EVILUN, real name Ruth Sprayberry, played Bad Movie Hostess Evilun the Witch Saturday nights at 10:15 for Double Features on KSLA in Shreveport, Louisiana. She hosted the shows Terror on Saturday Nights! and The Witching Hour from September 7th, 1963 to October 2nd, 1965.
Evilun’s sidekick was a witch named Malicea, played by Billie Jardine. Malicea crash-landed her broom in Shreveport and became Evilun’s apprentice.
February 19th, 1965 was when Terror on Saturday Nights! was retitled The Witching Hour for the rest of its run.
One of Evilun’s milestones came on March 14th, 1964 when horror legend Lon Chaney, Jr. was her guest.
She presented two of his schlockier movies – Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman (1943) and The Mummy’s Tomb (1942).
Evilun’s writers included John Renshaw and Henry Clements, the latter of whom hosted KSLA’s kiddie show on a riverboat set.
Sidekick Malicea’s actress Billie Jardine was from Dover, England and was married to a United States Air Force Officer named James Jardine.
As a sign of how times and terminology change over the decades, members of Evilun’s Fan Club were officially called “Terrorists.” I’m serious. See the sample card at right.
The very first flick shown on Terror on Saturday Nights! was King of the Zombies (1941) on September 7th, 1963. Double Features began the following Saturday night with The Mad Ghoul (1943) and The Mysterious Doctor (1943).
Additional Psychotronic treasures presented by Evilun and Malicea included The Curse of the Faceless Man (1958), Dr. Cyclops (1940), It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958), and the dinosaurs on an island of isolated women anti-classic Untamed Women (1952).
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