Reviews on the Edge:Book Corner Edition…Vampires & Ghoulish Female Horror Hosts
Welcome to another edition of the Book Corner courtesy of Reviews on the Edge and there is no critiques except only to say any and all that I write about is deserving of more than a once over-( if you can’t say something nice-then don’t say nothing at all ..as quoted by Thumper aka Bambi) and this case we are talking several books including some recently published by one of my favorites companies McFarland Books and when I need a reference book there is no other that I can think of.
In keeping with International Women’s Day I wanted to share this magical book with all of you.
Vampira and Her Daughters-Women Horror Hosts from the 1950’s into the Internet Era. Written by Robert Michael “ Bobb” Cotter pgs 172, fully illustrated, published Dec 2016. Forward by Penny Dreadful, who is also featured with in the pages of this book. This is truly a book of love and you can tell Bobb has a great affection for these female Horror Hosts who have challenged and carved out there own place in TV history and with all due respect a female was the very first Horror Host, not a male and she was none other than Vampira and it’s too bad that she had not came along a little later the 50’s when Universal released Shock Theater, which would have given her access to a better selection of films, however Vampira was a strong individual and very clever in marketing her own personality on/off camera and made do with a batch of somewhat mediocre mystery movies from the 40’s. In fact she was more frightening then the movies she hosted and had a flair for the dramatic and for its time excellent sets and atmosphere…
Bobb had to do a lot of digging into his coverage of Vampira since she unlike most of the other hosts were alive and available for interviews and Vampira alias Maila Nurmi life is filled with more mystery than the films she presented on her show, from her romantic link to James Dean-his death really took a toll on her life and to other incredible often times scary encounters with crazed fans. Bobb has done an amazing job. The book is virtually a who’s who of well over 80 hosts from Misty Brew to Ms. Monster and her melons to Dixie Dellamorto, who would have thought that there were so many and some have been reincarnated a few times.The horror host both male and female generally have held positions as staff members or actual on air personalities like weather “men” or newscasters that get asked to be a part of one of these late nite shows..some change their name to protect the innocent for good reason in some cases and others not… and some are surprised that they have a knack for biting humor (no pun intended or is it) and straight comedy stick all the while showing off their attributes in various stages of dress, but always tastefully done lingerie and wonderfully created set pieces while introducing a horror film and getting paid to do it even if it is free room and board at the local haunted castle…look if there is bats in the belfry should one complain and quite frankly the children of the night make such sweet music…
Above: Dixie Dellamorto-no one looks better in black/white except her equal counter part -Mr Lobo
Each host has a filmography and the dates of where & when their respective shows aired along with behind the scenes stories and cast and crew as well-loaded with a mass of trivia including who is married to Mr Lobo of Cinema Insomnia- a Horror Host in his own right and not only blessed with on spot comedic timing but one of my personal favorites…
Elvira(pilot for TV series)-Cassandra Peterson…
and
and for those of you who are fans and want to catch up with the current Horror Hosts both male and female then you only have to look to OSI-74
available on Roku and your PC(see link below) and please tell them Doc sent you and do me a favor let Miss Mittens know I have not forgot about our date this weekend and I’ll bring some fresh water…
So for now I’m headed to library on the west wing of the estate to grab something I can sink my teeth in…I say Crookshank would you be so kind as to open a bottle of the Chocolate Red. It will remind of our last guest. Delish. Next time dear guest…
***Some of the issues coming up will be focusing on a few more releases from McFarland covering 3 major releases here. Two of them dealing with some of my favorite genres(Wax Museums & Peplum/Zorro)plus one that delves in to a director of a most controversial film within the spaghetti western genre to be explained in much detail within Tonino Valerii: The Films. Also Matt Blake’s(Eurospy Guide)latest -Science Fiction Italian Style a retrospect on all those “cheezy” flicks from 1958–2000. This is worth a read.
Links and related material-
