Maila Nurmi
Encyclopedia
Maila Nurmi was a Finnish-American actress who created the campy
1950s character
Vampira. She portrayed Vampira as TV's first horror host
and in the Ed Wood cult film Plan 9 from Outer Space
. She also appeared in the 1959 movie The Beat Generation
as Vampira.
athlete Paavo Nurmi
, who began setting long-distance running world records in 1921, the year before her birth. She moved to the United States
with her family when she was two years old and grew up in Ashtabula, Ohio
, home to the largest Finnish-American community in the state. She and her family lived in Ashtabula until 1939, when they moved to Oregon.
She graduated from high school in Astoria, Oregon
, before arriving in Los Angeles
. She modeled for Alberto Vargas
, Bernard of Hollywood and Man Ray
, gaining a foothold in the film industry with an uncredited role in Victor Saville
's 1947 film, If Winter Comes
.
She reportedly was fired by Mae West
from the cast of West's Broadway play Catherine Was Great in 1944 because West feared that she was being upstaged. On Broadway, she gained much attention after appearing in the horror-themed midnight show Spook Scandals, in which she screamed, fainted, lay in a coffin and seductively lurked about a mock cemetery. She also worked as a showgirl for the Earl Carroll Theatre
and as a high-kicking chorus line dancer at the Florentine Gardens along with stripper Lili St. Cyr
. In the 1950s she supported herself mainly by posing for pin-up photos in men's magazines such as Famous Models, Gala and Glamorous Models. Before landing her role as 'Vampira', she was working as a hat-check girl in a cloakroom on Hollywood's Sunset Strip.
's annual Bal Caribe Masquerade in a costume inspired by Morticia Addams
in The New Yorker
cartoons of Charles Addams
. Her appearance with pale white skin and tight black dress caught the attention of television producer Hunt Stromberg, Jr. (1923–86), who wanted to hire her to host horror movies on the Los Angeles television station
KABC-TV
, but Stromberg had no idea how to contact her. He finally got her phone number from Rudi Gernreich
, later famed as the designer of the topless swimsuit. The name Vampira was the invention of Nurmi's husband, Dean Riesner
. Nurmi's characterization was influenced by the Dragon Lady
from the comic strip Terry and the Pirates
and the evil queen from Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
.
On April 30, 1954, KABC-TV aired a preview, Dig Me Later, Vampira, at 11:00 p.m. The Vampira Show
premiered on the following night, May 1, 1954. For the first four weeks, the show aired at midnight, moving to 11:00 p.m. on May 29. Ten months later, the series aired at 10:30 p.m., beginning March 5, 1955. Each show opened with Vampira gliding down a dark corridor flooded with dry-ice fog. At the end of her trance-like walk, the camera zoomed in on her face as she let out a piercing scream. She would then introduce (and mock) that evening's film while reclining barefoot on a skull-encrusted Victorian couch. Her horror-related comedy antics included ghoulish puns such as encouraging viewers to write for epitaph
s instead of autographs and talking to her pet spider Rollo. She also ran as a candidate for Night Mayor of Hollywood with a platform of "dead issues". In another publicity stunt, KABC had her cruise around Hollywood in the back of a chauffeur-driven 1932 Packard touring car with the top down, where she sat, as Vampira, holding a black parasol. The show was an immediate hit, and in June 1954 she appeared as Vampira in a horror-themed comedy skit on The Red Skelton Show
along with Béla Lugosi
, Peter Lorre
and Lon Chaney, Jr.
. That same week Life magazine ran an article on her, including a photo-spread of her show-opening entrance and scream (June 14, 1954, pp. 107, 108, 110).
When the series was cancelled in 1955, she retained rights to the character of Vampira and took the show to a competing Los Angeles television station, KHJ-TV. Several episode scripts and a single promotional kinescope
of Nurmi re-creating some of her macabre comedy segments are held by private collectors. Several clips from the rare kinescope are included in the documentaries American Scary
and Vampira: The Movie.
In 2007, the kinescope film of Nurmi in character was restored by Rerunmedia, whose restorations include The Ed Sullivan Show
and Dark Shadows
. The restoration utilized the groundbreaking LiveFeed Video Imaging process developed exclusively for the restoration of kinescopes. The restoration was funded by The Clint Hickman Collection and Coffin Case.
A reconstructed episode of The Vampira Show was released on DVD by the Vampira's Attic web site in October 2007. The release imitated a complete episode by using existing footage of the show combined with vintage commercials believed to have been directed by Ed Wood and the full-length 1932 feature film The Thirteenth Guest
.
Nurmi made television history as the first horror movie hostess. In 1957, Screen Gems
released a syndicated package of 52 horror movies, mostly from Universal Pictures
, under the program title Shock Theater. Independent stations in major cities all over the U.S. began showing these films, adding their own ghoulish host or hostess (including Vampira II and other lookalikes) to attract more viewers.
Nominated for an Emmy Award
as 'Most Outstanding Female Personality' in 1954, she returned to films with Too Much, Too Soon, followed by The Big Operator
and The Beat Generation
. Her most notable film appearance was in Ed Wood's camp classic
, Plan 9 from Outer Space
, as a Vampira-like zombie (filmed in 1956, but released in 1959). In 1960 she appeared in I Passed for White
and Sex Kittens Go to College
, followed by 1962's The Magic Sword
. The classic clip from Plan 9 from Outer Space featuring Vampira walking out of the woods with her hands pointing straight out, was used to start the original opening sequence
of WPIX
Channel 11 New York
's Chiller Theatre
in the 1960s.
, and they spent time together at Googie
's coffee shop on the corner of Crescent Heights and Sunset Boulevard
in Hollywood. She explained their friendship by saying, "We have the same neuroses." Dean allegedly repudiated their friendship toward the end of his brief life. As Hedda Hopper
related in a 1962 memoir that included a chapter on Dean: "We discussed the thin-cheeked actress who calls herself Vampira on television (and cashed in, after Jimmy died, on the publicity she got from knowing him and claimed she could talk to him 'through the veil'). He said: 'I had studied The Golden Bough
and the Marquis de Sade
, and I was interested in finding out if this girl was obsessed by a satanic force. She knew absolutely nothing. I found her void of any true interest except her Vampira make-up. She has no absolute.
The 2010 public radio documentary Vampira and Me by author/director R. H. Greene took issue with Hopper's depiction of the Nurmi/Dean relationship, pointing to an extant photo of Dean and Vampira sidekick Jack Simmons in full Boris Karloff Frankenstein make-up as evidence of Nurmi and Dean's friendship. The documentary also described a production memo in the Warner Bros. archive citing a set visit from "Vampira" while Dean was making Rebel Without a Cause
. The Warner Bros. memo was first mentioned in the 2006 book Live Fast, Die Young: The Making of Rebel Without a Cause by Lawrence Frascella and Al Weisel, who were given access to the Rebel production files. An interview Frascella and Weisel conducted with actress Shelley Winters
also uncovered an instance where Dean interrupted an argument with director Nicholas Ray
and Winters so he could watch The Vampira Show
on TV.
In Vampira and Me, Nurmi can be heard telling Greene that Dean once appeared in a live bit on The Vampira Show in which Vampira, dressed as a librarian, rapped his knuckles with a ruler because "he was a very naughty boy."
On June 20, 1955, Nurmi was the target of an attempted murder when a man forced his way into her apartment and proceeded to terrorize her for close to four hours. Nurmi eventually escaped and managed to call the police, with assistance from a local shop owner.
, in 1949, a former child actor in silent films and later the screenwriter of Dirty Harry
, Charley Varrick
, Play Misty for Me
and numerous other movies and TV episodes. She married actor Fabrizio Mioni on June 20, 1961, in Orange County, California. She had no children.
By 1962, Nurmi was making a living installing linoleum
flooring. "And if things are slow in linoleum, I can also do carpentry, make drapes or refinish furniture", she told the Los Angeles Times.
In the early 1960s, Nurmi opened Vampira's Attic, an antiques boutique on Melrose Avenue. She also sold handmade jewelry and clothing. She made items for several celebrities, including Grace Slick
of the music group Jefferson Airplane
and the Zappa family.
In 1981, Nurmi was asked by KHJ-TV to revive her Vampira character for television. She worked closely with the producers of the new show and was to get an executive producer credit, but Nurmi eventually left the project over creative differences. According to Nurmi this was because the station cast comedic actress Cassandra Peterson
in the part without consulting her. "They eventually called me in to sign a contract and she was there", Nurmi told Bizarre
magazine in 2005. "They had hired her without asking me."
Unable to continue using the name Vampira, the show was abruptly renamed Elvira's Movie Macabre with Peterson playing the titular host. Nurmi soon filed a lawsuit against Peterson. The court eventually ruled in favor of Peterson, holding that "likeness' means actual representation of another person's appearance, and not simply close resemblance." Peterson claimed that Elvira was nothing like Vampira aside from the basic design of the black dress and black hair; Nurmi claimed that the entire Elvira persona, which included comedic dialogue and intentionally bad graveyard puns, infringed on her creation's "distinctive dark dress, horror movie props, and...special personality." Nurmi herself claimed that Vampira's image was in part based on the Charles Addams
The New Yorker
cartoon character Morticia Addams
, though she told Boxoffice
magazine in 1994 that she had intentionally deviated from Addams' mute and flat-chested creation, making her own TV character "campier and sexier" to avoid plagiarizing Addams' idea.
In 1986, she appeared alongside Tomata du Plenty
of The Screamers
in Rene Daalder
's punk rock musical Population: 1
, which was released on DVD in October 2008.
In 2001, Nurmi opened an official website and began selling autographed memorabilia and original pieces of art on eBay
. Until her death, Nurmi lived in a small North Hollywood
apartment.
Unlike Elvira, Nurmi authorized very few merchandising contracts for her Vampira character, though the name and likeness have been used unofficially by various companies since the 1950s. In 1994, Nurmi authorized a Vampira model kit for Artomic Creations, and a pre-painted figurine from Bowen Designs in 2001, both sculpted by Thomas Kuntz
. In 2004, she authorized merchandising of the Vampira character by Coffin Case.
.
Camp (style)
Camp is an aesthetic sensibility that regards something as appealing because of its taste and ironic value. The concept is closely related to kitsch, and things with camp appeal may also be described as being "cheesy"...
1950s character
Vampira. She portrayed Vampira as TV's first 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:...
and in the Ed Wood cult film Plan 9 from Outer Space
Plan 9 from Outer Space
Plan 9 from Outer Space is a 1959 science fiction film written and directed by Edward D. Wood, Jr. The film features Gregory Walcott, Mona McKinnon, Tor Johnson and Maila "Vampira" Nurmi...
. She also appeared in the 1959 movie The Beat Generation
The Beat Generation
The Beat Generation is a film by MGM starring Steve Cochran and Mamie Van Doren, with Ray Danton, Fay Spain, Maggie Hayes, Jackie Coogan, Louis Armstrong, Vampira, and Ray Anthony...
as Vampira.
Early life
Born as Maila Elizabeth Syrjäniemi, she claimed to be the niece of the FinnishFinland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
athlete Paavo Nurmi
Paavo Nurmi
Paavo Johannes Nurmi was a Finnish runner. Born in Turku, he was known as one of the "Flying Finns," a term given to him, Hannes Kolehmainen, Ville Ritola, and others for their distinction in running...
, who began setting long-distance running world records in 1921, the year before her birth. She moved to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
with her family when she was two years old and grew up in Ashtabula, Ohio
Ashtabula, Ohio
As of the census of 2000, there were 20,962 people, 8,435 households, and 5,423 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,775.9 people per square mile . There were 9,151 housing units at an average density of 1,211.8 per square mile...
, home to the largest Finnish-American community in the state. She and her family lived in Ashtabula until 1939, when they moved to Oregon.
She graduated from high school in Astoria, Oregon
Astoria, Oregon
Astoria is the county seat of Clatsop County, Oregon, United States. Situated near the mouth of the Columbia River, the city was named after the American investor John Jacob Astor. His American Fur Company founded Fort Astoria at the site in 1811...
, before arriving in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. She modeled for Alberto Vargas
Alberto Vargas
Alberto Vargas was a noted Peruvian painter of pin-up girls. He is often considered one of the most famous of the pin-up artists...
, Bernard of Hollywood and Man Ray
Man Ray
Man Ray , born Emmanuel Radnitzky, was an American artist who spent most of his career in Paris, France. Perhaps best described simply as a modernist, he was a significant contributor to both the Dada and Surrealist movements, although his ties to each were informal...
, gaining a foothold in the film industry with an uncredited role in Victor Saville
Victor Saville
Victor Saville was an English film director, producer and screenwriter. He directed 39 films between 1927 and 1954...
's 1947 film, If Winter Comes
If Winter Comes
If Winter Comes is a 1947 drama film released by MGM. The movie was directed by Victor Saville, based on the novel by A.S.M. Hutchinson. The film tells the story of an English textbook writer who takes in a pregnant girl...
.
She reportedly was fired by Mae West
Mae West
Mae West was an American actress, playwright, screenwriter and sex symbol whose entertainment career spanned seven decades....
from the cast of West's Broadway play Catherine Was Great in 1944 because West feared that she was being upstaged. On Broadway, she gained much attention after appearing in the horror-themed midnight show Spook Scandals, in which she screamed, fainted, lay in a coffin and seductively lurked about a mock cemetery. She also worked as a showgirl for the Earl Carroll Theatre
Earl Carroll Theatre
Earl Carroll Theatre was the name of two important theaters owned by Broadway impresario and showman Earl Carroll. One was located on Broadway in New York City and the other on Sunset Blvd in Hollywood, California.-Broadway:...
and as a high-kicking chorus line dancer at the Florentine Gardens along with stripper Lili St. Cyr
Lili St. Cyr
Lili St. Cyr , was a prominent American burlesque stripper.- Early years :She was born as Willis Marie Van Schaack in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1918. She had a sister, Rosemary Van Schaack Minsky...
. In the 1950s she supported herself mainly by posing for pin-up photos in men's magazines such as Famous Models, Gala and Glamorous Models. Before landing her role as 'Vampira', she was working as a hat-check girl in a cloakroom on Hollywood's Sunset Strip.
Origin of Vampira
The idea for the Vampira character was born in 1953 when Nurmi attended choreographer Lester HortonLester Horton
Lester Horton was an American dancer, choreographer, and teacher.-Early years:Lester Iradell Horton was born in Indianapolis, Indiana on January 23, 1906. His parents were Iradell Horton and Pollyanna Horton....
's annual Bal Caribe Masquerade in a costume inspired by Morticia Addams
Morticia Addams
Morticia A. Addams is the fictional matriarch of "The Addams Family", created by cartoonist Charles Addams and based on his first wife Barbara .Morticia is the wife of Gomez Addams and mother of Wednesday Addams and Pugsley Addams...
in The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
cartoons of Charles Addams
Charles Addams
Charles "Chas" Samuel Addams was an American cartoonist known for his particularly black humor and macabre characters...
. Her appearance with pale white skin and tight black dress caught the attention of television producer Hunt Stromberg, Jr. (1923–86), who wanted to hire her to host horror movies on the Los Angeles television station
Television station
A television station is a business, organisation or other such as an amateur television operator that transmits content over terrestrial television. A television transmission can be by analog television signals or, more recently, by digital television. Broadcast television systems standards are...
KABC-TV
KABC-TV
KABC-TV, channel 7, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, licensed to Los Angeles, California. KABC-TV's studios are located in Glendale, California...
, but Stromberg had no idea how to contact her. He finally got her phone number from Rudi Gernreich
Rudi Gernreich
Rudi Gernreich was a Austrian-born American fashion designer and gay activist.-Biography:Born in Vienna, Gernreich fled Austria at age 16 due to Nazism, and later migrated to the United States, settling in Los Angeles, California...
, later famed as the designer of the topless swimsuit. The name Vampira was the invention of Nurmi's husband, Dean Riesner
Dean Riesner
Dean Riesner was a prolific American film and television writer.Riesner's father was a silent film director, and Dean began acting in films at the age of five. His career at this young age ended because his mother wanted her son to have a real childhood...
. Nurmi's characterization was influenced by the Dragon Lady
Dragon Lady (character)
The Dragon Lady, also known as Madam Deal, was a well-known character in the popular U.S. comic strip Terry and the Pirates, created by Milton Caniff, and in the movie serial, comic books, and TV series based on the comic strip. Her real name is Lai Choi San.The Dragon Lady first appeared in 1934...
from the comic strip Terry and the Pirates
Terry and the Pirates (comic strip)
Terry and the Pirates was an action-adventure comic strip created by cartoonist Milton Caniff. Captain Joseph Patterson, editor for the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate, had admired Caniff’s work on the children's adventure strip Dickie Dare and hired him to create the new adventure strip,...
and the evil queen from Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a 1937 American animated film based on Snow White, a German fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm. It was the first full-length cel-animated feature in motion picture history, as well as the first animated feature film produced in America, the first produced in full...
.
On April 30, 1954, KABC-TV aired a preview, Dig Me Later, Vampira, at 11:00 p.m. The Vampira Show
The Vampira Show
The Vampira Show was an American variety show hosted by Vampira. The series aired on the Los Angeles ABC television affiliate KABC-TV from April 30, 1954, through April 2, 1955...
premiered on the following night, May 1, 1954. For the first four weeks, the show aired at midnight, moving to 11:00 p.m. on May 29. Ten months later, the series aired at 10:30 p.m., beginning March 5, 1955. Each show opened with Vampira gliding down a dark corridor flooded with dry-ice fog. At the end of her trance-like walk, the camera zoomed in on her face as she let out a piercing scream. She would then introduce (and mock) that evening's film while reclining barefoot on a skull-encrusted Victorian couch. Her horror-related comedy antics included ghoulish puns such as encouraging viewers to write for epitaph
Epitaph
An epitaph is a short text honoring a deceased person, strictly speaking that is inscribed on their tombstone or plaque, but also used figuratively. Some are specified by the dead person beforehand, others chosen by those responsible for the burial...
s instead of autographs and talking to her pet spider Rollo. She also ran as a candidate for Night Mayor of Hollywood with a platform of "dead issues". In another publicity stunt, KABC had her cruise around Hollywood in the back of a chauffeur-driven 1932 Packard touring car with the top down, where she sat, as Vampira, holding a black parasol. The show was an immediate hit, and in June 1954 she appeared as Vampira in a horror-themed comedy skit on The Red Skelton Show
The Red Skelton Show
The Red Skelton Show is an American variety show that was a television staple for two decades, from 1951 to 1971. It was second to Gunsmoke and third to The Ed Sullivan Show in the ratings during that time. Skelton, who had previously been a radio star, had appeared in several motion pictures as...
along with Béla Lugosi
Béla Lugosi
Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó , commonly known as Bela Lugosi, was a Hungarian actor of stage and screen. He was best known for having played Count Dracula in the Broadway play and subsequent film version, as well as having starred in several of Ed Wood's low budget films in the last years of his...
, Peter Lorre
Peter Lorre
Peter Lorre was an Austrian-American actor frequently typecast as a sinister foreigner.He caused an international sensation in 1931 with his portrayal of a serial killer who preys on little girls in the German film M...
and Lon Chaney, Jr.
Lon Chaney, Jr.
Lon Chaney, Jr. , born Creighton Tull Chaney, was an American character actor. He was best known for his roles in monster movies and as the son of famous silent film actor, Lon Chaney...
. That same week Life magazine ran an article on her, including a photo-spread of her show-opening entrance and scream (June 14, 1954, pp. 107, 108, 110).
When the series was cancelled in 1955, she retained rights to the character of Vampira and took the show to a competing Los Angeles television station, KHJ-TV. Several episode scripts and a single promotional kinescope
Kinescope
Kinescope , shortened to kine , also known as telerecording in Britain, is a recording of a television program made by filming the picture from a video monitor...
of Nurmi re-creating some of her macabre comedy segments are held by private collectors. Several clips from the rare kinescope are included in the documentaries American Scary
American Scary
American Scary is a 2006 documentary film about the history and legacy of classic television horror hosts, written and directed by American independent filmmakers John E...
and Vampira: The Movie.
In 2007, the kinescope film of Nurmi in character was restored by Rerunmedia, whose restorations include The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan....
and Dark Shadows
Dark Shadows
Dark Shadows is a gothic soap opera that originally aired weekdays on the ABC television network, from June 27, 1966 to April 2, 1971. The show was created by Dan Curtis. The story bible, which was written by Art Wallace, does not mention any supernatural elements...
. The restoration utilized the groundbreaking LiveFeed Video Imaging process developed exclusively for the restoration of kinescopes. The restoration was funded by The Clint Hickman Collection and Coffin Case.
A reconstructed episode of The Vampira Show was released on DVD by the Vampira's Attic web site in October 2007. The release imitated a complete episode by using existing footage of the show combined with vintage commercials believed to have been directed by Ed Wood and the full-length 1932 feature film The Thirteenth Guest
The Thirteenth Guest (film)
The Thirteenth Guest is an American mystery film, released on August 9, 1932.The film is also known as Lady Beware in the United Kingdom. It was based on a novel by the crime writer Armitage Trail best known for writing Scarface....
.
Nurmi made television history as the first horror movie hostess. In 1957, Screen Gems
Screen Gems
Screen Gems is an American movie production company and subsidiary company of Sony Pictures Entertainment's Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group that has served several different purposes for its parent companies over the decades since its incorporation....
released a syndicated package of 52 horror movies, mostly from 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...
, under the program title Shock Theater. Independent stations in major cities all over the U.S. began showing these films, adding their own ghoulish host or hostess (including Vampira II and other lookalikes) to attract more viewers.
Nominated for an Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
as 'Most Outstanding Female Personality' in 1954, she returned to films with Too Much, Too Soon, followed by The Big Operator
The Big Operator (1959 film)
The Big Operator is a 1959 crime/drama film starring Mickey Rooney as a corrupt union boss, with Steve Cochran and Mamie Van Doren as co-stars.-Cast:*Mickey Rooney as Little Joe Braun...
and The Beat Generation
The Beat Generation
The Beat Generation is a film by MGM starring Steve Cochran and Mamie Van Doren, with Ray Danton, Fay Spain, Maggie Hayes, Jackie Coogan, Louis Armstrong, Vampira, and Ray Anthony...
. Her most notable film appearance was in Ed Wood's camp classic
Camp (style)
Camp is an aesthetic sensibility that regards something as appealing because of its taste and ironic value. The concept is closely related to kitsch, and things with camp appeal may also be described as being "cheesy"...
, Plan 9 from Outer Space
Plan 9 from Outer Space
Plan 9 from Outer Space is a 1959 science fiction film written and directed by Edward D. Wood, Jr. The film features Gregory Walcott, Mona McKinnon, Tor Johnson and Maila "Vampira" Nurmi...
, as a Vampira-like zombie (filmed in 1956, but released in 1959). In 1960 she appeared in I Passed for White
I Passed for White
I Passed for White is a 1960 film directed and adapted for the screen by Fred M. Wilcox from a novel of the same name by Reba Lee "as told to" Mary Hastings Bradley. The film stars Sonya Wilde, James Franciscus, Patricia Michon, and Isabel Cooley...
and Sex Kittens Go to College
Sex Kittens Go to College
Sex Kittens Go to College also known as Beauty and the Robot, is a 1960 comedy film starring Mamie Van Doren, Tuesday Weld, and Mijanou Bardot.-Cast:* Mamie Van Doren as Dr. Mathilda West* Tuesday Weld as Jody* Mijanou Bardot as Suzanne...
, followed by 1962's The Magic Sword
The Magic Sword (film)
The Magic Sword is a 1962 live action fantasy film, mainly aimed at children, based loosely on the medieval legend of St. George and the Dragon.The film appeared on a 1992 episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000...
. The classic clip from Plan 9 from Outer Space featuring Vampira walking out of the woods with her hands pointing straight out, was used to start the original opening sequence
Title sequence
A Title Sequence is the method by which cinematic films or television programs present their title, key production and cast members, or both, utilizing conceptual visuals and sound...
of WPIX
WPIX
WPIX, channel 11, is a television station in New York City built, signed on, and owned by the Tribune Company. WPIX also serves as the flagship station of The CW Television Network...
Channel 11 New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
's Chiller Theatre
Chiller Theatre (New York)
Chiller Theatre was a Saturday night show on Channel 11 WPIX in New York City that showed classic horror movies.-1960s:Chiller Theater actually began on WPIX during 1961 and in 1963 included Zacherley as the on-air host. However, by 1965, Zacherley left the show and a new opening was created using...
in the 1960s.
Personal life
In the early 1950s, Nurmi was close friends with James DeanJames Dean
James Byron Dean was an American film actor. He is a cultural icon, best embodied in the title of his most celebrated film, Rebel Without a Cause , in which he starred as troubled Los Angeles teenager Jim Stark...
, and they spent time together at Googie
Googie architecture
Googie architecture is a form of modern architecture, a subdivision of futurist architecture influenced by car culture and the Space and Atomic Ages....
's coffee shop on the corner of Crescent Heights and Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard is a street in the western part of Los Angeles County, California, that stretches from Figueroa Street in downtown Los Angeles to the Pacific Coast Highway at the Pacific Ocean in the Pacific Palisades...
in Hollywood. She explained their friendship by saying, "We have the same neuroses." Dean allegedly repudiated their friendship toward the end of his brief life. As Hedda Hopper
Hedda Hopper
Hedda Hopper was an American actress and gossip columnist, whose long-running feud with friend turned arch-rival Louella Parsons became at least as notorious as many of Hopper's columns.-Early life:...
related in a 1962 memoir that included a chapter on Dean: "We discussed the thin-cheeked actress who calls herself Vampira on television (and cashed in, after Jimmy died, on the publicity she got from knowing him and claimed she could talk to him 'through the veil'). He said: 'I had studied The Golden Bough
The Golden Bough
The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion is a wide-ranging, comparative study of mythology and religion, written by Scottish anthropologist Sir James George Frazer . It first was published in two volumes in 1890; the third edition, published 1906–15, comprised twelve volumes...
and the Marquis de Sade
Marquis de Sade
Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade was a French aristocrat, revolutionary politician, philosopher, and writer famous for his libertine sexuality and lifestyle...
, and I was interested in finding out if this girl was obsessed by a satanic force. She knew absolutely nothing. I found her void of any true interest except her Vampira make-up. She has no absolute.
The 2010 public radio documentary Vampira and Me by author/director R. H. Greene took issue with Hopper's depiction of the Nurmi/Dean relationship, pointing to an extant photo of Dean and Vampira sidekick Jack Simmons in full Boris Karloff Frankenstein make-up as evidence of Nurmi and Dean's friendship. The documentary also described a production memo in the Warner Bros. archive citing a set visit from "Vampira" while Dean was making Rebel Without a Cause
Rebel Without a Cause
Rebel Without a Cause is a 1955 American drama film about emotionally confused suburban, middle-class teenagers. Directed by Nicholas Ray, it offered both social commentary and an alternative to previous films depicting delinquents in urban slum environments...
. The Warner Bros. memo was first mentioned in the 2006 book Live Fast, Die Young: The Making of Rebel Without a Cause by Lawrence Frascella and Al Weisel, who were given access to the Rebel production files. An interview Frascella and Weisel conducted with actress Shelley Winters
Shelley Winters
Shelley Winters was an American actress who appeared in dozens of films, as well as on stage and television; her career spanned over 50 years until her death in 2006...
also uncovered an instance where Dean interrupted an argument with director Nicholas Ray
Nicholas Ray
Nicholas Ray was an American film director best known for the movie Rebel Without a Cause....
and Winters so he could watch The Vampira Show
The Vampira Show
The Vampira Show was an American variety show hosted by Vampira. The series aired on the Los Angeles ABC television affiliate KABC-TV from April 30, 1954, through April 2, 1955...
on TV.
In Vampira and Me, Nurmi can be heard telling Greene that Dean once appeared in a live bit on The Vampira Show in which Vampira, dressed as a librarian, rapped his knuckles with a ruler because "he was a very naughty boy."
On June 20, 1955, Nurmi was the target of an attempted murder when a man forced his way into her apartment and proceeded to terrorize her for close to four hours. Nurmi eventually escaped and managed to call the police, with assistance from a local shop owner.
Marriages
She married her first husband, Dean RiesnerDean Riesner
Dean Riesner was a prolific American film and television writer.Riesner's father was a silent film director, and Dean began acting in films at the age of five. His career at this young age ended because his mother wanted her son to have a real childhood...
, in 1949, a former child actor in silent films and later the screenwriter of Dirty Harry
Dirty Harry
Dirty Harry is a 1971 American crime thriller produced and directed by Don Siegel, the first in the Dirty Harry series. Clint Eastwood plays the title role, in his first outing as San Francisco Police Department Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan....
, Charley Varrick
Charley Varrick
Charley Varrick is a 1973 crime film directed by Don Siegel and starring Walter Matthau, Andrew Robinson, Joe Don Baker and John Vernon. The film was based on the novel The Looters by John H. Reese.-Plot:...
, Play Misty for Me
Play Misty for Me
Play Misty for Me is a 1971 American psychological thriller film, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, in his directorial debut. Jessica Walter and Donna Mills co-star. The original music score was composed by Dee Barton.-Plot:...
and numerous other movies and TV episodes. She married actor Fabrizio Mioni on June 20, 1961, in Orange County, California. She had no children.
Later life
Linoleum
Linoleum is a floor covering made from renewable materials such as solidified linseed oil , pine rosin, ground cork dust, wood flour, and mineral fillers such as calcium carbonate, most commonly on a burlap or canvas backing; pigments are often added to the materials.The finest linoleum floors,...
flooring. "And if things are slow in linoleum, I can also do carpentry, make drapes or refinish furniture", she told the Los Angeles Times.
In the early 1960s, Nurmi opened Vampira's Attic, an antiques boutique on Melrose Avenue. She also sold handmade jewelry and clothing. She made items for several celebrities, including Grace Slick
Grace Slick
Grace Slick is an American singer and songwriter, who was one of the lead singers of the rock groups The Great Society, Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, and Starship, and was a solo artist, for nearly three decades, from the mid-1960s to the mid-1990s...
of the music group Jefferson Airplane
Jefferson Airplane
Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band formed in San Francisco in 1965. A pioneer of the psychedelic rock movement, Jefferson Airplane was the first band from the San Francisco scene to achieve mainstream commercial and critical success....
and the Zappa family.
In 1981, Nurmi was asked by KHJ-TV to revive her Vampira character for television. She worked closely with the producers of the new show and was to get an executive producer credit, but Nurmi eventually left the project over creative differences. According to Nurmi this was because the station cast comedic actress Cassandra Peterson
Cassandra Peterson
Cassandra 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...
in the part without consulting her. "They eventually called me in to sign a contract and she was there", Nurmi told Bizarre
Bizarre (magazine)
Bizarre is a British alternative magazine published from 1997 to the present. It is currently published by Dennis Publishing; it is a sister publication to the Fortean Times.-Content:...
magazine in 2005. "They had hired her without asking me."
Unable to continue using the name Vampira, the show was abruptly renamed Elvira's Movie Macabre with Peterson playing the titular host. Nurmi soon filed a lawsuit against Peterson. The court eventually ruled in favor of Peterson, holding that "likeness' means actual representation of another person's appearance, and not simply close resemblance." Peterson claimed that Elvira was nothing like Vampira aside from the basic design of the black dress and black hair; Nurmi claimed that the entire Elvira persona, which included comedic dialogue and intentionally bad graveyard puns, infringed on her creation's "distinctive dark dress, horror movie props, and...special personality." Nurmi herself claimed that Vampira's image was in part based on the Charles Addams
Charles Addams
Charles "Chas" Samuel Addams was an American cartoonist known for his particularly black humor and macabre characters...
The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
cartoon character Morticia Addams
Morticia Addams
Morticia A. Addams is the fictional matriarch of "The Addams Family", created by cartoonist Charles Addams and based on his first wife Barbara .Morticia is the wife of Gomez Addams and mother of Wednesday Addams and Pugsley Addams...
, though she told Boxoffice
Boxoffice (magazine)
Boxoffice is a film industry magazine dedicated to the movie theatre business published by Boxoffice Media LP. It started in 1920 as The Reel Journal, taking its current name in 1931 and still publishes today, with an intended audience of theatre owners and film professionals.Boxoffice is the...
magazine in 1994 that she had intentionally deviated from Addams' mute and flat-chested creation, making her own TV character "campier and sexier" to avoid plagiarizing Addams' idea.
In 1986, she appeared alongside Tomata du Plenty
Tomata du Plenty
David Xavier Harrigan, aka Tomata du Plenty the singer of the late 1970s Los Angeles synthpunk band The Screamers. He was also founder of Seattle's counterculture troupe Ze Whiz Kidz...
of The Screamers
The Screamers
The Screamers were a punk rock group active in the Los Angeles, California area in the late 1970s. The Screamers were pioneers of a genre now known as "synthpunk," and can also be classified as art punk....
in Rene Daalder
Rene Daalder
Rene Daalder is a Dutch writer and director. He lives in Los Angeles...
's punk rock musical Population: 1
Population: 1
Population: 1 is a 1986 punk rock musical film written and directed by Rene Daalder.The film stars Tomata du Plenty of the Screamers as a defense contractor who somehow becomes the sole survivor of a nuclear holocaust. In his solitude, he traces the history of U.S...
, which was released on DVD in October 2008.
In 2001, Nurmi opened an official website and began selling autographed memorabilia and original pieces of art on eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
. Until her death, Nurmi lived in a small North Hollywood
North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
North Hollywood is a district in the San Fernando Valley region of the city of Los Angeles, California, along the Tujunga Wash. It is bounded on the south by Moorpark Street and the Ventura Freeway, on the southwest by Burbank Blvd...
apartment.
Unlike Elvira, Nurmi authorized very few merchandising contracts for her Vampira character, though the name and likeness have been used unofficially by various companies since the 1950s. In 1994, Nurmi authorized a Vampira model kit for Artomic Creations, and a pre-painted figurine from Bowen Designs in 2001, both sculpted by Thomas Kuntz
Thomas Kuntz
Thomas Kuntz is an American multi-media artist notable for his contemporary automata. He has devoted a lifetime to acquiring the skills of a designer, sculptor, mechanic, automatist, animator, model-maker, painter and conceptualist.-Early life:...
. In 2004, she authorized merchandising of the Vampira character by Coffin Case.
Death
On January 10, 2008, Nurmi died of natural causes at her home in Hollywood, aged 85. She was buried in the Griffith Lawn section of the Hollywood Forever CemeteryHollywood Forever Cemetery
Hollywood Forever Cemetery, originally called Hollywood Memorial Park Cemetery, is one of the oldest cemeteries in Los Angeles, California. It is located at 6000 Santa Monica Boulevard in the Hollywood...
.
Films and documentaries
- Plan 9 from Outer SpacePlan 9 from Outer SpacePlan 9 from Outer Space is a 1959 science fiction film written and directed by Edward D. Wood, Jr. The film features Gregory Walcott, Mona McKinnon, Tor Johnson and Maila "Vampira" Nurmi...
(1959), Ed Wood's infamous film. A DVD release in 2000 from Image Entertainment contains a bonus two-hour documentary Flying Saucers Over Hollywood: The Plan 9 Companion with extensive interviews with Nurmi and other cast members. Another DVD containing both a colorized version and a digitally restored black-and-white print was released by Legend Films in 2006.
- Ed WoodEd Wood (film)Ed Wood is a 1994 American comedy-drama biopic directed and produced by Tim Burton, and starring Johnny Depp as cult filmmaker Edward D. Wood, Jr. The film concerns the period in Wood's life when he made his best-known films as well as his relationship with actor Bela Lugosi, played by Martin Landau...
(1994), Tim BurtonTim BurtonTimothy William "Tim" Burton is an American film director, film producer, writer and artist. He is famous for dark, quirky-themed movies such as Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet...
's biopic features actress-model Lisa Marie as Maila Nurmi. The film recreates parts of The Vampira Show.
- About Death, Sex and Taxes (1995), a Finnish documentary about Nurmi by Mika J. Ripatti.
- The Haunted World of Edward D. Wood, Jr. This 1995 Brett Thompson documentary about the life and films of Ed Wood also includes a recreation of The Vampira Show.
- I Woke Up Early the Day I DiedI Woke Up Early The Day I DiedI Woke Up Early The Day I Died is a camp comedy film written by Edward D. Wood, Jr.. The film, directed by Aris Iliopulos, stars Billy Zane, Tippi Hedren, Ron Perlman, and Christina Ricci, among many others.-Production:...
(1998) features Nurmi's last dramatic film role.
- Schlock! The Secret History of American Movies (2001), Ray Greene's documentary about the American exploitation and sexploitationSexploitationSexploitation, or "sex-exploitation", describes a class of independently produced, low-budget feature films generally associated with the 1960s and serving largely as a vehicle for the exhibition of non-explicit sexual situations and gratuitous nudity. The genre is a subgenre of exploitation films...
films of the 1950s and 1960s features Nurmi alongside cult filmmakers Roger CormanRoger CormanRoger William Corman is an American film producer, director and actor. He has mostly worked on low-budget B movies. Some of Corman's work has an established critical reputation, such as his cycle of films adapted from the tales of Edgar Allan Poe, and in 2009 he won an Honorary Academy Award for...
, Doris WishmanDoris WishmanDoris Wishman was an American film director, screenwriter and independent film producer....
, David F. FriedmanDavid F. FriedmanDavid Frank Friedman was an American filmmaker and film producer.-Life and career:Friedman first became interested in entertainment after spending part of his childhood in Birmingham and Anniston, Alabama, traveling carnival sites. He met exploitation film pioneer Kroger Babb during his stay in...
, and others.
- Vampira: The Movie (2004), Kevin Sean Michael's documenary about Nurmi, which won the 2007 Rondo Award for Best Independent Feature.
- American ScaryAmerican ScaryAmerican Scary is a 2006 documentary film about the history and legacy of classic television horror hosts, written and directed by American independent filmmakers John E...
(2006) a documentary about local late-night horror movie hosts includes an interview with Nurmi.
- Vampira: The Movie (2006) Maila Nurmi stars in this labor-of-love documentary about her career as horror host, directed by Kevin Sean MichaelsKevin Sean Michaels- Biography and Career :Michaels is best known as Art Director for Troma Entertainment in 2002 and worked closely with filmmaker Lloyd Kaufman on Troma's Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead and for the 2007 documentary"Vampira: The Movie."- Movie Work :...
. Alpha VideoAlpha VideoAlpha Video is an entertainment company, based near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that specializes in the manufacturing and marketing of public domain movies and TV shows on DVD...
released it in 2007.
- Pretty Bloody: The Women of HorrorPretty Bloody: The Women of HorrorPretty Bloody: The Women of Horror is a television documentary that premiered on the Canadian cable network Space on February 25, 2009.The hour-long documentary examines the experiences, motivations and impact of the increasing number of women engaged in horror fiction, with producers Donna Davies...
(2009), TV documentary on scream queenScream queenA scream queen is an actress who has become associated with horror films, either through an appearance in a notable entry in the genre as a frequent victim or through constant appearances as the female protagonist...
s and other women in the horror industry.
- Vampira and Me (2010), radio documentary/podcast about Nurmi by her friend R. H. Greene. First broadcast by KPCC 89.3 FM, a Southern California NPRNPRNPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
affiliate. In addition to previously unheard interview clips with Nurmi about her life and career, interviews with friends from Nurmi's declining years are also included. The program is available as a free download through the KPCC website.
Awards
- Being the originator of the Television Horror Host sub-genre of movie shows, Maila Nurmi and The Vampira Show received a special citation at a ceremony on the event of the 50th Anniversary of the television Emmy Awards.
- Nurmi was inducted posthumously into the Monster Kid Hall of Fame at the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror AwardsRondo Hatton Classic Horror AwardsThe Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award is an award presented annually by the Classic Horror Film Board to honor the top works in horror in film, television, home video, and publishing.-The award:...
. Vampira: The Movie won a Rondo for Best Independent Production as a tribute to Nurmi.
In popular culture
- In 1958, singer Bobby BareBobby BareRobert Joseph Bare is an American country music singer and songwriter. He is the father of Bobby Bare, Jr., also a musician.-Early career:...
recorded a song about Nurmi's character titled "Vampira." - London Punk pioneers The Damned paid homage to Vampira with the track "Plan 9 Channel 7" on their 1979 album Machine Gun Etiquette. A video of this song was made by The Damned's record label, which featured Damned singer David Vanian's then wife Lori as Vampira.
- The New JerseyNew JerseyNew Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
horror-punk group The Misfits also recorded an original song named after and based on Nurmi's character. Versions of the song date to 1979, but it was not released until 1982 on their first full-length LPLP albumThe LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
Walk Among UsWalk Among Us-Band:* Glenn Danzig – vocals, guitar on "Vampira", "Devils Whorehouse", "Astro Zombies", overdubbed guitar on all tracks except "Mommy Can I Go Out & Kill Tonight?"* Jerry Only – bass, background vocals...
. - The Devin Townsend Band had two songs, "Vampolka" and "Vampira", on the album Synchestra. "Vampira", the first single from the album, was made into a music video.
- The Greg KihnGreg KihnGreg Kihn is an American rock musician, radio personality and novelist.-Music:Kihn is the front man for The Greg Kihn Band, which released several singles and albums that made the charts in the early 1980s...
novel Horror Show has a character called Devilla, based on Vampira. - The cartoon series, Drak PackDrak PackDrak Pack was an animated television series. It aired in the United States on CBS Saturday Morning between September 6, 1980 and September 12, 1982. It was produced by Hanna-Barbera's Australian subsidiary, listed in the credits as "Hanna-Barbera Pty. Ltd"...
included a vampiress named Vampira, who seems to have been drawn to look like Maila Nurmi's Vampira.
External links
- Vampira's Attic
- Vampira and Me mp3 of 50 minute Vampira radio documentary
- Vampira: The Movie Official Website of Documentary
- BOXOFFICE Magazine interview
- Vampira: Inducted into The Horror Drunx Hall Of Fame as Horror Royalty - http://thehorrordrunx.yuku.com/topic/492
- Vampira Show filmography