Thayer David in The Sorrows of Frederick,'' 1967

Robert Fletcher and Thayer David in "The Sorrows of Frederick," 1967.

Nobody could have predicted how valuable Thayer David would ultimately become to DARK SHADOWS. Making his debut on the show in August, 1966, David replaced actor George Mitchell in the role of Collinsport handyman Matthew Morgan. A  a few months later, the storyline took a turn that made David's services no longer necessary, leaving both David and Mitchell out of a job. (This was in the early days of DARK SHADOWS, when a character's death was, more or less, final.)

Fortunately, David's talents were no secret to the theater, and his resume reflects an actor who rebounded easily from professional setbacks. In June, 1967, the Manhattan resident appeared the world premiere of Romulus Linney's first play, ''The Sorrows of Frederick,'' at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. To give you an idea of what the forum's debut theatrical offerings were like in 1967, "Frederick" was sandwiched between productions of "The Devils" with Mark Lenard, Frank Langella and William Hickey, and "More Stately Mansions" with Ingrid Bergman(!) and Colleen Dewhurst.

''The Sorrows of Frederick'' is a psychological drama about the eighteenth-century king of Prussia, Frederick the Great, with Fritz Weaver in the title role during the play's premiere. Bruce Glover (father of Crispin) was also in the production. Michael Westmore was the make-up artist for "Frederick," whose credits also include THE MUNSTERS, ROCKY and STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION. Actor Robert Fletcher, who appears in "Frederick," might also have a connection to STAR TREK. His credits in 1967 included more costume design work than acting roles, leading me to believe he might be the same "Robert Fletcher" who designed the costumes for the first four STAR TREK movies.

David played a character simply named "The Chancellor." Despite his lengthy stage credits at the time, his published biography in the production's playbill cited his involvement in the then-struggling DARK SHADOWS. (Matthew Morgan is even mentioned my name!)

I could find no reviews of "Frederick," but write-ups of later revivals suggest the 1967 premier was plagued by problems. Gordon Davidson, who launched the Mark Taper Forum, was apparently not pleased with the results. "(Director Albert) Marre had no concept of what this theater was about," Davidson told the Los Angeles Times in 2004. "To him, it was a pre-Broadway tryout, it was about Sherman marching through Georgia."

"Frederick" opened in June and closed in August. David would eventually return to the cast of DARK SHADOWS near the end of 1967, going on to play a record eight characters on the series, as well as appearances in both HOUSE and NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS.

John Zacherley, the original "cool ghoul"

I've spent the last few months here exorcising/exercising my "monster kid" demons. Admittedly, DARK SHADOWS is the bread and butter of the Collinsport Historical Society ... nobody visits this website to read about Hans Conried, Bela Lugosi or Ed Wood. But my blog has always served as an outlet for all of my random obsessions. If readers haven't been especially engaged with these off-topic posts, at least they've been patient with them.

Which brings me to my point: Earlier this year, writer Jymn Magon put together a staggeringly great series of blogposts about horror host John Zacherley. TV's original "cool ghoul" (a phrase co-opted by the Philadelphia Gum Co. to promote their DARK SHADOWS trading cards in 1968) is one of the most accomplished "horror hosts" in television history. He's eclipsed only by Elvira (and possibly Svengoolie), which is all the most significant when you consider that Zacherley's regular hosting duties ended in 1960. The guy has managed to accumulate legions of fans without the benefit of  regular television or movie gigs. The 97-year-old performer is, in my opinion, the greatest horror host ever.

Magon appears to share this sentiment. Over at his website, he's shared rare photos, news clippings and anecdotes about Zacherley. These items range from the personal to the professional, delving so deep into Zacherley's career that I can legitimately connect it to DARK SHADOWS. Below is a newspaper item taken from Magon's blog showing Zacherly on stage in the 1962 play "La Belle." The Philadelphia production included a face familiar to DARK SHADOWS fans: Thayer David.

Seriously ... stop reading this and head over to Magon's website now. You can find his entire series about Zacherley HERE.

Shout Factory stakes a claim to streaming media

Looks like I'm not leaving the house this weekend.

The good people at Shout Factory have thrown their hat into the increasingly brutal arena of streaming video with the launch of SHOUT FACTORY TV. It's an ad-supported service that is providing more than 2,500 television episodes and movies to your browser and Roku app. Among their offerings are the first season of THE TWILIGHT ZONE, dozens of episodes of MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000, ELVIRA'S MOVIE MACABRE and more.


There's not a ton of exclusive content here ... you'll note the film above, Elvira's presentation of WEREWOLF OF WASHINGTON (which features DARK SHADOWS alumnus Thayer David) is actually a Hulu offering. I guess the idea is to collect as much content from various sources under one banner, creating a content aggregator ... a concept that is going to become more essential as companies opt to stream their own products online. Some of the existing services (especially Hulu) have counter-intuitive search engines that seem designed to discourage people from spelunking too deeply into their archives. So it's nice that Shout Factory has gathered this programming into a neat, accessible location.

Take a look for yourself: www.shoutfactorytv.com