Never
before has a TV horror host described in print what it
was like to be part of that cult movement of the 20th
Century, in which packages of science-fiction, horror
and fantasy movies were introduced by colorful characters
who often emulated supernatural beings. These media entitities,
garbed as vampires, werewolves, ghouls and other grotesqueries
inspired by the cinema, espoused graveyard humor in a
spoofery of the very movie material being presented. Generations
grew up on these new-fanged beings, and thousands of young
viewers were shaped and changed forever by the humor and
tomfoolery of the hosts who came into their living rooms
or bedrooms on Saturday night, often after the Witching
Hour. In my case I never wore a costume or assumed the
guise of a fictional being - rather, I was my ordinary
self, often dressed mundanely in suit and tie, describing
the movies from my perspective as a "human"
and interviewing those who did choose to wear a costume,
or who were part of the 20th Century world of genre entertainment.
For six years (1979-84) I hosted "Creature
Features" at KTVU, Channel 2, in Oakland,
CA, and it is those fascinating times I have tried to
resurrect in I WAS A TV HORROR HOST. I was preceded by
Bob Wilkins, one of the
most popular TV personalities in the San Francisco-Bay
Area from 1971-78, and his story is told along with mine.
But more importantly, I
WAS A TV HORROR HOST offers my exclusive interviews
with the best of the genre stars and those who rose up
in the ranks to become icons: Leonard
Nimoy, William Shatner and Gene
Roddenberry of "Star Trek" fame. Read
about the betrayal of Roddenberry behind the scenes, and
how Nimoy almost walked out on me the day of a two-hour
TV special that highlighted all the important aspects
of his career. Christopher Lee, star of the "Dracula"
films from Britain's Hammer Studios. He also started to
walk out on me but paused at the last moment and reconsidered,
and lived not to regret it.
Vincent Price,
the star of the Edgar Allan Poe series
from American-International. He tried to deny his heritage
of horror, but finally came around when spooning with
his wife Coral Browne prevailed.
Roger Corman,
the man who helped to raise the low-budget
movie into cult status, and who helped to make Vincent
Price a horror star, and who gave a boost to the career
of Francis Ford Coppola. Always open and friendly to me.
Arnold Schwarzenegger,
from a time early in his career when he vowed "I'll
be back," prophesizing the coming of "Conan
the Barbarian." And read about the curvaceous cocktail
waitress who couldn't come to his hotel room, and why
. . . and what Arnie suggested to solve the problem.
I also present profiles on four other
TV horror hosts, all of whom I consider major contributors
to the dark "art form." Elvira,
Mistress of the Dark, who brought sophisticated
voluptuousness and a certain soft-fleshed and shapely
intellectualism to the art form at a TV station in Los
Angeles . . . Ghoulardi,
the one-time horror king of Cleveland, Ohio, who went
on to become network TV's greatest voice, especially when
it came to opening each episode of "The Love Boat"
. . . Zacherley, one of
the very first during the 1950s to shape and refine the
very essence of what a good monstrous horror host consisted
of . . . and Joe Bob Briggs,
the Drive-In Movie Critic who has brought a new level
of respect to the low-budget movies of the past with such
deep-felt and well-written books as "Profoundly Disturbing."
There is more to savor:
Lucille Ball:
Few know it, but the real reason to love Lucy is that
in 1966 she single-handedly kept "Star Trek"
from being dumped from the NBC-TV lineup. It's a fascinating
story which Lucy told me one night back in 1975 when I
was taking wine with her in the backyard of her Beverly
Hills home, with Jackie Gleason and Art Carney listening
in.
Ray Bradbury:
No other living writer so impressed me as a child than
this master of the fantasy adventure story . . . Meet
the hard-working and dedicated Bradbury as I met him,
behind his typewriter in his Beverly Hills office . .
. and later when he came to San Francisco to describe
all of us as "Disney's Children."
Robert Bloch:
The man who created Norman Bates in "Psycho"
could send shivers down your spine, and every time I met
Bloch he had me dying . . . with laughter. His ever-present
need to spoof the English language and engage in "word
play" was his personal trademark, in sharp contrast
to the horror images he created in his novels and instilled
in the minds of millions of readers. To think that the
man who gave taking a shower a bad name had such a dazzling
wit.
William Castle:
The King of the Horror Movies with a Gimmick . . . the
most charming con-man I have ever met, who may have been
cursed to death by those who felt his greatest movie,
"Rosemary's Baby," was sacrilegious.
The Faceless Ones of "Star Wars"
Fame: With the masks, metal and make-up ripped away, meet
the Riders of the Universe and see them as they really
look: Anthony Daniels,
who played a paranoid robot they called Threepio; David
Prowse, who brought new meaning to villains as
Darth Vader; and Peter Mayhew,
the cuddly Chewbacca.
Ray Harryhausen:
The protege of the Man Who Moved King Kong, Willis O'Brien
. . . Harryhausen stepped into his teacher's shoes to
become the new master of stop-motion animation with a
series of classic sci-fi and fantasy movies that spanned
three decades, and set new standards for special effects
in feature films. Gentle, avuncular, prophetic.
Sara Karloff:
Yes, the daughter of the Frankenstein Monster. The woman
who made the Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney
Sr. and Jr. stamps a reality, the woman who has kept alive
the memory and spirit of her historic father throughout
the land . . . and yet not an evil thought has she passed
on to others, being a benevolent soul not unlike her father.
George Romero: The director of "Night of the Living
Dead" who almost endured a living death of his own,
when disaster almost consumed him in the wake of his great
hit . . . and how he struck back in new ways, to regain
the mantle of horror-film directing.
Himan Brown:
He created and produced radio's "Inner Sanctum Mysteries,"
introducing the creaking-door sound effect and the ghoulish,
pun-driven horror host that became the standard during
the Golden Age of Radio, and which later would be imitated
by the costumed TV horror host. In two interviews he told
me the inside history of how it all came about, and even
how he got the idea for the creaking-door sound effect.
Other Radio Horror Hosts: The Man in Black
on "Suspense" . . . The Mysterious Traveler
. . . The Strange Dr. Weird . . . The Shadow . . . The
Whistler . . . Nancy, the Cackling Hag on "The Witch's
Tale" . . . Satan, the Wise Black Cat at Nancy's
side . . . The Insane Desert Rat on "The
Hermit's Cave" . . . Arch Oboler of "Lights
Out" and Wyllis Cooper of "Quiet Please."
Horror Stories, Creepily Eerie But True: What was the
slimy thing dripping from the overhead pipes in the wine
cellar of a posh San Francisco restaurant the night I
met the Demonologists, Ed and Lorraine Warren? . . .
What invisible entity of evil did my lovely
wife Erica sense was standing
in the doorway of the wine cellar that the Demonologists
couldn't see? . . . And was The Slaughter House in Oakland,CA,
haunted by spectral creatures of evil, and did this diabolical
force take control of a terrier dog, filling its eyes
with a dangerous warning?
All these stories are told through the
historic research and personal interviews I have carried
out through my years . . . and with the added visual power
of 559 photographs, many of them appearing in print for
the very first time. I hope you will enjoy the trip and
that it will thrill you a little and chill you a little.
So get a good grip on your nerves, assuming you can, and
settle back while I spin this year's most startling narrative
designedexclusively for those who love horror and science
fiction in any form . . .
I WAS A TV HORROR HOST
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Creatures at Large Press
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John Stanley
1082 Grand Teton Drive
Pacifica, CA 94044
