Curse of Dark Shadows?

It's no secret that NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS began life under the title CURSE OF DARK SHADOWS. I don't know exactly when MGM opted for the name change, but it was relatively deep into the film's 1971 production. Much of the film's promotional hooha that year relied heavily on the CURSE version of the title, but that changed sometime before posters, trailers and other marketing materials went to the press.

While snooping around the newspaper morgue a few weeks back, though, I stumbled upon an interesting notice: a display ad for a theater in Troy, N.Y., for a double bill of HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS and CURSE OF DARK SHADOWS. I don't know how this error happened. My gut says a few film cans slipped through the line still bearing the movie's original title. What muddies the waters, though, is the date of the newspaper ad: March 3, 1972 ... several months after the theatrical release of NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS.