Well, today is finally Halloween. Happy Halloween to all, even though, as I said on Friday, the holiday is not the same, and has been co-opted by adults.
It simply isn't much of a kids' holiday anymore.
Someone who probably knew that more than anyone was John Zacherle.
Zacherle, the kids' horror movie TV show host who later went on to become one of the earliest progressive rock FM DJs on the radio, passed away on October 27, almost fittingly during the period that he was best remembered from. He was 98, and had only been in ill health for the past couple of months or so.
Most people probably don't remember Zacherle--later changed to Zacherly, as it was easier to pronounce--but to Baby Boomers, this guy was the real deal, seemingly born to live the role he was most famous for.
Whether he was hosting, in ghoulish makeup, "Chiller Theater" or "Creature Features" or dance parties on the fledgling UHF station Channel 47 or making hit records, or behind the mike introducing us to the latest music that was important to our lives, Zacherle lived the life.
He introduced all those cheesy 1950s and early 1960s horror movies to my generation, and we learned how they were so much fun to watch and get chilled by. He would break into the middle of the movies, play with his jello and tell us it was actually brain matter, laugh that evil, but funny laugh, and made it all palatable for us little kids.
But he scared us too. I remember that I watched "Attack of the Crab Monsters" on his show, had some terrible nightmares, and my mother wouldn't allow me to watch any of those movies for months. I watched them anyway, but when I see that movie today, I have to laugh, and laugh some more. And while Zacherle didn't intend to scare me like this, he sure wanted to make me laugh at a movie such as this one, even if the laughs came more than 50 years after the fact.
And let's not forget that not only did he spin the records, he made some too. "Dinner With Drac" was a huge hit, and on "American Bandstand" during his appearance on that show, Dick Clark called him "The Cool Ghoul."
The name stuck for the past 60 years.
Zacherle lived a long life, and it was only recently that he took ill. And to pass during the Halloween celebration ... well, the circle really was completed with him.
He was a one of a kind, and all Baby Boomers will miss him.
I've been a fan of Zachs since the '50s. Loved his shows and the movies that went along with them. I really need to play his stuff from You Tube.
ReplyDelete"Dinner With Drac" is an absolute classic. I heard it again yesterday, and it is just so well done for what it is.
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