No sooner have we lost Dick Clark, then word comes in on another TV icon. Yesterday, I learned that Jonathan Frid, who, to those of a certain age, once again, folks, will always be Barnabus Collins, vampire par excellence, on "Dark Shadows", passed away at the age of 87!!!!!!!!!! With Dick Clark's passing, I felt positively old!!!! Now, I feel mortality closing in on me!!!!!
I had a peculiar relationship with "Dark Shadows." For all that I embraced horror elements, especially in my early years, this show did not do it for me. I would glance at it now and then, fascinated by the actors--like Frid, and the great Grayson Hall, who, of course, played, to a Oscar nominated fare thee well, Miss Judith Fellowes in the film version of "The Night Of The Iguana", (and you better believe, lambs, I am just anxious to play onstage) but I never hung around long enough to follow the story threads.
However, there was one moment I just loved--and never missed.
Each afternoon, after school, for several minutes, I would sit, transfixed before the TV, until the black-and-white shot of waves cascading over a deserted beach would appear, and mysterious music and "Woooooooooooo" voice would appear, as the words, "Dark Shadows" flashed onto the screen. I just LOVED this, girls, because, I could do, on pitch, the mysterious voice. And so I would, much to the annoyance of my mother and grandmother. But, darlings, how could I resist? It was "Dark Shadows"!!!!
I even remember the "Dark Shadows" game by Milton Bradley, though it was one of the few games I did not own!!!!!! And who could have known then that the program would have boasted such up and comers as Kate Jackson and Donna McKechnie!!!! Yes, darlings!!!!!!!!!!! Donna McKechnie!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So, all this is remembered in the wake of Jonathan Frid. Whom I had the good fortune to meet, some fifteen or twenty years ago. He was as nice and gentlemanly as one could hope. Not a diva, nor a bit vampiric!!!!!
But there was no mistaking those eyes
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