TARANTULA GHOUL – Actress Suzanne Waldron’s performance on stage in Macbeth captured the attention of the bosses at Portland, Oregon’s KPTV. They hired her to host House of Horror, their late-night B-Movie show, in a similar style to Vampira down in Los Angeles.
Waldron adopted the character Tarantula Ghoul, whose look was patterned after cartoonist Charles Addams’ Morticia in order to stand out from Vampira. Suzanne often emerged from a coffin in her hostess persona.
Tarantula Ghoul took Portland and vicinity by storm and could have been a phenomenon if not for the way KPTV made the idiotic decision to air House of Horror in the bizarre timeslot of Wednesday nights at 10:30pm (sometimes 10pm).
Most of the classic Bad Movie shows aired on Friday or Saturday nights, which were ideal for audiences to stay up late watching the movie and the host’s antics. Trapped in the mire of a late-night middle of the week timeslot, the brilliant Tarantula Ghoul’s show sadly lasted from just October 9th, 1957 to November 26th, 1958.
Still, during her brief run hosting House of Horror, the talented Suzanne Waldron managed several cultural milestones amid her schtick.
*** A TV Star Parade article about her stated “Tarantula Ghoul pokes morbid fun at everything within range of Portland’s KPTV” and referred to her “witty but acid tongue.” The article described her as a cross between “the Charles Addams woman and a road company Tallulah Bankhead.” Continue reading
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