Vampira
Maila Nurmi
Nurmi developed Vampira for a Halloween party where she went as Morticia Adams. At the time it was still cartoon strip by Charles Addams.
April 30, 1954 through April 2, 1955.
The KABC show was a hit but Vampira refused to sell her rights to the character to ABC. KHJ-TV Los Angeles picked the show up briefly in 1956.
Vampira appeared in the 1959 film Plan 9 From Outer Space. She told Boxoffice that Wood’s dialogue was so awful she sought and received permission to perform her entire role in a mute and spellbound manner she referred to as “Maila in an Alpha state.”
In 1981, KHJ-TV hired Nurmi to recreate The Vampira Show, creative differences ensued and Nurmi quit. The birth of Elvira. Nurmi sued but lost when she could not afford to pay legal fees out of her only income, Social Security.
Fritz the Night Owl
“Nite Owl Theatre” on WBNS-TV from 1974–1991, winning 5 local emmys over the years.
Fritz still hosts movie nights at The Grandview Theatre in Columbus, Ohio.
Seymour
Larry Vincent.
From 1969 to 1974 Vincent was the host for the horror shows Fright Night on KHJ-TV and Seymour’s Monster Rally on KTLA. Also featuring his other character, Banjo Billy.
Acerbic and bawdy, there were always surprises with Seymour. He didn’t play it safe.
Fans were known as Fringies and Seymour made as much fun of them as he did the “turkey” movies he showed.
Seymours’s Certificate of Demerit for new Fringies.
Bob Wilkins
Creature Feature San Francisco
1971 to 1984
Movie facts, interviews, and Bob’s unique commentary on the movies had Creature Feature often beating Saturday Night Live in the ratings.
Dr. Morgus
Morgus first appeared on late night television on January 3, 1959, in the House of Shock. From the late 1950s into the 1980s Morgus hosted late night horror and sci-fi shows and did science experiments in between. His laboratory was over Old City Ice House, with a fire escape exit into Pirate’s Alley in the old French Quarter.
Morgus has discovered the speed of dark! Also the fictional fiction books “New Hope for the Dead” and “Molecules I have Known.”
Elvira Mistress of the Dark
When Maila Nurmi dropped out of the new KHJ Fright Night horror show, audtions were held and Cassandra Peterson ran against 200 other horror hostess hopefuls, and won the role. She and best friend Robert Redding came up with the slightly punkish vampire look after producers said no to a character modeled on Sharon Tate in Fearless Vampire Killers.
“Fright Night” was changed to Movie Macabre and aired in 1981.
Elvira has done two feature films, Elvira Mistress of the Dark(1988) and Elvira’s Haunted Hills (2001)
Joe Bob Briggs Drive-In Theatre
(John Bloom)
Host of Drive-In Theater on The Movie Channel 1986-1996 then four years on TNT hosting MonsterVision.
There is no finer host of movies than Joe Bob. You get background, analysis and random personal stories having nothing to do with the movie at all. Usually the stories were far more wonderful than the movies.
Joe Bob would have guests and characters helping out as well.
Movie ratings were typically like this:
“Eleven dead bodies. Four breasts. Multiple dead birds. Ax through the head, with split baseball cap. Bullet to the brain. Ax to the back. Claw hammer to the forehead. Voodoo Barbie doll decapitations. One shower-stall makeout session. Heads roll. Breasts roll. Foot rolls. Asthma-inhaler Fu. Cheerleading-trophy Fu. ”
Many clips on youtube for Joe Bob and he’s still writing movie reviews at his site Joe Bob Briggs
