01-22-2011, 11:40 PM
Rafael Wrote:Aldarron Wrote:Well, no, when you consider this is 1970 and the american midwest we are talking about. There really were no other famous vampires or vampire stories.
Really? - Again, I wasn't born then, and the lands of my parents had a very different media culture, but I'd say that by 1970, there were more than enough other examples for Vampire-ish characters. Namely (using wiki for convenience):
The Giaour by Lord Byron (1813)
Varney the Vampire or The Feast of Blood by James Malcolm Rymer (or Thomas Peckett Prest) (1847)
The Lair of the White Worm by Bram Stoker (1911)
"The Dark Castle" (1931) by Marion Brandon
"The Girl with the Hungry Eyes" (1949) by Fritz Leiber
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson (1954)
'Salem's Lot by Stephen King (1975)
And that, leaving out movie interpretations like Nosferatu, the Omega-Man (based on I Am Legend),
all the sci-fi b-movies featuring vampires, all the magazine short stories, all the comic books, comic strips,
and so on...
There may have been a few short stories here and there but they would have been very obscure and silent foreign films like Nosferatu generally weren't available on the 5 or 6 TV stations broadcasting in those days. Count Dracula was pretty much the model for vampires and the Hollywood Dracula was quite well known. Although, come to think or it, I believe Count Chocula might have been around too...
Edit - I forgot about the "Dark Shadows" vampire soap opera. I think that was pretty much in the same vein as Dracula, but I don't think I ever watched the original. Anyway, turns out Duane Jenkins was a big fan.