Ghoulardi
Encyclopedia
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
invented and portrayed by disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
, voice announcer
Announcer
An announcer is a presenter who makes "announcements" in an audio medium or a physical location.-Television and other media:Some announcers work in television production , radio or filmmaking, usually providing narrations, news updates, station identification, or an introduction of a product in...
, and actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
Ernie Anderson
Ernie Anderson
Ernie Anderson was an American disc jockey, and television and radio announcer/voiceover artist...
as the horror host
Horror host
Horror hosts are a particular type of television presenter, often tasked with presenting low-grade films to television audiences. This tradition is primarily American, though there have been a few international hosts over the years.-Film Packages:...
of late night Shock Theater at WJW-TV, Channel 8, in Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
from January 13, 1963 through December 16, 1966.
Shock Theater featured grade-“B”
B movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....
science fiction film
Science fiction film
Science fiction film is a film genre that uses science fiction: speculative, science-based depictions of phenomena that are not necessarily accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial life forms, alien worlds, extrasensory perception, and time travel, often along with futuristic...
s and horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
s. Shock Theater was aired in a Friday late-night time slot, but at the peak of Ghoulardi's popularity, Anderson also hosted the Saturday afternoon Masterpiece Theater, and the weekday children's program Laurel, Ghoulardi and Hardy.
Character
Ernie Anderson, a big bandBig band
A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...
and jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
enthusiast and WWII
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
U.S. Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
veteran, was born in Lynn, Massachusetts
Lynn, Massachusetts
Lynn is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 89,050 at the 2000 census. An old industrial center, Lynn is home to Lynn Beach and Lynn Heritage State Park and is about north of downtown Boston.-17th century:...
, on November 22, 1923.
His irreverent and influential host character was a hipster
Hipster (1940s subculture)
Hipster, as used in the 1940s, referred to aficionados of jazz, in particular bebop, which became popular in the early 1940s. The hipster adopted the lifestyle of the jazz musician, including some or all of the following: dress, slang, use of cannabis and other drugs, relaxed attitude, sarcastic...
, unlike the horror character prototype. Ghoulardi’s costume
Costume
The term costume can refer to wardrobe and dress in general, or to the distinctive style of dress of a particular people, class, or period. Costume may also refer to the artistic arrangement of accessories in a picture, statue, poem, or play, appropriate to the time, place, or other circumstances...
was a long lab coat
White coat
A white coat or laboratory coat is a knee-length overcoat/smock worn by professionals in the medical field or by those involved in laboratory work. The coat protects their street clothes and also serves as a simple uniform...
covered with “slogan” buttons, horn-rimmed sunglasses
Sunglasses
Sunglasses or sun glasses are a form of protective eyewear designed primarily to prevent bright sunlight and high-energy visible light from damaging or discomforting the eyes. They can sometimes also function as a visual aid, as variously termed spectacles or glasses exist, featuring lenses that...
with a missing lens, a fake Van Dyke beard
Beard
A beard is the collection of hair that grows on the chin, cheeks and neck of human beings. Usually, only pubescent or adult males are able to grow beards. However, women with hirsutism may develop a beard...
and moustache
Moustache
A moustache is facial hair grown on the outer surface of the upper lip. It may or may not be accompanied by a type of beard, a facial hair style grown and cropped to cover most of the lower half of the face.-Etymology:...
, and various messy, awkwardly-perched wigs. On television, a low-key light was used to provide a spooky effect. Ghoulardi's stage name
Stage name
A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, wrestlers, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...
was devised by Cleveland restaurateur Ralph Gulko, who was making a pun
Pun
The pun, also called paronomasia, is a form of word play which suggests two or more meanings, by exploiting multiple meanings of words, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use and abuse of homophonic,...
of the word "ghoul
Ghoul
A ghoul is a folkloric monster associated with graveyards and consuming human flesh, often classified as undead. The oldest surviving literature that mention ghouls is likely One Thousand and One Nights...
," and his own similar last name, suffixed with a generic "ethnic" ending.
During breaks in the movies, Anderson addressed the camera live in a part-Beat
Beat generation
The Beat Generation refers to a group of American post-WWII writers who came to prominence in the 1950s, as well as the cultural phenomena that they both documented and inspired...
, part-ethnic accented commentary, peppered with catchphrases: “Hey, group!,” “Stay sick, knif” (“fink”), “Cool it,” “Turn blue” and “Ova-dey.” Anderson improvised because of his difficulty memorizing lines. He played novelty and offbeat rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
tunes, plus jazz and rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
songs under his live performance. He frequently played the Rivingtons' "Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow
Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow
"Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow" is a 1962 novelty nonsensical doo-wop song by The Rivingtons. The song peaked at #48 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #35 on the Cashbox charts.-Cover versions:...
" over a clip of a toothless old man gurn
Gurn
A gurn or chuck is a distorted facial expression, and a verb to describe the action. A typical gurn might involve projecting the lower jaw as far forward and up as possible, and covering the upper lip with the lower lip....
ing.
Shock Theater drew both a black and white cult audience
Cult following
A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a specific area of pop culture. A film, book, band, or video game, among other things, will be said to have a cult following when it has a small but very passionate fan base...
, who loved Ghoulardi's beatnik
Beatnik
Beatnik was a media stereotype of the 1950s and early 1960s that displayed the more superficial aspects of the Beat Generation literary movement of the 1950s and violent film images, along with a cartoonish depiction of the real-life people and the spiritual quest in Jack Kerouac's autobiographical...
costume, the music, and his hip
Hip (slang)
Hip is a slang term meaning fashionably current and in the know. Hip is the opposite of square or prude.Hip, like cool, does not refer to one specific quality. What is considered hip is continuously changing. The term hip is said to have originated in African American Vernacular English in the...
talk, which was a nod to black jazz and R&B artists. More mainstream viewers enjoyed his broad, unpretentious ethnic humor.
Ghoulardi spared no unhip targets: the bedroom communities Parma, Ohio
Parma, Ohio
Parma is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. It is the largest suburb of Cleveland and the seventh largest city in the state of Ohio...
, ("Par-ma?!") which he often called "Amrap" (Parma backwards) and Oxnard, California
Oxnard, California
Oxnard is the 113th largest city in the United States, 19th largest city in California and largest city in Ventura County, California, by way of population. It is located at the western edge of the fertile Oxnard Plain, and is an important agricultural center, with its distinction as the...
, ("Remember...Oxnard!"), bandleader Lawrence Welk
Lawrence Welk
Lawrence Welk was an American musician, accordionist, bandleader, and television impresario, who hosted The Lawrence Welk Show from 1955 to 1982...
and polka
Polka
The polka is a Central European dance and also a genre of dance music familiar throughout Europe and the Americas. It originated in the middle of the 19th century in Bohemia...
music, Cleveland television personalities Mike Douglas and Dorothy Fuldheim
Dorothy Fuldheim
Dorothy Fuldheim was an American journalist and anchor, spending the majority of her career for The Cleveland Press and WEWS-TV, both based in Cleveland, Ohio....
("Dorothy Baby"), plus other public figures. In particular, Ghoulardi unmercifully jeered Parma for its ethnic, working-class, “white socks” sensibility, creating a series of taped skits called Parma Place. He adopted a raven
Raven
Raven is the common name given to several larger-bodied members of the genus Corvus—but in Europe and North America the Common Raven is normally implied...
and named him “Oxnard.”
He frequently mocked the poor quality films he was hosting: "If you want to watch a movie, don't watch this one," or "This movie is so bad, you should just go to bed." He had his crew comically insert random stock footage or his own image at climactic moments. In movies with chase scenes, for example, they might superimpose a shot of Ghoulardi running away, as if it was Ghoulardi being pursued.
Ghoulardi used friends and members of the station crew as supporting cast: engineer “Big Chuck” Schodowski, film editor Bob Soinski and writer Tim Conway
Tim Conway
Thomas Daniel "Tim" Conway is an American comedian and actor, primarily known for his roles in sitcoms, films and television. Conway is best known for his role as the inept second-in-command officer, Ensign Charles Parker, to Lt...
(later of The Carol Burnett Show
The Carol Burnett Show
The Carol Burnett Show is a variety / sketch comedy television show starring Carol Burnett, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, Lyle Waggoner, and Tim Conway. It originally ran on CBS from September 11, 1967, to March 29, 1978, for 278 episodes and originated from CBS Television City's Studio 33...
and “Dorf” fame). He was later assisted by teenage intern
Intern
Internship is a system of onthejob training for white-collar jobs, similar to an apprenticeship. Interns are usually college or university students, but they can also be high school students or post graduate adults seeking skills for a new career. They may also be as young as middle school or in...
Ron Sweed
Ron Sweed
Ron Sweed, , is an American entertainer best known for his late-night television horror host character The Ghoul.-The Ghoul:...
, who had boarded a cross-town bus to try to meet his idol at a live appearance, clad in a gorilla suit
Gorilla suit
Gorilla suits or ape suits are full-bodied costumes resembling gorillas or other large primates.Gorilla suits have been used both to represent real gorillas in film and on stage, and also as a source of humour...
. Anderson invited Sweed onstage; to the crowd’s delight, Sweed stumbled offstage into the audience. This, plus some unannounced gorilla-suited visits to the studio, sealed his place as Anderson’s intern.
The station, then owned by Storer Broadcasting
Storer Broadcasting
Storer Broadcasting, Inc. was an American company which owned several television and radio stations in the northeast United States. It was incorporated in Ohio in 1927, and sold its broadcasting properties in 1983.-1920s—1940s:...
, capitalized on Ghoulardi’s wide audience with a comprehensive merchandising
Merchandising
Merchandising is the methods, practices, and operations used to promote and sustain certain categories of commercial activity. In the broadest sense, merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of products to a retail consumer...
program, giving Anderson a percentage as Storer also owned the "Ghoulardi" name. Anderson formed the “Ghoulardi All-Stars” sports teams, which played as many as 100 charity
Charitable organization
A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A...
contests a year, frequently attracting thousands of fans
Fan (person)
A Fan, sometimes also called aficionado or supporter, is a person with a liking and enthusiasm for something, such as a band or a sports team. Fans of a particular thing or person constitute its fanbase or fandom...
.
Anderson openly battled station management. Schodowski was quoted as saying: "[S]tation management lived in daily fear as to what he might say or do on the air, because he was live." In spite of his solid ratings and profitability, they worried that Ghoulardi was testing too many television boundaries too quickly, and tried to rein in the character. Anderson responded by, among other things, detonating plastic
Plastic
A plastic material is any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic solids used in the manufacture of industrial products. Plastics are typically polymers of high molecular mass, and may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce production costs...
action figures and plastic model cars sent in by viewers with firecrackers and small explosives on air, once nearly setting the studio on fire.
Induced by greater career promise and Tim Conway, who had already left town, Anderson retired Ghoulardi in 1966 and moved to Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, planning to act in film and television. Instead, he made a successful career in voice-over
Voice-over
Voice-over is a production technique where a voice which is not part of the narrative is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentations...
work, most prominently as the main voice for the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
TV network during the 1970s and 1980s, the voiceover in previews for the syndicated program Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry as part of the Star Trek franchise. Roddenberry, Rick Berman, and Michael Piller served as executive producers at different times throughout the production...
.
Anderson died of cancer on February 6, 1997.
Influence
More than 40 years after Ghoulardi signed off, his legacy endures: Clevelanders still associate polka music, white socks, and pink plastic flamingoPlastic flamingo
Pink plastic flamingos are one of the most famous of lawn ornaments in the United States, along with the garden gnome and other such ornamentation....
and yard globe
Yard globe
A yard globe, also known as a gazing ball, lawn ball, garden ball, gazing globe, mirror ball, or chrome ball, is a mirrored sphere typically displayed atop a conical ceramic or wrought iron stand as a lawn ornament. Its size ranges from 2 to 22 inches in diameter, with the most popular gazing...
lawn ornament
Lawn ornament
Lawn ornaments are decorative objects placed in the grassy area of a property.- Common lawn ornaments :Bird bath - A structure designed to hold water for birds to bathe in or drink, generally supported upon a pedestal....
s with Parma, Ohio
Parma, Ohio
Parma is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. It is the largest suburb of Cleveland and the seventh largest city in the state of Ohio...
.
In the mid-1960s, Ghoulardi's irreverance overtook the rarefied Severance Hall
Severance Hall
Severance Hall is a concert hall located in the University Circle neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio. The hall has been the home of the Cleveland Orchestra since its opening on February 5, 1931...
, where Cleveland Orchestra
Cleveland Orchestra
The Cleveland Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Cleveland, Ohio. It is one of the five American orchestras informally referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1918, the orchestra plays most of its concerts at Severance Hall...
conductor George Szell
George Szell
George Szell , originally György Széll, György Endre Szél, or Georg Szell, was a Hungarian-born American conductor and composer...
introduced one of his musicians as being from Parma, Ohio. According to Tim Conway, the concertgoing audience replied: "Par-ma?!"
As a tribute, jazz organist Jimmy McGriff
Jimmy McGriff
James Harrell McGriff was an American hard bop and soul-jazz organist and organ trio bandleader who developed a distinctive style of playing the Hammond B-3 organ.-Early years and influences:...
wrote, recorded and released his song "Turn Blue."
In 1971, Ron Sweed first appeared on WKBF-TV as “The Ghoul
Ron Sweed
Ron Sweed, , is an American entertainer best known for his late-night television horror host character The Ghoul.-The Ghoul:...
,” borrowing the "Ghoulardi" character traits and costume with Anderson’s blessing, but with a name change to keep Storer Broadcasting at bay, as they still owned the "Ghoulardi" name. "The Ghoul Show
The Ghoul Show
The Ghoul Show was the brain-child of Cleveland-born actor Ron Sweed. The late-night horror movie and comedy sketch show ran for various blocks of seasons from 1971 through 2004, primarily in Detroit and Cleveland....
" went on to air for many years in Cleveland, Detroit, and limited national syndication.
Channel 8’s Bob Wells
Bob Wells (newscaster)
Bob Wells is a former news/weather anchor and television personality who is best known to Cleveland, Ohio, television viewers as "Hoolihan the Weatherman" and one-half of the Hoolihan and Big Chuck Show movie-hosting team...
(“Hoolihan the Weatherman”) and “Big Chuck” Schodowski took over Ghoulardi’s Friday night movie time slot as “Hoolihan and Big Chuck,” becoming Anderson’s tamer but familiar successors. Schodowski's show continued on WJW, with co-host "Li'l John" Rinaldi from 1979 onward, until July 2007.
Drew Carey
Drew Allison Carey is an American actor, singer, comedian, photographer, sports executive, and game show host. After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps and making a name for himself in stand-up comedy, Carey eventually gained popularity starring on his own sitcom, The Drew Carey Show, and serving as...
has paid tribute to Ghoulardi in his television sitcom The Drew Carey Show
The Drew Carey Show
The Drew Carey Show is an American sitcom that aired on ABC from 1995 to 2004. The show was set in Cleveland, Ohio, and revolved around the retail office and home life of "everyman" Drew Carey, a fictionalized version of the actor....
, where his character can often be seen wearing a Ghoulardi T-shirt
T-shirt
A T-shirt is a style of shirt. A T-shirt is buttonless and collarless, with short sleeves and frequently a round neck line....
. Episode 17 of season two of the show was dedicated to the memory of Ernie Anderson. In his endorsement of the biography, Ghoulardi: Inside Cleveland TV’s Wildest Ride, Carey is quoted as saying "Absolutely, big time, Ghoulardi was an influence on me."
The self-proclaimed "psychobilly" band, The Cramps
The Cramps
The Cramps were an American rock band, formed in 1976 and active until 2009. The band split after the death of lead singer Lux Interior. Their line-up rotated much over their existence, with the husband and wife duo of Interior and lead guitarist Poison Ivy the only permanent members...
, named their 1990 album Stay Sick
Stay Sick
-Personnel:*Lux Interior - vocals*Poison Ivy Rorschach - guitar*Candy Del Mar - bass guitar*Nick Knox - drums...
! and dedicated their 1997 album, Big Beat From Badsville
Big Beat from Badsville
Big Beat from Badsville is the twelfth album by the American garage punk band The Cramps. It was released on Epitaph Records. It was recorded and mixed at the engineer Earle Mankey's house in Thousand Oaks, California in May 1997...
, to Ghoulardi's memory. David Thomas
David Thomas (musician)
David Lynn Thomas is an American singer, songwriter, and musician.He was one of the founding members of the short-lived protopunkers Rocket From The Tombs , where he went by the name of Crocus Behemoth, and of punk group Pere Ubu . He has also released several solo albums...
, of art rock
Art rock
Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the 1960s, with influences from art, avant-garde, and classical music. The first usage of the term, according to Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, was in 1968. Influenced by the work of The Beatles, most notably their Sgt...
band Pere Ubu
Pere Ubu (band)
Pere Ubu is an experimental rock music group formed in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1975. Despite many long-term band members, singer David Thomas is the only constant...
, said that the Cramps were "so thoroughly co-optive of the Ghoulardi persona that when they first appeared in the 1970s, Clevelanders of the generation were fairly dismissive." Thomas credits Ghoulardi for influencing the "other
Other
The Other or Constitutive Other is a key concept in continental philosophy; it opposes the Same. The Other refers, or attempts to refer, to that which is Other than the initial concept being considered...
ness" of the Cleveland/Akron
Akron, Ohio
Akron , is the fifth largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Summit County. It is located in the Great Lakes region approximately south of Lake Erie along the Little Cuyahoga River. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 199,110. The Akron Metropolitan...
bands of the mid-1970s and early-1980s, including the Electric Eels
Electric Eels (band)
The electric eels were a protopunk band active between 1972 and 1975. They formed in Cleveland, Ohio....
, and The Mirrors, the Cramps, and Thomas's own groups, Pere Ubu
Pere Ubu (band)
Pere Ubu is an experimental rock music group formed in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1975. Despite many long-term band members, singer David Thomas is the only constant...
and Rocket From The Tombs
Rocket From The Tombs
Rocket From the Tombs is an American rock music band originally active from mid-1974 to mid-1975 in Cleveland, Ohio.Heralded as an important protopunk group, they were little known during their lifetime, though various members later achieved renown in Pere Ubu and the Dead Boys...
, declaring: "We were the Ghoulardi kids."
In 2002, Cleveland-area indie
Indie (music)
In music, independent music, often shortened to indie music or "indie" is a term used to describe independence from major commercial record labels or their subsidiaries, and an autonomous, Do-It-Yourself approach to recording and publishing....
band Uptown Sinclair featured a Ghoulardi-derived basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
referee
Official (basketball)
In basketball, an official is a person who has the responsibility to enforce the rules and maintain the order of the game. The title of official also applies to the scorers and timekeepers, as well as other personnel that have an active task in maintaining the game...
in the slapstick music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
for their song "Girlfriend."
Anderson's son, film director Paul Thomas Anderson
Paul Thomas Anderson
Paul Thomas Anderson is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He has written and directed five feature films: Hard Eight , Boogie Nights , Magnolia , Punch-Drunk Love and There Will Be Blood...
, named his production entity "The Ghoulardi Film Company."
In Denmark editor Jack J named his movie fanzine Stay Sick! (1999-) after having read an article on Ghoulardi by Michael J. Weldon in an early issue of Weldon's Psychotronic Video
Psychotronic Video
Psychotronic Video was a film magazine originally started by publisher/editor Michael J. Weldon in 1980 in New York City as a hand-written and photocopied weekly fanzine entitled Psychotronic TV. It was then relaunched by Weldon under its more commonly known name as an offset quarterly in 1989...
magazine.
Further reading
Feran, Tom, and R. D. Heldenfels (1997). Ghoulardi: Inside Cleveland TV's Wildest Ride. Cleveland, OH: Gray & Company Publishers. ISBN 978-1-88622-818-4Schodowski, Chuck (2008). Big Chuck: My Favorite Stories from 47 Years on Cleveland TV. Cleveland, OH: Gray & Company, Publishers. ISBN 978-1-59851-052-2
External links
- Ghoulardifest
- Screen captures
- Archived page on Ernie Anderson and Ghoulardi from the Paul Thomas AndersonPaul Thomas AndersonPaul Thomas Anderson is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He has written and directed five feature films: Hard Eight , Boogie Nights , Magnolia , Punch-Drunk Love and There Will Be Blood...
fan site Cigarettes & Coffee - HorrorHosts.com
- A sample from the book Ghoulardi by Tom Feran and R.D. Heldenfels.
- A sample from the book Big Chuck! by Chuck Schodowski and Tom Feran.