This is the greatest afternoon soap and parody all rolled into one. The bloopers are part of the charm. Some of the bloopers were like watching a Carol Burnett skit. Wouldn’t want it any other way. Bravo to the actors for not breaking character.
A few weeks back, that's what I was thinking. Carol Burnett's troupe didn't flub as many lines as they did in this show. In the early shows, Ben was seen as the lowest of characters but rarely ever made any mistakes.
To me it makes it feel more authentic like real people talking. It gave it a charm that other shows don't have. It's more everyday people interactions than just a strict scripted conversation.
I loved the bloopers, it made the show authentic, more like a play. Mistakes are ok as long as they recover. That's the reason I loved the show, no fancy affects and such. Could've done without the fly though, Mr Frid did a good swipe which didn't appear out of the ordinary.
The very best blooper in my memory was when Josette jumped from widows hill and bounced back up into the scene. I remember seeing it first hand and after realizing what had just happened laughed my @$$ off. Evidently they must of had some sort of trampoline like thing for Josette to fall on, and it was much more spingy than they thought.
Frid was pretty good at not missing a beat when a minor flub up would manifest. I recall when an earing fell off Julia's ear, and he picked it up and handed it to her, as if it was part of the script.
Jonathan Frid was the quintessential Barnabas Collins, as the remakes have distinctly proven. But the poor guy was infamous for forgetting his lines. He's admitted as much. There's no point in having a prompter if you're taping live with no retakes. There were ~21 minutes of script to read and remember every day, and even more if it was a crush schedule of several episodes a day. If you don't innately have the memory talent, it's a challenge, no matter your acting skills. 🧛♂️🦇
BTW: The first year of Dark Shadows, before the arrival of Barnabas Collins, was constantly fraught with technical troubles appearing on screen. Dead mics. Lights that flickered and died. Microphones dipping into shots. Stagehands walking into live scenes. Talking from off stage. Bad props. Swaying cameras. Wrong camera shots. Back when we were inadvertently allowed to watch the first season here on RU-vid (now DMCA blocked), I started a running comment gag as a means of pointing out each episode's blunders. It consisted of an imagined back stage manager chastizing Billy, the inept junior stage hand. The comment series turned into its own running soap opera with Billy becoming the object of a murder plot by the program producers. I'm sorry that thread was removed along with all other comments and access to those kindly posted videos. ~ ~ Fond memories of the first innocent years of RU-vid. 🧛♀️🐀⚰💀
@@zunipus Also, Louis Edmunds, mentioned @ one of two DS Conventions I attended, that the actor whom played Dr. Lang was a nice guy & good actor, but he had so much trouble remembering his lines, that he had to write them on his sleeves! Funny! Whatever his name was, may he RIP!
@@michaelhughes432 That was the late, great Addison Powell, who was shot dead by Max Von Sydow in “Three Days of the Condor,” and was also the folksy Gorton’s Fisherman in those classic Gorton’s Seafood commercials.
And one time (forgot which episode) there was a fire near the actors on the soundstage...they kept rolling. Also, Jonathan Frid had dyslexia which had to make memorizing lines even harder. He was such a pro
One time Quentin pulled back his sleeve to check his wristwatch but quickly altered the gesture because it was 1897 and that kind of timepiece hadn't been invented yet.
The wristwatch was invented and manufactured well before 1897. In 1888 the watch manufacturer La Champagne unveiled an entire collection of wristwatches. And just a year later a patent was filed for the concept of the wristwatch in Bern. However, according to the watchmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet, the first wristwatch was made by him in 1810 for the Queen of Naples one of Breguet’s most esteemed clients. There is documented evidence of a commission made on 8th June 1810, where Breguet was tasked to design a 'repeater watch for bracelet’. The last known record of that watch was for repair in 1855. The Guinness World Records incorrectly attributes the first wristwatch to Swiss watchmaker Patek Philippe who made a wristwatch in 1868 for Countess Koscowicz of Hungary. If we go back further in time, there is some historical evidence of watches worn on the wrist even before the time of Breguet: 1790 - an accounts book mentions a watch attached to a strap manufactured by Jacquet-Droz and Leschot. 1650 - the philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal was rumored to wear his watch on his wrist. The late 1500s - Queen Elizabeth I reportedly received a bracelet watch as a gift from Robert Dudley, however, the maker of the watch is unknown.
I remember all these,but as a kid watching I especially remember the fly lighting on Barnabus' fore head. I remember thinking wow, even the flies are landing on him because he's dead. How did they get that fly to do that. Lol, 11 years old, racing home after school to watch. I got a portable tape recorder for Christmas just to record the show, and listen back later. So stupid, lol, now that I think about it.
@@finalflowerchild I was 11 starting in May 1968. I loved the show so much I did that as well. My mom was a fan too, so she was able to hear episodes she would have missed here and there without the audio portion. I started watching DS in April '67 in the latter part of the 4th grade.
I got a reel to reel tape recorder for Christmas and I recorded these shows, The Monkees and Star Trek to listen to as well. We even recorded ourselves acting out Dark Shadows skits..😅 Those were the days...
I recall in interview with Lara Parker many years ago. She said that often the other actors offstage would do things to disrupt the scene or the actor. I recall her talking about a fight that occurred at the Blue Whale. One of the actors was to pick up a break-away chair and slam it on the floor breaking it. It didn't break. You should have seen the look on the other actor's face when the chair didn't break. She said things like this would go on all the time. Dark Shadows is showing over the air on an over-the-air station called "Decades." I always got a chuckle with microphones appearing in the scene, people walking behind a scene where no one supposed to be, the camera jumping from one person to another, door that wouldn't open, doors that wouldn't close and on and on. Sad that Jonathan Frid died in 2012 at the age of 88. RIP (this time for sure, Barnabas).
I agree with you, Kirk, it does seem corny today. But I still have great memories of it. And I miss it & wish it was not canceled & still on TV! I read the CW Channel is planning a revival series! I wish them luck & hope they do a good job!
One of my fave bloopers was the dream curse where Julia was opening the doors. The garbage can was there with the dry ice, clearly visible. Also you can see the backstage guy fanning the fog in another scene. Good times!
It wasn’t always the actors who caused bloopers. Saw one where the director took a camera shot that was out of focus and framed wrong, and both were corrected while the scene went on. Another time the character was in a cemetery filled with obvious styrofoam grave markers and dry ice fog, and one fell down during the scene. Scene went right on.
In the first year, there was a scene where Roger descended the stairs in the hall, entered the drawing room, then opened a secret panel in the right hand back corner of the room [adjacent to the door under the stairs in the hall] As he walks through the hall, you can CLEARLY see a man crouched down behind the side board near the door under the stairs. He was operating the strings that would open the secret door. I can't count the number of times the boom mike shadow, OR the mike it's self dropped into a scene. and forget counting flubbed lines and missed ques. The show went out live so we got it with every mistake permanently preserved, and that only added to the complete charm of the show. I have all 1235 episodes on DVD, and every other year I'll watch the whole thing.
I watch this show on Decades & there was an episode about a week or so ago while a few characters were talking you could hear someone coughing & then something falling off screen. No one broke character & they completely ignored it. Bravo!
I've been watching the entire series for a couple of months now. I'm up to episode 700 and something. There was one that didn't make it to the blooper real and that was in an episode set in 1897. Thayer David playing the gypsy, said to Kathryn playing Rachel that "he hates to see a young girl gettin' buried before her time". She almost broke character as she cover her face trying not to break out in laughter. She spent the next minute obviously trying to hold it together. I had to rewind it a few times just for the comedic value of the scene.
In real life, we all have blooper moments. Dark Shadows had a flair for keeping acting human containing the imperfections of speaking and awkward situations. Dark Shadows was the best!
What memories this brings back! One of the biggest mistakes I made in my life, I stopped watching DS, because I felt it was too scary for me & I would have nightmares! I lost interest in horror, sci/fi, and monster movies around 1963, for the same reasons. DS, those Aurora Monster Kits that were reissued in 1969, helped to revive my interest in horror, Sci/fi and monster films. And when I watched movies such as Frankenstein, Dracula and The Wolfman, I noticed how the plots and characters were similar to DS. But that where the similarity ended! Some critics accused DS of copying off the Universal " Classics! I didn't think so! Perhaps they were "influenced" by them! But wasn't it said by Benjamin Franklin, "Imitation is the greatest form of flattery?" Also, I believe that the Chaneys (Sr. & Jr.) Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, etc., and anyone connected to the those old classic horror movies would've been proud and enjoyed DS! In an interview in The TV Guide Magazine, Jonathan Frid, didn't like being compared to Dracula. Unlike Dracula, Barnabas Collins, would at times regret "biting people" & killing people! RIP Jonathan Frid, and all late cast members and crew of Dark Shadows! I miss you all!
Jerry Lacey reminded me of a young Christopher Lee as Rev. Trask. He later became a good Humphrey Bogart imitator. I remember attending one of two DS Conventions, and a innocent thinking female fan attendee, thought the mistakes were all part of the show's plot, until the DS Stars Panel and other DS fans/attendees tried to "set her straight" about it. It was funny at the time!
Aww. It must've taken a lot for the characters to keep from laughing. They were so professional. But at least tdy the bloopers are used as outtakes. Now looking back, they must crack their sides watching this. ❤🧛🏿♀️🧟♀️🦇
I am bingeing on DS this summer. You hear the flubs and see the crew. My favorites so far: Grayson Hall hangs her foot and trips; and Louis Edmonds says something to her and she cracks rights up. I read that he liked to do that a lot.:D
My favorite one to watch is here at 6:14 where Cassandra Blair is hypnotizing Tony with the cigarette lighter when she accidentally blows it out and has to re-light it on camera.
One of the best bloopers was when the town sheriff or a caretaker finds Roger Collins at the family mausoleum and wants to make sure he's not there to desecrate the crypt. Roger says in his imperious Mid-Atlantic (not Mainer!) accent, "Desecrate it? My INCESTORS are buried here!" Louis Edmonds catches himself, "My incestors, MY ANCESTORS!"
You missed the ending credits with a crew member eating on set! Otherwise, fabulous video. Currently watching through the entire series and the show is filled with so many of these gaffes.
@MiguelRodriguez-rl2di, In one ending credits episode, Jonathan Frid is seen leaving the set with what looks like his entire wardrobe. Also, microphones appearing in strange was,almost, a daily occurrence. In her book about being on Dark Shadows (this book came out around the time of the Dark Shadows movie with Johnny Depp and Michelle Pfeiffer), Kathryn Leigh Scott goes into great detail about all the mishaps that occurred during the show's run(this has nothing to do with mistakes, but, she gives a humorous account on how she changed her last name to Scott).😂😂😂😂😂
Oh boy did they ever flub up their lines! Also, I saw a floating film camera that wasn't supposed to be there, and some poor crew member scooting past! These bloopers are great! ~Janet in Canada
Thanks for the upload !! XD Joel Cruthers who played the young man on this show played Stan Lee on Santa Barbara in the 80's..XD "How fortunate"../ unfortunate.. Jhonathan Frid was infamous for forgetting his lines on the show.. XD
That line actually could make since, like he's saying she IS innocent, and so we will treat her that way until her innocence has officially been proven...
I love the one about the portrait Vicki bought. You could see that as Barnabas giddy about a fast one over Angelique Edit: I also love the one with Laura and Edward. Laura: You're looking very well, Edward. Edward: Spare me your flattery, Lawyer. Laura.
My favorite is "incestors, I mean, ancestors" (6:07). Also, I think that's John Travolta at 5:17. And even the credit are screwed up! Still, this all adds an additional level of enjoyment to the show.
I remember one episode where two people were having a dramatic discussion and a fly kept going back and forth bothering both actors. So a fly landing on Barnabas wasn't that bad. I also recall a scene with two actors talking in the hall way when someone kept pulling on the outer door trying to open it.
It wasn't that they were taping live, it was Dark Shadows was being taped during the early days of video tape and the sound stage where Dark Shadows was being taped was remote (but still in NY) from the main ABC studio in NY, once they got the feed going for taping, it would take over an hour to stop the feed, restart the feed and shoot over. Nancy Barrett (Carolyn) said in an interview that other than someone falling down the steps and breaking a leg, they wouldn't stop the recording feed to the main studio for anything which was why so many flubbs made it on air. IMHO, the flubbs were some of the best parts. There's a video of one of the Dark Shadows reunion events (World Trade Center 1990s) where Nancy/Carolyn explained why there are so many flubbs/bloopers. In the late 60s a VCR was bigger than a washing machine and they had a dedicated like phone line that ran from the remote sound stage for Dark Shadows to the main ABC studio, because at thar time a VCR used in television studios was extremely expensive.
When Chris hugs and swings Amy, her skirt flies up. A later episode, Carolyn steps backwards and trips over a stool. Her skirt also flies up. I have no idea what episode numbers those are. (:
the errors matched the real personalities of the actors. barnabas making so many mistakes, attributes to his trepidation about BEING what he was. the doctor as well
Dark Shadows was recorded on the old Quad 2" videotape, that was used back in the day for recording TV programs. Editing this tape was a VERY difficult and time-consuming process. Here's a clip that shows the involved process they had to use: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-7YtmwB9Ds5Y.html
This is fun stuff, but it looks like the image has been cropped on top and bottom to force it into a modern 16:9 size ... unfortunately. Actors barely have any headroom this way. I know, it doesn't matter much because these are merely flubs from a hastily taped soap, over fifty years ago-- but it would've looked much better here in its original form.
Here's my take, with all respect. The dialog seemed plodding, and it could have been condensed to five minutes per episode, but they tried to stretch it to fill 21 minutes.
Very much ahead of it's time,dan curtis is phenominal,working with hollywood legends like joan bennet and bette davis(please check out "the eyes of charles sand and scream pretty peggy,two movies of the week from 1972 and 1973) and both movie pilots of kolchak,the night stalker,from around the same time,and lest we forget,trilogy of terror with karen black, movie of the week from 1975,and then the motion picture " burnt offerings" from 1976,directed by dan curtis with oliver reed,karen black,bette davis ,eileen heckert and burgess meredith,and one year later,director dario argento ,released "suspiria" with joan bennet and and andrea harper,who sort of resembles margo kidder.isn't trivia fun?,lol,just putting it out there.
LOL you again? You are still angry and bitter because she refused to sign 'Love' on the autograph inscription to you at the convention. SMH I remember how insistent you were. She should have called security on you.
@@laraparkerisalousyactress8085 I disagree. Sometimes, she might "overact", but generally I consider her a good actress! Sometimes, people may have considered actors like Lon Chaney (Sr. & Jr.), Basil Rathbone, John Carradine, Bela Lugosi, and Vincent Price, to name a few as "ham" actors, but I enjoyed their performances, just the same! And I think of them as very good actors! When, I used to watch this w/my older sister she said, her voice would "get on her nerves", & maybe mine too when I used to watch this when I was a child of ten, because her voice sounded a "little shaky". Now as an adult, it doesn't! I met her @ 2 DS Conventions, and her voice sounds different in real life, and she's a very nice & still a beautiful woman! If you think she's " A Lousy Actress", tough! Do better! You're not by chance, the same guy, or any relation to the guy whom asked Lara for a fan picture of her, and because she didn't sign it, you sent her an angry letter?!
@@thejupiter2574 I agree with you 100%, and disagree 100%, w/ Lara Parker is a lousy actress. I think she was & is a great actress! Some critics may have accused her of "overacting" I don't! I wonder if he's the same guy or any relation to the guy I heard about @ the 2nd DS Convention whom wrote to Lara requesting a fan picture of her. When she sent him one, he wrote her back a nasty letter, just because she didn't sign it with her autograph! How silly & ungrateful can you be!
