8 things I learned from Jeff Thompson's "Nights of Dan Curtis"

By WALLACE McBRIDE

"Nights of Dan Curtis" is not an especially friendly book. Author Jeff Thompson (a frequent contributor to the CHS) is possibly the reigning scholar on the works of Dan Curtis, and it certainly shows in his latest publication, which is saddled with the subtitle "The Television Epics of the Dark Shadows Auteur: Horror, Western, and War." Having already tackled Curtis' horror movies and television shows in his books "The Television Horrors of Dan Curtis" and "House of Dan Curtis," Thompson focuses here on his outlying productions, which range from the trivial (1998's THE LOVE LETTER) to possibly his most important work (1983's WINDS OF WAR.)

Unsurprisingly, DARK SHADOWS lurks in the recesses of almost every chapter "Nights of Dan Curtis." Despite the filmmaker's efforts to marginalize his breakthrough achievement, the gothic soap provided Curtis with friends and professional relationships that endured his entire career. You'll see many of the same names appear throughout the book, such as Kathryn Leigh Scott, Robert Cobert, Barbara Steele, Lysette Anthony and John Karlen. No matter the subject matter (and Curtis produced everything from westerns to melodrama) you were bound to find some kind of connection to DARK SHADOWS.

When I cracked this book open for the first time (and I've returned to its pages many times during the last few weeks) it was under the delusion that I knew a little something about Dan Curtis. As it happens, I didn't know much of anything ... I've seen very few of the projects documented in this book, many of which were total revelations. It begins with a forward by one of my childhood heroes, Larry Wilcox (I was never much of a Ponch fan) who writes about working with Curtis on 1979's THE LAST RIDE OF THE DALTON GANG. There are details on the 1979 SUPERTRAIN debacle, 1974's MELVIN PURVIS G-MAN, 2005's SAVING MILLY and tons of other projects that were entirely new to me.

Still, it's not what I'd call a friendly read. Thompson has crafted a fine reference book here, which was almost certainly his intention. This isn't a book about Jeff Thompson; it's a book about Dan Curtis, and it's refreshing to see such an absence of ego in this kind of book. But it also makes it incredibly difficult to review in a typical fashion. In light of that, here are eight factoids I learned from reading "Nights of Dan Curtis," which ought to give you an idea of what to expect from the book.

1: Holy Candy Man, Batman!

Two years before DARK SHADOWS, Dan Curtis tried to develop a BATMAN television series for CBS. In 1964, Curtis got the go-ahead to develop a pilot, with CBS given right of first refusal. The vision of the series doesn't sound very far removed from the show created by William Dozier in 1966: actor Don Murray (CONQUEST OF THE PLANET OF THE APES) had agreed to star as the caped crusader, with Sammy Davis, Jr. as the Joker. Had a change in management not torpedoed the project, BATMAN would have stocked its rogues gallery with members of the Rat Pack.

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2: CBS hacked Drac

In 1972, Curtis returned to the vampire well with DRACULA, which aired on television in the U.S., and was released theatrically (with a bloodier cut) in Europe. It was originally meant to be a much grander project, though. Curtis and screenwriter Richard Matheson wanted a three-hour time slot, but CBS granted them only two. While it was the first legitimate attempt to faithfully translate Bram Stoker's novel for film, both creators felt the shorter time slot hobbled (to a certain extent) the final product.

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3: "That's the signpost up ahead ..."
As DARK SHADOWS was hitting its stride in 1967, Curtis was in the U.K. producing and directing THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE. The TV movie was written by Ian McLellan Hunter and starred Jack Palance in the title roles, but neither were Curtis' first choice. When the project began development, actor Jason Robards was attached, and Rod Serling (!) was tapped to write the screenplay.

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4: Author, author!
Herman Wouk was unhappy with the filmed adaptions of THE CAINE MUTINY and MARJORIE MORNINGSTAR, and was resistant to the idea of allowing WINDS OF WAR to suffer a "watered down" adaption. Curtis countered by bringing Wouk on board to write the screenplay of the 15-hour 1983 television mini-series, going so far as to give the author final approval on scripts.

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5: It takes a thief
Robert Cobert frequently cribbed his own music from other movies. Listen carefully and you'll hear music from DARK SHADOWS appear in such productions as INTRUDERS and THE GREAT ICE RIP-OFF. "Quentin's Theme" made stealth appearances in both movies. If you've got to steal, steal from the best!

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6: Great Scott!

Kathryn Leigh Scott auditioned for the role of Liz Stoddard in the 1991 DARK SHADOWS revival. Just let that idea sink in. If you've got to lose a part, though, you might as well lose it to Jean Simmons.  (Oops. KLS actually auditioned for the role of Liz in the 2004 pilot, but lost to Blair Brown. Jeff got it correct in his book; I got it wrong here. My apologies.) Still, just think of the possibilities. THINK ABOUT THEM.

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7: The Number of the Beast
Dan Curtis was briefly attached to direct DAMIEN: OMEN II. As a not-terribly-proud fan of THE OMEN movies, the lack of detail on this bit of trivia is maddeningly frustrating. But I probably shouldn't expect too many details about a production that ultimately didn't involve Curtis. Mike Hodges (GET CARTER, FLASH GORDON) was signed to direct but was booted and replaced during shooting by Don Taylor (THE FINAL COUNTDOWN).

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8: A Monstrous Monopoly

Curtis' television adaption of FRANKENSTEIN debuted Jan. 16, 1972, the same night as THE NIGHT STALKER, which he also produced. THE NIGHT STALKER earned a 32.2 rating and 54 share, making it the highest-rated television movie to date. It was followed in 1973 by a sequel, THE NIGHT STRANGLER. The sequel marked the end of Curtis' relationship with Carl Kolchak.

Dark Shadows: A 50th Anniversary Appreciation

Life from a Coffin
How Dark Shadows Has Affected My Life over the Decades

By JEFF THOMPSON

“My name is” Jeff Thompson. In 1966, I was seven years old, and what a fantastic year for television 1966 was! Fifty years ago, the three TV networks premiered Batman, The Girl from U.N.C.L.E., The Green Hornet, It’s About Time, Mission: Impossible, The Monkees, That Girl, The Time Tunnel, Star Trek, and, of course, Dark Shadows. Many of those classic shows are back on our TV screens today by way of DVDs, Netflix, and the dozen new nostalgia TV channels, such as Retro TV, Decades, and ME-TV.

I saw the actual telecasts of the first episodes of Batman and many of those TV shows mentioned above, but I am sorry to say that I came to Dark Shadows late. It was not until Friday 22 September 1967 when I, a second-grader, was home sick from school and happened to be turning the TV dial among the three commercial networks and NET. I stumbled upon Dark Shadows—and the first scene that I ever saw is the first scene on the 1989 MPI Home Video VHS tape The Best of Dark Shadows. Lying in his bed, David Collins dreams that he and Sarah are in the basement of the Old House. The children spy a coffin, whose lid creaks open, and out comes the vampire Barnabas Collins. Needless to say, I was hooked instantly! Seeing kids my own age in an old, dark house inhabited by a vampire sold me on Dark Shadows, and I have been a diehard fan ever since. F.I.A.W.O.L. (Fandom Is A Way Of Life)!

Dark Shadows immediately captivated me and began my lifelong interests in writing, acting, history, film music, and time travel. My favorite characters were Barnabas, Julia, Nicholas, Angelique, Stokes, Maggie, and Quentin. I liked all of the various time periods, but my favorites were 1967, 1795, 1968, 1970 Parallel Time, 1840, and 1841 Parallel Time. The astonishing, two-week-long 1995 interlude (seen 20-31 July 1970) made a huge impression on me and began my lifelong fascination with ruins. Seeing Collinwood in ruins shocked me—just as seeing Julia imprisoned by Angelique in the sub-basement of Collinwood during 1970 Parallel Time had shocked and upset me. I always wanted Barnabas to love Julia, so I am glad that—according to writer Sam Hall in TV Guide—he finally did.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, I ran home from school to watch Dark Shadows at 3:30 PM Nashville time on WSIX-TV 8 (ABC). When the show moved to 3:00, I was not home from school yet, so my mother Sonia Thompson, also a fan, watched the show and told me about the episode (in those pre-VCR days). Then, I began reading Dan “Marilyn” Ross’s 32 Gothic novels based on Dark Shadows, as well as his House of Dark Shadows novelization and many of Ross’s other Gothic, historical, and romance novels. Over the decades, I read 120 of Dan Ross’s 358 novels; I used three of his 600 short stories in my English classes at Tennessee State University; and I wrote my master’s thesis (TSU, 1991) about four of Ross’s finest historical-romance novels (including China Shadow and Moscow Mists). I met and became friends with Dan “Clarissa” Ross (1912-1995), and I still keep in touch with his widow, Marilyn Ross, who lives in Canada.

Also during, and just after, the run of Dark Shadows on ABC-TV, I read Gold Key Comics’ 35 issues of Dark Shadows, as well as the one-shot Dark Shadows Story Digest Magazine. I wrote letters to Gold Key editor Wallace I. Green (expressing my pleasure or my displeasure over particular issues of the comic book), and I later wrote two editions (1984, 1988) of my own fan-press book critiquing the comics.

I spent the later 1970s, as well as the 1980s and some of the 1990s, writing articles for Kathy Resch’s World of Dark Shadows fanzine, as well as other ‘zines such as The Collinsport Call, Collinwood Revisited, Lone Star Shadows, The Parallel Times, Shadows of the Night, and ten others. I also was enjoying my large collection of Dark Shadows memorabilia, as well as adding to my collection through mail orders, garage sales, and other means (in those pre-Internet, pre-eBay days).

As Barnabas Collins in a Collinsport Players production at the Dark Shadows Festival.

In 1983, I began attending the Dark Shadows Festival fan conventions held yearly in Newark, Los Angeles, New York City, and occasionally elsewhere. I served as the emcee of many of the conventions, and I wrote humorous one-act plays based on Dark Shadows to be performed there by other fans and me. We called ourselves the Collinsport Players. Also for the Festivals, I turned my Dark Shadows collection into The Dark Shadows Memorabilia Slide Show, and (in 1985) Mr. & Mrs. Ross and I presented An Evening with Marilyn and Dan Ross.

Also in the eighties, as a result of my attending the Dark Shadows Festivals, I met and became pen pals and friends with Dark Shadows fans from all over the country. I corresponded with them all year long and then saw them in person at the conventions. Occasionally, a fan-friend and I would visit each other’s hometown or meet up at another convention such as Fanex in Baltimore, Maryland. A few of my pen pals and I still write letters to each other, but most of us keep up with each other via e-mail and Facebook.

In the early 1990s (1989-1994), my parents and I rewatched Dark Shadows on MPI Home Video VHS tapes, and I wrote articles about various TV shows and movies for Midnight Marquee, Movie Club, Scarlet Street, and other magazines—including a 1995 interview with Lara Parker for Femme Fatales magazine (vol. 4, no. 1). In 1998, I moved to a brand-new house in Bellevue (west Nashville), and I turned the guest bedroom into a Dark Shadows room—a showcase for my Dark Shadows books, videotapes, posters, models, games, puzzles, View-Master reels, music boxes, masks, gum cards, bobble-heads, autographs, action figures, and more. Adjoining the Dark Shadows room is a wall of framed pictures of Dark Shadows star Joan Bennett in Trade Winds, Scarlet Street, The Macomber Affair, For Heaven’s Sake, and House of Dark Shadows. I call my upstairs room the Playroom (after the 1840 storyline), and I keep many of my other popular-culture collections there. Adjoining the Playroom is my Psycho bathroom, complete with posters, videos, DVDs, Robert Bloch books, movie stills, a “bloody” bathmat, and a shower curtain featuring the silhouette of “Mother.”

In the 2000s, I continued to teach English at Tennessee State University (where I have taught since 1985) while I was working on my Ph.D. (in English and popular culture) at Middle Tennessee State University. I wrote my doctoral dissertation (MTSU, 2007) about Dark Shadows creator Dan Curtis’s horror productions. I also wrote entries about five of Curtis’s horror movies (including Night of Dark Shadows and Trilogy of Terror) for a 2008 Midnight Marquee multi-author book, You’re Next! Loss of Identity in the Horror Film.

In the 2010s, I enthusiastically wrote the introductions to eight Dark Shadows-related books published by Hermes Press. Five of the books together reprinted all 35 issues of Gold Key’s Dark Shadows comic book; another one was a best-of book reprinting the twelve best Dark Shadows issues, as chosen by Hermes publisher Daniel Herman and me; still another reprinted the aforementioned Story Digest Magazine; and the last book, yet to be released, reprints the 1971-1972 Dark Shadows newspaper comic strip. My memorabilia collection includes Kenneth Bruce Bald’s original art for one daily strip (9-18-1971) and one Sunday strip (2-6-1972). The framed artwork hangs in the Dark Shadows room.

Jeff's guest bedroom.

Later in the 2010s, I wrote single chapters for the multi-author books Fan Culture and Remembering Jonathan Frid, as well as for three multi-author books that will be released in 2017 or 2018—Finale: Considering the Ends of Television Series (I wrote about the 2 April 1971 final episode of Dark Shadows); TV’s Top Male Icons of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s (I wrote about Jonathan Frid, David Selby, Adam West, and nine other TV stars); and an untitled book about Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in literature, film, television, and comic books (I wrote about the Jekyll & Hyde TV productions starring Michael Rennie, Jack Palance, and Michael Caine). Plus, I associate-produced the 2-CD set of Robert Cobert’s music for the 1991 Dark Shadows revival series, and I associate-produced-and wrote the liner notes for—the soundtrack CDs of Cobert’s music for Burnt Offerings (Counterpoint, 2011) and Dracula (Varese Sarabande, 2014).

The latest way that Dark Shadows has affected my life is in my moving beyond writing single chapters (for books about Peter Lorre, Peter Cushing, loss of identity, fandom, et al.) and beginning to write entire books about—what else?—Dark Shadows and all four dozen Dan Curtis productions. First, I reshaped my doctoral dissertation into the Rondo Award-nominated 2009 McFarland book The Television Horrors of Dan Curtis: Dark Shadows, The Night Stalker, and Other Productions, 1966-2006. My 2010 follow-up was House of Dan Curtis: The Television Mysteries of the Dark Shadows Auteur. Now, in 2016, my new book—completing the trilogy of Curtis, as it were—is Nights of Dan Curtis: The Television Epics of the Dark Shadows Auteur: Horror, Western, and War. All three books feature long career-overview chapters in which I write about each Dan Curtis production, in order, from Challenge Golf and The CBS Golf Classic in 1963 to Saving Milly and Our Fathers in 2005. My first book offers more in-depth looks at Curtis’s horror productions (including The Norliss Tapes and Curse of the Black Widow). House of Dan Curtis features more detailed examinations of Curtis’s mysteries (e.g. Come Die with Me, Shadow of Fear) and crime dramas (e.g. The Great Ice Rip-Off, The Kansas City Massacre). The new Nights of Dan Curtis book devotes whole chapters to Curtis’s epic productions of Dracula, The Last Ride of the Dalton Gang, The Winds of War, and War and Remembrance.

I last rewatched the 1991 Dark Shadows in January 2016 (for the 25th anniversary). I last rewatched the original series—one episode every single day—between June 2010 and late 2013. On Monday 27 June 2016 (of course), I shall begin watching Dark Shadows (1966-1971) all over again and once more lose myself in the mysteries of Collinwood. Over the decades, those eerie mysteries have never left my mind and have informed my thinking, my collecting, my traveling, my writing, and even my teaching. Happy 50th anniversary, Dark Shadows!

Dr. Jeff Thompson teaches English at Tennessee State University in Nashville. He is the Rondo Award-nominated author of The Television Horrors of Dan Curtis: Dark Shadows, The Night Stalker, and Other Productions, 1966-2006(McFarland, 2009); House of Dan Curtis: The Television Mysteries of the Dark Shadows Auteur (Westview, 2010); and Nights of Dan Curtis: The Television Epics of the Dark Shadows Auteur (Ideas, 2016). He writes about the Gold KeyDark Shadows comic books for Hermes Press. At home, Jeff has a Dark Shadows guest bedroom, aJoan Bennett wall of pictures, and a Psycho bathroom.

Dark Shadows: The Best of the '70s

By JEFF THOMPSON

Jonathan Frid, who passed away in April 2012, remarked that, when all of its elements came together in just the right way, ABC-TV’s DARK SHADOWS became something very special indeed. Frid was quite right, and every fan can cite several “perfect” episodes that were extremely atmospheric and effective. Some of my choices as gems from the highly familiar episodes of the show’s oft-syndicated middle years (1967, 1968, 1969) are Dr. Woodard’s death at the hands of Barnabas and Julia, Barnabas’s shooting Angelique and her cursing him (a milestone 1795 episode), Josette’s fall from Widow’s Hill (the final moment of one of the greatest episodes of the entire series), Barnabas’s forcing Vicki to tell him the Dream Curse and his having the dream, an aging Angelique’s holding Barnabas at gunpoint, and Judith, Edward, Karl, and Quentin’s heated discussion of their grandmother’s will.

Perhaps less familiar are some perfectly written and/or executed episodes from the more elusive final year (1970-1971), whose episodes were not seen again until MPI Home Video and the Sci-Fi Channel progressed to them in the mid-1990s. More than one dozen post-Leviathan episodes distinguish themselves in my mind as some of the finest segments of the entire TV series.  The following is a list of eight such delights — not with too much plot description to give them away if you have not yet seen them but with just enough praise to urge you to acquire the particular MPI videotapes or DVDs on which the episodes appear. (I have included VHS volume numbers and DVD set numbers for your convenience.  VHS tapes are still available on eBay, and a coffin-shaped box of DVDs of all 1225 episodes of DARK SHADOWS is available from MPI and Amazon.) If you have seen these episodes recently, see if you agree or disagree with my assessments of them.

It goes without saying that some of the finest moments of the DARK SHADOWS episodes of the 1970s occur near the end of 1970 Parallel Time, in almost all of the shockingly effective 1995 episodes, and in the highly emotional last three 1840 episodes.  Eight additional shows that I feel are truly superb are listed below.

EPISODE #1012  (Tuesday 12 May 1970).  Written by Joe Caldwell.  Directed by Henry Kaplan.  First episode on VHS volume 155.  Original DVD Collection 20, disc four.  Coffin-box disc 104 (first episode).

1970 PT. This is a perfect episode and one of the greatest of the entire series.  Many of the basic themes of DARK SHADOWS are represented in this show, which includes vampirism, parallel time, Barnabas’s longing for Josette, his introduction to the family at Collinwood, and a scary ghostly visitation.  There are no technical gaffes or flubbed lines; the episode is both written and performed flawlessly.  Show #1012 also boasts four of the TV series’s most memorable sets—Collinwood, the Old House, Eagle Hill Cemetery, and the parallel-time room.  Even better, episode #1012 presents six of the greatest stars of DARK SHADOWS — Louis Edmonds, Jonathan Frid, Grayson Hall, John Karlen, Lara Parker, and David Selby.  Show #1012 is superlative in every way.  (We fans always knew that DARK SHADOWS was ahead of its time, but this episode certainly demonstrates that fact as Will Loomis conducts an interview with the vampire — and Barnabas Collins asks, “Is that your final answer?” a la WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE.)

EPISODE #1017  (Tuesday 19 May 1970).  Written by Joe Caldwell.  Directed by Lela Swift.  First episode on VHS volume 156.  Original DVD Collection 20, disc four.  Coffin-box disc 104 (sixth episode). 

1970 PT.  Another stellar cast — Nancy Barrett, Jonathan Frid, John Karlen, Kathryn Leigh Scott, and David Selby — elevates this excellent episode, notable for its examination of the hungry compulsions of vampirism and the anguish of its victims. Jonathan Frid’s portrayal of Barnabas Collins is filled with desperation and emotion, and the show concludes with perhaps the best-ever bat-to-Barnabas transformation.  This episode is a black-and-white kinescope.

EPISODE #1113  (Wednesday 30 September 1970).  Written by Sam Hall.  Directed by Henry Kaplan.  Second episode on VHS volume 175.  Original DVD Collection 23, disc two.  Coffin-box disc 114 (second episode). 

1840 & 1970.  Featuring Nancy Barrett, Thayer David, Jonathan Frid, Grayson Hall, David Selby, and James Storm. Perhaps even more so than the superb #1012, show #1113 is one of the finest episodes of the series.  This show, which takes place in two different time periods, includes almost everything that makes DARK SHADOWS so magical and irresistible — time travel, vampirism, chained coffins, portraits, insanity, Wyndcliffe, visions of the future, great music cues, the I Ching trance, and microphone shadows!  Show #1113 has it all; it is our whole, beloved DARK SHADOWS in microcosm.

EPISODE #1143  (Wednesday 11 November 1970).  Written by Gordon Russell.  Directed by Henry Kaplan.  First episode on VHS volume 181.  Original DVD Collection 24, disc one.  Coffin-box disc 117 (first episode). 

1840.   Featuring Jonathan Frid, Grayson Hall, Gene Lindsey, Lara Parker, Virginia Vestoff, and Donna Wandrey. In terms of plot and writing, 1840 ranks with 1795 and 1970 PT as one of the greatest time periods of DARK SHADOWS. In a way, 1840 is a grand, Gothic summation of all of the previous events and themes of the series. Most 1840 episodes are highly atmospheric and have excellent production values; many are like mini-Hammer horror movies. Episode #1143 begins with the first appearance of Gene Lindsey as Randall Drew (a role originally intended for Don Briscoe) and ends with the newly-risen vampiress Roxanne Drew closing in on her victim.  In the middle, there is an electrifying confrontation among Angelique, Barnabas, and Julia and, later, an even more powerful scene between Angelique and Julia. At this point, Angelique, who has not yet lived in the 20th century, is suspicious of the drastic change in Barnabas’s psyche and is completely baffled by Julia, whom she has never met before. In this episode, Angelique gets some answers — and, in another Dark Shadows staple, she works voodoo magic by the fireplace.

EPISODE #1169  (Thursday 17 December 1970).  Written by Sam Hall.  Directed by Henry Kaplan.  First episode on VHS volume 186.  Original DVD Collection 24, disc three.  Coffin-box disc 119 (sixth episode).

1840. Featuring Louis Edmonds, Jonathan Frid, Grayson Hall, Lara Parker, Christopher Pennock, and James Storm.  This is another episode that comes together perfectly and delivers definitive DARK SHADOWS.  There are more Angelique/Barnabas/Julia dynamics and two stunning scenes between Barnabas and Angelique. Also in this episode, Barnabas receives unusual declarations of love from the two most important women in his life.  Additionally, Angelique tells Barnabas about her background, and Gabriel Collins is the victim of an extremely effective haunting.

EPISODE #1195  (Friday 22 January 1971).  Written by Gordon Russell.  Directed by Henry Kaplan.  Fifth (last) episode on VHS volume 190.  Original DVD Collection 25, disc one.  Coffin-box disc 121 (tenth episode).

1841 & 1841 PT. Featuring Jonathan Frid, Kate Jackson, Jerry Lacy, Lara Parker, Charles Reynolds, David Selby, and James Storm. The thrilling 1840-1841 storyline reaches a fever pitch in this episode, which features several heated confrontations and a pivotal scene between Barnabas and Angelique. Other highlights occur when Barnabas looks into the parallel-time room and sees Catherine and Daphne and when Angelique works more voodoo magic at the hearth. This is another superb episode, as are the next three episodes (the first three on VHS volume 191 or the first three on DVD Collection 25, disc two).

EPISODE #1211  (Monday 15 February 1971).  Written by Gordon Russell.  Directed by Lela Swift.  Fifth (last) episode on VHS volume 193.  Original DVD Collection 25, disc three. Coffin-box disc 123 (fifth episode).

1841 PT.  Featuring Joan Bennett, Grayson Hall, Lara Parker, Christopher Pennock, Keith Prentice, and David Selby. This well-acted episode is a good representation of the show’s final, change-of-pace 1841 PT storyline.  Especially notable are the powerful scenes between Morgan and Gabriel and (especially) Quentin and Gabriel.  The episode concludes with the start of the storyline’s trademark: the lottery.  1841 Parallel Time is a well-written romantic mystery, but its drawback is that it has nothing to do with “our” world and “our” characters.  In all of the show’s previous time periods, someone from “our” world (e.g. Vicki, Barnabas, Julia, even Stokes or Eve) was present and interacted with the characters, and that link to the original Dark Shadows universe is painfully absent in this otherwise enjoyable storyline. As little screen time as Thayer David received in 1840, wouldn’t it have been interesting if, when Barnabas and Julia took Quentin’s stairway back to 1971, “our” Stokes could have stayed behind in 1841 and migrated to 1841 Parallel Time?

EPISODE #1231  (Monday 15 March 1971).  Written by Gordon Russell.  Directed by Lela Swift.  Fifth (last) episode on VHS volume 197.  Original DVD Collection 26, disc one.  Coffin-box disc 125 (fifth episode).

1841 PT & 1680 PT.  Featuring only four actors. Unlike episode #1211, show #1231 is the least typical 1841 PT episode, for it switches the action, for one day only, to the distant world of 1680 Parallel Time. If many of the 1840-1841 episodes are like Hammer horror films, then this self-contained 1680 PT segment is like an episode of Boris Karloff’s THRILLER. In one violent, eerie episode, we learn the whole story of ruthless Brutus Collins (Louis Edmonds), his sister Constance (Grayson Hall), his unfaithful young wife Amanda (an especially beautiful Nancy Barrett), and his ambitious young business partner James Forsythe (Keith Prentice). Although the episode has a few technical flaws, this unique DARK SHADOWS segment is well done and memorable. (One amusing note is that the Collinwood of parallel time was built in the 1670s while the same structure was not built in “our” world until the 1790s!)

These are my choices for eight of the many finest 1970-1971 episodes of DARK SHADOWS.  Who knows what other excellent storylines and episodes the ABC-TV serial would have featured if it had had a much longer run?  In light of how SEARCH FOR TOMORROW and ANOTHER WORLD each lasted 35 years, GENERAL HOSPITAL and DAYS OF OUR LIVES have been on the air for 53 and 51 years and counting, and Guiding Light and As the World Turns continued for 57 and 54 years, the five-year-long run of DARK SHADOWS is very short for a daytime serial.  However, DARK SHADOWS obviously has enormous staying power, for it is the only daytime drama which has spun off three feature films (Dan Curtis’s HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS and NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS and Tim Burton’s DARK SHADOWS), had its own comic book (1968-1975, 1992-1993, 2011-2013) and newspaper comic strip (1971-1972), gone into TV syndication (since 1975), been released in its entirety on VHS (since 1989) and DVD (since 2002), and even been remade twice by its creator, Dan Curtis. (A DARK SHADOWS nighttime series aired on NBC-TV in early 1991, and a 2004 pilot episode for the WB network never aired.) Now that Tim Burton has directed a DARK SHADOWS  feature film starring Johnny Depp — and the 1966-1971 and 1991 episodes are available in several different media (including Netflix) — DARK SHADOWS  continues to gain new fans and to keep its long-time devotees under its spell.    

Dr. Jeff Thompson teaches English at Tennessee State University in Nashville.  He is the Rondo Award-nominated author of The Television Horrors of Dan Curtis: Dark Shadows, The Night Stalker, and Other Productions, 1966-2006 (McFarland, 2009); House of Dan Curtis: The Television Mysteries of the Dark Shadows Auteur (Westview, 2010); and Nights of Dan Curtis: The Television Epics of the Dark Shadows Auteur (Ideas, 2016).  He writes about the Gold Key Dark Shadows comic books for Hermes Press.  At home, Jeff has a Dark Shadows guest bedroom, a Joan Bennett wall of pictures, and a Psycho bathroom.  

The Leviathans and Others

The 1970 LEVIATHAN STORYLINE on ABC-TV’s DARK SHADOWS

By JEFF THOMPSON

Zombies roam Collinsport!

Nicholas Blair returns to earth with another devilish scheme.

Quentin Collins turns up alive, young, but with amnesia, in 1969-1970.

Charles Delaware Tate and Amanda Harris are still alive in the present time, but a personified Death has decreed that Amanda’s time is up.

Quentin and Amanda challenge Death as they race through the netherworld a la Orpheus and Eurydice.

Chris Jennings, in vain attempts to halt his werewolf curse, turns to the mystical powers of Charles Delaware Tate and to the dubious powers of a “moon poppy” flower.

A vampiress preys upon a member of the Collins family.

Angelique shows up in 1970 as a mortal woman married to a millionaire — and she is betrayed by her husband, who is not what he seems to be.

Barnabas Collins and Julia Hoffman become adversaries again and then become even closer friends.
There are some of the finest, most thrilling moments from ABC-TV’s DARK SHADOWS.

Paul Stoddard returns to Collinsport after 20 years and suffers a fit of hysterics in almost every episode in which he appears.

Barnabas Collins, no longer a vampire, returns to the present with his spirit broken, with virtually no will of his own, and as a slave to the mysterious hooded figures who spout inane, murky dialogue.
The integrity of the character of Barnabas Collins is damaged as Barnabas meekly takes orders from all of the show’s brand-new characters — even including most of the little kids.

The behavior of Barnabas, Elizabeth, David, Amy, and others changes drastically as they become cold strangers to those around them — and perhaps also to the viewers.

The usually sexless DARK SHADOWS finally introduces heavy breathing — but it comes from a carved wooden box whose panting “occupant” (apparently a slimy, scaly, fire-breathing-dragon type of shape-shifter better suited to STAR TREK or DOCTOR WHO) is never seen on camera.
DARK SHADOWS, which for three-and-one-half years had brought Gothic romance, supernatural suspense, and occult intrigue to its avid viewers, suddenly veers into a pseudo-sci-fi storyline reminiscent of INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, I MARRIED A MONSTER FROM OUTER SPACE, and ROSEMARY’S BABY.

These, sadly, are some of the worst, most disappointing moments from ABC-TV’s DARK SHADOWS — and these low points and the aforementioned high points all can be found in the puzzling Leviathan storyline, which took place on the show in late 1969 and early 1970 (between the 1897 and 1970 Parallel Time stories). This unusual storyline ignites fierce debate among fans even today — especially after MPI Home Video released the Leviathan episodes on DVD to a new generation of TV collectors. The episodes appear on discs 91-100 in the coffin-shaped boxed set of all 1225 episodes of DARK SHADOWS. Some fans love everything about the Leviathan period, other fans hate everything about it, but most concentrate on the storyline’s many merits and overlook its numerous drawbacks.

Years ago, the Collinsport Players acting troupe had good-natured fun with the Leviathan storyline. The Players’ musical production "Wedding Bells or Death Knells?" (performed at the 1987 Newark Dark Shadows Festival) spoofed almost every Leviathan-related aspect of the 1969-1970 storyline. In Double Play (performed at the 1991 Los Angeles Dark Shadows Festival and again at the 1993 New York Dark Shadows Festival), Dr. Julia Hoffman chided Barnabas Collins with the accusation, “You obviously didn’t watch the Leviathan episodes.” Barnabas replied, “Who did?” Indeed, the show’s ratings slipped during the Leviathan story, and many fans believe that this thematic “wrong turn” hastened the cancellation of the series. Ironically, the subsequent 1970 Parallel Time saga was (in terms of good writing and excellent characterization) one of the greatest stories ever told on DARK SHADOWS, but the Leviathan misstep had driven away many viewers by then. The ratings of DARK SHADOWS were the highest they ever had been (or ever would be) during the 1897 time period, and apparently the drastic change that the Leviathan sequence brought to DARK SHADOWS did not meet with numerous viewers’ approval. (At one time, the writers had planned to follow up the popular 1897 story with Count Petofi’s invasion of the present time. Why was this plan never realized?)

The Leviathan creatures — those shapeless “elder gods” of earth, air, fire, and water which supposedly ruled the earth before the dawn of humankind — apparently were inspired by the early-20th-century writings of H.P. Lovecraft. The weird, chilling short stories of Lovecraft were enjoying a resurgence of popularity in print and other media in the late 1960s and early 1970s, so the writers of DARK SHADOWS apparently were attempting to capitalize on this interest. It appears as if the writers’ efforts were lost on many of the children and teenagers who did not want off-camera “aliens” to supplant the show’s customary on-camera ghosts, vampires, witches, and werewolves.

The worst offense committed by the Leviathan storyline was the humiliation of Barnabas Collins. By 1969, Barnabas Collins was DARK SHADOWS (just as J.R. Ewing was DALLAS or Erica Kane was ALL MY CHILDREN), and viewers cringed when they saw their “hero” suddenly turned back into an unredeemable fiend with no compassion for Chris, Julia, Quentin, or even his “cousins” Elizabeth, Roger, Carolyn, and David. Adding insult to injury was Barnabas’s timidly doing the bidding of Oberon, Haza, Phillip, Megan, Alexander, Michael, and Jeb. The sight of the once strong, noble vampire bowing and scraping to new characters and even children apparently was unpleasant to many viewers (especially diehard fans of Barnabas Collins and/or Jonathan Frid). By the time the writers realized their mistake and allowed Barnabas to rediscover his free will and backbone, to express concern for Carolyn and David, to take his stalwart friend Julia Hoffman into his confidence, and to resist Jeb Hawkes, the damage already had been done. Even the reason for Barnabas’s original acquiescence to the Leviathans was nebulous. In the early episodes, it seemed as if Barnabas was under a spell and could not help himself. In later episodes, viewers suddenly learned the jarring “fact” that the Leviathans were holding Josette DuPres Collins hostage in the past — despite the fact that when Barnabas found himself in 1796 after his time in 1897, viewers (but not Barnabas) saw Josette kill herself (this time) by drinking poison. (Barnabas later learned that the Leviathans had been lying to him about holding Josette hostage. But before then, why couldn’t Barnabas merely have traveled back to 1796 and “rescued” Josette or even brought her with him to the present, thereby ending his eternal regrets and longing once and for all?)

Making Barnabas Collins the leader of the Leviathan cult was a wrong move — and the whole storyline would have been much more palatable if Barnabas had retained his integrity and someone else had become the Leviathan chief instead. The “someone” who would have been perfect for the job was Roger Collins. As one of the characters in my play Wedding Bells or Death Knells? joked, “Roger never had anything to do in this storyline” — except offer money to Paul Stoddard; express disapproval over Alexander, Michael, and Jeb; and serve as the victim of vampiress Megan Todd. The character of Roger Collins — not to mention the talents of Louis Edmonds — would have been utilized far more effectively if, after a temporarily bewitched Barnabas had brought the Leviathan box back from the past, Roger had wielded his prestige, power, money, and business connections as the Leviathan chief. Roger was a shady rogue when the TV series began, so a return to his unscrupulous ways now would have been much less unsettling than the near destruction of the Barnabas character. Additionally, Roger’s villainy in the Leviathan storyline would have foreshadowed the other Roger’s actions in 1970 Parallel Time several months later.

Placing a partially bewitched, partially power-mad Roger at the top of the Leviathan cult would have made much more sense than entrusting the box, the book, and the boys to the ineffectual Todds and their small-time antique shop. Indeed, Elizabeth once remarked that the Collins family’s prestige and money could further the Leviathan cause, and Jeb told Barnabas that he wanted Roger to become a Leviathan anyway. Marie Wallace still could have played a Megan-type character — perhaps an incarnation of Haza — but she would have played Roger’s sudden, third wife, perpetuating the tradition of Roger’s bizarre choices of wives (the phoenix Laura and the witch Cassandra). What could the relatively insignificant Todds offer the Leviathans — and what (other than passage through time) could Barnabas offer them? The spell over Barnabas could have worn off — or been hypnotized away by Julia — shortly after Barnabas had turned the box and the book over to Roger, and then Barnabas, Julia, Quentin, Maggie, and Willie could have begun the business of battling the Leviathans without delay.

To the Leviathan story’s credit, the show improved dramatically with the introduction of the Jeb Hawkes character, chillingly portrayed by Christopher Pennock. (The storyline would have been much more compelling if the essence in the box had become Jeb immediately, thereby eliminating the eight tedious weeks of Joseph, Alexander, and Michael.) After Jeb arrived, the story began moving more swiftly, and there were numerous scenes of great excitement. By that late date, those viewers who had persevered had become accustomed to the idea of an unseen “dragon” flying around Collinsport — outlandish even for DARK SHADOWS! — and could appreciate the satisfying nuances and positive touches of the Leviathan storyline. There are plenty of plusses about the peculiar Leviathan storyline, but such a quirky, sci-fi-type story did not fit the established mood and tone of the Gothic serial DARK SHADOWS and more than likely contributed to the TV show’s premature demise one year later.

Dr. Jeff Thompson teaches English at Tennessee State University in Nashville. He is the Rondo Award-nominated author of The Television Horrors of Dan Curtis: Dark Shadows, The Night Stalker, and Other Productions, 1966-2006 (McFarland, 2009); House of Dan Curtis: The Television Mysteries of the Dark Shadows Auteur (Westview, 2010); and Nights of Dan Curtis: The Television Epics of the Dark Shadows Auteur (Ideas, 2016). He writes about the Gold Key Dark Shadows comic books for Hermes Press. At home, Jeff has a Dark Shadows guest bedroom, a Joan Bennett wall of pictures, and a Psycho bathroom.