Dan Curtis: Old School/New School

Dan Curtis on the set of The Strange
Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, 1968.

I doubt that Dan Curtis even intended to become a horror auteur. He began his career in television in 1950 as a salesman for syndicated programs, later playing a vital role in bringing golf to television. Even his first foray into narrative drama, Dark Shadows, didn't begin explicitly has a horror series, dabbling for a year in gothic melodrama that only sometimes involved ghosts. When Barnabas Collins landed on the scene, though, Curtis discovered he had a flair for creeping people out and his career changed for ever. By the end of the 1970s he'd brought an entire menagarie of terrors to screens big and small, including vampires, haunted houses, zombies, aliens, devil dolls and a host of other creatures that oten defy description.

On Oct. 25, The Paley Centre for Media in New York City is hosting an event titled Dan Curtis: Old School/New School, described as an exploration of Curtis' "horror oeuvre." Produced by the Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies, the event will be hosted by instructor David Bushman, a television curator at the Paley Center. Admission to Dan Curtis: Old School/New School is $12 in advance, $15 at the door.

For more information, or to purchase tickets, click HERE.