Because retaping was too expensive, Dark Shadows had an
abundance
of side-splitting boo-boos. The following is a collection of some
of the
most entertaining goofs that I can recall...
HOME SWEET HOME... Afternoon TV magazine reported one of
the
only mistakes ever edited out of DS. Elizabeth Stoddard was
supposed to
be telling a visitor that she was happy at Collinwood. Instead,
Joan Bennett's
line came out, "We're all very happy here at Hollywood."
PLAY IT BY EAR... One of the things an actor on stage (or live tape) fears most is forgetting his next line. In 1897, Barnabas (Jonathan Frid) was delivering a 'shopping list' to a servant. It was supposed to contain four or five specific ingredients needed to form a potion. He stated thus: "Now go into town and collect Magda's herbs and... uh... herbs and... well, whatever else it is she needs!"
DOUBLE IDENTITIES... Long before anyone at Collinwood was supposed to know that Julia Hoffman was a doctor, David Collins greeted Dr. Woodward with the line,"Good evening, Dr. Hoffman... I mean Dr. Woodward!"
REBOUND... Barnabas once fended off a werewolf by striking at it with his silver-headed cane. Unfortunately, the cane bounced off a surprisingly resilient werewolf and hit Barnabas in the head. (Jonathan Frid reportedly had to have a few stitches afterwards.)
PLAY IT AGAIN, GEORGE...When Burke Devlin (Anthony George) emerged from the door at the top of the foyer stairs, someone must have decided that the tape wasn't rolling, because the director's voice was heard to say,"Try that again, George!" whereon 'Burke' turned, went back behind the door and came out again.
WHATSERNAME... Barnabas once sat Amy Jennings down on the sofa and said, "Now, then, I wanted to speak with you Mag-- er, Carol--, Jul--, Vic--, uh, Amy! "
PEEK-A-BOO... Elizabeth was seated in the drawing room with Roger when an overzealous cameraman moved into the picture, camera and all, nuzzling up to her for a close-up without realizing he was in the present scene. Joan Bennett artfully managed to ignore the imposition, and a red-faced cameraman finally realized his mistake and made a hasty exit.
R-R-RIP.. In a dark, deserted upper room of Collinwood, the beautiful vampiress Angelique had just attacked a then-human Barnabas (DS 1968). Her victim had collapsed into a chair and weak with loss of blood was murmuring, "No, no... it can't be..." Angelique knelt beside him, her long white gown flowing onto the floor around her, and proceeded to tell him that he was hers now and would never escape her, etc. Moments later, when she tried to get up, there was the distinct sound of tearing fabric, and the usually unflappable Angelique gave the hem of her dress an irritated look, jerked it unceremoniously free of whatever-had-snagged-it, and rose triumphantly to her feet to finish the scene as though nothing had happened.
HOW'S THAT AGAIN?... Barnabas to Willie regarding Julia's discovery of his secret: "Well, there's not one much can do about it."
SIXTEEN O'CLOCK AND ALL'S WELL (?)... During a graveyard scene, the church bells were either tolling overtime or someone forgot to kill the sound effects tape. The chimes struck sixteen-o'clock.
THE EYES HAVE IT... Burke Devlin once became impatient with Dr. Woodard for not voicing his suspicions about a blood sample he'd examined under his microscope. The disgruntled Burke blurted, "All you can do is sit there staring into that microphone!"
OUCH!... In order to get the entire Collinwood foyer set into one
camera
shot, the door just beneath the stairs had to be built
undersized. This posed no problem for most of the DS performers,
until
6'2" David Selby had to make a quick escape through that door. He
neglected
to duck, and smacked his forehead resoundingly off the top of the
door
frame.
MISCUE... When David and Amy discovered Quentin's sealed room, the youthful performers got so wrapped up in their performance that they forgot to stop on cue and skipped to their next scene, which was supposed to follow another scene with Liz and Roger. The director, in exasperation, cut away from David and Amy, only to have, over the conversation between Liz and Roger, the voices of David and Amy excitedly continuing their discussion of the mysterious room.
BUZZ OFF!... During a poignant discussion with Julia, Barnabas was plagued by an uncommonly tenacious fly that took a liking to his forehead. He tried valiantly to ignore it for several moments, then in desperation, tried to move out of camera range. The camera followed him, however, to reveal an annoyed Barnabas taking some very out-of-character swipes at a not-to-be-dissuaded fly. They went on with the scene, but the persistantly came back to settle once again on poor Barnabas' forehead.
DOOR JAM... The script called for Elizabeth to run up the foyer stairs and through the door at the top of the landing. The door had other ideas. When Liz reached to yank it open, it held last. She tried again, and shook the entire set with her effort, but the stubborn door wouldn't budge. A peeved Joan Bennett finally gave up and stood there, glaring down at the camera in disgust.
OH YEAH!... Maggie and the ghostly Sarah were having a conversation in Maggie's bedroom, which went something like this: MAGGIE: Well, we'll always be friends, won't we? SARAH: Of course we will. (Forgets her next line, long awkward silence.) MAGGIE: (Doesn't know what to do, so she skips to her next line.) Well, are you sure you have to go now? SARAH: (Oh, yeah!) I have to go now!
MECHANICAL FAILURE... When Willie was regaining consciousness under an oxygen tent (after being shot by the police), Woodard and Julia were standing over him. Woodard unzipped the tent to take Willie's pulse, and was supposed to rush from the room to tell the Sheriff that his pulse was stronger. A recalcitrant zipper foiled his plans. He struggled with it in vain for a few moments before abondoning his critical patient with a wave of his hand and the ad libbed remark, "Hmph. Zip that up, will you?" before he hurried out.
FUMBLE-FOOTED... Jeff Clark (Roger Davis) once ran terror-stricken out of a cemetery and accidently stumbled over a tombstone. The 'granite' marker fell over with a hollow thud.
NOSE-TICKLER... Barnabas and Julia were supposed to be hiding behind a locked cellar door, but the director apparently cut to them before they were prepared to begin the scene. Unaware that he was on screen, a somewhat bored-looking Barnabas could be seen distractedly scratching the underside of his nose.
FEATS OF STRENGTH... Set walls are never very sturdy, built as they are to be both cheap and portable. An over-flamboyant actor could often appear super-human simply by slamming one of the rather unstable set doors and shaking the set. Such was the case when an exuberant Aristede (Michael Stroka) burst into a basement room to confront an amused Count Petofi (Thayer David), who was watching the "stone" wall teeter precariously behind him.
GLUE-LOOSE... One of the characteristics of John Yeager (Mr. Hyde) as opposed to Cyrus Longworth (Dr. Jeckyll) was an oversized nose, which was actually a latex rubber appliance glued to actor Chris Pennock's face. During a fight scene, however, the rubber nose pulled loose, and poor Yeager was forced to finish the scene with his nose half falling off. Thereafter, the fake nose was dispensed with. Presumably Yeager got a nose job.
HERE TODAY... While spying through the window, Jason McGuire once saw Willie bring Barnabas a box of jewels. Later that night, Jason broke into the house to steal these jewels. Had the episode not ended there, he wouldn't have had far to look, for when the credits rolled at the end, the box of jewels was in plain sight, sitting on the table where Willie had placed it. The next day, when the teaser with Jason breaking in was repeated, however, the mysterious jewels were nowhere in sight.
FREUDIAN SLIP?... Roger and Woodard were searching the Collins
mausoleum
for the missing David. Eyeing the age-old inscriptions with a
certain admiration,
Roger proclaimed proudly, "Why, many of my incestors are buried
here!"