Halloween

‘Dark Shadows': 50th Anniversary Fest

The beloved television series shall haunt a Hollywood fan celebration days ahead of Halloween.

Much has been written about a vampire's ability to live on (and on and on and on), but that knack for riding eternity's waves also can extend to television series that feature the famous gothic figures.

Gaze, if you will, as if into an old oil portrait or hazy mirror, at the phenomenon of "Dark Shadows," the alluring weekday drama that ran from 1966 through 1971 on ABC. Definitely, a multitude of movies and TV shows had taken on all forms of monsters and Gothic tales before the mid-1960s, but the daily tales emerging from the Collins family, and a certain Mr. Barnabas Collins, stoked an ongoing interest that lives on to this day.

If "lives on" is the right way to describe a delectable series inspired by vampiric, beyond-the-veil deeds. Those drama-filled deeds will be much discussed by a host of fans come the Saturday before Halloween, when actors from "Dark Shadows," and those who've loved it through the decades, gather at the Women's Club of Hollywood for a twelve-hour celebration.

Lara Parker, the amazing Angelique, will be in attendance at the Saturday, Oct. 29 event, celebrating her new novel "Dark Shadows — The Heiress of Collinwood." John Karlen, who played "vampire caretaker Willie Loomis" will also make an appearance, as will a number of other performers seen on the series over its impressive run.

Composer Robert Cobert will also be at the eerie affair, signing CDs of the memorable music. Can you hear the opening strains to the theme now? It's truly a macabre melody, one that inspired many supernatural series to come.

A Q&A, live music presentations, "rare video screenings," a flea market full of delightfully frightful finds, 50th anniversary-themed merchandise, and more ghoulish goodness is on the spooky schedule. 

A schedule that runs right up to, you guessed it, midnight. As if there should be any other hour of the day that would conclude a "Dark Shadows" celebration (and a half-century anniversary celebration, at that).

The Scene

Want to find new things to do in Los Angeles? The Scene's lifestyle stories have you covered. Here's your go-to source on where the fun is across SoCal and for the weekend.

Theodore Payne Foundation's ‘poppy-ular' Poppy Days Spring Sale is about to sprout

The Broad is broadening: The contemporary art museum just unveiled a major expansion plan

For tickets, information, and to start planning the type of cloak you might don for such a Gothic-grand affair, swirl down your staircase and gravely ponder all that you need to know, must know, now. <cue "Dark Shadows" theme>

Copyright FREEL - NBC Local Media
Contact Us