Category Archives: Movie Hosts

September 12, 2011 · 12:02 am

MOVIE HOSTS: GHOULARDI

 From January of 1963 to December of 1966 Ernie Anderson, AKA Ghoulardi, ruled the  Friday night airwaves in Cleveland with his b-movie show. To give you an idea of how popular his show was, Ghoulardi did what some of the top entertainers of their day consistently failed to do – HE BEAT JOHNNY CARSON’S TONIGHT SHOW IN THE RATINGS! Carson may have owned the rest of the country, but on Friday nights in Cleveland and vicinity Ghoulardi was the REAL king.

Ghoulardi, along with Vampira and Zacherley, is part of the Holy Trinity (or Trimurti if you prefer) of the early b-movie show hosts who proved so popular they ensured that the American folk art of hosting Grade Z films would not be just a passing fad. Those three pioneers (if you’re from Chicago you can add Mad Marvin) became pop culture icons and helped demonstrate how much fun bad movie culture can be.

In Ghoulardi’s case his catch-phrases like “Stay sick” and  “Ova dey!” were the “Hikeeba!” of their day. Anderson’s look was iconic, too, and his green lab coat predated Doctor Madblood’s and Trace Continue reading →

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August 26, 2011 · 10:38 pm

MOVIE HOSTS: MOONA LISA

 My fellow movie host geeks and I need to seriously scour the world to find some better photographs of this lady. Moona Lisa (Lisa Clark in real life) was an active movie host for twelve years beginning in 1963. Though Moona Lisa is most often associated with San Diego’s Science Fiction Theater, her longest-lasting show, she also hosted Moona’s Midnight Madness in St Louis for over a year and for eighteen months had even stepped in to replace Continue reading →

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June 11, 2011 · 3:16 pm

ELVIRA AND WOLFMAN MAC TONIGHT

 Well, it’s the weekend, which of course turns one’s thoughts to Movie Hosts and B-Movies. I like to let people who are into these types of shows know what flicks are being shown this week. Elvira’s Movie Macabre, which to remind people, features recently-made episodes, not reruns of her 1980’s run with the show, is presenting the original Night of the Living Dead. As always, part of the fun with this flick is the way special effects have definitely passed it by, and another part of the fun is Continue reading →

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June 4, 2011 · 11:42 pm

WOLFMAN MAC AND ELVIRA TONIGHT

 Today instead of looking at a movie host of the past we’ll look at two who are still active. First up is the one and only Wolfman Mac, seen in the photo with his friend Boney Bob. Wolfman Mac hosts Chiller Drive-In, on which he shows the usual beloved B-movies of the past in the time-honored movie host tradition. Mac’s schtick is that a stereotypical pitchfork and torch-bearing mob once chased him into a haunted old drive-in where he met Boney Bob and began showing old, campy movies. Wolfman Mac’s show airs Saturday nights at 10pm on the cable channel called RetroTV. Tonight’s movie is Continue reading →

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May 29, 2011 · 7:56 pm

A VERY SON OF SVENGOOLIE MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND

 Yes, it’s another quick look at Rich Koz, star and writer of the Son of Svengoolie show from 1979-1986, later known as just plain Svengoolie like his predecessor Jerry Bishop. That second show was launched in 1995 and is still on the air. This glimpse at the work of the Babe Ruth of movie hosts deals with the schlocker Track of the Vampire. Sven does a sketch and a song parody about Continue reading →

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May 21, 2011 · 12:30 am

MOVIE HOSTS: STELLA FROM SATURDAY NIGHT DEAD (1984-1990)

This beautiful redhead is Stella, aka the Maneater from Manayunk (a section of  Philadelphia), as portrayed by the talented Karen Scioli. There are plenty of color photos of Stella out there but I think this b&w pic best captures her spirit. Karen Scioli wrote most of her material herself, in the style of Rich Koz, and was a stand-up comic before becoming a movie hostess.

People who like my bad movie reviews tend to like practicioners of the American folk-art of movie hosting and Karen Scioli was one of the best. And with all due respect to Elvira, as a lifelong breast man I believe Stella was the REAL “hostess with the mostest”. Continue reading →

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May 19, 2011 · 10:40 pm

MORE SON OF SVENGOOLIE

 For more bits from Rich Koz, the Babe Ruth of the old-time movie hosts, let’s move to his (and his predecessor’s) running jokes about Berwyn, a Polish American community near Chicago. In the 1960’s Cleveland’s late night movie host Ghoulardi poked fun at the Polish suburb of Parma. In the early 1970’s the original Svengoolie used Chicago’s equivalent of Parma, Berwyn, as the butt of frequent jokes. The mere mention of the name would prompt the sound byte of a disbelieving voice quipping “BURRRRR-wiiin?” Son of Svengoolie continued the tradition.

Here are  Continue reading →

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May 16, 2011 · 8:43 pm

YA WANTED MORE SON OF SVENGOOLIE? GLAD TO OBLIGE!

 Well, from the reaction to the latest of my various posts about Rich Koz AKA Son of Svengoolie (and eventually just plain Svengoolie, like his predecessor) readers are intrigued by the guy. Anybody who likes my Bad Movie reviews will love this guy, whose show Son of Svengoolie (1979-1986) was, in my opinion, the funniest of the old-school movie host programs. I never got to see the original shows, but thanks to books and youtube I’ve spent years enjoying “Sven’s” style. Here’s another link to one of his song parodies. Just 2 minutes in length. The occassion was Continue reading →

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May 12, 2011 · 12:24 am

BAD MOVIES: SON OF SVENGOOLIE STRIKES AGAIN

My fondness for bad movies is no secret and what would bad movies be without America’s movie hosts, those men and women who adopted funny/spooky personas to introduce them to us and make wry, sarcastic remarks about the schlockier ones, especially those superannuated flicks that were all some local channels could afford decades ago. My favorite has always been Chicago’s Rich Koz, better known as Son of Svengoolie and later, just plain Svengoolie. This blog is loaded with references to Rich Koz, the man I consider to be the Aristophanes (just to get pretentious for a moment) of movie hosts. Here are links to some bits about a man who deserves to be known by all bad movie lovers, if only because his influence has been the most extensive and his style the most imitated. Comedy was the key to Koz’s appeal. Here are Continue reading →

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October 21, 2010 · 11:32 pm

HALLOWEEN SEASON DIVERSION: SON OF SVENGOOLIE

Rich Koz is, in my opinion, the one man whose work would go into a time capsule if I had to pick just one example of the American folk-art form of movie hosting. I know he wasn’t around before Vampira or Zacherle but his work is pretty much the Gold Standard when it comes to those wonderful old local and/or syndicated movie host shows of the past.

As Son of Svengoolie, Rich Koz was the official “inheritor” of Jerry Bishop’s original Svengoolie, the Hippie Vampire, who starred on Chicago’s Screaming Yellow Theater in the very early 70’s. With Bishop’s blessing, (and Bishop even did the very first voice-over introduction for his succesor’s new show) Koz debuted as “Son Of Svengoolie” in the Windy City in 1979. The show won multiple Chicago Emmies with its brilliant blend of schlocky movies, song parodies and comedy sketches that often parodied scenes from the campy horror films being shown. Koz mostly wrote all his own material and brought a wry, sometimes snarky, drive-time DJ sensibility to the format.

Yes, I know all the major markets in the U.S. have had plenty of their own movie hosts but I’ve sampled pretty much all of them and I think Koz was the best and certainly the one whose influence has been the most far-reaching.  Son of Svengoolie went off the Chicago (and some syndicated locales) airwaves in 1986, then was revived by Rich Koz for guest-bits on his 1989 venture “The Koz Zone” before returning to his own show as just plain Svengoolie (no relation to the old radio show Just Plain Bill) in 1995…AND THAT SHOW IS STILL ON THE AIR! To me, Rich Koz and his vampiric alter ego represent Chicago better than Carl Sandburg or even Mike Wilbon. I’ve mentioned Son of Svengoolie a few times on this blog already and I’ll continue to do so as well as post links to some examples of his work. Here’s a link from a 1985 episode of Koz’s show. The Godzilla remake was coming out and Son of Svengoolie was showing an old Godzilla flick while giving away tickets to the remake as a promotional bit. Here he and his Musical Director “Doug Graves” (Doug Scharf) perform “Godzilla’s Back” to the tune of “My Boyfriend’s Back”.  http://www.fuzzymemories.tv/screen.php?c=196  

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