Did your city/town have a late night "Creature Feature" host?

[nolabear]

There were some GREAT ones during the heyday. Count Floyd was a fabulous takeoff on them. But if you're of an age and lived anywhere near a city, it's likely that local TV had a monster movie host that was fabulous to watch.

I was lucky. The amazing, bizarre, campy Morgus the Magnificent ruled New Orleans for decades. He was as famous as any celebrity there. And when I was a kid he both scared me and broke up the scary.

Whaddaya got?

[cloudbase]

1. Bill Cardille.

Pittsburgh.

[nolabear]

5. I lived in Pittsburgh for a while and heard about him.

I think I was far too late (80s) but he was an icon.

[cloudbase]

61. That was back in the '60s.

Left the 'burgh in '73.

[livetohike]

62. Chilly Billy. He was an icon and he just passed away last year.

Spent many Saturday nights in the 60’s babysiitting and being scared to death!

[SamKnause]

2. The Cool Ghoul.

Also a puppet named Hattie the Witch.

[DBoon]

3. Seymour!

[nolabear]

6. He sounds great. Sorry I can't see him.

[exboyfil]

59. That is mine as well - Southern California

I also had one in Huntington, WVa before we moved in 1969 (Gaylord)

[forgotmylogin]

4. St. Louis

[nolabear]

7. The sidekick is all important I think.

Debonair devil.

[Laffy Kat]

51. He sounds kind of like a Transylvanian Christopher Walken.

[forgotmylogin]

75. You mean Christopher Walken isn't from Transylvania?

[MrScorpio]

8. Here in Detroit, we had Sir Graves Ghastly

Mid day, though

[nolabear]

10. OMG that laugh!

I read recently that at an auction of Dark Shadows memorabilia a bat on a string that was "flown" by a stage hand with a fishing pole sold for thousands of dollars. There's one in this opening.

I might have been a little too fond of that stuff...

[Leith]

15. Saturday Night Belonged to The Ghoul!!

Apparently he was from Cleveland, but channel 50 ran his shows, too.



He made scary movies hilarious.

[MrScorpio]

50. Yep, that's why I didn't mention him

Sir Graves, on the other hand, was all Detroit.

[sweetloukillbot]

9. Edmus Scary in Phoenix

Turned out to be a pedophile or something. Ended up in Florida and reinvented himself 20-30 years later as some sort of YouTube star.

[nolabear]

12. Why am I not shocked?

[dubyadiprecession]

17. None of us are shocked, they are all freaks!

[sweetloukillbot]

20. I was shocked to see him show up on Cracked for his youtube career...

I figured he'd have disappeared into jail and then anonymity...

[Hayduke Bomgarte]

11. Trebors, (Roberts)

Thursday night Creature Features. To my great dismay, besides only running during the summer when school was out, it only ran for 2-3 years.

It had become something of a routine for a few of the neighboring kids. or myself, to host the viewing, after which we'd camp in whose ever backyard and wonder all night what would creep out of the bushes and get us.

I haven't thought about that in years.

[nolabear]

13. What fun! I only did that once. I still remember that The Screaming Skull was playing.

[Laffy Kat]

52. The "Screaming Skull" gave me my very first nightmare that I actually remember.

[montana_hazeleyes]

54. That sounds like great fun!

It's wonderful to have those memories.

[FuzzyRabbit]

14. Seattle - The Count

"Nightmare Theater" ran on KIRO-TV (channel 7) in Seattle from 1965 - 1978. It was shown every Friday night at 11:30. It was hosted by "The Count" who introduced classic horror movies. If you were a kid and lived in the Seattle area during this period, you would have been well aquainted with The Count, who was a beloved local television fixture.

The Count was played by Joe Towey, who passed away in 1989.

[nolabear]

16. I arrived in Seattle just a little too late!

I've heard of him but only when he died. We got here in '87.

But Seattle Cable Access kept me going for YEARS. The Goddess Kring, The Rev. Bruce Howard, some very, very strange stuff.

[SonofDonald]

33. I remember him

I moved to Gig Harbor in 1966 and remember watching him, had forgotten till now.

[trc]

18. Could not remember his name, but google knows all

Bob Wilkins, hosted Creature Features in the San Francisco Bay area...loved this stuff as a kid.

[link:

|

[nolabear]

19. LOL, he's so reasonable. You just know there are bodies in his basement.

[montana_hazeleyes]

55. There he is!

It's been such a long time I couldn't remember his name either, but figured he'd show up on this thread. We loved that show.

[Yavin4]

21. Washington, DC metro area: Count Gore De Vol, on Channel 20

--On Edit--

Holy shit! The Count is still around!!!! Good lord!!!

https://www.youtube.com/user/GoreDeVol/videos

[FSogol]

22. Yup, that's the one I watched. N/t

[FSogol]

69. I actually have two 9353 ablums. They were from Bethesda and opened a lot of shows back

in the DC harDCore days.

[FSogol]

23. Remember second city tv's spoof of these guys?

. Starring Joe Flaherty

[nolabear]

25. Yeah, I mentioned him in the OP. When I lived in Pbgh

sCTV was on and the guy who played him (Joe Flaherty? Flannery?) was from there so he kept making references like the "movie" The Creature From West Mifflin. We liked bein in on the jokes

[FSogol]

66. Sorry, late at night on my phone and only read your subject line. BTW, these

characters were kind of the precursor to MST3K. They treated the source material reverently all while mocking it. Seymour (Larry Vincent) on a LA channel even appeared on screen during the film to add quips.

good thread.

[lunasun]

24. Svengoolie Chicago although he always mentioned Berwyn a suburb as a joke

On for decades . I do not know if his humor translates outside of the area

[kysrsoze]

37. I love Son of Svengoolie! Watched him as a kid. He's syndicated in L.A. too.

I’ve seen his show here. Not sure where else the show can be seen.

Berwyn’s alright too.

[lunasun]

71. Berwyn has been a running joke for decades. First vid has some history

[Kittycow]

38. I watch him on ME TV now on Saturday nights.

He has an interesting back story of how he more or less inherited the show

He's such a ham that I always see him as being the class clown in school

I'm in Portlandia.

[lunasun]

70. cool I had no idea he was on in other towns !!! On saturday nights here it was old three stooges

for an hour followed by Svengoolie with a creature feature on Ch26, which i guess is part of ME TV now.
Havent watch him for awhile but got to meet him one time . A hoot in person and seemed like he was enjoying being out with fans.

I was there early when he arrived so I saw him before the event from afar setting up and he was a good guy to the venue crew there
Sometimes if you see a persona before they meet the crowds you realize what an acting job it is or you see them treat help like crap be a jerk etc.
Not him!!

Yes years ago he started as "Son of Svengoolie"
Jerry G Bishop a DJ from WCFL was the original
WCFLAM stood for Chicago Federation of labor
It was owned by the Chicago Federation of Labor,
imagine that!

[Kittycow]

80. I think he sent in script ideas or something

when he was in high school to the original show. Maybe movie suggestions? I can't quite remember.

Some kind of customizing company made him a super tricked out coffin a couple years ago for a surprise. They presented it at a fan event. (IIRC, at the Halloween costume contest.) It's really special.

I especially enjoy all the featured movie trivia he tells us throughout the show. I'm also really impressed that he's a great cartoonist when he effortlessly scribbles out a Pictionary type game sometimes. (I suck at solving even the easy ones!)

He really does seem like a great guy so I'm glad it's true I'm also randomly happy to see other fans here

(Although confidentially, I want to throttle that yellow rubber chicken sometimes ).

[mikeysnot]

76. That's who I watched

in Chicago...

[geardaddy]

83. We have Svengoolie here in the Twin Cities, too.

Must be a syndicated show.

[Sneederbunk]

26. Omaha: Cliff Hanger

[RandySF]

27. Scream Theatre

[Lint Head]

28. Sir Cecil Creep

[ThoughtCriminal]

84. ++

Remember him well!

[SonofDonald]

29. McMinnvile Oregon 1964, 65, 66 ?

A woman but I can't remember her name, "Honey West" comes up but she may have hosted a different format if that's a real character.

Ann Francis comes to mind but she may have been Honey West, the look of the creature feature host is very close to what Ann Francis looked like back then, long blonde hair, tall, and maybe a mole.

It's just been way too long and the memory is fuzzy, I had my own B&W tv at five y/o so I saw lots of scary/sci-fi movies from 1964-66.

I'll ask my sister, I bet she remembers as she is 18 months older.

[nolabear]

40. Ann Francis was Honey West. She was great!

Didn't last long but next to Emma Peel she was awesome.

[SonofDonald]

46. Okay so I got part of it right, I haven't heard back

From my sister but maybe tomorrow, wasn't Honey West a detective or private eye or such?.

And oh yes, Emma Peel and Mr Steed.

[kimbutgar]

30. We have one in The SF Bay Area located out of Santa Rosa

With the fires this week I wonder if they will show it?

[TreasonousBastard]

31. ZACHERLEY! Those of us kids of a certain age in NYC and Philadelphia were always late for school...

the morning after.

[Still Blue in PDX]

73. My mom had a couple of Zacherley's anthologies and I read them when I was way too young.

I gave book reports on them and the teacher fussed at my mom, who told the teacher that I could read anything I wanted to.

My mom was awesome.

[procon]

32. Los Angeles had the best, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. nt

[nolabear]

41. Oh, Elvira. And she was so cute both inand out of character.

I loved her!

[Laffy Kat]

53. She was syndicated. I remember her. nt

[hibbing]

34. Omaha- Dr. Sanguinary

He wore green makeup red lips and eyes and wore a lab coat. Great show, would be the Saturday Night Creature Feature. Just like all the rest he had silly skits, he had an Igor in a cage. Was fun when we were young.

On Edit- Per your post in another thread, this is the show that I first saw The Tingler on.

Peace

[nolabear]

42. Oh The Tingler!

Love the name Dr. Sanguinary too.

[Binkie The Clown]

35. First there was Vampira, and then Seymour, and finally Elvira, Mistress of the Dark.

I got to meet Elvira (Cassandra Peterson) once in the mid 1980s. Very nice lady. Not like Elvira at all.

On edit: I grew up in the San Fernando Valley, CA.

[nolabear]

43. She's a cute little redhead, right? I like her out of character too.

[FSogol]

68. She starred with Julie Brown on a comedy show, "Just Say Julie" in the early 90s.

In one bit, they were attacked by a cleavage seeking tv camera. Funny stuff.

[Binkie The Clown]

79. I wouldn't say "little". She's taller than me by a couple inches, but then I'm short for my size. nt

[Aristus]

36. We had "Creature Features" on TV when I was a little kid in the 70's.

But it was the local station when I was a teenager in the 80's that really had an effect on me.

Our local station KCPQ-13 (long since bought and networked by Fox), was originally a locally-owned, independent station. Late at night on the weekends, they would play old science fiction and horror films, usually uncensored, and often with limited commercials. It was ideal for recording movies onto VHS (that's how long ago it was.)

This format was my introduction to films such as "Rollerball", "Zardoz", "2001, A Space Odyssey", a whole host of Hammer horror flicks, and war films such as "Apocalypse Now", "Go Tell The Spartans", and "Paths Of Glory".

As a shy, introverted kid, I lived my life for those late weekend nights, slouching on the sofa in the basement, watching these old films, and enjoying the rather low-rent thrill of it all. Even the station's ultra-cheap logo, a small boat sailing through the 'Q' in KCPQ, with a small chorus singing "Kay-See-Pee-Kew!" and a yacht-bell going *ding-ding*.

[nolabear]

44. I remember. I moved to Seattle in 87 so caught the end of

Of those years. I said somewhere that Seattle Public Access TV was my life back then. It rivaled anything on TV for weird! Too bad about Fox.

[Laffy Kat]

39. OMG. In Memphis, in the 60s, we had Savid and "Fantastic Features."

It came on right after "The Honeymooners" and the opening, below, scared me to death every time!!

[nolabear]

45. LOL! Pretty scary until he spoke.

He might win for special effects.

[Laffy Kat]

47. I know! LOL.

He was from Tupelo, Mississippi and you can hear his accent. His real name was Watson Davis. Savid is Davis spelled backwards. He was an institution in the Mid-South.

[Laffy Kat]

48. That black and white opening was filmed in Overton Park in Memphis,

On a foggy morning. Davis was actually the advertising manager of the Malco Theater chain in Memphis.

[iamateacher]

49. Dr. Paul Bearer

In Raleigh, NC

[pnwest]

56. Indiana, we had Sammy Terry (as in cemetery)

Just as cheesy as the name suggests, LOL!
https://goo.gl/images/1rcRVd

[sazemisery]

57. Tulsa, OK - The Uncanny Film Festival and Camp Meeting

http://www.mazeppa.com/Mazeppa1.html

Gailard Sartain as Dr. Mazeppa Pompazoidi
Gary Busey as Teddy Jack Eddy

I partied with these guys at Leon Russell's home and recording studio during the early '70's.

[Runningdawg]

72. Loved it!

Basements all over the Tulsa viewing area resembled those circles on the 70's show when the Dr was in. True originals, great memories!

[pressbox69]

58. The late great

John Zacherle. R.I.P.

[Eugene]

60. Boston - early 1970s - "The Ghoul" on Channel 56

Last edited Wed Oct 11, 2017, 07:16 AM - Edit history (1)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Sweed

In the 1980s, that station carried "Son of Svengoolie."

[Lars39]

63. Nashvilles had several....

http://www.nashvillescene.com/news/article/13040441/nashevil-from-sir-cecil-creape-to-dr-gangrene-a-history-of-nashville-horror-hosts

[woodsprite]

64. We had Dr. Shock from Philly and Elvira.

I'm not sure Dr. Shock did the late night though. I used to watch him with his daughter "Bubbles" on Saturday afternoons. Elvira is the only one I remember from late night, unless you include Geraldo Rivera

[SummerSnow]

65. I lived in NYC and watched Creature Feature on channel 5 in the 70's

We had a guy named 'The Creep' He wore these dark glasses. He really scared me when I was a kid. I found a video of him

He would talk but never moved his mouth.

[Ohiya]

67. Ghoulardie from Cleveland

Fritz the Night Owl in Columbus

[Still Blue in PDX]

74. Victor Ives, host of Sinister Cinema in Portland.

[link:

|

[Hoyt]

77. Georgia - Bestoink Dooley.

[steve2470]

78. Saint Petersburg FL (90 miles SW of Orlando): Dr. Paul Bearer

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creature_Feature_(WTOG)

Creature Feature was a TV horror movie series on WTOG in St. Petersburg, Florida, from 1973 to 1995. The films were hosted by Dick Bennick Sr. (November 3, 1928 - February 18, 1995) as Dr. Paul Bearer, who hosted a different cheap horror film every Saturday afternoon. Bennick created the character at WGHP in High Point, North Carolina for the station's Shock Theater in the mid-to-late 1960s after his previous persona, Count Shockula, proved less than satisfactory.

The humorous Bearer character was a pun-spewing, bad-joke-telling host who spoke in a gravelly voice with a halting speech pattern. His usual attire was a long-tailed vintage tuxedo with his hair parted down the middle and slicked straight down the sides, with heavy mascara and grease paint. His skewed gaze, which Bennick perfected by turning his one artificial eye outward, only contributed to the atmosphere. He also twisted around some words and names to reflect the horror atmosphere—he frequently called the horror films "horrible old movies", and the city that WTOG's studios were based in "St. Creaturesburg".

One typical joke started with a close up of a hammer in Paul's hand. He strikes a package of Wrigley's Spearmint gum several times with the hammer, then looks up at the camera and says "I'm just sitting here, beating my gums." Bearer also aired occasional novelty songs, such as Tom Lehrer's "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park," to which he would often lip-sync while pretending to accompany himself on a matte-black-painted baby grand piano.

He also participated in the city's annual Gasparilla Pirate Festival, riding in or on top of a vintage Cadillac hearse as part of the station's promotion.

[Cracklin Charlie]

81. Memphis had Sivad.

We were so scared until an older kid told us that Sivad is Davis spelled backward.

[geardaddy]

82. We had Horror Incorporated in the Twin Cities

[csziggy]

85. Orlando had Saturday afternoon science fiction film host Art Grindle

He actually was a car dealer who had an outrageous style, but he sponsored the Saturday Afternoon Creature Feature on the ABC affiliate in Orlando. Since my parents didn't get cable until after I left for college, and their antenna was turned to pick up the Tampa stations, I had to go to a friend's house to watch the Creature Feature.

Unfortunately it does not seem as though any of Art Grindle's commercials are on YouTube, but there are some of his son's if you hunt for Artie Grindle. Here is Art's obituary: http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-06-14/news/os-art-grindle-obituary-20120613_1_artie-grindle-art-grindle-dealership

[steve2470]

86. awesome, I had totally forgotten about Art Grindle! nt

[Callmecrazy]

87. Las Vegas had the Vegas Vampire

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegas_Vampire