DOLL SHADOWS: A Gothic Toy Story

One fan’s childhood obsession comes 
to life in custom DARK SHADOWS dolls

Lindy Mumade discovered DARK SHADOWS when she was seven years old. Following her parents’ divorce, she had just moved with her mother from Cleveland to Los Angeles, and first saw the series while staying with a neighbor after school.

This was early in the run of DARK SHADOWS, before the introduction of vampire Barnabas Collins. The series was still trying to find its voice and audience, a situation that made Mumade’s first encounter with the series fairly brief.

“I got interested because there was a little boy who was kind of bad, saw ghosts and had a mom who wanted to burn him up,” she said. “Unfortunately, the show was moved from 4 to 3 p.m. and I didn't get to see the debut of Barnabas."

The ghost of Josette.

This led to some confusion later on. When she was home from school for the Memorial Day holiday, Mumade said she was baffled by what appeared to be a living, breathing Josette walking around the Old House. It was an easy mistake to make: the ghost of Josette was played by Kathryn Leigh Scott, who also played Maggie Evans … who was then kidnapped by Barnabas Collins in an attempt to brainwash her into believing she was the reincarnation of Josette.

“I tried faking sick as often as I could until summer vacation, when I found that Maggie was no longer dressed as Josette, but instead was a prisoner,” she said. “Me and all my school buddies were hooked and were so glad when it switched back to 4 p.m. so we could watch during the school year.  From then on, we were the stereotypical kids who ran home from school each day until it went off the air in 1971.”

Mumade said she often played with her Barbie dolls while watching the show, recreating scenes with her toys. About two years ago, she came across DARK SHADOWS on Netflix and was inspired to revisit her childhood habits on a more sophisticated level.

“My sister gave me a ton of material scraps, and my best friends gave me a sewing kit and some doll patterns,” she said. “The first doll I made was Victoria Winters in the red dress. Since then I have ‘completed’ 40 dolls (yikes!).  I have three in progress, ten on deck (dolls and material ready) and ideas for endless more.”

Victoria Winters

Mumade has an eye for detail. Not only are the dolls' costumes and make-up specific to individual scenes from the series, many of her creations wander far afield from DARK SHADOWS' major story arcs. Her Facebook page includes photos of dolls based on the ghost of Hallie Stokes, Roxanne Drew as a vampire, and even "crazy" Carolyn Stoddard from 1995.

She said Charity Trask and Pansy Faye have been her favorite characters to recreate.

Carolyn Stoddard

“The dolls started out identical but ended up very different, of course,” Mumade said. “I am pretty in love with Leticia Faye, and of course love the creepy dolls like Angelique the vampire, Jenny Collins and Carolyn in 1995.  I am very excited about starting Maggie Evans when she was hypnotized into being Josette.”

It’s not just a matter of creating costumes: Each character requires the appropriate doll. Because of a lack of variety of male dolls in the Barbie line, this has lead to her creations being focused on the female cast of DARK SHADOWS.

“I was struck by the resemblance of two dark-haired Barbies to Maggie and Vicky, the older ‘90's blonde Barbies to Angelique and so on,” she said. “I haven't yet found any Ken dolls that resemble Barnabas, Quentin and the rest.”

She mostly tailors the clothes for dolls in the Barbie line, but said other dolls are “cheap knockoffs.”

“A few are actually only doll torsos used to make Barbie birthday cakes, but I stuck them into a Styrofoam base instead of a cake skirt,” Mumade said.  “They just looked so much like Laura Collins, I couldn't pass them up.”

Some of the costume items are off-the-rack Barbie accessories.

“I wish I could take credit for the leather coat and stockings ‘Biker Carolyn’ wears,” she said. “I always indicate on my page when I didn't make an item.”

For Joan Bennett’s characters, Mumade relies on Rosie O’Donnell dolls, and has yet to find the right doll for any of Grayson Hall’s characters.

Laura Collins, Sarah Collins and Elizabeth Stoddard-Collins.

Laura Collins from the 1897 storyline has proven to have the most challenging costume to recreate.

“No matter how hard I try, I still can't get that one right,” she said. The beading and fringe on Kitty Soames’ dress from that same story has also been difficult.

Victoria Winters

“It is really fun to be able to learn how to make clothes of so many different styles and eras,” she said. “Early mod ‘60's vs psychedelic late ‘60's, Regency styles in late 1790, Victorian ...  Other than the Buzz Hackett period, Carolyn's clothes are very preppy and conservative compared to Maggie's micro-miniskirts.”

Once the costumes are complete, Mumade uses fine-tip markers to “embellish” the dolls’ facial features.

“I style their hair and cut it if necessary,” she said. “I found the perfect punk hair goo to hold all those long ringlets in place.  Needless to say, I had to jam Angelique the vampire’s fangs into her mouth.”

So far, she hasn’t created any DARK SHADOWS dolls for other people.

 “I have made special dolls for two friends as gifts to their daughters, dressed and styled like them,” she said. “ I don't feel as if my sewing and hairstyling techniques are polished enough to charge cash.  Plus I have this pesky day job.  But who knows how my skills will shape up by the time I retire.”

Find Lindy Mumade on Facebook at the DARK SHADOW BARBIES page.

Quentin's Theme comes to life

SO MANY ENVIES ....

Patrick Lynch shared this video on THE COLLINSPORT HISTORICAL SOCIETY Facebook page this morning: A working wax cylinder containing Robert Cobert's chart-topping QUENTIN'S THEME from DARK SHADOWS. I'd be interested in hearing more about the process of actually creating this cylinder, but for now I'm going to have to settle for feeling jealous. Here's what Patrick had to say about the creation:

"Thanks to an astonishing gift from a friend yesterday, I am now in possession of an actual Edison style 2 minute wax cylinder that actually plays the correct Quentin's Theme. I just now need to get the right Edison Home Phonograph to play it on. My later Edison Amberola 30 only plays 4 minute cylinders and there are other technical issues. Here is a video of the cylinder maker test playing the cylinder. Having it is a lifetime dream come true. Interesting the phonograph in the video is already quite similar to the early appearance of Quentin's player."

"Watch your tenses!'

DARK SHADOWS fan Eileen shared this image with us on our Facebook page, saying: "I was going through some boxes in the basement and came across this old school assignment I wrote in 1969 when I was in 7th grade!" Frankly, I love this kind of stuff. So many relics of fandom are lost, whether they're classroom doodles or fan club letters, so it's always a delight to find something from the show's glory days.

Artist Emily Christman finds comfort in DARK SHADOWS

In 2011, Emily Christman came down with chronic migraines and lived every day shut up in the house, subjected to constant blood tests, unable to take daylight.

“As a child, I had seen a little picture of Barnabas,” she said. “For some reason it struck a chord, and I had been determined to one day know what it was. I’m a big horror fan and I had heard somewhere about DARK SHADOWS, but knew little to nothing about it.”

Enter Netflix, which opened the world of Collinwood to her. The boxed collection of the entire original DARK SHADOWS series soon followed.

“During the little gaps of time I could actually see, I would watch the show in my darkened living room,” she said. “Then I got desperate to continue my art work, so I started carving little heads of the characters. Mostly, I did this during headaches and could barely see what I was doing."

Needless to say, these weren't optimal working conditions.

"I worked in poor light whenever I could bear it," Christman said. "Generally I'd get about two hours of relief a day, and 15 minutes or so where I really felt up to working." This narrow window of time meant she had to rush through many of the smaller pieces. Her vision gave her fewer problems at a distance, though, allowing her to struggle through an episode of two each day of DARK SHADOWS when she wasn't working.

Her doctor, she said, was familiar with the series.

"It actually worried me at first if watching the series was OK for me," she said. "But my doctor, who actually knew the show, thought it was the perfect little length to keep me sane and happy, without taxing me too much."

When she found herself feeling better, Christman decided to try her hand at creating a full-scale bust of a Dark Shadows actor. Grayson Hall, who played Dr. Julia Hoffman on the series, was her choice. In the beginning, Christman worked primarily from memory, sometimes using screenshots from the DVDs as references. Later, she drew from books and online images to help capture Hall's likeness when working on the full-scale bust.

"Watching her in motion also helps, just to give you a better sense of all her angles," she said. “I started by layering oil clay on a plastic skull, and instantly recognized a likeness in the basic face structure. Seeing these faces everyday for that year, and seeing little else, I became very fond of recreating them.”

With the help of her father, she created a urethane mold of Grayson Hall’s head and cast her in silicone. During this process, she started to recover and was accepted to art school in London.

“So I had to shove her in my backpack and take her with me to where I now am living,” she said. “So I’ve just been painting detailing, and working away in my spare time. It will probably be some time before I find the hair I need to finish the head, but I thought a good display method would be if I made her shoulders and arms, and had Julia in her I-ching trance.”

While it was Barnabas Collins that initially intrigued her, Christman said she slowly gravitated toward Dr. Hoffman as the series progressed.

"I have to say at first I wasn't sure what I thought of Hoffman, but she grew on my very quickly," she said. "I think she's my favorite character overall. I personally love the dysfunctional little family unit that is Barnabas, Willie, and Julia, and how it developed, most out of the whole series. I also really like the Sarah narrative; I wish they had done more with that."

She's hoping to revisit her Dark Shadows miniatures now that her vision has fully returned.
"My small heads were all made while I was having a migraine, so I could just barely see out of one eye," she said. "As a result, they are a little wonky. I can't say I'm terribly satisfied with the small pieces I have from before. Ever since I improved I've been really aching to create some little monster-model style kits of my favorite scenes and settings.”

She says she’s underwhelmed by the classic DARK SHADOWS models currently on the market.

“I'd love to do some moody little set-ups of Quentin's dusty room,” she said. “Or the mausoleum, intricate little set ups with the characters lurking in the shadows, Lara in flames, Vicky at the gallows, maybe a nice juicy staking. I have yet to try small scale in full health and proper light, and I'm wondering if I could get a refined likeness if I tried again.”

She said she hasn’t ruled out the idea of a more elaborate art project.

“Some crazy little portion of me wants to do some wax museum type affair,” Christman said. “Full-scale outlandish scenes, but it would be sometime before I could find a place to put it.”

Christman later met Lara Parker and Kathryn Leigh Scott at the Monsterpalooza convention, but decided against showing them her work.

“I was too embarrassed to show them,” she said.

Visit Emily Christman's online portfolio at  emilychristman.net. Below is a video she created to illustrate her discovery of DARK SHADOWS titled DARK YEAR. It's well worth watching.

Len Handeland's Dark Shadows

Len Handeland knows how to throw a party. Back in October, 2010, he and some friends held a DARK SHADOWS themed event in honor of the original television series. Filmed at home, the two videos below are obvious labors of love, and include some pretty terrific production values. It's hard not to smile while watching this, even though I'm a little pissed that I didn't get an invitation to the party.

Enjoy!

Dr. Hoffman performs Nights in White Satin

Rachel as Helena Bonham Carter as Grayson Hall as Dr. Julia Hoffman, performing Nights on White Satin by The Moody Blues, from the 2012 soundtrack to DARK SHADOWS. Got it? Good.

The Boy Who Loved Dark Shadows

The Creepy Bopper is a USC student film "about a boy who runs home every day from school to watch the original Dark Shadows." It was first uploaded in 2010, but I stumbled over it this morning while avoiding reality on Reddit. The filmmaker doesn't say when he completed the film, but it was part of a larger student project that included other movies. "We weren't allowed to use dialogue or sync sound, and I always struggled with that, even adding a voice-over intro to this film," he says in the Youtube comments section. (Also, I don't know of the filmmaker is a man or a woman, but figured I had a 50/50 chance of getting the gender right in that previous sentence.)

Crazy cool Dark Shadows fansite from Japan

At least, I THINK it's Japanese ... I'm American and barely speak English, so maybe someone could help me out. Because of the language barrier, I can't tell you the creator's name or the title of the website. But the artist has created some CRAZY manga inspired by the 2012 Dark Shadows movie that's a lot more fun than the actual film. I've included samples in this post, but you can head over to their website HERE and see the rest for yourself.

Dark Shadows rises from the grave

(Note: On July 12, 1987, The Aiken Standard published a series of features on Dark Shadows. This is the lead story from that feature package.)

"Dark Shadows" is far from dead 
in the hearts of many devoted fans

Aiken Standard. Aiken. S. C., Sunday. July 12, 1987

By LARRY WOOD

Staff Writer

"Dark Shadows" may prove to have as many lives as the vampires, witches and werewolves who stalked the centuries during the gothic soap opera's five-year run. The notion that the series was laid to rest when it went off the air on April 2,1971, is a grave error. Like one of its early characters, the Phoenix, "Dark Shadows" has risen from the ashes of cancellation, and its many supporters are keeping its flame alive and as bright as ever.

To commemorate last summer's 20th anniversary of the show's premier, a former Aiken resident put together a second long-play album of "Dark Shadows" music. Another Aikenite has brushed off her old scrapbooks crammed with pictures, magazine articles and memorabilia from the series.

Emiel Berrie and Deirdre Tice were students at Aiken Junior High when "Dark Shadows" premiered June 27 1966, on ABC television. Every afternoon, they would race home from school to watch the show at 4 p.m. on WJBF Channel 6 in Augusta.

"Lord help the person who tried to talk to me between 4 and 4:30," said Ms. Tice, remembering her devotion to the show and its actors. While Ms. Tice, who has since appeared in a number of plays at USCAiken and the Aiken Community Playhouse, watched the acting, Berrie loved the music. He was so interested in the music that he sent its composer, Robert Cobert, a tape he compiled of the show's eerie themes and began corresponding with him. In the early 1970s, Berrie flew to Los Angeles to visit the composer.

Cobert has written many television themes and recently wrote the music for the ABC mini-series, "The Winds of War." He is currently working on the music for its sequel, "War and Remembrance."

After "Dark Shadows" was cancelled, Berne's interests shifted, and he lost touch with Cobert. Berrie completed his degree in music at the University of South Carolina and eventually became a banker in Columbia.

In 1981, Berrie, a son of Mr. and Mrs. Marvin E. Berrie, moved to Los Angeles where he continued his banking career. He said he never thought about "Dark Shadows" until he received a call last year from Jim Pierson, chairman of the Dark Shadows Festival, a national fan group.

Pierson knew that Berrie had once corresponded with Cobert and asked him if he would be interested in putting together a second album of music from "Dark Shadows." The first album, featuring "Josette's Theme" and monologues by Barnabas and Quentin, was a hit at the height of the show's popularity in 1970.

Berne learned that Cobert lived only 20 minutes away from him and gave him a call. After thinking about the album project for just a short time, Cobert turned all of his music from "Dark Shadows" over to Berrie, who spent last summer listening to more than 400 music cues.

"There were a number of outstanding pieces, lots of nice pieces," said Berrie recently during a telephone interview from his home in Los Angeles. "The first album focused on the ambiance of the show. For the second album, I deliberately chose character themes. All the characters had their own themes.

"Cobert gave me complete creative control as to what to put on the album."

The album premiered appropriately at a Dark Shadows Festival convention in Newark, N.J., last Halloween, and, in a few weeks, fans bought almost 2,500 copies. Cassette recordings are selling well, too, although they've received little national exposure.

"Everyone in the cast (at the convention) loved it. They loved the idea and were flattered that people were interested 20 years later — that a sound track album came out 14 years after the show had gone off the air," Berrie said.

The new "Dark Shadows" album is music to the ears of the soap opera's fans, but the melody may get sweeter. Berrie has enough music to put together a third album, and a reunion movie featuring original cast members is possible. During its four-and-a-half year run, "Dark Shadows" spawned two feature films, "House of Dark Shadows" and "Night of Dark Shadows."

"They are thinking of a possible reunion movie. Dan Curtis, the producer of the show, is tied up with 'War and Remembrance.' Maybe he'll do it after that. Most of the cast is still around," Berne said.

If the movie is produced, Berrie said there is a 100 percent chance that he will be directly involved with the music.

To produce the album, Berrie and executive producer, Debbie Kruder, formed Media Sound Records in Beverly Hills, Calif., in July, 1986. Three months later, the company's first full-length record was completed.

The company's next project is to produce the soundtrack for "Winds of War" and "War and Remembrance." Because Cobert is busy with his other projects, Berrie handles any requests the composer receives to use the music.

"There are people who call Cobert and want the sheet music to themes on the show, many of them who are seeing the show (in syndication) for the first time. Cobert now refers them to me," Berrie said. 

"People from all walks of life — bankers, lawyers, dentists, a priest — are interested. It's incredible. The interest is spread out all over.

"Cobert can't believe it. There are still people, young people, who are interested in the show."

Ms. Tice agreed, saying she couldn't believe that so many people are still interested in a television show that should have died almost 20 years ago. The Dark Shadows Festival she attended in Dallas last summer attracted about 1,200 fans.

"It floored me," she said. "I had long ago put away those memories."

 Ms. Tice said she never missed "Dark Shadows" during its original run. 

"It was an obsession. I lived and breathed 'Dark Shadows.' I had to run home to watch it every day," she said. "I even taped it on the old reel-to-reels. That was before VCRs."

One of those tapes was for a skit Ms. Tice and Berrie performed at Aiken Junior High. Ms. Tice played Angelique, a witch whose curse turned Barnabas into a vampire. Berrie recorded the background

music. The skit proved to be very popular with their classmates.

"They loved it. Emiel has a wonderful feel for creating moods with music," Ms. Tice said. "I was hounded on the playground by everyone saying, 'Do your Angelique imitation. Do your Angelique imitation."

Ms. Tice recently rediscovered the two scrapbooks of articles about and pictures of Angelique and other cast members from Sixteen magazine. She also found the goldcolored paperback books and rare comic books that the series inspired. She still has a replica of Josette's music box that her mother gave her as a birthday gift.

Today, those books that originally sold for 50 and 60 cents cost $4 and $5. A vintage Josette music box sells for about $25, five times its original price, Ms. Tice said.

Other items available at the festivals include T-shirts, vintage "Dark Shadows" board games, tapes from the series and blooper tapes, showing cardboard tombstones that sway in the breeze and bats suspended by thin wires. Fangs and Barnabas rings made by Sarah Coventry jewelry in the late '60s are also for sale.

Ms. Tice said it is the fans that make the festivals interesting. Many of them dress as their favorite characters, and the Collinsport Players, a group of fans from different states, present skits and one-act plays based on the series.

Their ages range from as young as her son, Victor, 10, who has also become a fan, to people in their 60s.

"I would love to write a play about the people who come to the festivals," she said.

Meeting the "Dark Shadows" actors, many with whom she had corresponded 20 years ago, is also a highlight of the festivals, Ms. Tice said.

"To me it was a lot of fun to get to meet the people I grew up with, especially to meet them as people, not actors," she said.

Ms. Tice will get a chance to meet many of those actors at the fall festival in Los Angeles. Last fall, she attended the festival in Newark and plans to attend another festival in Newark this summer. Ms. Tice and Berrie agreed that those actors and the way they played their parts have kept the show alive and made it a classic.

"Dark Shadows was supposed to have died a normal death. To have it resurrected 20 years later is certainly a compliment," Ms. Tice said.

"It had the correct formula for interest," Berrie added. "The characters were like a troupe. They played three or four different characters. It had the spirit of a company of performing actors."

It shouldn't take one of "Dark Shadows's" famous seances to keep that spirit alive another 20 years or longer.

Drawception: Barnabas Collins

Drawception is a mobile game that asks players to guess a word or subject using nothing more than a picture drawn on their smartphone screen. Dona drew this image of Johnny Depp as Barnabas Collins (as well as Jacksparrow, Pimp Shakespeare and Pop Bob Marley.)

Custom Barnabas Collins doll

Sylvia Smiser, an artist who creates dolls and figures in cloth and paperclay, recently completed a commission piece for a Dark Shadows fan. "Although there is a movie on the horizon with Johnny Depp playing Barnabas Collins, this was made with the original Barnabas Collins, Jonathan Frid in mind," Smiser says of the doll on her blog. I've posted a photo of her work above, but you can see several others at her blog, Anaboo Creations.

Barnabas Collins: Makeup Tips

Want to get dressed up for the Dark Shadows premiere in May? Jackie has posted a video on Youtube showing you how to achieve the ghastly look of Barnabas Collins in the upcoming movie. She's also giving away a movie poster, t-shirt, four key chains and two tickets for Dark Shadows, and tells you how to enter in the video above.

So, you want to watch Dark Shadows?

By WALLACE McBRIDE

From the outside, watching Dark Shadows must look like a daunting task. The story is massive in scope and character but, as the saying goes, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. There's not really a wrong place to start with Dark Shadows, but some places make better starting points than others.

Dark Shadows isn't exactly an unknown quantity in America, but its cumbersome nature (1,200+ episodes) has made it difficult for television stations to package in syndication. Even Netflix has struggled to keep the 26 DVD collections consistently available to subscribers.

I've found myself talking about the show a lot in recent months, almost always with people who have never seen it. If you're reading this blog you've likely seen an episode of two, so consider this a primer for newbies. This isn't an attempt to summarize the show's many storylines. Instead, I thought I'd try to explain the appeal of Dark Shadows. If you're trying to convince someone to watch the show, maybe this will help make your case.

1: You don't have to start with the first episode.

While it’s best to begin at the beginning of one of the show’s many story arcs, there’s no real need to watch the show from the "pilot" episode (or even from episode 210, when Barnabas Collins joins the cast.) As long as you start at the beginning of any of the show's arcs, you ought to be able to catch up quickly. 

The 1897 story might even be the best jumping-on point: Barnabas travels back in time and is introduced to new characters and situations, making him as lost as many of the viewers. But the same is probably true for the 1795 story .. as well as The Leviathans, Parallel Time, etc.

Dark Shadows goes full-tilt crazy around the time it goes color. If you want to watch the show to see a time-travelling vampire acting as an attorney for a man accused of witchcraft, though, I’d probably not start with episode one. But those of us who have seen the show from the very beginning have a certain fondness for the original cast members ... even those like Mitch Ryan, who didn't stick around for very long.

2. Dark Shadows is both great and terrible.

Part of Dark Shadows' appeal is its frequently unavoidable camp nature. Stories change gears without warning, characters sometimes behave in illogical ways, sets fall apart on camera, actors forget lines, and let's not forget about those damn flies ... But the thing to remember is that a good story and camp atmosphere are not mutually exclusive ideals. Dark Shadows can be both great and terrible, and that is its charm.

Dark Shadows superfan Will McKinley once told me he thinks the creators of the new movie see the original show as “less evolved,” which it is in many ways. But if you look at Dark Shadows and see nothing but overlit video, creaky special effects and bloopers, you’re only experiencing the show on a level I’d generously describe as “superficial.” The new movie might trump the original show when it comes to production values, but there’s only so much a movie can do in two hours ... and it must get things right immediately.

The errors in the television show create a form of intimacy between the cast and audience, like watching an elaborately staged community theater project. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the show’s fandom is so friendly with the original cast, gathering each year to meet and dine with them as part of the Dark Shadows Festival. Our fandom is a genuine community. When watching Dark Shadows, we’re not rooting for the cast to fail ... but the humor, intentional or otherwise, only makes the show that much more endearing.

I’d go say far to say that Dark Shadows can be used as a Soul Detector. If you know someone who sees the show and can only laugh derisively at it, it’s a safe bet they are a horrible human person.

3. Dark Shadows accumulates story.

Newbies sometimes finish their first episode of Dark Shadows and wonder what the hell they just watched. The show is a perfect example of non-traditional storytelling and has more in common with a novel than other television shows.

Like baseball, Dark Shadows isn’t about what’s happening during any particular moment. Instead, it accumulates story as it rolls along, even when it sometimes moves at a glacial pace. I’d compare it to THE VENTURE BROS. in some ways because, if you only see a single episode, you’re not experiencing the actual show and are only watching footage. Dark Shadows requires a commitment. If you give it a shot, say 10 or 12 episodes, and still don’t see its appeal, then it’s probably not for you.

4. Dark Shadows lives in its own world.

Yes, Dark Shadows was cancelled four decades ago, but don't expect a television show full of mini-skirts and Beatle boots. Because Dark Shadows rarely ventured out of the antique architecture of Collinwood (and because it spent so much time in the distant past) there is very little of its era reflected in the show. There are no overt references to Vietnam, the Civil Rights movement, pop music or any of the other things people have come to associate with the '60s. Even though it was set 300 years in the future, Star Trek often feels more dated than Dark Shadows, because it is more a product of its time.

Back from the Dead to Haunt Me, a fan-made Dark Shadows parody

I came across this video earlier this morning on Facebook and sent it our to the Twittersphere. After visiting the hostpage at Youtube, though, I saw Back from the Dead to Haunt Me has only a few dozen views, which is criminal. There's not much in the way of story in the video, but the actors nail their impressions. This short film is the product of folks who have watched a LOT of Dark Shadows.

Presenting ... Lady Barnabas

LadyduLac has created an interesting Lady Barnabas costume, and has shared some photos of it via her Tumblr and DeviantArt accounts. I'm a big fan of cosplay but have rarely ventured too far into it, save for that time I dressed as Wolverine as part of a Warrior Dash even at Jellystone Park. Tip: Don't wear jeans for any activity that requires you to crawl through mud before jumping over a wall of fire.

In the meantime, visit LadyduLac and let her know what you think about her work. I've posted only one pic above; more are available at her personal sites.

Unwind with The Roger Collins

Need a little something to help you relax after a long day at the office? Or are you independently wealthy and just looking to stay buzzed until Adventure Time comes on? Well, I have just the drink for you, courtesy of Dark Shadows fan extraordinaire Maggie Evans. It's something she calls ...

 

The Roger Collins

• Spoonful of sugar
• Juice of half a lemon
• 2 shots sweet and sour mixer (because he’s a little sweet and a little sour)
• 4 shots brandy (Roger’s drink of choice)
• Half a glass of club soda

 Recipe courtesy of  Maggie Evans.

Erica and David, sitting in a tree ...

I've met a fair number of celebrities in my time (I've touched Chad Everett!) but haven't met any of the cast of Dark Shadows face-to-face. So I always get a kick out of pictures of the cast meeting their fans. Unlike a lot of television actors, the original cast of DS seems to actually LIKE their following.

Erica sent me this photo and I thought I'd pass it along (I think it speaks for itself.) If you're one of those types who clicks on the links I post in these entries, I'm going to go ahead and answer your question: Yes, I've seen her blog. And it brought a smile to my face.

Custom Dark Shadows werewolf figures

Members of the Universal Monster Army message boards have sought to fill the void of Dark Shadows-related  merchandise. While  toys based on everything from Dune to The Exorcist to The Silence of the Lambs have hit the collectors market, there have been only been a few action figure/dolls available for Dark Shadows.

First up are these figures, showing the Chris Jennings werewolf from Dark Shadows and the Oliver Reed thriller Curse of the Werewolf.  Via.

Next is a "kit bash" figure that, based on his formal wear, looks like the Quentin Collins werewolf. Let's hope there's enough revived interest in the show to justify a new line of Dark Shadows figures this year!

A recreation of Quentin's haunted phonograph

Here's something that would liven up any drawing room: a fan-made recreation of the phonograph that introduced Quentin's Theme to the world back in 1968. It wasn't an easy project to complete, according to it's creator, who explains:

"The major problem in replicating the phonograph is that it is impossible to replicate it identically. This is because horns like this were hand-painted. Thus, no two were exactly alike. They did, however, follow general patterns, although the individual artists would apply some artistic liberties to each horn, adding a leaf here, or moving a rosebud there, to give each horn a little bit of individuality. The key to duplicating the phonograph is to find a horn using the same general pattern because this is as close as you will come to duplicating the original."

A detailed list of the items needed to finish the phonograph, as well as photos of the process, are posted HERE for you to see.

Children recreate DARK SHADOWS on Super 8 film

This is amazing: SCREAM OF DARK SHADOWS, an fan-made adaption of the first Barnabas Collins story featuring a cast of children. While the film's uploaders are a bit sketchy on exactly when this movie was made, the artwork accompanying the video suggests it was made sometime after HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS was released in 1970.

A word of warning: SCREAM OF DARK SHADOWS is almost certainly more horrifying than anything ever produced by Dan Curtis. It might be a symptom of late-onset maturity on  my part, but the scenes of children murdering each other are pretty disturbing. Still, this is an essential artifact from the golden age of DARK SHADOWS.

Ric Burton, one of the film's young actors, had this to say about the project:

"We had fun as children making movies. Hell, we had or our own film company (Cineramic)."

"We were granted artistic license by our parents (Ex. Willie's death scene-hanging by the neck) That was me Ric Burton - I'm very much alive! The still frames at the end of the piece clearly prove we understood the use of camera angles - excellent cinematography for kids under the age of 13!!!"