VAMPIRA SHOCK THEATRE was hosted by Margaret “Marty” McGuire as Hawaii’s very own Vampira, no relation to Maila Nurmi’s original Los Angeles version from 1954-1955. McGuire’s program aired LIVE on Honolulu’s KTRG-TV Saturday nights at 8:30pm from November 3rd, 1962 until June 6th, 1964.
This Vampira was never as heavily made-up as the original but was sharp-tongued and charismatic. Vampira Shock Theatre‘s major sponsor was Island Lumber, but the undead hostess was known for her comedically off-beat and possibly ad-libbed on-air ads for various other products, all performed sitting up in her coffin.
Vampira’s harried assistant was Charles the Ghoul, played by local deejay John Henry Russell, who went on to appear in a few episodes of Hawaii 5-0 and did voice work in the movie Tora, Tora, Tora. McGuire herself worked at KTRG-Radio before her television gig as Vampira. Her husband was a Lt. Colonel stationed in Hawaii. The couple had two sons and a daughter. Continue reading
Balladeer's Blog 