Are there DARK SHADOWS in Disney’s Haunted Mansion?

Even with the cost of visiting their parks rising to exorbitant, borderline unholy levels, Disney’s Haunted Mansion attraction is enough to justify at least one trip to a Disney theme park in your life. It's just that good.

The attraction got off to an incredibly rocky start, though. The mansion made its first appearance on Disneyland’s official souvenir maps in 1958, but construction on the project didn’t commence until three years later. By 1963, it had still not opened to the public, and Walt Disney’s death in 1966 brought the project to a thudding halt. The park’s “Imagineers” pooled their resources to find out how to salvage the concept, drawing from such influences as Robert Wise’s THE HAUNTING, the 1927 feature THE CAT AND THE CANARY and Jean Cocteau BEAUTY AND THE BEAST.

In 1969, the mansion finally opened its doors to visitors. The concept later expanded to Disneyworld in 1971, Tokyo Disneyland in 1983, Disneyland Paris in 1992, and Hong Kong Disneyland in 2013.

What does this have to do with DARK SHADOWS, you ask? The author of LONG FORGOTTEN, a blog devoted Disney’s Haunted Mansion, believes that the changing portrait of Josette DuPres — the perpetually doomed damsel of DARK SHADOWS — might have inspired one of the images in the attraction’s “changing portrait gallery.”

The gallery was the work of lead artist and animator Marc Davis, who designed many of the original scenes found at The Haunted Mansion. Davis had a storied career with Disney, designing many of their most iconic characters, including “Snow White,” “Maleficent,” “Tinker Bell” and “Cruella de Vil.”

While most of Davis’ work on The Haunted Mansion was done before 1965 (a year before the debut of DARK SHADOWS), it appears the April-December portrait wasn’t added to the gallery until sometime in 1968.

The portrait of Josette made its first appearance on DARK SHADOWS on episode 70 of the series, which aired Sept. 30, 1966. The portrait was seen frequently on the series, but it’s the episode that aired Jan. 12, 1968, that the author thinks inspired the April-December Portrait. (Coincidentally, this is the episode voted by our readers as being the best of the entire series.)

The portraits of Josette DuPres and "April-December."

Here's a quick summary: As a challenge to his new wife, Angelique, Barnabas Collins has placed the portrait of his former love, Josette, over the mantle in their home. Not one to ever be outdone, Angelique casts a spell that transforms Josette’s painted image into that of a monster. You can see the two illustrations above, as well as the transformation of the April-December portrait from The Haunted Mansion.

“The point is, there is no evidence that April-December existed before the DS episode featuring the morphing Josette portrait aired,” the author concludes. “April's absence is particularly noticeable when we take into account how often the other changing portraits make appearances. That doesn't prove any kind of connection, of course, but it does mean that there is currently no chronological obstacle to the theory that Marc got the idea for April-December from Dark Shadows. For the record, I am of the opinion that he did.”

Sadly, the “April-December” image was removed from the changing portrait gallery back in 2005. As for the artist’s original inspiration? Well, Disney is notoriously tight-lipped about such things. Almost 60 years after its release, we still have only the word of Maila Nurmi — TV’s “Vampira” — that she served as the inspiration for SLEEPING BEAUTY’s “Maleficent.”

Via: Long Forgotten

Mego-style DARK SHADOWS toys available in May

It looks like the long wait will finally be over in May.

After teasing an extensive line of DARK SHADOWS-themed action figures a few years ago at the San Diego Comic Con, the company released only three figures before disappearing. Spectre was even in the process of polling customers on which figures they'd like to next see added to the line (Dr. Hoffman was fairing well in the race, if I remember correctly) but then POOF! Nothing. The company's website disappeared and we heard nothing more about the project. At least we got action figures of Barnabas Collins, Angelique and the Collinsport Werewolf before things went tits up.

Then, last year, Spectre began to solicit new DARK SHADOWS toys online through websites like Entertainment Earth. The second wave of figures included Quentin Collins, Josette DePres and Willie Loomis, and were originally slated to be released around the time of last year's TIM BURTON movie. The release date for these toys was again delayed, this time until May, 2013.

So far, we've been given no reason to believe this date will be again delayed, but it's anyone's guess how many units of these toys are being produced. I've sold quite a few of these items on my site as "pre-orders" during the past six months, and it's not impossible that some of these toys will sell out quickly. The Barnabas Collins figure, for example, vanished from the market long ago, prompting Spectre Toys to add him to this second wave of toys.

That being said, you can still find the original Angelique and "Comic Con Exclusive" Werewolf figures for sale at retail price, but I suspect interest in the new line of toys will boost demand for those toys, as well. If you want any of these items, it's not a good idea to wait. The original Barnabas Collins figure has routinely been selling for several times its retail value since initially selling out, so procrastination will likely prove to be costly for DARK SHADOWS collectors.

Here are direct links for each DARK SHADOWS Mego-style toy:

THE COLLINSPORT WEREWOLF

BARNABAS COLLINS

QUENTIN COLLINS

ANGELIQUE BOUCHARD

WILLIE LOOMIS

JOSETTE DUPRES

Trashy Little Cuties: Angelique and Josette

Lisa Petrucci is a fan of DARK SHADOWS. The Seattle-based artist has pieces featuring a few of the show's characters tucked away among her many other works at her website, www.lisapetrucci.com.

"I actually came to DARK SHADOWS late in life,"she told Target Audience Magazine in July. "It was on TV when I was a kid, but I wasn’t allowed to watch it! However I had always been intrigued by the show and pictures I’d seen in horror magazines. When I moved to Seattle, I discovered friends who are fans of the show and they introduced it to me on video. I decided to take the plunge and started watching the 1,245 episodes on dvd and was immediately hooked. I’ve done one Dark Shadows themed painting to date, but definitely get my “goth” on from time to time."

Since then, Petrucci must have completed a second DARK SHADOWS piece, because Darren C. has them both hanging at his home (the images you see above belong to him.)

You can read the entire interview with Petrucci HERE.

Vampire Josette by artist Cara McGee

Cara McGee was one of the more quietly famous artists to attend the HeroesCon in Charlotte, N.C., last weekend. While you might not recognize her name, it's possible you've seen her work circulating (often uncredited) on Tumblr, especially among fans of Sherlock Holmes, The Avengers and The Hunger Games.

While trolling the aisles for guys like Marv Wolfman and George Perez, I noticed McGee's work and asked her for a sketch of Kathryn Leigh Scott as Josette (the vampire version.) While speaking to her I began to recognize some of her work from Tumblr ... as did several other people passing by her table.

I've included some samples of her work below. Enjoy!

Willie Loomis, Josette DuPres and Quentin Collins figures solicited for 2012

This is a pleasant surprise: Entertainment Earth says action figures of Josette DuPres, Willie Loomis and Quentin Collins will be for sale in November! These figures join the already solicited Barnabas Collins re-issue, as well as the previously released figures of Angelique and the Werewolf. You can see all of the available Dark Shadows toys at this LINK.

These figures are done in the style of the classic "Mego" action figures of the '60s and '70s, complete with vintage-style packaging.  Read more about the troubled line of toys at this post, and see photos of the early prototypes at the Mego Museum.