50 Years of "The Night Stalker"

Above, Darren McGavin and Barry Atwater in The Night Stalker.

It is hard to believe, but yesterday marked 50 years that ABC-TV aired the made-for-television movie, The Night Stalker, starring Darren McGavin as Carl Kolchak. It was the top-rated made-for-television movie of its time.

To put the time period in perspective, it was aired the month before President Richard Nixon made his historic trip to China.

The Night Stalker was produced by Dan Curtis of Dark Shadows fame. It later became a short-lived television series. 

The plot to The Night Stocker involved several mysterious deaths in Las Vegas by a suspected serial killer, which turned out to be a vampire. The vampire was played by Barry Atwater as Janos Skorzeny. Carol Lynley played Kolchak's girlfriend.

I remember watching it that night. I was in my senior year of high school at the time and the buzz on campus the next day was that most everyone also watched and loved it.

55 Years of Dark Shadows

"Two weeks before "Dark Shadows" made its June 27, 1966 premiere, ABC ran a heavy promotional campaign for the new soap.  These are recreations of the promos, except for the fourth promo, which is authentic.  The first three had different narration, but I had to use what I have." - Robert Sharp.*

Anniversaries come and go, and some are noticed and some go along unnoticed. This one is getting noticed here and elsewhere.

Here's one that came to light 55 years ago today on June 27, 1966. It was the day that the daytime gothic soap opera Dark Shadows made its debut on ABC-TV.

Until that time, soap operas were targeted to stay-at-home housewives to give them a break from their daily druggery of housework.

The ABC television network was in last place in programming and ratings for daytime television and they needed a show to fill the last slot in their schedule, around 4:00 or 4:30 in the afternoon. So they decided to take a chance on Dan Curtis's gothic soap opera idea.

At first, the ratings were dismal. The show was about to get the ax after 13 weeks. But Curtis was a good salesman and convinced the network to give it 13 more weeks so he can pull out the stops and inject some supernatural elements. 

The first was the introduction of ghosts. That helped the sagging ratings. Then, he introduced the character of Laura Collins (Diana Millay), who was a mythical "Phoenix" who goes into the fires every 100 years to be reborn. 

The ratings climbed up even further.

Then, it was decided to add a vampire to the show. Barnabas Collins (Jonathan Frid). He was originally going to hover in the show for 13 weeks, but became its star until the show's end in 1971. Luckily, the Dark Shadows time slot had it on at the time kids were coming home from school. Kids, who would never otherwise watch a soap opera, were strongly attracted to this one.

The ratings skyrocketed.

I didn't start watching the show until two years after its debut (thanks to my mom). 

So, 55 years ago this very day, television history was made.

*The actual promos have since been made available in the DVD/Blu-Ray Master of Dark Shadows that was released two years ago.

Bob Cobert Passes Away At 95

Above, composer Bob Cobert.

Dark Shadows composer Bob Cobert has passed away at age 95, according to ShadowGram.

They posted:

SHADOWGRAM – THE OFFICIAL DARK SHADOWS NEWS ONLINE UPDATES
Sunday, February 23, 2020
SHADOWGRAM UPDATE # 434

***** SHADOWGRAM ANNOUNCEMENT:

-- BOB COBERT, “DARK SHADOWS” MUSIC COMPOSER – IN MEMORIAM

********************************************
An Official Internet Publication of SHADOWGRAM – THE OFFICIAL DARK SHADOWS NEWSLETTER
********************************************
BOB COBERT, “DARK SHADOWS” MUSIC COMPOSER – IN MEMORIAM

It is with great sadness that ShadowGram reports the passing of Robert “Bob” Cobert, composer of the original Dark Shadows soundtrack music. He passed away on February 19, 2020 from pneumonia at the age of 95.

Cobert’s career was characterized by its breadth and versatility. An accomplished musician, composer, musical director and arranger, Cobert distinguished himself with imaginative musical scores for film, television, theater and ballet. His work embraced jazz, classical, folk, pop, rhythm-and-blues, rock and even disco.

Few musical themes in television history are as memorable as Cobert's for the original cult 1966-71 daytime drama Dark Shadows. In addition to the scores for House of Dark Shadows and Night of Dark Shadows – the 1970 and 1971 motion pictures based on the series – and the 1991 primetime mini-series revival, Cobert's genre work includes a wealth of other iconic projects with producer-director Dan Curtis such as The Strange Case of Dr. Jeykll & Mr. Hyde, The Night Stalker, Trilogy of Terror, Burnt Offerings, Dracula and Intruders. Cobert is also responsible for the sweeping soundtrack to the epic 1983 mini-series The Winds of War and was Emmy-nominated for its 1988-89 sequel, War and Remembrance, creating the largest musical score in the history of television or film.

"Master of Dark Shadows" DVD and Blu-ray Released

For fans of the 1960s gothic soap opera, Dark Shadows and all things produced by Dan Curtis, the Dark Shadows News Page on Facebook has posted the following:

Good news, the new feature-length documentary Master of #DarkShadows is out on DVD and Blu-ray today! The film explores the genre works of producer/director Dan Curtis, from Dark Shadows and beyond. 

Order it now at a discount price from www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B07N3WT8LN/darkshadowsjourn

"Master of Dark Shadows" Trailer

This looks to be interesting!

...the Wicked are punished...

Above, Sarah and Barnabas Collins. 1967 Dan Curtis Productions.

"House of Dark Shadows" Blu-ray Edition

Above, Kathryn Leigh Scott and Jonathan Frid.

House of Dark Shadows was produced in 1970, but looking at the images on the newly-released Blu-ray, one would think that it was made a lot sooner than that.

The image quality is superb as is the sound quality!  No disappointments here.

Yes, my Blu-ray of House of Dark Shadows arrived and I watched it this evening.

House of Dark Shadows starred Jonathan Frid as Barnabas Collins, Joan Bennett as Elizabeth Collins Stoddard, Grayson Hall as Dr. Julia Hoffman,  John Karlen as Willie Loomis, Thayer David as Professor T. Elliot Stokes, Nancy Barrett as Carolyn Stoddard, Kathryn Leigh Scott as Maggie Evans, Roger Davis as Jeff Clark and Louis Edmonds as Roger Collins.  It is based on the then-ABC-TV soap opera Dark Shadows.  It was produced and directed by series creator Dan Curtis.

While the movie and television show were produced at the same time, actors were written out of the show so that they can take part in the movie.

The only extra is the original 1970 trailer.  It was nice to see it after 42 years.  "See how the vampires do it!"

House of Dark Shadows is the Barnabas Collins story (recently re-made by Johnny Depp and Tim Burton in Dark Shadows).  The story is of vampires, love and betrayal.  It was released by MGM (the movie was a hit and is said to have rescued the studio from financial difficulties).

Before watching the Johnny Depp-Tim Burton Dark Shadows, I recommend watching House of Dark Shadows first.

Jonathan Frid Turns 85

Above, Jonathan Frid in 1984. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

A pop-culture icon will be celebrating his birthday this coming week.

Next Wednesday, December 2, actor Jonathan Frid will become 85-years-young. Frid is best remembered as the 175-year-old vampire Barnabas Collins in the 1966 - 1971 gothic soap opera Dark Shadows.

Baby-boomers around at that time would race home from school in the afternoon to catch the latest installment of the show. Dark Shadows originally was conceived to be a gothic soap opera embodied by paperback book illustrations of a damsel looking fearful with a looming spooky mansion in the background.

At first, the show garnered enemic ratings. So producer Dan Curtis added some supernatural elements (ghosts, a woman phoenix, etc.). It helped the ratings a little but the show was still in danger of being cancelled.

Figuring that he had nothing to lose, Curtis decided to introduce the Barnabas Collins character. Canadian-born Jonathan Frid was chosen to play the vampire for about thirteen weeks. But he became so popular with viewers that it was decided to keep him on. In a way, the vampire became a national hero. A flashback story was presented when governess Victoria Winters (Alexandra Moltke) was taken back into time via a seance. This story showed how Barnabas became a vampire.

Above, Jonathan Frid as Barnabas Collins.

As the show progressed, Barnabas became the star of the show and Frid attained star billing along with veteran actress Joan Bennett (who played matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard). Other supernatural characters such as witches, warlocks, werewolves were introduced during the show's run.

IMDB decribes Jonathan Frid's career (I cannot vouch for the accuracy) as follows:

Jonathan Frid's career in drama began when he first "offered his soul" to the theater as a young boy at a preparatory school in Ontario, Canada. Following his graduation from McMaster University, he attended London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and later earned a Master's Degree in Directing from the Yale School of Drama. Mr. Frid was a leading actor in English and Canadian repertory and went on to work in many of the most celebrated regional theaters in the United States, including the Williamstown Theatre Festival, the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, and the American Shakespeare Festival under the direction of John Houseman, performing with Katharine Hepburn in "Much Ado About Nothing". He has appeared in major roles on-and-off Broadway, in such productions as "Roar Like A Dove", "Murder in the Cathedral" and "Wait Until Dark". But, it was Mr. Frid's portrayal of a complex, conflicted vampire on ABC-TV's daytime drama series "Dark Shadows" (1966) (co-starring with Joan Bennett) and in the subsequent motion picture "House of Dark Shadows" (1970) that earned him a place as an icon of American popular culture. His other film credits include co-starring roles in "The Devil's Daughter" (1973) (TV) (with Shelley Winters) and "Seizure" (1974) (Oliver Stone's directorial debut). In 1986, Mr. Frid joined the Broadway production of "Arsenic and Old Lace" (co-starring with Jean Stapleton). He won critical acclaim for his villainous turn as the homicidal nephew and spent ten months with the play's national tour. That same year, Mr. Frid founded his own production company, "Clunes Associates", to create and tour a series of one-man readers' theater shows across North America. Mr. Frid continues to perform his one-man shows, now under the banner of "Charity Associates", to raise money for a variety of charities. Combining the arts of his voice and his zest for entertaining", as one critic put it. In June of 2000, Mr. Frid returned to the traditional professional stage in the play "Mass Appeal" at the Stirling Festival Theatre in Stirling, Ontario.

Now retired from acting, Frid spends much of his time working on his website in which he posts his musings on his career, current events and personalities and answers queries from fans. He has also returned to making appearances at annual Dark Shadows Festivals after a hiatus of several years.

Above, Dark Shadows cast members have a reunion at the 1989 Dark Shadows Festival. Photo by Armand Vaquer

He is still sharp as a tack, but grouses over the inconveniences of aging. I had the pleasure of meeting Frid at one of the earliest Dark Shadows Festivals in 1984. The photo of Frid at top of this article was one I took at that festival.

Frid is tentatively planning on attending the 2010 Dark Shadows Festival in California next summer. He has started an online store at his website and plans to have items available for sale at the festival.

A big "Happy Birthday" to Jonathan Frid!