Dark Shadows was must-see summer TV when I was in middle school. It was a daytime soap opera of gothic proportions and was groundbreaking in a way, set in the spooky Collinwood Mansion, home to any number of ghosts, vampires, witches and werewolves. Many a time, too scared to watch but spellbound nonetheless, we girls would position ourselves to the side of the television cabinetry and sneak a peak (but with our eyes covered).
Most girls (and, I suspect, many women) crushed on the star of the show, Jonathan Frid, who played sexy vampire Barnabas Collins. However, I was smitten by Quentin Collins, played by David Selby. I laugh now to recall the massive sideburns he wore but, still, he was undeniably attractive. I used to fantasize that perhaps the producers and actors might be driving past our house along Highway 69 (it was, after all, as my parents told us once, a major highway that cut across several states in the Midwest) and that their car would breakdown. After knocking on our door for some roadside assistance, the producer would steal a glance my way and proclaim ‘Hey, sweetheart. You’d be perfect for Dark Shadows. Whataya say?’ Yeah, silly. I know. But such was the stuff of my teenage hormone-driven imagination.
My dad surprised me once – funny how some things are just etched in your memory – as I sat on the kitchen counter drying dishes and putting them away in the cupboard. Dad wasn’t much for chit chat. I recall very few conversations with him growing up which is probably why I remember, so vividly, him asking me if I was in love. Was he able to read my mind? Did he know that I thought constantly about David Selby or that I scribbled his name on paper? Had my father seen the hearts I’d drawn with my initials intertwined with those of the one that I daydreamed about? I was embarrassed and somehow ashamed, guilty that I’d been found out. Of course, I denied the allegation but always wondered how he’d known.
It occurs to me, just now, that this would have been a delightful topic to have asked Dad about before we lost him to cancer a few years ago. How I wonder if he would have remembered the day he once asked me, his eldest daughter, if I was in love!
Assignment: Make a Prompt Personal
Prompt: Teen Idol
A Sawyer's Daughter 
Oh yes, Dark Shadows! I can still conjure up the theme song – instantly recognizable after all these years. I wonder what your Dad suspected or if he just thought it was a good question to start conversation?
I sure wish I knew!
Illya Kuryakin made me swoon…
“The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” borrows from James Bond stories. The good guys, suave U.S. operative Napoleon Solo and sexy Russian Illya Kuryakin, work for U.N.C.L.E. (United Network Command for Law and Enforcement) and battle evil international syndicate THRUSH.
Dad’s knew when they had lost their little girls to an invincible hero..
Big smile!
Regret. The questions we wish we could have asked our loved ones before they passed on. Perhaps we didn’t because we intuitively understood the answer would most likely not be forthcoming. It would be interesting if we could have a reunion with our parents and ask the questions we never asked, By the way, when he asked if you were in love, did you respond or just laugh.
I don’t remember for sure except that I embarrassed and I’m sure I denied it. My daddy was a good man but not a terribly ‘hands on’ kind of father. He loved us, of that I am sure, but he served more as just a provider and sometimes disciplinarian (most of the time, that role went to my mother). I do know that he’d told Mom once, much later in life, that he wished he’d been more of a father to us. Bittersweet. Nonetheless, despite these ‘failings’, I loved him terribly and miss him very much. Thanks for your comment! 🙂