Quentin Postcards

In 1968, Jonathan Frid reigned supreme on afternoon television as the vampire Barnabas Collins in Dark Shadows. But with filming five days a week, and doing promotional appearances most Saturdays and Sundays, Frid was beginning to wear down. He pleaded with producer Dan Curtis to take some of the pressure off so that he could get some much-needed rest.

The answer to Frid's problem turned out to be actor David Selby, who introduced the character of Quentin Collins into the program's continuity. Although the 19th-century, lambchop-sideburned character didn't even speak for his first few weeks on the show, letters from young fans began pouring in almost immediately. Before long, Selby's smoldering good looks had begun to make the female contingent of the show's fan base ask, "Jonathan who?"

So naturally, Philly Gum responded by producing a series of 12 Quentin-themed postcards.

The cards featured a color photo of Selby as Quentin on the front, outlined in white, while the backs were traditional postcard reverses, with the writing area divided in half: the right side held spaces for the stamp and address, while the left had a stylized Quentin logo and another small photo of the character at the bottom, with a faux signature that said something like 'Best wishes to you, David (Quentin) Selby.'

One card front even sported a small white block shaped like the head of a girl with the bobbed sort of hairstyle popular at the time, with the caption 'Paste your photo here!' so that it would look like the photo-paster were actually IN the photo with Quentin.

The postcards were the standard 5"x7", and were inserted 3 to each cellophane pack for 10 cents.