April 2, 1971 –
The last episode of the Gothic soap opera Dark Shadows, which aired on ABC-TV, was shown on this date.
Due to the grueling five-shows-a-week schedule, the expense and the difficulty of video editing in those days, most scenes were shot in a single take. Actors and actresses routinely flubbed their lines and searched for the teleprompter, set pieces collapsed, props malfunctioned, crew members walked into shots, microphones and secondary cameras got in the way, and it all wound up being preserved, because the production team figured each episode would only be seen one time. Joan Bennett and Louis Edmonds are the only actors to appear in both the first and the last episodes of the series.
The Haus of Dcaligari 