In one of the most fascinating TV rediscoveries of recent years, the UCLA Film & Television Archive has preserved all five installments of the little-known late-night horror series The Classic Ghosts, which have been mostly unseen since they were aired on ABC’s Wide World of Mystery more than 50 years ago.
Produced by broadcast pioneer Jacqueline Babbin (Sybil, All My Children), The Classic Ghosts was celebrated upon its debut for being made by a predominantly female crew, including trailblazing television directors Gloria Monty (General Hospital) and Lela Swift (Studio One). A 1973 New York Times article reported, “While women recently have been infiltrating what has been almost exclusively a man’s terrain, no one recalls such a preponderance on any similar project.”
“I just had to get together the best possible team,” said Babbin (who died in 2001) of having women in the crew, “They have an eye for detail… Women are doing this kind of work because we enjoy it. It’s a deeper form of expression.”
Shot on videotape in the style of a soap opera, with expressive and colorful production design, The Classic Ghosts has an immediacy and otherworldliness akin to Dark Shadows — not surprising since two of the directors (Swift and Henry Kaplan) directed hundreds of episodes of the classic horror TV series.
The Classic Ghosts is also notable for rediscovered performances by such screen luminaries as Susan Sarandon, Gwen Verdon, Hurd Hatfield, Perry King, Robin Strasser, Vincent Gardenia, David McCallum, and Carrie Nye.
“From the late 1950s into the ’80s it was common practice in the television industry to erase programs produced on videotape in order to re-use raw tape stock to cut costs. For that reason, the fact that the original 2” videoreels of The Classic Ghosts survived is something of a miracle. Working on the recovery and preservation of these rare tapes with video engineer David Crosthwait of DC Video has been revelatory,” said Mark Quigley, John H. Mitchell Television Curator of the UCLA Film & Television Archive, who spearheaded the project.
“The shows are imbued with an eerie, gothic aesthetic perfectly suited to their original midnight-hour time slot while illuminating the extreme talents of the gifted women who made them.”
will be released by Kino Cult on October 29, 2024 in a two-disc Blu-ray set. The collection includes interviews with Mark Quigley (John H. Mitchell Television Curator of the UCLA Film & Television Archive), Maya Montañez Smukler (Head of the UCLA Film & Television Archive Research and Study Center), and film and TV historian Amanda Reyes. The set also includes a demonstration by David Crosthwait of DC Video of the NASA-era technology required to reclaim the program from the now-obsolete 2” videotape format.
Kino Cult is a brand of Kino Lorber LLC.
THE CLASSIC GHOSTS
A Specter Production
Developed for television by Hollis Alpert
Executive producer Robert Berger
Producer Jacqueline Babbin
The Haunting of Rosalind
U.S. 1973 Color 65 Min.
With Pamela Payton-Wright, Susan Sarandon, Beatrice Straight, Frank Converse
Based on a story by Henry James
Directed by Lela Swift
The Screaming Skull
U.S. 1973 Color 67 Min.
With David McCallum, Vince Gardenia, Carrie Nye
Based on a story by Francis Marion Crawford
Directed by Gloria Monty
The Deadly Visitor
U.S. 1973 Color 66 Min.
With Perry King, Gwen Verdon, James Keach
Based on a story by Fitz-James O'Brien
Directed by Lela Swift
The House and the Brain
U.S. 1973 Color 65 Min.
With Carol Williard, Hurd Hatfield, Keith Charles, Maryce Carter
Based on a story by Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Directed by Gloria Monty
And the Bones Came Together
U.S. 1973 Color 66 Min.
With Robin Strasser, Laurence Luckinbill, Herbert Berghof
Based on a story by Sholomo Keil
Directed by Henry Kaplan