John Zacherle
Encyclopedia
John Zacherle (ˈzækərliː ; sometimes credited as John Zacherley; born September 26, 1918) is an American
television
host, radio personality
and voice actor
known for his long career as a television horror host
broadcasting horror
movies in Philadelphia
and New York City
in the 1950s and 1960s. Best known for his character "Roland/Zacherley," he also did voice work for movies, and recorded the top ten song novelty rock and roll
song "Dinner With Drac" in 1958. He also edited two collections of horror stories, Zacherley's Vulture Stew and Zacherley's Midnight Snacks.
neighborhood, where he went to high school. He received a bachelors degree in English literature
from the University of Pennsylvania
. In World War II
he enlisted in the United States Army
and served in North Africa
and Europe
. After the war, he returned to Philadelphia and joined a local repertory theatre
company.
In 1954 he gained his first television role at WCAU-TV in Philadelphia, where he was hired as an actor playing several roles (one was an undertaker) in Action in the Afternoon
, a Western
produced by the station and aired in the New York City market. Three years later, he was hired as the host of WCAU's Shock Theater, which debuted on October 7, 1957. As the host, Zacherle appeared wearing a long black undertaker's coat as the character "Roland," who lived in a crypt
with his wife "My Dear" and his lab assistant, Gasport. The hosting of the black-and-white
show involved numerous stylized horror-comedy gags that have become standard on television. In the opening sequence, Zacherle as Roland would descend a long round staircase to the crypt. The producers erred on the side of goriness, showing fake severed heads with blood simulated with Hershey's
chocolate
syrup. The show sometimes featured live "cut-ins" during the movie in which the soundtrack continued to play on the air, while the visual feed switched briefly to a shot of Zacherle as Roland in the middle of a humorous stunt, such as riding a tombstone. The show ran for 92 broadcasts through 1958.
He was a close colleague of Philadelphia broadcaster Dick Clark
, and sometimes filled in for Clark on road touring shows of Clark's American Bandstand
in the 1960s. Clark reportedly gave Zacherle his nickname of "The Cool Ghoul
." In 1958, partly with the assistance and backing of Clark, Zacherle cut "Dinner with Drac" for Cameo Records
, backed by Dave Appell
. At first, Clark thought the recording was too gory to play on Bandstand and made Zacherle return to the studio to cut a second tamer version. Eventually both versions were released simultaneously as backsides on the same 45, and the record broke the top ten nationally. Zacherle later related several LPs mixing horror sound effect
s with novelty songs.
The purchase of WCAU by CBS
in 1958 prompted Zacherle to leave Philadelphia for WABC-TV
in New York, where the station added a "y" to the end of his name in the credits. He continued the format of the Shock Theater, after March 1959 titled Zacherley at Large, with "Roland" becoming "Zacherley" and his wife "My Dear" becoming "Isobel." He also began appearing in motion pictures, including Key to Murder alongside several of his former Action in the Afternoon colleagues.
In a 1960 promotional stunt for his move to WOR-TV
, Zacherley staged a presidential campaign. His "platform" recording can be found on the album Spook Along with Zacherley, which originally included a Zacherley for President book and poster set which is highly collectible today.
In 1963 he hosted animated cartoon
s on WPIX-TV in New York. He also hosted the TV show Chiller Theatre in New York on WPIX. In 1964 he hosted a teenage dance show at WNJU-TV in Newark
called Disc-O-Teen, hosting the show in full costume and using the teenage show participants in his skits. The show ran for three years until 1967, when he became a morning radio
host for WNEW-FM. Two years later in 1969, he became the station night broadcaster (10 PM–2 AM) for a progressive rock
format. The success of the show led to the use of the same format in Philadelphia. In 1971 he switched his show to WPLJ-FM, where he stayed for ten years. Recent on-air appearances include a two-hour show at WCBS-FM
on Halloween, 2007.
On February 14, 1970 he appeared at Fillmore East
music hall in New York City
to introduce rock act the Grateful Dead
. His introduction of the band can be heard on the Grateful Dead
album Dick's Picks Volume 4
.
In the early 1980s he played a wizard on Captain Kangaroo
, appearing without his trademark Roland costume and make-up. He continued to perform in character at Halloween
broadcasts in New York and Philadelphia in the 1980s and 1990s, once narrating Edgar Allan Poe
's "The Raven
" while backed up by the Philadelphia Orchestra
.
In 1986, he hosted a direct-to-video
program called Horrible Horror, where he performed Zacherly monologues in between clips from public domain
sci-fi and horror films.
In 1988 he struck up a friendship with b-movie horror director Frank Henenlotter
, voicing the puppet "Aylmer," a slug
-like drug-dealing and brain
-eating parasite, one of the lead characters in Henenlotter's 1988 horror-comedy film Brain Damage, and cameos in his 1990 comedy Frankenhooker
, appropriately playing a TV weatherman
who specializes in forecasts for mad scientists.
Zacherle continues to make appearances at conventions, and to this day, Zacherle collectibles are still selling, including model kits, T-shirts, and posters. The book Goodnight, Whatever You Are by Richard Scrivani, chronicling the life and times of The Cool Ghoul, debuted at the Chiller Theatre Expo in Secaucus, New Jersey, in October 2006.
The comic book anthology, Zacherley's Midnite Terrors (created by Joseph M. Monks
, and featuring top artists like Basil Gogos
, Ken Kelly
, William S. Stout and Mike Koneful), was created solely as a tribute to "Zach". Three issues were published, and Zacherley acted in a commercial to promote them.
A picture of Zacherley alongside fellow horror host Dr. Gangrene
appeared in the October 30, 2007 issue of USA Today
in an article about Horror Host
entitled Halloween horror hosts rise again on radio, TV, film written by David Colton.
Zacherley and Chiller Theatre
returned to the WPIX airwaves on October 25, 2008 for a special showing of the 1955 Universal Pictures
science fiction
classic Tarantula!
.
Most recently, Zacherley made a special guest appearance in Harry Chaskin's award-winning animated short film, 'Bygone Behemoth'.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
host, radio personality
Radio personality
A radio personality is a person with an on-air position in radio broadcasting. A radio personality can be someone who introduces and discusses various genres of music, hosts a talk radio show that may take calls from listeners, or someone whose primary responsibility is to give news, weather,...
and voice actor
Voice acting
Voice acting is the art of providing voices for animated characters and radio and audio dramas and comedy, as well as doing voice-overs in radio and television commercials, audio dramas, dubbed foreign language films, video games, puppet shows, and amusement rides.Performers are called...
known for his long career as a television 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:...
broadcasting horror
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...
movies in Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
and New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in the 1950s and 1960s. Best known for his character "Roland/Zacherley," he also did voice work for movies, and recorded the top ten song novelty 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...
song "Dinner With Drac" in 1958. He also edited two collections of horror stories, Zacherley's Vulture Stew and Zacherley's Midnight Snacks.
Biography
Zacherle was born in Philadelphia, the youngest of four children of a bank clerk and his wife. He grew up in Philadelphia's GermantownGermantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Germantown is a neighborhood in the northwest section of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, about 7–8 miles northwest from the center of the city...
neighborhood, where he went to high school. He received a bachelors degree in English literature
English literature
English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....
from the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
. In World War II
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...
he enlisted in the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
and served in North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. After the war, he returned to Philadelphia and joined a local repertory theatre
Repertory
Repertory or rep, also called stock in the United States, is a term used in Western theatre and opera.A repertory theatre can be a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation...
company.
Action in the Afternoon
Action in the Afternoon is an American western television series that aired live on CBS from February 2, 1953 to January 29, 1954. The series originated from the studios and back lot of WCAU-TV, Channel 10 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was broadcast Monday through Friday regardless of the...
, a Western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
produced by the station and aired in the New York City market. Three years later, he was hired as the host of WCAU's Shock Theater, which debuted on October 7, 1957. As the host, Zacherle appeared wearing a long black undertaker's coat as the character "Roland," who lived in a crypt
Crypt
In architecture, a crypt is a stone chamber or vault beneath the floor of a burial vault possibly containing sarcophagi, coffins or relics....
with his wife "My Dear" and his lab assistant, Gasport. The hosting of the black-and-white
Black-and-white
Black-and-white, often abbreviated B/W or B&W, is a term referring to a number of monochrome forms in visual arts.Black-and-white as a description is also something of a misnomer, for in addition to black and white, most of these media included varying shades of gray...
show involved numerous stylized horror-comedy gags that have become standard on television. In the opening sequence, Zacherle as Roland would descend a long round staircase to the crypt. The producers erred on the side of goriness, showing fake severed heads with blood simulated with Hershey's
Hershey's
Hershey's may refer to:* Hershey's, a nickname for The Hershey Company* Hershey's Ice Cream produced by Hershey Creamery Company* Hershey's Chocolate World, a theme-park/visitor-center facility...
chocolate
Chocolate
Chocolate is a raw or processed food produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America. Its earliest documented use is around 1100 BC...
syrup. The show sometimes featured live "cut-ins" during the movie in which the soundtrack continued to play on the air, while the visual feed switched briefly to a shot of Zacherle as Roland in the middle of a humorous stunt, such as riding a tombstone. The show ran for 92 broadcasts through 1958.
He was a close colleague of Philadelphia broadcaster Dick Clark
Dick Clark (entertainer)
Richard Wagstaff "Dick" Clark is an American businessman; game-show host; and radio and television personality. He served as chairman and chief executive officer of Dick Clark Productions, which he has sold part of in recent years...
, and sometimes filled in for Clark on road touring shows of Clark's American Bandstand
American Bandstand
American Bandstand is an American music-performance show that aired in various versions from 1952 to 1989 and was hosted from 1956 until its final season by Dick Clark, who also served as producer...
in the 1960s. Clark reportedly gave Zacherle his nickname of "The Cool 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...
." In 1958, partly with the assistance and backing of Clark, Zacherle cut "Dinner with Drac" for Cameo Records
Cameo-Parkway Records
Cameo-Parkway Records was the parent company of Cameo Records and Parkway Records, which were major American Philadelphia-based record labels from 1956 and 1958 to 1967...
, backed by Dave Appell
Dave Appell
Dave Appell Dave (David) Appell Dave (David) Appell (born March 24, 1922, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, worked as an arranger, producer, and musician in Philadelphia, in the 1950s.-Career:...
. At first, Clark thought the recording was too gory to play on Bandstand and made Zacherle return to the studio to cut a second tamer version. Eventually both versions were released simultaneously as backsides on the same 45, and the record broke the top ten nationally. Zacherle later related several LPs mixing horror sound effect
Sound effect
For the album by The Jam, see Sound Affects.Sound effects or audio effects are artificially created or enhanced sounds, or sound processes used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media...
s with novelty songs.
The purchase of WCAU by CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
in 1958 prompted Zacherle to leave Philadelphia for WABC-TV
WABC-TV
WABC-TV, channel 7, is the flagship station of the Disney-owned American Broadcasting Company located in New York City. The station's studios and offices are located on the Upper West Side section of Manhattan, adjacent to ABC's corporate headquarters, and its transmitter is atop the Empire State...
in New York, where the station added a "y" to the end of his name in the credits. He continued the format of the Shock Theater, after March 1959 titled Zacherley at Large, with "Roland" becoming "Zacherley" and his wife "My Dear" becoming "Isobel." He also began appearing in motion pictures, including Key to Murder alongside several of his former Action in the Afternoon colleagues.
In a 1960 promotional stunt for his move to WOR-TV
WWOR-TV
WWOR-TV, virtual channel 9 , is the flagship station of the MyNetworkTV programming service, licensed to Secaucus, New Jersey and serving the Tri-State metropolitan area. WWOR is owned by Fox Television Stations, a division of the News Corporation, and is a sister station to Fox network flagship...
, Zacherley staged a presidential campaign. His "platform" recording can be found on the album Spook Along with Zacherley, which originally included a Zacherley for President book and poster set which is highly collectible today.
In 1963 he hosted animated cartoon
Animated cartoon
An animated cartoon is a short, hand-drawn film for the cinema, television or computer screen, featuring some kind of story or plot...
s on WPIX-TV in New York. He also hosted the TV show Chiller Theatre in New York on WPIX. In 1964 he hosted a teenage dance show at WNJU-TV in Newark
Newark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
called Disc-O-Teen, hosting the show in full costume and using the teenage show participants in his skits. The show ran for three years until 1967, when he became a morning radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
host for WNEW-FM. Two years later in 1969, he became the station night broadcaster (10 PM–2 AM) for a progressive rock
Progressive rock (radio format)
Progressive rock is a radio station programming format that prospered in the late 1960s and 1970s, in which the disc jockeys are given wide latitude in what they may play, similar to the freeform format but with the proviso that some kind of rock music is almost always what is played...
format. The success of the show led to the use of the same format in Philadelphia. In 1971 he switched his show to WPLJ-FM, where he stayed for ten years. Recent on-air appearances include a two-hour show at WCBS-FM
WCBS-FM
WCBS-FM is a CBS-owned radio station in New York City. The station's studios are in the combined CBS Radio facility at 345 Hudson Street in Manhattan, and its transmitter is located on the Empire State Building....
on Halloween, 2007.
Fillmore East
The Fillmore East was rock promoter Bill Graham's rock venue on Second Avenue near East 6th Street in the East Village neighborhood of the Manhattan borough of New York City. It was open from 1968 to 1971, and featured some of the biggest acts in rock music at the time...
music hall in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to introduce rock act the Grateful Dead
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...
. His introduction of the band can be heard on the Grateful Dead
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...
album Dick's Picks Volume 4
Dick's Picks Volume 4
Dick's Picks Volume 4 is the fourth live album in the Dick's Picks series of releases by the Grateful Dead. It was recorded on February 13 and February 14, 1970 at the Fillmore East in New York City, and released in February 1996. It was the first of the Dick's Picks CDs to have three discs...
.
In the early 1980s he played a wizard on Captain Kangaroo
Captain Kangaroo
Captain Kangaroo is a children's television series which aired weekday mornings on the American television network CBS for nearly 30 years, from October 3, 1955 until December 8, 1984, making it the longest-running children's television program of its day...
, appearing without his trademark Roland costume and make-up. He continued to perform in character at Halloween
Halloween
Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
broadcasts in New York and Philadelphia in the 1980s and 1990s, once narrating Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
's "The Raven
The Raven
"The Raven" is a narrative poem by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, first published in January 1845. It is often noted for its musicality, stylized language, and supernatural atmosphere. It tells of a talking raven's mysterious visit to a distraught lover, tracing the man's slow descent into madness...
" while backed up by the Philadelphia Orchestra
Philadelphia Orchestra
The Philadelphia Orchestra is a symphony orchestra based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States. One of the "Big Five" American orchestras, it was founded in 1900...
.
In 1986, he hosted a direct-to-video
Direct-to-video
Direct-to-video is a term used to describe a film that has been released to the public on home video formats without being released in film theaters or broadcast on television...
program called Horrible Horror, where he performed Zacherly monologues in between clips from public domain
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
sci-fi and horror films.
In 1988 he struck up a friendship with b-movie horror director Frank Henenlotter
Frank Henenlotter
Frank Henenlotter, , is an American screenwriter, director and film historian. He is known primarily for his horror comedies, though he would prefer to be classified as an "exploitation" filmmaker . "I never felt that I made ‘horror films’, he has said. "I always felt that I made exploitation films...
, voicing the puppet "Aylmer," a slug
Slug
Slug is a common name that is normally applied to any gastropod mollusc that lacks a shell, has a very reduced shell, or has a small internal shell...
-like drug-dealing and brain
Brain
The brain is the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals—only a few primitive invertebrates such as sponges, jellyfish, sea squirts and starfishes do not have one. It is located in the head, usually close to primary sensory apparatus such as vision, hearing,...
-eating parasite, one of the lead characters in Henenlotter's 1988 horror-comedy film Brain Damage, and cameos in his 1990 comedy Frankenhooker
Frankenhooker
Frankenhooker is an American black comedy horror film that was released in 1990. Very loosely inspired by Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein, the film was directed by Frank Henenlotter and stars James Lorinz as medical school drop-out Jeffrey Franken and former Penthouse Pet Patty Mullen as the...
, appropriately playing a TV weatherman
Weather forecasting
Weather forecasting is the application of science and technology to predict the state of the atmosphere for a given location. Human beings have attempted to predict the weather informally for millennia, and formally since the nineteenth century...
who specializes in forecasts for mad scientists.
Zacherle continues to make appearances at conventions, and to this day, Zacherle collectibles are still selling, including model kits, T-shirts, and posters. The book Goodnight, Whatever You Are by Richard Scrivani, chronicling the life and times of The Cool Ghoul, debuted at the Chiller Theatre Expo in Secaucus, New Jersey, in October 2006.
The comic book anthology, Zacherley's Midnite Terrors (created by Joseph M. Monks
Joseph M. Monks
Joseph M. Monks is an American writer and blind film director, best known for co-creating the cult phenomena horror comic book, Cry For Dawn...
, and featuring top artists like Basil Gogos
Basil Gogos
Basil Gogos is an American illustrator best known for his striking portraits of movie monsters which appeared on the covers of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine in the 1960s and 70s.-Early life and education:...
, Ken Kelly
Ken Kelly
Ken W. Kelly is a fantasy artist.Over his 30-year career, he has focused in particular on paintings in the sword and sorcery and heroic fantasy subgenres...
, William S. Stout and Mike Koneful), was created solely as a tribute to "Zach". Three issues were published, and Zacherley acted in a commercial to promote them.
A picture of Zacherley alongside fellow horror host Dr. Gangrene
Dr. Gangrene
Dr. Gangrene is a writer, artist, and award winning television horror host based in the Middle Tennessee area, portrayed by Larry Underwood.-History:...
appeared in the October 30, 2007 issue of USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
in an article about 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:...
entitled Halloween horror hosts rise again on radio, TV, film written by David Colton.
Zacherley and Chiller Theatre
Chiller Theatre
Chiller Theatre may refer to:*Chiller Theatre *Chiller Theatre *Chiller Theatre *The title, title track and inspiration for 2001 album of musician John Babcock....
returned to the WPIX airwaves on October 25, 2008 for a special showing of the 1955 Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
classic Tarantula!
Tarantula (film)
Tarantula is a 1955 science fiction film directed by Jack Arnold, and starring Leo G. Carroll, John Agar, and Mara Corday. Among other things, the film is notable for the appearance of a 25-year-old Clint Eastwood in an uncredited role as a jet pilot at the end of the film.-Plot summary:The plot...
.
Most recently, Zacherley made a special guest appearance in Harry Chaskin's award-winning animated short film, 'Bygone Behemoth'.
See also
- VampiraMaila NurmiMaila Nurmi was a Finnish-American actress who created the campy 1950s characterVampira. She portrayed Vampira as TV's first horror host and in the Ed Wood cult film Plan 9 from Outer Space...
- Elvira, Mistress of the DarkCassandra PetersonCassandra Peterson is an American actress best known for her on-screen horror hostess character Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. She gained fame on Los Angeles television station KHJ wearing a black, gothic, cleavage-enhancing gown as host of Movie Macabre, a weekly horror movie presentation...
- Dr. GangreneDr. GangreneDr. Gangrene is a writer, artist, and award winning television horror host based in the Middle Tennessee area, portrayed by Larry Underwood.-History:...
- Morgus the MagnificentMorgus the MagnificentMorgus the Magnificent, also known as Momus Alexander Morgus, is a fictional character on television shows that originated in the New Orleans, Louisiana television market. From the late 1950s into the 1980s Morgus was a "horror host" of late-night science fiction and horror movies, and is back on...
Short Story Collections (as editor)
- Zacherley's Vulture Stew, Ballantine Books, 1960.
- L. Ron Hubbard "He Didn't Like Cats", Mindret Lord "Dr. Jacobus Meliflore's Last Patient", Manly Wade Wellman "The Devil Is Not Mocked", Donald A. Wollheim "Bones", Charles Tanner "Out of the Jar", A. E. van Vogt "The Witch", Anthony Boucher "They Bite", E. Everett Evans "The Shed", James Blish "There Shall Be No Darkness"
- Zacherley's Midnight Snacks, Ballantine Books, 1960.
- Richard Matheson "Sorry, Right Number", Jerome Bixby and Joe Dean "Share Alike", Theodore Sturgeon "Talent", Wallace West "Listen, Children, Listen", William F. Temple "The Whispering Gallery", Robert Moore Williams "The Piping Death", A. E. Van Vogt "The Ghost", Philip James "Carillon of Skulls", Henry Kuttner "Pile of Trouble"
External links
- Welcome to the Home of Zacherley: The Cool Ghoul
- HorrorHosts.com
- WPIX's Chiller Theatre homepage
- Halloween Horror Hosts Rise Again
- Anthopology 101: From B(allantine) to Z(acherley) by Bud WebsterBud WebsterClarence Howard "Bud" Webster is a science fiction and fantasy writer who is also known for his essays on both the history of science fiction and sf/fantasy anthologies as well. He is perhaps best known for the Bubba Pritchert series, which have won two Analytical Laboratory readers' awards from...
at Galactic Central