strips signed by actress Lara Parker, and Victoria Winters signed by Alexandra Moltke.

You can get started by clicking the links above, or by visiting the Dark Shadows collection at Hermes Press here: https://hermespress.com/collections/dark-shadows-collection

The Dark Shadows Daybook: December 9

By PATRICK McCRAY

Taped on this date in 1968: Episode 646

When Collinwood’s newest and oldest guest reveals himself, will there still be room for Roger? Quentin: David Selby. (Repeat; 30 min.)

David and Amy encounter the ghosts of Quentin and Beth, who telepathically instruct them to bury Quentin’s bones and then set up a tripwire for Roger on the stairs, which works. Perhaps lethally.

It may be the most awaited day in Dark Shadows history. The build up had been going on for several weeks. Today, we meet Quentin Collins. And few men just kind of stand there and look sharp with the same kind of benevolent and sybaritic menace as David Selby.

As smartalec as that sounds, it’s also true. That’s all the man needs to do to establish his presence. And stand, he does.

It was clear that something was coming. It was clear that he was named Quentin. And it was clear that it was the next big direction for the story because, let’s face it, Don Briscoe is too nice of a guy. Unlike the arrival of Barnabas, Quentin was coming into a series where anything could happen. That did a lot of the work for David Selby, but it also raised expectations meteorically. Quentin’s first appearance is a masterpiece of performance focus, lighting, makeup, and costume design. The accompaniment of Beth, lit beautifully because she barely had to move, is even more powerful because it puts this mystery man into a context. He has followers. He has a team. Unlike the accident that was Barnabas, he exists as the result of a campaign. And every time David visits, he grows more powerful, thus reinforcing every warning that kids ever got about goin’ too near the white van driven by the guy with muttonchops.




The show has it both ways on several accounts. The more Quentin moves, the more he reveals potentials and limitations. So he plays it as motionlessly as possible. It’s an old stage trick. When blocking a play, the less a character moves, the more powerful they are. All of Selby’s work is with the eyes, and the muttonchops direct and intensify them magnificently. The production also satisfies twin agendas by allowing Quentin to remain a silent cypher and still communicate, by speaking through David. When David tries on the Victorian clothes, he speaks as if he were Quentin, but the line between Quentin and Beth and David and Amy is wildly questionable. Is it Quentin or David or David-through-Quentin or David-empowered-by-Quentin who says that he was bound to get revenge for how both of them had been treated?

It’s a fantastically allusive line of dialogue. Maybe Quentin is speaking about himself and Beth, and how they were treated by ancestors… perhaps he doesn’t know they are dead. Or perhaps Roger and Elizabeth enact some bizarre legacy of which David is ignorant. Maybe David and Quentin see themselves as marginalized members of the family, brothers-under-the-shroud, and are striking out. Maybe David is speaking for himself and Amy. maybe it’s all of the above, and that’s why they were chosen. David did not discover Quentin. Quentin simply waited for the right one.

Because the right ones were watching every day. And god help their parents if they didn’t have a release like Dark Shadows.

It’s a cliché among fans of a certain age that they “ran home from school to watch dark shadows.“ It’s a very true cliché however. 646 really twists that cliche by very authentically representing and addressing those fans. They are finally the heroes, investigating the unknown and taking charge of discovering what others had been too lackadaisical to discover. And they are also the villains, being moved by an entirely new figure who didn’t just deal with them as curious happenstances, but as the target of their interests.  It’s easy to forget the sense of constant pain and unfairness that sits with an aware child, and I don’t think it’s going very far to say that dark shadows fans are, if anything, aware. Both David and Amy are only children, growing up with adults who treated them — almost — as equals, because how else are they to address them? But they are inconvenient, unwise adults, and children like David and Amy are aware of this, also. Before, the show focused this kind of interest entirely on how dangerous and random a kid like this could be. David trying to kill his father is absolutely nothing new. But now, we see this from Davis’s point of view, also. If an adult is encouraging him to kill, there must suddenly, finally be a rational reason.

Yes? No. But David’s rage at Roger has been assuaged for some time. Or has it? It doesn’t take much for Quentin to inspire more of it. Roger complains about David to Liz throughout the episode, and that’s a chicken-and-egg passive aggression that a kid is going to notice. When Roger wonders if he made a mistake letting that child into the house, Liz asks if he means Amy. She wouldn’t ask if “David” were not a likely answer as well. The storyline has a very political message between parent and child, because the tension between Roger and David has improved, yes, but maybe not healed. Roger has yet to contemplate losing him, and David has yet to see whether Roger cares. Quentin was rejected by Jamison, who believed that he didn’t care, either. If he sees David as Jamison and Roger as the nearest adult in the lad’s life, somewhere between himself and Edward, then perhaps this is to prove to the Jamison spirit that an adult can care. Even Roger.

Ghosts have strange logic. But it’s clear there is a logic. How will it involve Barnabas? Or will Barnabas go away? The questions in the era were heady as the show revs up for 1969, its greatest year and when the downfall -- very quietly -- began.

This episode hit the airwaves Dec. 16, 1968.

First look at David Selby in CASTLE ROCK

I"ve been waiting for this for a while, but Hulu has finally released a trailer for its Stephen King series CASTLE ROCK featuring David Selby. It was announced many, many months ago that Selby, already a vteeran of Maine's horror landscape courtesy of DARK SHADOWS, would be appearing on the show. Thanks to producer J.J. Abrams' tendancy to "mystery box" pretty much everything, little more was known ... in fact, we still don't know who Selby is playing, but this trailer suggests his character is not a happy camper. You can catch him in the trailer below at around the 35 seconds mark.

The fourth episode of CASTLE ROCK, titled "The Box," is set to air today on Hulu. Here's the official series summary for those of you just tuning in:

"A psychological-horror series set in the Stephen King multiverse, Castle Rock combines the mythological scale and intimate character storytelling of King’s best-loved works, weaving an epic saga of darkness and light, played out on a few square miles of Maine woodland. The fictional Maine town of Castle Rock has figured prominently in King’s literary career: Cujo, The Dark Half, IT and Needful Things, as well as novella The Body and numerous short stories such as Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption are either set there or contain references to Castle Rock. Castle Rock is an original suspense/thriller — a first-of-its-kind reimagining that explores the themes and worlds uniting the entire King canon, while brushing up against some of his most iconic and beloved stories."

Now available: Maggie & Quentin - The Lovers' Refrain

A lot of new DARK SHADOWS dropped earlier this week, courtesy of the gang at Big Finish. The producers have fully embraced the new anthology format that has become the series standard since the release of "Echoes of the Past" in the summer of 2016. Rather that stagger individual tales throughout the year, the company is now giving us omnibus collections that feature multiple actors and creators.

Now available is "Maggie & Quentin - The Lovers' Refrain," a four-disc collection of stories starring, naturally, Kathryn Leigh Scott and David Selby. I'm still making my way through the collection (expect to read some reviews here next week) but so far it's been appropriately gothic.

You can listen to the trailer for "Maggie & Quentin - The Lovers' Refrain" below, or jump to the Big Finish podcast to listen to the first 15 minutes of it free HERE.

"Maggie & Quentin - The Lovers' Refrain" is available directly from Big Finish on compact disc or digital download HERE.



"The Girl Beneath the Water" by Lila Whelan

“If I don’t leave now something will try and stop me! Don’t you see what’s happening here? Something doesn’t want us to leave.”

As Maggie Collins welcomes her children home to Collinwood to celebrate her husband Quentin’s 65th birthday, she is blissfully unaware of the cruel magic at work underpinning the heartwarming scene. In a battle for reality, Maggie and Quentin must come together to protect their children against an ancient magical force that knows no mercy. But in doing so, they risk losing everything they love. For who can be trusted when you can’t trust yourself?

"The Sand That Speaks His Name" by Mark Thomas Passmore

"'Abandon all hope, ye who enter here…’ Just the standard disclaimer - nothing to worry about."

A mistake from Quentin’s past casts a dark shadow over his and Maggie’s weekend getaway in New York City. A Golem is loose, threatening innocents and only Quentin knows how to stop it. But first, he must learn how and why the creature has come back to life, a task which takes Maggie and Quentin on a quest through the hidden supernatural network of the Big Apple. Will Maggie’s foray into the perilous life Quentin used to live drive an irreparable wedge in their relationship? Will the rampaging Golem give them the chance to find out?

"The Hollow Winds That Beckon" by Cody Schell

“Ghosts. The seas are haunted. By the spirits of men - and women - who left land searching for something or other. A new land. Treasure. A new life. They keep searching.”

A sunny day of fishing is interrupted by dark clouds as Quentin and Maggie find themselves swept up in events beyond their understanding. They’ll do their best to escape a mysterious island, even if their failure means joining those who have failed before them - the ghosts on the waves.

"The Paper to the Flame" by Alan Flanagan

“Down by the salley gardens my love and I did meet / She passed the salley gardens with little snow-white feet...”

When a group of Windcliff patients start chanting a centuries-old song, Maggie and Quentin investigate - and find themselves drawn to an abandoned town with haunted streets and a fire burning deep below. There they must face an enemy far stronger, and far more unhinged, than they could ever have imagined - one with a grudge that stretches into both their pasts, and will have a profound effect on both their futures...

Save 50% on Dark Shadows this week at Big Finish

Big Finish is offering a sale this week on DARK SHADOWS audiobooks and full-cast dramas, knocking 50 percent off the regular price. Use the code QUENTIN50 at checkout to cut the list price in half, but you might want to hustle ... the sale ends at midnight on March 8. (And that's UK time, FYI.)

The sale also heralds the release later this year of "Maggie & Quentin - The Lovers' Refrain," an anthology featuring David Selby and Kathryn Leigh Scott. As a teaser, Big Finish is offering a digital bundle of the previous tales featuring Selby as Quentin Collins. While this bundle is not part of this week's sale, it's still a steal: It features eight tales, ranging from 2008's "The Skin Walkers" to 2015's delightfulyl weird "Panic," all for just $30. (After the sale, the price of this bundle will go up to $40.) You can find the bundle HERE.

You can read more about the sale over at the official website of Big Finish Productions.

The Dark Shadows Daybook: June 23

By PATRICK McCRAY

Taped on this date in 1969: Episode 786

Magda tries to use the Hand of Petofi to cure Quentin, but to no avail. He transforms, anyway. Meanwhile, Charity Trask moves into Collinwood as Judith’s stepdaughter. She is soon pursued by the wolf, causing Trask to break off his harassment of Magda to help set traps. Charity meets Magda, and after having her cards read, falls into a dream where Quentin recites the lyrics to his song, revealing them to be his secret. She associates the werewolf with him in sleep, as well, and Quentin warns of the capricious wheel of fortune. In the waking world, the wolf tussles with a policeman and gets its leg caught in the trap.

This is that one. The one where Quentin sings. And he’s no William Shatner. For once, I mean that as a compliment. I assume we were at the apex of celebrity albums. Lorne Greene warbled the theme to BONANZA. Sebastian Cabot was doing Dylan. Adam West sang us our “Miranda” waiver. Eddie Albert was blowin’ in the wind. We not only had celebrities (kind of) singing, we just had celebrities. In our post-ironic age today, I’m not so sure that we do. Not in the same way. But with the DARK SHADOWS soundtrack album getting out there, this was a perfect promotion. 1897 is noted for its dream sequences, and this was one of the biggies, no doubt catering to the new, true audience: teenagers enjoying the first weeks of summer’s surreal freedom. Selby seems forever fated to do everything with class and integrity, and he pulls this off, too. The Charity Trask romance is conveniently shoehorned in with little relationship to the plot, but she serves as an easy audience surrogate for swooning.

On this day in 1969, Warren Berger was sworn in as US Supreme Court Chief Justice. He was replacing George Lazenby who sat in on one case before his agent advised him to move on.

David Selby joins JFK docudrama THE TUG OF WAR

L.A. Theatre Works' latest world premiere THE TUG OF WAR will begin May 25 at UCLA's James Bridges Theater.

Our own David Selby is among the cast of the production, which provides a snapshot of the presidency during a time of international crisis. Set during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the play focuses on young President John F. Kennedy's decision-making process as he is provided with conflicting advice by his inner circle of advisers.

Selby plays Secretary of State Dean Rusk. The cast also includes Matthew Arkin as ambassador to the Soviet Union Llewellyn Thompson, Hugo Armstrong as Lyndon B. Johnson, Seamus Dever as Robert McNamara, James Morrison as CIA director John McCone, and John Vickery as Nikita Khruschev.

You can read an interview with the THE TUG OF WAR's author, David Rambo, at Broadway World.

THE TUG OF WAR is just the latest in a series of collaborations between Selby and the L.A. Theatre Works. Previously, he's appeared in their presentations of  DRACULA, JUDGMENT AT NUREMBERG, PACK OF LIES and ON THE WATERFRONT.

Performances of THE TUG OF WAR will be held May 25 through May 28. Purchase tickets for the event online HERE.

If you don't live in the Los Angeles area, fear not! L.A. Theatre Works' syndicated radio theater series broadcasts weekly on public radio stations across the U.S. (locally, in Southern California, on KPFK 90.7 FM); can be downloaded as a podcast via iTunes and Wondery.com; and can be streamed on demand at www.latw.org.

5 reasons I should watch FALCON CREST

By WALLACE McBRIDE

Warner Archive Instant really thinks I should watch FALCON CREST.

Promotional ads for the '80s prime time soap have been hitting my Facebook feed pretty hard in recent weeks. It's easy to figure out why: thanks to this website, I have cause to mentioned David Selby every few days. The show's antihero "Richard Channing" was Selby's second great TV badguy, following (of course) "Quentin Collins."

Weirdly, I've never seen an episode of FALCON CREST. It’s not like I lacked the opportunity, which presented itself weekly on CBS from 1981 until 1990. I had exceedingly bad taste in television in those years, though, and snubbed many good programs in favor of THE A-TEAM, KNIGHT RIDER, RIPLEY’S BELIEVE IT OR NOT, THE MASTER, MANIMAL and even (ugh) AUTOMAN. These are the viewing habits of an asshole.

Not coincidentally, these are also the viewing habits of a child. I graduated from high school the year FALCON CREST ended its run, and there weren’t many boys in my age group that were into prime time soaps. DYNASTY might have had the occasional slap fight or murder attempt, but THE A-TEAM had Mr. T firing Uzis at hillbillies on a weekly basis. It's just hard to compete with that.

Since launching this website in 2012, The Collinsport Historical Society has led me down some strange rabbit holes. And it has changed me as a person. I never used to see the appeal of live theater until delving into the careers of the many actors to appear on DARK SHADOWS. Stage shows were “culture,” the kind of thing schools used to make children do on field trips — frequently a lame production that was guaranteed to make them hate theater. These days I walk around with the regret of not having seen Jonathan Frid in “Arsenic and Old Lace,” Mitchell Ryan and James Earl Jones in “Othello,” and David Selby and Tom “Thrill Me” Atkins in “Henry IV.” That last one especially haunts me, even though I was only two years old when the production premiered in Chicago. I have unreasonable expectations of life.

Because of Selby, FALCON CREST pops up daily in my various newsfeeds. His FALCON CREST Susan Sullivan even joined him in the DARK SHADOWS audio drama, “Panic” a few years back. Besides sharing the occasional photo from the series, though, I tend to steer clear of conversations about FALCON CREST. I already have ample opportunities to put my ignorance on public display, so why go looking for trouble? But, thanks to the availability of media in the 21st century, it’s not that difficult to fill in gaps in your viewing history … which has led me to a few reasons that I might give FALCON CREST an overdue spin.

1: My non-sexual man crush on David Selby
I was diagnosed with this condition sometime during the early ‘90s, roughly the time that "Quentin Collins" made his first speaking appearance on DARK SHADOWS during its run on The Sci-Fi Channel. Along with folks like Ian Holm, Walton Goggins, Julianne Moore and Jeff Bridges, Selby’s presence is usually enough to convince me to watch anything with his name attached to it. From what I know about FALCON CREST, Selby’s character was essentially the show’s answer to Barnabas Collins, an anti-hero introduced during the second year that radically changed its narrative. Without having seen the series, I'm guessing Channing was not a vampire, though.

2: That cast!
Jane Wyman! Sarah Douglas! Robert Foxworth! Susan Sullivan! Simon “I should have been James Bond” MacCorkindale! Bryan Cranston! William Devane! Cesar Romero! John Saxon! Jonathan Banks! Rod Taylor! Roy Thinnes! Kim Novak! Paul Freeman! Carla Gugino! Taylor Negron! Jonathan Frakes! Lana Turner! Michael Dorn! E.G. Marshall! Geoffrey Lewis! Mitch Pileggi! Dana Elcar! Austin Stoker! And ... Apollonia!? Yes! Apollonia!

How is this not already my favorite show?

3: The DVD’s are pretty damn cheap
The Selby-less first season is just $7.29 on Amazon at the moment. Even at that price, the utter lack of Selby in the first season has kept me from jumping into this series with both feet. I’ve spent too much time pooh poohing people who skip the first Barnabas-free year of DARK SHADOWS to do the same with FALCON CREST.

The downside to the low price point, though, is that only the first four years of the show are available on DVD; Warner Archive Instant offers just the first three seasons.

4: It was created by Earl Hamner
Earl Hamner is a stone-cold TV legend, which is no small feat to accomplish when, as a writer, your face is never attached to your work. The guy wrote a whopping eight episodes of THE TWILIGHT ZONE (which isn’t shabby for someone not named Rod Serling, Charles Beaumont or Richard Matheson), the screenplay for CHARLOTTE'S WEB and created THE WALTONS. Why would anyone ever argue with a resume like that?

5: I feel less pressure now to be “cool”

The year is 1990. I'm standing in line at a grocery story with an acquaintance who has decided to go to war with the cashier over a coupon for 50 cents. He's older, married and has a kid; I'm barely 19 years old. At one point during the exchange he turns to me and says something to the effect of "This is probably embarrassing to you, but it won't be when you're my age." Turns out he was correct. In retrospect, my adolescent punk rock sensibilities were incredibly selective and kind of crap. I'd defiantly wear Samhain or Body Count t-shirts in public and dare people to start static ... while also hiding my STAR TREK novels and love for TINY TOON ADVENTURES to keep from getting ridiculed by the very same straights.

The development arc since those days has been interesting. I went from reserved to defensive to hostile within a couple of years. These days, I'm more likely to take these kinds of challenges as an opportunity to convert you. "You think the ANNIE musical sucks? Well, let me tell you all the reasons why it doesn't."

So, the idea of someone finding a stack of FALCON CREST DVDs on my living room table is not the embarrassment it once might have been. In fact, why don't you sit down and watch it with me? The NEON DEMONs and LA LA LANDs of the world will still be there when we get back.

Get some free Dark Shadows stuff today

Big Finish, keepers of the flame for all things DARK SHADOWS, are offering a free story to folks who subscribe to the company's newsletter. Up for grabs is "The Missing Reel," one of four standalone tales featured on the "Echoes of the Past" anthology. This one stars David Selby as Quentin Collins, hounded in 1950s Hollywood by a film buff looking into an urban legend surrounding a movie called "The Werewolf's Curse." I listened to this one on the plane ride to last year's Dark Shadows Festival and it's a good one. You should absolutely check it out.

Here's a link to help you begin your adventure: LINK

What's happening with Dark Shadows at Decades?

Since launching back in 2015, the Decades network has had a pretty warm relationship with DARK SHADOWS. The show has been featured occasionally as part of its "binge" programming, and was even one of the first series to be showcased during the lead-up to the network's official launch. It also received a special episode last fall of it's docu-series "Through the Decades"  in celebration of the show's 50th anniversary.

Lots of fans have been asking for DARK SHADOWS to join the network's regular rotation, but that's yet to happen. But, if actress Kathryn Leigh Scott's Facebook page is any indication, something is in the works over at Decades:

Thank you for all the lovely birthday wishes! I'll be celebrating tomorrow with David Selby and Lara Parker . . . we're doing an interview for Decades! Honestly, what could be better than spending the day with dear good friends . . . decades indeed!

Feel free to speculate in the comments section below. Is there another binge in the works ... or something more?

UPDATE: Kathryn has shared a bit more information on Facebook. The trio were taping an interview with Herbie J. Pilato for the series "Then and Now." Any day is a good day to talk about DARK SHADOWS, but I'm still holding out hope that there's some mitigating factor for the interview ...

David Selby in SIAMESE CONNECTIONS, 1973

Believe it or not, DARK SHADOWS is not the weirdest thing David Selby has ever done.

Hot on the heels of NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS, UP THE SANDBOX (with Barbara Streisand) and THE GIRL IN BLUE (opposite Maud "Octopussy" Adams), Selby appears on stage in SIAMESE CONNECTIONS. This is usually the point in the post where a blogger would start getting snarky, but SIAMESE CONNECTIONS was a production that defies snark. Hold onto your butts.

Written by Dennis J. Reardon, the production originated at the University of Michigan before finding its way to the Actor's Studio in New York with James Woods. It was the recipient of the 1971 Avery Hopwood Award for Drama.

SIAMESE CONNECTIONS made its mainstream debut in 1973 at the Public Annex Theater in New York. In that production, James Staley played a farm boy envious of his elder brother, played by our own David Selby. When his brother is killed in wartime battle, Staley goes all murder happy, offing his grandmother and a farm worker. Despite his character's death, Selby manages to remain an active participant in the story, returning as a ghost to haunt his brother.

SIAMESE CONNECTIONS also featured two perpetually geriatric actors: Roberts Blossom and William Hickey. Blossom went on to play a creepy old geezer in a number of movies, such as CHRISTINE, THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST and, most famously, HOME ALONE. He plays Selby's grandfather in this play.

The leathery voiced Hickey plays Selby's grandmother, a point which confused many critics. "Why a man?" asked Michael Smith in The Village Voice. "Are we moving back to an all-male theater?" You might have seen Hickey in PRIZZI'S HONOR, CHRISTMAS VACATION and as "Doctor Finklestein" in THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS.

SIAMESE CONNECTIONS ran for 64 performances, closing on March 4, 1973. You can see a selection of stills from the production below.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

David Selby joins the X-Men universe

David Selby has joined the cast of FX's upcoming X-MEN spinoff series, LEGION, according to his official website.

LEGION is scheduled to premiere on FX in February, but it's not yet clear what role Selby will be playing. The television show's IMDb listing has the cast and crew for three episodes listed, but does not yet include Selby's credit. Hopefully, producers will recall his roles in DARK SHADOWS and FALCON CREST and let him play a badguy, which is something he doesn't do much these days.

David Selby and Hamish Linklater in LEGION.

But the real question on the minds of fans is "How does this fit into Fox's X-MEN movie series?" It's easy to dismiss this show as a one-off but, since the success of THE AVENGERS a few years back, every studio has been trying to build its own "shared universe." Fox's DEADPOOL film has breathed new life into its X-MEN series, and it feels unlikely that the studio won't try to connect these movies to LEGION in some tangible manner. (If they're successful, it would certainly give the studio a leg-up on Marvel, whose television shows feel adrift from its cinematic offerings.)

And the connection to LEGION and the X-MEN universe is fascinating. The title character, a mutant named David Haller, is the son of X-Men founder Charles Xavier. In the comics, he's incredibly powerful and seriously disturbed. Haller was introduced in 1985 in Marvel's NEW MUTANTS comic, which featured a younger class of students at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. I was an avid fan of this series at the time, but was both perplexed and amazed at the book's creative choices during these years. After more than a year of solid (if undistinguished) storytelling, editors paired writer Chris Claremont with artist Bill Sienkiewicz, creating a hybrid of superhero stories and arthouse comic. It's impossible to imagine that anybody was ready for that, but the book certainly had my attention.

Legion, as drawn by Bill Sienkiewicz.

Sienkiewicz was fresh off a head-turning run on MOON KNIGHT. Initially tagged as a Neal Adams clone, he began to expand his style on that book ... a style which exploded onto the pages on NEW MUTANTS in a way no mainstream comic had ever seen. Sienkiewicz rejected traditional panel layouts and line art in favor of a style that could barely even be described as expressionistic. It looked more like a psychic nightmare than a superhero comic. It was masterful work by a guy not even 30 years old at the time.

His art proved to be a problem for Marvel artists following in his footsteps, though. Many of his creations for the book were intensely idiosyncratic ... NEW MUTANTS characters such as Legion, Warlock and the Demon Bear looked utterly ridiculous when drawn by anyone else. It didn't take long for these characters to fall out of the ongoing story line after Sienkiewicz left the building.

While Sienkiewicz's style will also be an ill fit for television, the trailer below suggests it's still going to be a pretty nutty series.

See David Selby in EQUALS

EQUALS has been burning up my Facebook feed during the last few months, a promotional campaign that finally includes some work from our own David Selby. The film comes to us courtesy of director Drake Doremus and A24 films, the studio that's released some of my favorite movies of the last few years.

Yes, my two big draws for this film are Selby and A24. The plot to EQUALS otherwise looks like the kind of dystopian romance we get every few years. Whether it's "1984," "Brave New World," THX-1138, LOGAN'S RUN, EQUILIBRIUM, GATTACA, BRAZIL or what have you, every generation gets a variation on this same theme: a young couple dares to defy a sociopathic society through the power of love ... often with terrible consequences. I won't begrudge this generation their chosen dystopia, but I should admit to myself upfront that EQUALS was probably not made with me in mind. And that's OK.

Anyhoo, A24 has released a clip from the film, which features Selby and stars Kristen Stewart and Nicholas Hoult. EQUALS hits theaters July 15. Visit the movie's official website HERE.

Dark Shadows: Into the Light, Episode 4

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of DARK SHADOWS, Jim Romanovich recently launched an 8-part retrospective titled "Into the Light" at radioretropolis.com. The Collinsport Historical Society will be archiving these episodes as they become available; you'll be able to find the series in the tab above slugged "Dark Shadows: Into the Light."

The latest episode is titled "A Charmed Life," and features an extended interview with actor David Selby, who discusses:

• The truth behind the rivalry with Jonathan Frid and why he wrote Jonathan a letter.
• Why he would have played Quentin forever.
• Why he had to keep his marriage under wraps as a teen idol!
• The comparisons of Elvis and Quentin.
• How crowd hysteria prevented him from attending his own event!
• His amazing connection to Abraham Lincoln!
• Why he turned down the role of Gary Ewing on DALLAS!
• The private prayer sessions with Jane Wyman on the set of FALCON CREST!
• His emotional memories of Dan Curtis’ final days.

You can stream the episode below, or click on the arrow button to download it as an MP3.

Monster Serial: Night of Dark Shadows, 1971

By WALLACE McBRIDE

As a cultural phenomenon, DARK SHADOWS ended not with a bang, but a whimper. Four months after the show’s 1,225th (and final) episode, MGM released the second feature film based upon the ABC-TV daytime drama. Directed by series creator Dan Curtis, NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS reportedly fared well financially, but proved to be a baffling denouement for fans.

Thanks to bizarre creative decisions on both sides of the camera, the movie was just as confusing to new audiences, though. NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS wasn’t edited as much as it was eviscerated, with an estimated 40 minutes hastily cut from its 129-minute running time thanks to a last-minute studio mandate. The movie that eventually screened to paying audiences was a frustrating compromise that satisfied hardly anyone.

David Selby and Kate Jackson play a young married couple who move into a mansion they’ve recently inherited. Before long, Selby begins to have violent changes in his personality as spirits begin fighting for possession of his soul. This isn’t GHOSTBUSTERS, though. There are few special effects in the film, and the ghosts make most of their on-screen appearances via flashback. Save for a few action scenes, the conflict in NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS is mostly internal as Selby’s character struggles with nasty impulses he can’t understand.

While not the most sophisticated story ever put to film, NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS certainly deals with mature concepts that were probably lost on the younger audiences that so loved the daytime series. Selby and Jackson’s marriage slowly unravels throughout the course of the story as director  Curtis and screenwriter Sam Hall narratively argue against the adage “Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it.” There’s a greater danger in this film from people who are unwilling to let go of the past, which was always a favorite theme of DARK SHADOWS.

From a creative standpoint, NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS is “Dark Shadows In Name Only.” Curtis made the bewildering decision to have members of the television cast reprise their roles for the movie, and then change those characters so completely that they were unrecognizable to longtime fans. Lara Parker, the actress who played the obsessed witch Angelique on the TV series, plays another witch entirely in NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS … a witch also named Angelique. It’s no surprise that the MGM/US marketing department famously screwed up the story summary on the original VHS release of the film, mistakenly referring to the villain as “Lara Parker.” The movie's name-game was enough to confuse anybody.

The half-hearted similarities suggest Curtis had grown tired of Collinwood but couldn’t figure out how to leave, a problem shared by many of the characters in this movie. Still, there are a lot of solid ideas on display in NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS and I can’t fault it for ditching the blood and guts of its predecessor in favor of a more psychological approach. At its heart, NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS is about an artist chasing his own self destruction. Throw in a haunted house, not-quite-forgotten murders and the occasional ghost, and you have a story that plays like a rough draft of Stephen King’s “The Shining.” King was a fan of DARK SHADOWS and wrote a bit about the series in his horror memoir “Danse Macabre,” and I have to wonder if this movie played a nascent role in the development of “The Shining.” I’m not suggesting King stole any ideas from NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS, but it’s hard not to imagine King, sitting in some Maine theater in 1971, ticking off the various problems with the film while letting his imagination seek out solutions.

The biggest problems with the film — pacing, editing, confusing story elements, etc. — were clearly exaggerated by the whirlwind editing session that left approximately 1/3 of the final film on the cutting room floor. I’ve seen the movie a handful of times over the years, but I don’t feel like I’ve ever really seen it. The main story doesn’t end as much as it just stops, with a typically ‘70s nihilistic epilogue tacked onto the end.

While Selby and Jackson aren’t given much to work with from the script (on paper, their characters aren’t any more dynamic than Brad and Janet in THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW) it doesn’t stop them from turning in solid performances. There’s a certain give-and-take between the actors, and it’s easy to overlook Jackson’s role in the film. If you don’t buy her fear, you won’t buy Selby’s growing menace. The reverse is also true, and their chemistry becomes increasingly important as the story unfolds. NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS could easily be turned into a stage play, leaving every scene in the movie to be driven by the actors.

And then there’s my favorite performance in the entire film: Grayson Hall. Playing an even darker version of REBECCA's Mrs. Danvers, Hall is actually kind of sexy in the film. And, like Collinwood itself, she’s comfortably haunted and totally at ease with her situation. As the house’s favorite agent, she’s left to seduce Selby’s character, which she does with a quiet voice and slinky body language.

Unlike other older films that were extensively abridged before hitting theaters, the excised footage of NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS still exists, and surviving cast members have re-recorded dialogue tracks in hopes of preparing a restored edition for a future home video release. I don’t know if the lost  footage will have a transformative effect on the overall film, but at least it would give us a chance to evaluate a version of the movie that doesn’t play like a glorified highlight reel.

Perhaps someday we’ll have the opportunity to travel back to 1971 and solve the final mystery of Collinwood once and for all.

This column is among those featured in "Bride of Monster Serial," a collection of horror essays written by contributors to The Collinsport Historical Society. Buy it today on Amazon!

DARK SHADOWS joins this year's Record Store Day offerings

Rumor has it that “The Original Music from Dark Shadows” will be among the assortment of albums available to stores as part of this year’s Record Store Day event. (UPDATE: For more information on this release, click HERE.)

Set for April 16, stores will receive a shipment of vinyl albums, many of which have been created exclusively for Record Store Day. Unfortunately, stores rarely know which records they’re going to receive until they arrive. Thanks to a leaked post at the Vinyl Collective boards, though, fans have an idea of what to expect from this year’s assortment … and it’s a list that includes a 50th Anniversary Edition of “The Original Music from Dark Shadows.”

(Probably. The title simply reads “Dark Shadows,” but it’s unlikely that a new anthology of Cobert’s work has been compiled in secret for Record Store Day. It’s possible this is a revised version of “Dark Shadows: The 30th Anniversary Collection,” but where’s the fun in that? Stay tuned for updates.)

The indie-retail exclusive album will be produced on purple 180 gram vinyl and be accompanied by an “original 1966 poster.” You have two ways to get the album: visit an independent record store in your area on April 16 and hope you get lucky, or try to snag a copy on Ebay or Amazon at a later date. Here’s a link to help you find stores participating this year in Record Store Day: www.recordstoreday.com/Stores.

With that in mind, here are 10 facts about the music of DARK SHADOWS that you might not know. Or maybe you do. Humor me.

1 The instruments used in the theme to DARK SHADOWS are a harp, an alto flute, a double bass, a vibraphone and — of course — a Theremin. Robert Cobert began composing the music for DARK SHADOWS in April, 1966 — just two months before the series premiered on ABC.

Robert Cobert, David Selby and Jonathan Frid

2 Jonathan Frid and David Selby recorded their vocals for "The Original Music from Dark Shadows” at Regent Sound Studios in New York City in May, 1969. A few years later, the band Looking Glass recorded their song "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)" at Regent. (The studio has since closed and is now reportedly now home to an art gallery.)

3 “The Original Music from Dark Shadows” was produced by Charles Randolph Grean, who collaborated with Leonard Nimoy and the producers of STAR TREK in 1967 to create MR. SPOCK'S MUSIC FROM OUTER SPACE. Grean also wrote the 1950 Phil Harris hit, “The Thing,” which was a mainstay of K-Tel and Ronco novelty records during the 1970s.

4 Four writers contributed to the lyrics for “The Original Music from Dark Shadows.”Charles Randolph Grean wrote the lyrics for “I'll Be With You, Always,” “I, Barnabas” and “Shadows of the Night (Quentin's Theme).” His daughter, Loren, wrote the lyrics for “Meditations.” Poems by Christina Rossetti — who died in 1894 — were used for the tracks “When I Am Dead” and “Epitaph,” while Frid’s dialogue for “Epilogue/Dark Shadows” was taken from William Shakespeare’s “The Tempest.”

David Selby, Jonathan Frid and Charles Grean ar Regent Sound Studios in May, 1969.

5 “The Original Music from Dark Shadows” reached #18 on the Billboard album charts. A version of “Quentin’s Theme” recorded by the Charles Randolph Grean Sounde hit the Top 20.

6 The music for DARK SHADOWS was recorded in monaural sound. The tracks included on “The Original Music from Dark Shadows” were processed to create artificial stereo sound, which enhanced the treble and bass in alternating channels. The vocals provided by Frid and Selby were recorded in true stereo.

7 “Quentin’s Theme” was first heard in the 1968 television movie THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE, which was also produced by Dan Curtis. In fact, it’s sometimes difficult to tell which pieces of Cobert’s music were written specifically for DARK SHADOWS. Listen carefully and you’ll hear the same pieces of Cobert’s music appear on many Dan Curtis productions, including BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA, HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS, TURN OF THE SCREW, FRANKENSTEIN and SHADOW OF FEAR.

8  A version of “Quentin’s Theme” titled “Shadows of the Night” was released as a single with new vocals by David Selby, and was backed with Jonathan Frid’s “I’ll Be With You Always.” It reached #125 on Billboard’s Bubbling Under the Hot 100 chart.

9 Verese Sarabande reissued “The Original Music from Dark Shadows” on compact disc in 1999, expanding the track listing to include a lengthy radio interview with Frid,  Grayson Hall, Roger Davis, Humbert Allen Astredo and Robert Rodan, conducted by DJ Ron Barry for WEST-AM in Easton, Penn, and a separate interview with David Selby.

10 While the music used on DARK SHADOWS was primarily written by Robert Cobert, a handful of unrelated compositions occasionally found their way into episodes:

• The original melody used for Josette’s Music Box was composed by Robert Farnon, and can also be heard in the episode 8 of THE PRISONER, “Dance of the Dead.”
• Instrumental recordings of “Willow Weep For Me,” composed in 1932 by Ann Ronell, and Bobby Darin’s “I’ll Be There” (as covered by Gerry and the Pacemakers) were heard playing on the Juke Box at the Blue Whale.
• Francis Lai’s theme from the 1966 French film, A MAN AND A WOMAN, can be heard in episodes 307 and 501 of DARK SHADOWS.