lauren@vortex.UUCP (Lauren Weinstein) (02/26/84)
Elvira ("The Mistress of the Dark") is the current M.C. of the long
running "Fright Night" program on KHJ-TV (RKO-GENERAL TV channel 9) here
in L.A. (This is a sister station to RKO-GENERAL channel 9 in
New Jersey [WOR] -- and is another of the stations whose license is
in doubt due to General Tire's overseas financial dealings.)
For as far back as I can remember (and I've lived in L.A.
my entire life) KHJ has had such a program on the air, though it has
run at various times under other names (such as "Science Fiction Theater").
Other characters who have hosted this "generic" program on KHJ included
"Moona Lisa" (who was similar to Elvira in some respects), and, the
greatest of them all ... "The master of the macabre -- the epidomy of
evil, the most sinister man to crawl over the face of the Earth ...
SEEEEEEEEYMOOOOUUURRR!" Seymour was played by a KHJ staffer named
Larry Vincent who died a few years ago. It turned out that he didn't
need makeup to make his cheeks look sunken -- they really were that
way since he had been ill for a very long time.
But I digress. Elvira is played by Cassandra Peterson, who has become
something of a local celebrity in the area and has indeed attracted
some national attention. She "hosts" various really bad SF and horror
films -- I won't lower myself to naming them here. The same fellow
who produced the show for Seymour also produces for Elvira, a friend
of mine spent some time with him fairly recently and told me that he's
a rather interesting character, as one might expect. By the way,
Cassandra actually has very curly hair and uses some "mechanical
assistance" to produce her rather dramatic frontal appearance.
In my tape collection here somewhere I have the 3-D show that they
did once, including Elvira, "Pops" the guard, and "The Breather"
(various characters from the show) singing their own 3-D TV song.
Truly a, uh, "unusual" moment in television. By the way, each program
ends with a shot they pulled from some old film of a guy banging
a little gong very rapidly, and a super comes up that says
"A RANK AMATEUR PRODUCTION" (film buffs will catch the pun).
On one show, they let her do her own commercials -- she did spots
for a bunch of "Ronco" products. The one I remember the best was for
the "smokeless ashtray"...
"Did you know that Ronco tested the smokeless ashtray with
a blowtorch? Do you know what happened? It melted."
I have some bio material on Cassandra around here somewhere in my
media library if anyone really needs it...
--Lauren--jreuter@cincy.UUCP (Jim Reuter) (02/28/84)
I had the opportunity to see Elvira while in Colorado Springs for a job interview a month ago. The show was "Midnight Macabre", and the feature was the usual low grade horror stuff, with attempts at wit by Elvira during the breaks (she was a real cut-up :-). Somewhere in the final credits was information concerning joining the Elvira Fan Club. Really now! I don't remember what station I was watching. Jim Reuter (decvax!cincy!jreuter)
lauren@vortex.UUCP (Lauren Weinstein) (02/28/84)
By the way, while there is talk of "Movie Macabre" being syndicated nationally, it is still only a local program on KHJ-TV (9) here in L.A. (as far as I know, anyway...) Of course, there are a number of cable systems scattered around the country that take microwave feeds of L.A. independents including KHJ, so Elvira can indeed be seen in some other areas... --Lauren-- P.S. The Elvira fan club is a real gyp... $5.50 for a membership card, form letter, and 8 X 10 glossy -- at least that's what they claim they'll send... --LW--
lauren@vortex.UUCP (Lauren Weinstein) (02/29/84)
My syndication contact tells me that "Move Macabre" entered syndication behind my back... So, Elvira may soon be coming to your area. Big deal... --Lauren--