A VERY HAPPY 90th BIRTHDAY TO ZACHERLEY! The original horror host! The Cool Ghoul himself! Of course, words fail when it comes to telling how much the guy means to me. Way back in 1958, John Zacherle was asked to host a late night horror movie show called Shock Theater: the newly-released to television classic Universal horror film package. Zacherle took the name of Roland (pronounced Row-LAND) and debuted on late night Philadelphia TV station WCAU-10. My mother was teenager at the time and later regaled me with tales of watching his show. She would stay up late to catch whatever insanity Roland was hurling at the TV screen; including breaking into the movie and inserting himself into the action at appropriate moments to liven things up. Roland, 
however, got so popular that he was snatched away to New York City and took the name of Zacherley. The Cool Ghoul also released several successful record albums (including his smash hit DINNER WITH DRAC) and even ran for President! 
The usual stupidity of TV station managers eventually saw the cancellation of just about every horror host in the land. But ever since, the Cool Ghoul has been making appearances all over the place and he is still the top of the horror hosts. I had the pleasure of meeting him a few years ago and he's just as hysterically funny in person. 
Once again, I'd like to wish John Zacherle the happiest of Happy Birthdays!
3 comments:
Aw, happy birthday Zach! We never really got into the horror host thing in England and I can't say I'm to miffed about it but as a youngster (ish) monster fan I remember seeing Zacherly in Famous Monsters of Filmland and I sort of figured him for having a bit more class than those who followed his trail of blood.
He's certainly the king of them all; no one ever approached him for class (as you mentioned) and genuine warmth. All the horror hosts that followed look up to him as the ultimate model of a horror host. The greatest horror host of them all.
It really is a shame England never had the opportunity to have horror hosts of their own. There was simply nothing greater as a kid than to turn on the TV late at night or (in my case) all Saturday afternoon and not only have classic horror movies to watch but also a horror host to introduce them and perform their silly skits in between commercial breaks. As a horror fan, one usually finds oneself looked upon as if mildly defective in the cranium. So there was nothing better (especially at that very delicate time between kiddiehood and teenage years) to not only have an adult role model who celebrated the horror genre but also to know that there were countless other fans out there just like yourself who loved these horror films. As a catalyst toward bringing horror fandom together, Zacherley (and other horror hosts like my own childhood fave Dr. Shock) deserve a great deal of the credit. For those of us who did grow up with a horror host, there is no bigger nostalgic rush than the mere mention of their names. A great deal of the love we have for the horror genre was nurtured in us very young by our local horror hosts. And Zacherley led the way.
Dr. Shock ruled!
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