by Crystal Poole
Dark Shadows. Growing up, I was a Gen-Xer who loved to study pop culture and history, and I had never heard of that TV show. Neither of my parents, who would have been the age of “the kids who ran home from school,” ever watched it or were interested. Living in rural Iowa, that would have been quite a feat for them to run home that far! Even at the age of 11 in 1991, when the DS revival aired, I don’t recall the show being advertised.
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So how did I become a fan of this cult classic? Well, my love of history helped. I majored in the subject in college, and minored in English, so I cultivated a love of classical literature as well. My sister, knowing I loved old, creepy mystery stories and old things in general (she does too), suggested I watch this weird old soap opera about a vampire that she discovered in her Netflix queue.
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Now I don’t care for soap operas, nor am I a fan of horror or vampires. I do love suspense and classic film noir, and creepy old houses, and ghost stories, and…oh, my sister mentioned, Joan Bennett was in it. So there was one familiar star that I remembered from Father of the Bride and Father’s Little Dividend. This was in the fall of 2011 and probably around Halloween, so I was in the mood for something spooky; I gave it a whirl.
I began with the episode right before Willie Loomis opens the coffin and discovers his “jewels.” Even though John Karlen’s portrayal of Willie was sinister enough to make me irritated with him in the beginning, I thought to myself, “I’m going to like this guy for some strange reason.”
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We watched a few more episodes and I decided I wanted the first volume of the series for Christmas. Then I got hooked on the Maggie kidnapping story, so I asked for another volume for my birthday. I knew one thing—Barnabas had to be staked! I hoped that Willie would save Maggie and they’d have a redeemed life together. Of course, that would have killed the entire series, but I wanted Barnabas to get his comeuppance.
I loved the Gothic atmosphere and 1960s characters like Carolyn and Buzz. Even though the show ended nine years before I was born, the later episodes especially had that feel of my own childhood. Perhaps it was because of another show that debuted during the run of Dark Shadows, Sesame Street, which originally created several clips in the early ‘70s that later were still airing in the early ‘80s. My sister agreed. By the way, she never got as hooked on the show as I did, though she will occasionally watch some episodes with me. I eventually stopped buying the individual volumes, took the plunge, and bought the coffin set.
As I was watching the storylines, I was becoming interested in the actors who portrayed the characters. Once Grayson Hall came on, I recognized her from the Disney movie, That Darn Cat!. I was amazed at how young Mitch Ryan was, knowing he had been on Dharma and Greg. And I thought Joel Crothers was the cutest thing with his amazing blue eyes (he still beats David Selby in that category; David comes in second for best eyes!). I cracked up at the inadvertent comedy the bloopers brought to the show and was fascinated at how everything ultimately came together to go on the air. It was like watching a very, very long play. It was obvious the actors had great camaraderie with one another, making it a very enjoyable show to watch.
Coming back to Willie Loomis, I was watching the episode where Willie is agonizing on the terrace over Maggie right before he gets shot. And, oh my gosh, John Karlen is doing his best Method acting. Holy cow, this guy could have taken over the title of “the next James Dean.”
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Okay, I have to pause here and state that I’m a huge Dean fan. I have read tons of bios, watched all three movies and several TV appearances and have visited his grave. Seriously. So I think I know the mannerisms associated with Jimmy’s acting when I see them. You know that little thought I had at the beginning of the series? It had come to fruition. I was now a bona fide fan of John Karlen.
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It was only after he was gone for a while from Dark Shadows that I realized how much I missed him and how much he brought to the show. You could say that John was a big reason, though not the only reason, why I came to enjoy Dark Shadows so much. It was also around this time I had been researching the show and the actors online and discovered the fan site Willie Loomis Saves Collinsport. I didn’t join; I just lurked on the forum.
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Which brings me around to June 2012. I was seriously stressed with the implementation of a new system-wide computer system going on at work. I was working a lot of overtime, but when I could go home to relax, I was scoping out this newly found fan site. The creator, SaraMonster, has such a wicked sense of humor. I was getting a good belly laugh at one of her blogs and just had to sign up to thank her for making my day after being so stressed.
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A month or so later, Marie Maginity (aka Mad Margaret) joined and we became friends over several John Karlen/Willie related topics. Unfortunately, the website was kind of dying from non-participation (except for the two of us, and one other), so Marie suggested I join the Facebook group where all the fans seemed to congregate. Two good things came from that fan site—besides our friendship—the treasure trove of articles and pictures, and Marie being able to get in contact with a friend of the Karlens who wrote a couple articles about John on her blog. That enabled Marie to become aware of John’s health and initiate a card/letter writing campaign.
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In early 2014, fans in the group were talking about being excited about going to the Dark Shadows Fest in Tarrytown that summer. I never thought that I would ever attend a Fest because well, I thought it was a bit dorky, like Star Trek fests. Plus, it was expensive. I started to get envious, and was thinking how cool it would be to have a chance to meet the actors. I lamented that I didn’t have the money to go and had only flown once as a two-year-old, so I wasn’t an experienced flyer. I got to thinking about it and realized that some money might be available soon. Now I just needed someone nearby who would be willing to fly with me, so I put out a request to the Facebook group if anyone lived in eastern Iowa and if they wanted to go to this shindig, would they want to travel with me? Not more than ten minutes passed when I heard from fan Pam Quinn who lived about half an hour away. An even bigger surprise, I found out that I worked with her son! So it was meant to be.
We had a blast at the 2014 Fest. I went initially because I wanted to go on an adventure by traveling the farthest I had ever been from home and had always wanted to go to New York as a kid. Plus, there were so many historical sites I could visit and Tarrytown looked beautiful. Why not? What I got was so much more. I got to meet lots of cool fans and got to meet the actors that made me love the show. I was able to get some photos and autographs from David Selby, Kathryn Leigh Scott, Lara Parker, Marie Wallace, and Sharon Smyth, and listen to great stories.
I plan on being there in Tarrytown this year for the 50th Anniversary. I know I’ll have even more fun because there is going to be more activities and more actors including John Karlen. I’ll finally get to meet my favorite Dark Shadows actor! Yippee!