WE, THE GUARDIANS OF THE GENRE, DO VOW TO ABSTAIN FROM ALL THAT IS MUNDANE AND REVEL IN AND GLORIFY ALL OF THE MANY WONDERS THAT COME WITH THE
ACCEPTANCE OF THE GREAT AND GOOD GENRES!
SCIENCE FICTION! FANTASY! HORROR!
In the sixth part of Zombzany and the Undead Doc Freak --
which I've titled "Doc Freak Disarmed" -- Zombzany regales his
viewers with a story about Zacherley running for president with the slogan “Put
a Ghoul in the White House.” Despite his fear of punishment, Freak enters the
tomb and tells Zombzany that according to his source, the slogan was “Put a
Vampire in the White House.” Zombzany refutes this claim and uses a spell to
dash Freak to the ground.
Zombzany sarcastically goes into an unflattering description
of the next film in the horror movie marathon and Freak can be heard in the
background screaming for Zombzany’s attention. At the conclusion of Zombzany’s soliloquy,
Freak confronts Zombzany, showing him that his spell has now removed Doc Freak’s
other hand. When Freak explains to Zombzany that without hands, he won’t be
able to serve his master his coffee, Zombzany attempts a regenerative spell to
restore Freak’s missing appendages.
The spell goes awry and Doc Freak is now missing both of his
arms!
Enjoy Zombzany and the Undead Doc Freak: Part Six -- Doc
Freak Disarmed.
In the second part of Zombzany and the Undead Doc Freak --
which I've titled "Freak Fails" -- Zombzany has fallen asleep sitting on
his throne waiting for his new zombie slave, Doc Freak, to return with his
coffee. Finally returning with a large cup, Doc Freak apologizes to
Zombzany for serving him hot chocolate instead of coffee, explaining to the
King of the Zombies that his stash is depleted. Zombzany is displeased with
being served “this childish swill” and returns the hot chocolate to Doc Freak –
sans mug.
Returning to business
at hand, Zombzany reiterates that he will be showing clips of the horror host Zacherley
during the horror movie marathon and giving the audience some insightful
background into the history of this TV legend. Doc Freak once again begins
hopping up and down with unbridled excitement and Zombzany is forced to use a
minor spell of sedation on Freak to get him back under control. Zombzany then
commands Doc Freak to produce the visual aids and begins regaling his viewers with
the origin of Zacherley.
No sooner has Zombzany finished with the first part of his retrospective
of Zacherley, than Doc Freak drops all the photos and other props to the ground,
making a complete mess of Zombzany’s tomb.
Enjoy Zombzany and the Undead Doc Freak: Part Two -- Freak Fails.
In the first part of Zombzany and the Undead Doc Freak --
which I've titled "Freak Seeks to be Deceased" -- Zombzany is once
again sitting on his throne. However, for some inexplicable reason, he is conscious
well before his usual dusk waking hour. Zombzany has again had to demean
himself and host another modern horror movie marathon and on top of that he has
had to start it in broad daylight, which explains his even worse than usual bad mood. Zombzany admits that the only reason he has
agreed to host this particular marathon is that he will able to talk about his
favorite “living” horror movie host, Zacherley the cool ghoul.
Running up from somewhere close, Doc Freak (I admit it. I
was eavesdropping nearby – D.F.) begins jumping up and down in front of
Zombzany, shouting “wicked cool” over and over again. Doc Freak asks if he can be
Zombzany’s new servant for this marathon, since he blew up and buried his old
servant Bill E. Bones at the conclusion of last year’s horror movie marathon.
Zombzany informs Freak that he does not retain the services of the living, as
he can resurrect his own zombie slave through necromancy. Freak says that if
Zombzany only hires the undead, then he should zap him dead so that he can
serve him during the course of the marathon.
Zombzany is more than happy to make Doc Freak his zombie slave
and puts a deadly spell of simultaneous death and resurrection on him. The new
zombie Freak’s first task as Zombzany’s slave is to fetch the King of the
Zombies a cup of coffee for the long horror movie marathon to come.
Enjoy Zombzany and the Undead Doc Freak: Part One -- Freak
Seeks to be Deceased.
Halloween is my favorite time of year! As I busy my bad-self in the lab making all my preparations for the big day, I always play my favorite scary music: Bobby “Boris” Pickett’s Monster Mash! I still have my old-skool vinyl copy of the Monster Mash album and I play this for my undead fiends throughout the month of October. I’ve wanted to upgrade my Monster Mash tunes, but the CD has been out of print for decades now. Still, I found many different versions of Monster Mash on YouTube to rock to!
Here is something I think every ghoul should dig: Monster Mash sung live by the legend himself (with a little help from Zacherley – the cool ghoul) Bobby Pickett!
Here is the description of the clip by Kevin “Mr. Chiller” Clement himself:
“One of the brightest events in the history of the Chiller Theatre Expo took place that stormy October 2006 weekend when Bobby 'Boris' Pickett took the concert stage with The Dead Elvi and Chiller's favorite son Zacherley, the Cool Ghoul. None of in The Elvi knew at the time that Bobby was very ill. But, like the trouper he was, he proceeded to blast out one of his best performances ever ... if not his best... of his Halloween classic The Monster Mash!”
“Zach, who had covered this tune some 40-plus years earlier, let Bobby do his thing and take center stage. None of us on stage knew that this great performance would be Bobby's last live concert in front of a live ( mmmm...that's questionable ) audience! It was a night to remember not only for the Dead Elvi but for all who attended this now legendary performance!”
Zacherley is one of the earliest horror hosts to appear on television and therefor this freak never had the opportunity to see him "live". However, I have watched some of his classic shows on video tape I bought about ten years ago called The Zacherley Archives, which features nearly two-hours of his sketches on TV in the 50's transferred from old kinescopes. Zacherley's dark humor was revolutionary for its time and watching these tapes you can understand why kids loved him and parents hated him. Zacherley's history is fascinating and quite convoluted. I have taken some excepts from his "official" biography, but you can read the full story at: http://www.zacherley.com/bio/bio.htm
John Zacherle was born on September 27, 1918 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His childhood was normal and seemingly uneventful. One interesting fact about Zach's youthful years was that his parents were strict and refused to allow him to see the horror films that were all the rage among young theater goers in the 1930's. Returning home to Philadelphia at the conclusion of the war, and in the army reserves. Zacherle took his time finding the right job. Someone mentioned acting and this lead to Zach's audition with a local repertory group called the Stagecrafters, who were based in Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania.
Gradually, Zacherle made his way to television where his first notable appearance was in a fateful role in a daily live serial-styled western, Action in the Afternoon. At one point, it was decided to hire an actor to portray the town undertaker, a onetime role that could be used to dispose of the recent victims of gunfights and hangings. Somehow, it was decided to award the part to Zacherle. The budget conscious costume department decided to dress the town's new undertake in a long black frock coat and this item of apparel would become one of Zacherle's most important visual props, one which remains with him to this day.
Not long after the undertaker role, Zach received a phone call from Philadelphia TV station WCAU and was asked to host Shock Theatre. Zach adds, "Someone remembered me from the western. I never even tried out. I whipped out the old black coat I wore as the undertaker on the cowboy show." Zach parted his hair in the middle and applied the famous ghoul-like makeup and the rest was history.
Shock Theatre debuted in September of 1957 with Zach appearing as Roland, a crazy character who lived in a crypt. Charlie Vanda, the president of WCAU came up with the name and as Zach is quick to point out, the accent was on the second syllable -- Ro-LAND. Roland had an assistant named Igor, and his wife lived in a coffin. The wife was referred to as "my dear" and occasionally Roland would make her day with a well-placed thrust of a wooden stake. Originally, the program was aired in the 11:15 late night movie slot on Monday and Tuesday. However, the show was popular not only among adults but among children as well. Therefore, the program was moved to Friday and Saturday and Roland's popularity increased in leaps and bounds. It was at WCAU that Zach, in the guise of Roland, stumbled upon his most unique and creative bit of satire. This was known as the "break-in" or "jump-in", whereby, Zach would insert himself into the actual film, usually, to great comedic effect. The first time this occurred was during a broadcast of The Black Cat with Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi. Writer/Producer, Ed White, originally got the idea. In this instance, Karloff was presiding over a devil worship ceremony and at one point the camera panned to close-ups of the various participants. The WCAU cameraman shot to Zach making a face and then back to the film.
[Reasons for Zarcherley's] move to New York, have never been 100% clear, but it appears that a great deal of unpleasantness on both sides regarding salary, ownership of the character, and other details may have precipitated the change. Zach had made some contacts in New York City as a result of the success of "Dinner with Drac" and was able to negotiate a deal for himself at the WABC affiliate, Channel 7, just at the time his one year contract with WCAU was ending. The Manhattan station had been airing the Shock Theatre package since 1957, around the same time that WCAU started to run them. As the premiere of Zach's WABC show came closer, TV Guide and the local papers were utilized for a promotional campaign. Coming September 22, 1958, Master Ghoul Zacherley will host Shock Theater Monday and Friday". The letter "Y" was added to Zach's name to make pronunciation easier.
Zach made his New York debut on September 22, 1958, at 11:15 pm, hosting The Mystery of Edwin Drood. As the weeks passed he hosted many of Universal's second line productions,including The Mad Daughter of Market Street and The Mystery of Marie Roget. Many tuned in strictly to see Zach and laugh at the "break-ins". Some of Zach's bits from this time included "Zach's discussion of the nervous system", "Zach's attempt to cure Isabel of insomnia", and "Gasport's medical check-up."During this period of time, Zach also appeared in a pictorial in issue #4 of Famous Monsters of Filmland, which was released in the spring of 1959. Also, during March of 1959, WABC sent out a press release that announced that "Ghoul Zacherley will be given his own show of creep films to host Friday and Saturday night called Zacherley At Large." It was also announced that the name Shock Theatre would be retired. Unfortunately, Zacherle's tenure at WABC was coming to an end. During the June 20, 1959, show, Zach appeared during the last commercial interruption without makeup and announced that this was his last show for the year and when he returned in the fall it would be on WOR - Channel 9.
Although Zach's Channel 9 show didn't debut until October 30, he was far from dormant during this time. Beginning May, Zach embarked a series of personal appearances in large theaters, such as the Astoria (Long Island), the Fabian (Paterson), the Branford in Newark, the Jefferson in New York City, and the Stanley in Jersey City.
Zach's first WOR show saw him hosting Zombies On Broadway. As the show opened Zach was thrown forcibly into his new crypt. Zach yelled, "Let me out of here," a few times then settled down to eat a banana and host the film. Unlike WCAU and WABC, Channel 9 spent very little on the Zacherley show set. A canvas mail cart was used for Isobel's "box" and no attempt was made to give the set a crypt-like appearance. While repeats of Zach's Channel 9 programs aired occasionally very late at night, no new programs were taped and Zach's contract expired.
During 1964, WPIX made a number of programming changes in an effort to improve ratings. Zacherley was made the host of Chiller Theatre, thereby allowing him to do what he does best - host films. Unfortunately, Zach's deal with WPIX ended during 1964.
[Well into his in his 80's , Zacherley continued] music recording, television, and live appearances, Zach appeared on radio station WXRK where he occupied the Saturday morning slot with a nostalgic 1960's revival program. The station, K-Rock, is noted for being one of the highest rated in the New York area and includes among its on-air personalities several very popular disc jockeys.
Zach's still got it! Zacherley with Elvira!
Zacherley is a true original and well deserving of being in my horror host hall of fame! Goodnight, Zacherley... whatever you are.
