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Dark Days
at Collins House |
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As
a starting point, Art Wallace went back to his teleplay for the
1957 Goodyear Theatre entry entitled The House, from
which he lifted some character and storyline details. These he fused
with new material into a document that would form the basis for
one of US network television's most fondly remembered daytime shows.
Although the Dark Shadows storylines that eventually caught
America's imagination were divergences from Wallace's Shadows
on the Wall, the importance of his ground work on the series
should not be underestimated. The ghosts mentioned are not of the
sort that later became synonymous with the series, merely the whispers
of past events touching on present events, but his depiction of
Collins House (later, of course, Collinwood) is steeped in gothic
overtones - the governess, desperately searching for a clue to her
mysterious origin; her arrival at a lonely, foreboding house to
care for a troubled child; the mistress of Collins House, who has,
for eighteen years, lived the life of a recluse; the locals who
warn the young governess to turn round and go back home while she
still can; and the boy's father, driven by the fear that someone
will unearth his dark secret. Wallace also goes some of the way
to creating the Collins' family tree - Jeremiah Collins and "his
French wife", Josette on the scene at this early stage. The
family history goes through a characteristic upheaval before we
actually see these characters, but it is Art Wallace who had the
foresight to give the Collinses such a rich past in the first place.
He details the history of Collins House in a short section, noting
that Jeremiah built it in 1830 (rather than by Joshua in 1795 as
was later established), and that part of the East Wing was rebuilt
following a fire that broke out in 1895. At this point, there is
no mention of an older 'Collins House' on the Estate. Wallace wrote a set of guidelines for most of the central characters, including Victoria Winters, Elizabeth Collins Stoddard and Burke Devlin. These notes are particularly interesting, as they often cast light on motivations, backgrounds etc, that fell by the wayside in the transition to the screen. For instance, it is spelt out that David Collins was born seven months after Roger and Laura's marriage, and that Roger is absolutely certain that David is Burke's son. Also, after the manslaughter trial, it would appear that Elizabeth, harbouring grave doubts of her brother's innocence, insisted that he should leave Collinsport - bringing about his, Laura and David's exile in Augusta. In addition, some of the more minor characters - Joseph (Joe) Haskell, Margaret (Maggie) Evans and Bill Malloy - also benefit from detailed character notes. Where else would we learn of Joe's early courtship of the teenage Carolyn, Maggie's memories of childhood readings from the classics by her father or of Bill's marriage which had ended in his wife's death at the time of Roger's banishment from Collinsport? The remainder of the document comprises a lengthy story outline, commencing with Victoria's arrival in Collinsport and concluding with the storyline in which Jason McGuire blackmails Elizabeth over her belief that she murdered her husband, Paul Stoddard, in 1949. It is interesting to note that, at this very early stage, Jason is called 'Walt Cummings', though this appears to be the only appreciable variance with McGuire's character. The story outline in Shadows on the Wall was not strictly adhered to, even by Wallace himself, when the series hit American television screens in 1966, some points or plots being subtly altered, others being discarded totally in favour of others. On the side of the minor changes, there is Vicki's arrival in Collinsport by bus rather than train; and the survival of Bill Malloy (the televised plot surrounding his intervention in Burke and Roger's dispute and his subsequent murder missing from Shadows on the Wall). Other initial intentions are rather more surprising... Roger fears that Vicki has discovered damning evidence against him relating to the manslaughter trial:-
Roger is dead... his lifeless body sprawled on the rocks far below Collins House. For Elizabeth and Carolyn, the sadness of death. For Vicki, the momentary release from terror." Aside from this major diversion, Shadows on the Wall also partly resolves the question of Vicki's lineage - a story thread that was never conclusively tied up on television. Searching the Collins accounts on Vicki's behalf, Frank Garner finds entries of $240 per annum "for Victoria Winters", leading Vicki to believe that Elizabeth is her mother. Elizabeth later reveals this is not the case, her obligation to the young girl being due to the identity of the father:- "...Elizabeth tells Vicki that she is not Vicki's mother, as Vicki had obviously suspected. She doesn't know who Vicki's mother is but she does know that Paul (Stoddard) was her father. She knows because Paul told her. On that fateful night, eighteen years ago, Paul had taunted her about having had an affair in the early days of his marriage to Elizabeth... (and that)... the affair had produced a child. The mother was someone who lived in Collinsport at that period. Elizabeth knows that much. The woman moved away. Elizabeth doesn't know if she was a local resident or a summer visitor. Paul had made a 'business trip' to New York. And it was there that he had placed Vicki at the Foundling Home. Why he did this, or what happened to Vicki's mother, Elizabeth doesn't know. Then... after Paul 'disappeared'... Elizabeth had instructed her attorney to send twenty dollars anonymously every month. And the attorney had kept constant track of Vicki, as instructed by Elizabeth. When Vicki wants to know why Elizabeth did all this for a child that wasn't hers... for a child she didn't even know... Elizabeth cannot answer. (She can't very well explain, at this point, that it was from a sense of guilt and responsibility. She can't explain that she had killed Vicki's father, and has been doing everything she can to atone ever since.)" As he draws the opening storylines to a close, Art Wallace adds a footnote to the effect that "this is the beginning...but only the beginning" and goes on to plot the next phase for "Shadows on the Wall". He suggests that the next plot strands would be: the rehabilitation of David Collins; the appearance of Roger's alcoholic widow, Laura Collins to claim David; Laura's subsequent death "under suspicious circumstances", leading to Vicki being tried, accused of her murder; Carolyn's marriage to Joe, which would fail due to her inability to commit to her husband; and Paul Stoddard's return to Collinwood. These strands would manifest themselves (with the exception of Carolyn's marriage) in the series, albeit in greatly modified forms. Those reading Shadows on the Wall for the first time may feel they recognise certain elements which didn't actually appear on screen. This could well be due to the fact that Shadows on the Wall was the reference material used by Dan Ross for his Dark Shadows novels (written under the pseudonym 'Marilyn Ross'). Ross' regular mentions of Collinsport attracting tourists and artists during the summer months and his angle on Collins family history all have their roots in Art Wallace's document. In some of the earlier novels, Ross even refers to Collinwood as 'Collins House'. Read today, some thirty years after it was written, it is plain to see why the ABC executives were impressed enough to commission a run of Dark Shadows. Art Wallace's vision of the series is communicated excellently within the pages of Shadows on the Wall - the story outline almost reading like a novel without dialogue, the characters' feelings and motivations expressed with clarity and emotion. Above all, it is a document that gave the series a very solid foundation on which to build. The series did indeed move away from Wallace's vision in terms of emphasis, but without his strong series framework to meld with, it would never have been half the programme it eventually became. |
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Late
in 1995, Pomegranate Press issued probably their single most important
Dark Shadows publication, Art Wallace's Shadows on the
Wall. Reproduced in facsimile fashion directly from the original
typed version (including typographic errors et al), this 91-page
work gives a fascinating insight into the very earliest days of
the series. Given the task of fleshing out Dan Curtis' initial vision,
Wallace fashioned the document which would serve as both a guide
for prospective writers and as a detailed synopsis with which Curtis
armed himself to sell the show to the ABC Network.
"There
is a glint of madness in (Roger's) eyes as he insists she walk with
him to the edge of Widow's Hill. There in the blackness, with the
high wind of the cold Maine night shrilling in their ears, Roger
tells Vicki the legend of death that surrounds Collins House. He
tells her about the bodies that had crashed on the rocks below...that
it had happened twice in the history of Collins House... twice,
young governesses had thrown themselves into the darkness. He tells
her that, through the long years, legend has said there would, one
day, be a third. And, as he grabs her arm, and she sees the madness...she
struggles. But they are not alone. David is in the darkness, too.
He comes forward, crying out. Roger turns sharply at the sight of
his son. He loses his balance, slips, falls down... down... down.
David screams and rushes off into the night.