B-MOVIE HOSTESS: THE OLD LADY OF NIGHTMARE ALLEY (1957-1958)

THE OLD LADY OF NIGHTMARE ALLEY was the character who hosted the film show Nightmare! on KTLA in Los Angeles. She was played by the elderly actress Ottola Nesmith, who started in Silent Films in 1915 and appeared in over 100 movies, including Invisible Ghost with Bela Lugosi.

Nightmare! ran from October 1st, 1957 to October 7th, 1958. KTLA aired the program Tuesday nights at 9:30pm and produced 53 episodes. The show’s director was Loring d’Usseau, one of Nesmith’s sons, who was surprised to learn he would be directing his own mother (see below right).

Ottola’s Movie Hostess character The Old Lady eschewed the sex appeal approach of predecessors like Vampira and instead employed a memorable gimmick, albeit one which once got herself and KTLA in legal trouble.

The Old Lady was a deranged woman who claimed to be a fallen movie starlet living in a tiny apartment on Nightmare Alley with only her victrola and doll Boris to keep her company. She was like Sunset Boulevard‘s Norma Desmond on steroids and also had qualities of the Arsenic and Old Lace murderesses as well as the future Baby Jane.

(Yet the Los Angeles Times called her “pixielike”).

Ottola – in character – would insanely pretend to be the now “washed up” actress starring in whatever film was being shown that night. A side talent of Nesmith was her knack for imitating signatures, and she would open each episode by signing a forgery of the name of the movie’s starlet on her door.

The very first film shown on Nightmare! was Frankenstein, which meant Ottola “signed in” as female lead Mae Clarke and did her usual dark schtick of acting like a demented old has-been. That bit was repeated over the next few weeks with the lead actresses of each movie being signed in and “portrayed” by Nesmith.

While those episodes were being broadcast an unfortunate thing happened with Mae Clarke. Some viewers didn’t get that Ottola Nesmith was only pretending to be Clarke and fans started flooding Mae with letters expressing sympathy for the sorry state she had degenerated into.

Before long Clarke launched a lawsuit against KTLA and Ottola Nesmith for a million bucks. In the end no money exchanged hands but clarifications were supposedly made and Ottola never again signed in as Mae Clarke.

With that drama behind them KTLA, apparently deciding to try using sex appeal in at least some way for Nightmare!, hired leggy Joan Haig (at right) to make publicity appearances as Miss Nightmare. Haig never hosted or appeared on the program but her public appearances and resulting photos provided positive publicity for Nightmare!.

During its run, Ottola’s program presented the usual 1950s syndicated package of movies which ranged from classics like Dracula all the way down to Psychotronic favorites like Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man and Pillow of Death. The final film shown on Nightmare! was The Frozen Ghost on October 7th, 1958. 

After her Movie Hostess gig was over, Ottola Nesmith went on to other roles in television and movies, like Cheyenne and Inside Daisy Clover until retiring in 1969 at 80 years of age. 

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