Dark Shadows 1966 ABC Promos Re-created

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.

[@rhsharp]

Thanks. I kept hoping the real promos would someday turn up on KZbin, but alas, they have not. So, I decide to do it myself.

[@robertmartinez4174]

that theme song has to be The Creepiest song hands down. sometimes when I have the TV on at night I'll hear it from another room and get chills up & down my spine.

[@mkl62]

Today is June 27. On this day in 1966, Dark Shadows first aired on ABC. One of the greatest sitcoms of all time.

[@inspectorspinda]

this is an old comment but i still want to point out that sitcom stands for situational comedy x'D

[@lauradaly8020]

Jonathan Frid, who played Barnabas, became a teen idol of that era.

[@rhsharp]

You don’t say.

[@rhsharp]

I googled it some time ago. I don't remember the exact website where I got the info. I think it was a website about soap opera announcers, such as Ed Chandler ("General Hospital"), Dan McCollugh ("As the World Turns), and Harry Cramer (The Edge of Night"). Bob Lloyd also did the commercial billboards for DS as well, as in "This portion of Dark Shadows is brought to you by Pillsbury." He also did billboards for "One Life to Live" and "All My Children" in the 1980s.

[@thejupiter2574]

This was excellent. I loved it and it's so rare.

[@spectrumlocalb191]

Nothing like it then and nothing like it now.

[@gymnastix]

+Robert Sharp Thank you for sharing the original 1966 promo--great to see David Henesy in that window at "Burnham-by-the-Sea" (Seaview Terrace) in Newport, Rhode Island. I read somewhere online, I think perhaps in a blog about the Carey Mansion/Seaview Terrace, the recollections of a man who lived at Seaview as a boy, with his father, who was employed to do some work on the property (at the time an all-girls' summer boarding school called "Burnham-by-the-Sea" and run by descendants not of the "Collins" family but of Transcendentalist essayist and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson). The guy said his pubescent hormones worked overtime that summer, to be the only boy among all those girls. But he also recalled the "Dark Shadows" crew shooting the exterior shots of the mansion and surrounding grounds for several episodes of the ABC daytime serial, and probably also those network promos--one of which you shared here. I recall there was also some location footage shot of Louis Edmunds and Alexandra Moltke in a seaside village, probably in downtown Newport. Your re-creations of the ABC promos are probably pretty close to how the originals looked, or certainly not at all far-fetched. Did you have some factual basis upon which to base the re-creations, such as having read somewhere what was contained in them or some still photographs? Have you ever visited Newport, RI and driven or walked by the Carey Mansion/Seaview Terrace? Or, if not, would you ever wish to do so? And would you be too creeped out to see the mansion at night?

[@rhsharp]

+gymnastix Thanks for your comments and questions. I recreated the promos based on my memory. I have a photographic memory for certain things - but not always things I need to remember! LOL. There were two more promos: one featuring Vicki (Alexandra Moltke) running away from Collinwood with a look of terror on her face, and the other was either a one-minute or thirty second promo that was a compilation of all the others. There are still photos Vicki running away from the house. That one was shot solely for the promos and was never incorporated into the episodes. All the other footage used in the promos was worked into the shows. The seaside village you're referring to was Essex, Connecticut, which doubled for downtown Collinsport, although the Black Pearl Restaurant, which was used as an exterior for the Blue Whale tavern, is located in Newport. No, I've never visited Newport. I was all set to go and then was too late for my flight from LA. Bummer. However, a friend who did make it told me that you couldn't get close to the Carey Mansion at the time. If I couldn't at least walk the grounds, I don't think I'd want to go. I know there is a select group of DS fans who are invited to go there every Halloween and spend the night. I'd love to do that, but I'm not a part of that group. I hope to join them someday. And yes, I'd probably be a little creeped out at the house at night, but then again, I have a phobia about being in big houses at night anyway. I like lots of people nearby. I would really like to stroll along the Cliff Walk and try to find the area where Curtis and Company shot the Widows' Hill footage. I saw one still that was taken a few years ago and it appears that part of the cliff slid into the ocean, which happens from time to time due to erosion. Now since I live in Southern California, I have visited several of the filming sites for the 1991 NBC revival of DS. They used the Paradise Cove area near Point Dume and Zuma Beach for Widows' Hill, and the opening titles were shot at the base of Point Dume. I go there all the time - it's beautiful and has been used in countless TV shows and movies.

[@mrob75]

awesome! ABC cancelled "The Young Marrieds" and replaced it with "Dark Shadows"...."Dark Shadows" was the last soap of the day for ABC...."One Life to Live" later preceded the show for a long time until its end.

[@rhsharp]

mrob75 Actually, Dark Shadows replaced Never Too Young at 4 PM Eastern/Pacific. Dark Shadows was moved up to 3:30 about 9 month later, replacing The Nurses. Dark Shadows bounced back to 4 PM when One Life to Live premiered in July 1968. Shadows replaced Dating Game at 4 PM, bouncing it up to 2:30 PM.

[@CarlD2]

You did a great job.

[@mnw1989]

Thanks for the help ! :)

[@TheHGN2001]

The new Blu-ray/DVD called MASTER OF DARK SHADOWS contains original ABC promos.

[@rhsharp]

Yes, they do! I got my copy a few weeks ago, and I mainly bought it for the promos. If I knew how to put them on KZbin - other than video-ing the TV screen, I would. I hadn't seen those promos since I was nine years old!

[@rhsharp]

That was Bob Lloyd, an ABC staff announcer.

[@mustlovepretzels]

Was he the doctor in the Junior Mints "Seinfeld" episode? He sounds exactly like him. Too bad Tim Burton's movie was played for laughs. I saw the movie "House Of Dark Shadows" at the movies when I was about 7 or 8(70/71) and was terrified when I got back home that night. I was terrified Barnabas Collins was out in the hallway so I slept with the sheet up over my head. This was summertime. I also had the MB board game "Dark Shadows" that had the glow in the dark skeletons. Good times.

[@kurttoy5035]

Very different sounding ABC jingle. Don't remember hearing that one.

[@rhsharp]

I think it was only used briefly.

[@mnw1989]

Thank you very much ! How did you find the answer ? I've been looking for weeks !

[@mnw1989]

What's the name of the man who did the promos where you see a clapboard and he mentions the vtr and air date and the show being a Dan Curtis Production ?

[@adelgado75]

Did ABC do any promos when Edge of Night was coming to their station?

[@rhsharp]

adelgado75 Yes they did, mostly exciting clips from the CBS episodes.

[@adelgado75]

I hope they turn up on youtube.

[@rhsharp]

adelgado75 You never know. Back in ‘75, the networks didn’t do many promos for the soaps. By ‘78 is when ABC started the successful Love in the Afternoon campaign, and it paid off, especially for its three hour-long soaps.

[@secondcomingofbast9908]

That beep was irritating. The ABC logo theme wasn't much better.