Aa late as the 1980s, the DC area still had two...Dick Dyzell on Channel 20, the eventual UPN and MNT station, and another fellow whose name slips my mind, who was actually based in Richmond on their PBS station, but was also carried on the Merrifield, VA independent public station that eventually became the anchor station of the MHz Network, which imports all sorts of good European crime drama for the 30+ stations around the country that are affiliated and on the web. The latter guy was even more low-rent than most, by intent, but still funnier than Svengoolie. Dyzell was also cartoon host Captain Twenty, but Gore De Vol had the more interesting series for young adults who hadn't been kids in the area and smitten with nostalgia. Bad public domain prints of good films tended to pop up on the public station show...De Vols offerings were definitely more in Count Floyd territory, if transmitted in better fidelity.
Gorgon, the host of Nightmare on Channel 11 in Fort Worth for many years when it was still an independent station, was the best. There used to be clips from his show on YouTube, but I can't find them anymore. Truly creepy stuff, and it's amazing how good they were on an almost non-existent budget. Not campy at all, and they scared the hell out of me. Gorgon was played by Bill Camfield, who was also Channel 11's kid show host Icky Twerp. I never knew that then, of course. I grew up watching him hosting monster movies on Saturday night and Three Stooges shorts on the weekdays. To quote our host, I miss the old days.
I was in Cleveland for Ghoulardi's short reign as a local sensation. One of his innovations was to use green screen (I think it was blue screen back then)to insert himself into the movies, running from giant grasshoppers or whatever. The clips shown (there seems to be very little footage that survived) don't really give a good picture of how fresh and funny his stuff was. There were a lot of rumors surrounding his sudden, unexplained, departure for Hollywood. One story was that he went too far with his schtick of blowing up stuff with firecrackers (toys, dolls, fruit)by strapping a cracker to a live mouse. Anyway, he was greatly missed, and Clevelanders of a certain age will respond like Pavlovian dogs to his catch phrases: "Stay sick", "turn blue", "cool it with the boom-booms", "Parma!", etc. The site doesn't mention that he was the father of film director Paul Thomas Anderson. Art Scott
Sudden and unexplained? Well, he'd recorded at least one comedy album with Tim Conway and became the Voice of ABC...seems like he did all right for himself.
I can't find any record of it now, but in the Austin area back then we had Chiller. The host was pretty fun and I think he was also called Chiller, if he had a name. Later for awhile we had Peter Lorre Jr. with a different show. (No relation to the original Lorre.) In recent years on cable is the inestimable Professor Griffin.
In the mid-1960s, Baton Rouge had Count Macabre hosting afternoon movies. He wore a cape and may have been made up like a vampire. I only remember seeing him on a black-and-white TV.
9 comments:
Aa late as the 1980s, the DC area still had two...Dick Dyzell on Channel 20, the eventual UPN and MNT station, and another fellow whose name slips my mind, who was actually based in Richmond on their PBS station, but was also carried on the Merrifield, VA independent public station that eventually became the anchor station of the MHz Network, which imports all sorts of good European crime drama for the 30+ stations around the country that are affiliated and on the web. The latter guy was even more low-rent than most, by intent, but still funnier than Svengoolie. Dyzell was also cartoon host Captain Twenty, but Gore De Vol had the more interesting series for young adults who hadn't been kids in the area and smitten with nostalgia. Bad public domain prints of good films tended to pop up on the public station show...De Vols offerings were definitely more in Count Floyd territory, if transmitted in better fidelity.
Gorgon, the host of Nightmare on Channel 11 in Fort Worth for many years when it was still an independent station, was the best. There used to be clips from his show on YouTube, but I can't find them anymore. Truly creepy stuff, and it's amazing how good they were on an almost non-existent budget. Not campy at all, and they scared the hell out of me. Gorgon was played by Bill Camfield, who was also Channel 11's kid show host Icky Twerp. I never knew that then, of course. I grew up watching him hosting monster movies on Saturday night and Three Stooges shorts on the weekdays. To quote our host, I miss the old days.
I don't remember Gorgon at all, but I do remember Icky Twerp. I don't know what that says about me.
I was in Cleveland for Ghoulardi's short reign as a local sensation. One of his innovations was to use green screen (I think it was blue screen back then)to insert himself into the movies, running from giant grasshoppers or whatever. The clips shown (there seems to be very little footage that survived) don't really give a good picture of how fresh and funny his stuff was. There were a lot of rumors surrounding his sudden, unexplained, departure for Hollywood. One story was that he went too far with his schtick of blowing up stuff with firecrackers (toys, dolls, fruit)by strapping a cracker to a live mouse. Anyway, he was greatly missed, and Clevelanders of a certain age will respond like Pavlovian dogs to his catch phrases: "Stay sick", "turn blue", "cool it with the boom-booms", "Parma!", etc. The site doesn't mention that he was the father of film director Paul Thomas Anderson.
Art Scott
Too bad no footage survived. He sounds like a class act.
Sudden and unexplained? Well, he'd recorded at least one comedy album with Tim Conway and became the Voice of ABC...seems like he did all right for himself.
Zachary loved to insert himself into movies as well...
I can't find any record of it now, but in the Austin area back then we had Chiller. The host was pretty fun and I think he was also called Chiller, if he had a name. Later for awhile we had Peter Lorre Jr. with a different show. (No relation to the original Lorre.) In recent years on cable is the inestimable Professor Griffin.
In the mid-1960s, Baton Rouge had Count Macabre hosting afternoon movies. He wore a cape and may have been made up like a vampire. I only remember seeing him on a black-and-white TV.
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