Post by Torgaman on Feb 6, 2008 12:28:04 GMT -8
About damned time I started this thread!!!!
Since the names of three very prominent horror hosts have popped up in recent posts I was thinking they need their own thread.I am curious as to which hosts group members are familar with,which ones they grew up watching,or whose work they have come across.
So since I am the one to start the thread I will go first [Nyah nyah Torgaman sticks his tongue out to the rest of the board members]
The first horror host I grew up watching [and the best one but that's my humble opinion,feel free to disagree] was Chicago legend Son of Svengoolie.There had been a Svengoolie in Chicago in the early 70's but he had since departed.However Son of Svengoolie had worked behind the cameras of his "dad's" show and got permission to revamp the character as Son of Svengoolie.From 1979 to 1986 he was a fixture on late night Fridays/Saturdays or Saturday afternoons and even a brief time on Saturday mornings!!!![Thanks to Alan Thicke's very short lived talk show taking his time slot] Son of Svengoolie,or Sven for short,was joined by his musical partner Doug Graves and together they created hysterical and ingenious song parodies of popular songs,current hits and golden oldies alike,to go along with the films they were showing.Also along for the ride was Sven's nemesis Tombstone,a floating skull who was once a used car salesman Sven accidentally ran over.Tombstone's primary role on the show seemed o relentlessly heckle poor Sven though he often played other characters like The Amazing Noskin[parody of Kreskin].A less frequent reocurring character was Durwood a puppet recycled from the older Svengoolie show.He was made up to resemble the orignal Svengoolie which sort of explained his 60's retro look[the original Sven can be described as an undead hippie with ling green hair and sunglasses,Son of Svengoolie wore a more traditional tuxedo type coat and top hat with dark circles around the eyes with faux goatee and mustache].Sven parodied anything from local television commercials to classic tv shows like THE LONE RANGER BATMAN AND THE HONEYMOONERS.The films he aired ran the gamut from UNIVERSAL CLASSICS to kaiju films[from the AIP library] to 50's drive in classics to public domain fodder.His show won various local emmy's and seemed to be the number one locally produced tv show,rivalled only by the Bozo show which ran weekdays and was nationally sindicated.However when the station channel 32 became part of the FOX network the show was deemed too lowbrow for a network affiliate.This from a network that would unleash MARRIED WITH CHILDREN onto the world.So Sven was cancelled in 1986 to make room for the Joan Rivers show.Guess what?She didn't last.Suprisingly enough Sven's alter ego Rich Koz was back at the station a few years later once again hosting horror films,then 3 STOOGES shorts and then whatever the station gave him.Sven made a few cameos on the show but alas even this didn't last too long.However it wasn't the end for Sven yet..........but he has to wait awhile.
The next horror host I discovered was Elvira on channel 66.The station wasn't known for producing their own material so I guess they felt it was easier to buy a pre-packaged horror host show from California than to create their own.So Elvira managed to wiggle onto Chicago tv around the same time Sven was being yanked off of 32 so essentially she became my safety net.However even as a kid I knew Elvira wasn't up to Sven's standards.I chuckled a few times but she never went into really ellaborate comedic sketches like Sven.Eventually I stopped watching altogether and I guess so did the rest of Chicago.
So there is a lllloooooonnnnngggggg dryspell however I do discover other pseudo hosts mainly Joe Bob Briggs and MST3K.I'll let anyone else delve into these guys.
Ah but even dark times cannot last.Sven returned to the newly reformatted channel 26 in 1995 starting a 13[!] year run that is still going strong!!!Though at first he had to run whatever the station gave him he did manage to get some gems in there GODZILLA 1985 and NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD.He also became the first host to get to air the UNIVERSAL classics again since the late eighties when they were gobbled up by the cable stations.
Also for a brief period a show called GRAVEYARD THEATRE reached Chicago from Indiana on a PBS station from Hammond.They aired public domain gems until the station pulled them and they had to retreat to public access cable.
Since then I have tracked down varoious other host footage featuring Zacherle,The Bowman Body,Dr Paul Bearer and Crematia Mortem.But I want other people to talk about these since they weren't from my area.I even created my own show called DEAD MAN CINEMA which airs surprisingly enough in Brunswick Ohio as an occasional replacement for another horror host show THE MORTICIAN.
Since the names of three very prominent horror hosts have popped up in recent posts I was thinking they need their own thread.I am curious as to which hosts group members are familar with,which ones they grew up watching,or whose work they have come across.
So since I am the one to start the thread I will go first [Nyah nyah Torgaman sticks his tongue out to the rest of the board members]
The first horror host I grew up watching [and the best one but that's my humble opinion,feel free to disagree] was Chicago legend Son of Svengoolie.There had been a Svengoolie in Chicago in the early 70's but he had since departed.However Son of Svengoolie had worked behind the cameras of his "dad's" show and got permission to revamp the character as Son of Svengoolie.From 1979 to 1986 he was a fixture on late night Fridays/Saturdays or Saturday afternoons and even a brief time on Saturday mornings!!!![Thanks to Alan Thicke's very short lived talk show taking his time slot] Son of Svengoolie,or Sven for short,was joined by his musical partner Doug Graves and together they created hysterical and ingenious song parodies of popular songs,current hits and golden oldies alike,to go along with the films they were showing.Also along for the ride was Sven's nemesis Tombstone,a floating skull who was once a used car salesman Sven accidentally ran over.Tombstone's primary role on the show seemed o relentlessly heckle poor Sven though he often played other characters like The Amazing Noskin[parody of Kreskin].A less frequent reocurring character was Durwood a puppet recycled from the older Svengoolie show.He was made up to resemble the orignal Svengoolie which sort of explained his 60's retro look[the original Sven can be described as an undead hippie with ling green hair and sunglasses,Son of Svengoolie wore a more traditional tuxedo type coat and top hat with dark circles around the eyes with faux goatee and mustache].Sven parodied anything from local television commercials to classic tv shows like THE LONE RANGER BATMAN AND THE HONEYMOONERS.The films he aired ran the gamut from UNIVERSAL CLASSICS to kaiju films[from the AIP library] to 50's drive in classics to public domain fodder.His show won various local emmy's and seemed to be the number one locally produced tv show,rivalled only by the Bozo show which ran weekdays and was nationally sindicated.However when the station channel 32 became part of the FOX network the show was deemed too lowbrow for a network affiliate.This from a network that would unleash MARRIED WITH CHILDREN onto the world.So Sven was cancelled in 1986 to make room for the Joan Rivers show.Guess what?She didn't last.Suprisingly enough Sven's alter ego Rich Koz was back at the station a few years later once again hosting horror films,then 3 STOOGES shorts and then whatever the station gave him.Sven made a few cameos on the show but alas even this didn't last too long.However it wasn't the end for Sven yet..........but he has to wait awhile.
The next horror host I discovered was Elvira on channel 66.The station wasn't known for producing their own material so I guess they felt it was easier to buy a pre-packaged horror host show from California than to create their own.So Elvira managed to wiggle onto Chicago tv around the same time Sven was being yanked off of 32 so essentially she became my safety net.However even as a kid I knew Elvira wasn't up to Sven's standards.I chuckled a few times but she never went into really ellaborate comedic sketches like Sven.Eventually I stopped watching altogether and I guess so did the rest of Chicago.
So there is a lllloooooonnnnngggggg dryspell however I do discover other pseudo hosts mainly Joe Bob Briggs and MST3K.I'll let anyone else delve into these guys.
Ah but even dark times cannot last.Sven returned to the newly reformatted channel 26 in 1995 starting a 13[!] year run that is still going strong!!!Though at first he had to run whatever the station gave him he did manage to get some gems in there GODZILLA 1985 and NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD.He also became the first host to get to air the UNIVERSAL classics again since the late eighties when they were gobbled up by the cable stations.
Also for a brief period a show called GRAVEYARD THEATRE reached Chicago from Indiana on a PBS station from Hammond.They aired public domain gems until the station pulled them and they had to retreat to public access cable.
Since then I have tracked down varoious other host footage featuring Zacherle,The Bowman Body,Dr Paul Bearer and Crematia Mortem.But I want other people to talk about these since they weren't from my area.I even created my own show called DEAD MAN CINEMA which airs surprisingly enough in Brunswick Ohio as an occasional replacement for another horror host show THE MORTICIAN.