DRACULINDA THE GHOUL-GIRL – Liz Herring, the Assistant Program Director at WRAL-TV in Raleigh, NC put her theater experience to good use as North and South Carolina’s Movie Hostess Draculinda the Ghoul-Girl. Draculinda hosted films on Nightmare, which aired Saturday nights at 11:00pm.
Nightmare ran from September 12th, 1959 to at least August 20th, 1960. Liz Herring stated that she patterned the character on the ghoulish woman in Charles Addams cartoons; the one who would be given the name Morticia when The Addams Family debuted in 1964.
This Movie Host show would open with thunder and lightning as well as screams and the sound of a werewolf howling. Fake blood would drip down the screen. That would be followed by the appearance of Draculinda, seated on a stool with a spotlight on her.
After welcoming viewers to Nightmare, Draculinda would do a comedic monologue written by WRAL-TV’s Diane Beddell and Bill Ray. The monologues would often target political figures in the Carolinas. Other bits of business included ghoulish jokes like Draculinda hawking her book 1,000 Ways to Bitter Serve Your Fellow Man.
Some viewers complained about Nightmare being too scary for television, so the studio added a disclaimer to the show’s opening – “This program is not for children and the faint-hearted. We will not be held responsible for the consequences.” Ironically, despite that warning, many of Draculinda’s fans were children of single-digit ages who would write her letters.
Grown-ups and college students were also heavily into Nightmare and its Movie Hostess. At the University of North Carolina, the Everett Dorm named Draculinda their official Sweetheart. They even invited her to their holiday Yhoul Party but she had to decline.
By the summer of 1960 Liz was married and her husband Jim was very supportive of her on-air alter ego. He was happy that she had so many fans but was a bit wary of some of the crackpot letters she would receive.
Far too little information has come down to us regarding this hostess and her show. From newspaper advertisements we know that among the movies she presented were Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Invisible Man, Calling Dr. Death, The Black Cat, Dead Man’s Eyes, The Old Dark House, Son of Dracula, Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, She-Wolf of London, The Mad Doctor of Market Street and The Mummy’s Ghost.
FOR OTHER MOVIE HOST ENTRIES CLICK HERE: https://glitternight.com/category/movie-hosts/
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Logged, thank you!
Fantastic post. I have never heard of the B-Movie hostess Draculinda before but found your post engaging to read. The films that she hosted in her show brought to mind classic monster movies I have seen and love.
I understand, thank you!
Thanks for another trip into movie night.
I’m happy to do it, thanks!
thank you for sharing. i’m a big fan of dracula’s novel. have a nice day!
Thank you for such a nice comment!
What a great post. Absoluely fascinating in fact.
Thank you for the kind words!
I love the movies she featured but am confused by the political monologues at the beginning of her shows. I tune in to B-movie shows to hear interesting behind the scenes info, etc. for the upcoming movie. Interesting post. Thanks!
I understand. Back when she was on the air local shows limited their political jokes to broad strikes at both sides. Like if one politician was fat or bold or suffered a mild embarrassment over something then good-natured jokes would be made to tweak them about it. It’s not like today where accusations of being the new Hitler fly so often that they become meaningless.
Too funny! Thanks for the info.
You’re very welcome!