The concept of the horror host, a personality to introduce and comment on horror films, became popular in the early days of television. Initially aimed at local audiences, such characters thrived in the 1950s and ‘60s, and some lasted well beyond that based on their personal popularity with viewers. Often dressed in classic horror style costumes, the hosts introduce the films, then return before and after commercial breaks to provide trivia and background on the movies, do skits and sketches, play games, and other entertaining bits. The movies they show range from popular flicks to the so-bad-they’re-good schlocky movies.

John Zacherle (later Zacherley) of Philadelphia’s Shock Theater and then New York’s Chiller Theater; Maila Elizabeth Syrjäniemi, better known as Vampira of KABC’s The Vampira Show in Los Angeles; Bill Cardille, affectionately called Chilly Billy on Pittsburgh’s Chiller Theater; Dick Dyszel, “Count Gore De Vol” of Washington, DC’s Creature Feature; Rich Koz, known as Svengoolie, the host of MeTV’s Saturday night program Svengoolie; and Cassandra Peterson, aka Elvira, host of the Los Angeles based Movie Macabre all carved out degrees of lasting fame with their fans.

Zacherle started working in television in 1954 by playing an undertaker and other characters on Action in the Afternoon, which ran in New York. Three years later he became the host of Shock Theater, then relocated to New York in ’58 and started hosting Chiller Theater in ’61 until ’65.

Zacherle remained active and popular well after his show left the air. He introduced the Grateful Dead during a concert at the Fillmore East and appeared in costume for Halloween specials. He hosted the direct to video program, Horrible Horror, starred in the movie The Return of Roland, voiced a puppet in Brain Damage, and played Zacherle again in the Chiller Theatre TV movie.

Syrjäniemi, who was known professionally as Maila Nurmi, started out as a model and stage actress, including on Broadway in the midnight horror show Spook Scandals. In 1953 she attended a costume party wearing a tight black dress similar to comic strip character Morticia Addams, and caught the eye of a TV producer who was looking for a horror host.

The Vampira Show debuted in 1954, introducing Nurmi as the first horror hostess. It became an instant hit in Los Angeles, bolstered by publicity stunts like running for Night Mayor of Hollywood and doing a horror/comedy skit on The Red Skelton Show. The show ended in ’55, then a year later she reprised the character for Vampira Returns. She appeared in the notoriously bad Plan 9 From Outer Space, played Vampira in an episode of Playhouse 90 and was in the Fright Night TV series.

Cardille, better known as Chilly Billy, worked on a nightly radio program based in Indiana County, Pennsylvania in 1951. He spent years hosting local radio and TV shows, until he became the host of Chiller Theatre in 1964. Unlike most horror hosts, he didn’t create a horror persona, instead he stuck with his own personality.

Cardille’s Chiller Theater was popular enough in Pittsburgh to delay the debut of Saturday Night Live on his channel, the local NBC affiliate, for four years. In addition to the show, which ran until 1983, Cardille was in 1968’s Night of the Living Dead, he announced a professional wrestling program in Boston, and he hosted morning radio shows in Pittsburgh.

Dick Dyszel, who portrays Count Gore de Vol, earned a degree in radio-TV from Southern Illinois University. His career began as a clown for a local Kentucky station, then he moved to Washington, DC in ’72. For a while, he acted as station announcer, was the kids’ show host Captain 20, among other jobs.

He introduced the character M.T. Graves on the Bozo the Clown show, and when he became a favorite on the program, he got his own show. M.T. Graves became Count Gore de Vol, and he worked as a Saturday night horror host from ’73 to ’87. An internet pioneer, Count Gore De Vol moved his show online in 1999, streaming videos of movies, plus shorts, and celebrity interviews.

Koz started his broadcast career on a high school radio station in Park Ridge, Illinois. When he was attending Northwestern University, he sent Jerry G. Bishop (the original Svengoolie) some material for his program, and was invited to join the show’s staff. They worked together for a few years, then when Bishop relocated to San Diego in ’78, he gave Koz his blessing to create the show, Son of Svengoolie.

The show ran from ’79 to ’86, then it was cancelled when the network was sold. He moved on to The Koz Zone, hosting movies, presenting cartoons, and doing sketch comedy, from ’89 to ’93. When Son of Svengoolie was set for a revival in ’95, Bishop suggested that Koz drop the “Son of” and take the Svengoolie name. Svengoolie started out on a local Chicago station, and has grown to attract a national audience on its current home of MeTV. He recently collaborated with Dan DiDio on the Svengoolie 45th Anniversary BOO-Nanza comic from Gemstone Publishing.

Before she became Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, Peterson was a showgirl in Las Vegas, a rock band singer in Italy, a model, an actress, and a member of The Groundlings improv troupe where the character of Elvira was created. In the early ‘80s, when she was hired to be the horror host for the LA-based Movie Macabre, Peterson developed Elvira as a sexy goth valley girl with Kabuki-inspired makeup and a hairstyle similar to The Ronettes.

From her look to her dirty jokes and campy humor, Elvira became a huge hit as a horror host and then as the star of the movie, Elvira: Mistress of the Dark. She hosted Halloween specials on MTV, did commercials for World Championship Wrestling’s Halloween events, and she hosted a home video series called ThrillerVideo. She starred in Elvira’s Haunted Hills, she hosted Elvira’s Movie Macabre, which showcased public domain films, and she appeared in the 13 Nights of Elvira series. More recently Peterson wrote a memoir and has been a consultant on Elvira comics at Dynamite.