SHOCK! Ballyhoo (#3): Good Night, Nurse!

OK, technically, this is not SHOCK! ballyhoo--- it is from the "Showmanship" section of a theatrical pressbook for THE WOLF MAN and is intended for patrons in movie theater lobbies rather than TV viewers in 1957: a "first-aid booth" with cigarettes and chewing gum to soothe the nerves, candles for those afraid of the dark, spirits of ammonia (smelling salts) to bring consciousness back to those who have fainted out of fear, dye for those whose hair turned white from fear, and so on.

Though it was intended for movie-theater publicity well before the movie's stint on TV, I just can't resist including this here as part of my look at THE WOLF MAN on SHOCK!. For one thing, I like the explicit mention here of treating "those who suffer from 'thrill-shock'"--- I've been gathering stuff like this for a future web log entry on how the word "shock" was used (by Universal , Film Classics, and Realart) for horror films of the '30s and '40s and how this usage may have informed Screen Gems decision to title the syndication package SHOCK! in 1957. (Another example of "shock talk" from THE WOLF MAN's pressbook appears below.)

NIGHTMARE program and THE FROZEN GHOST

KAKE-TV Nightmare's "The Host" (Tom Leahy) introduces THE FROZEN GHOST, damning Lon Chaney Jr. in the process. Poor Lon! With Rodney (Lee Parsons). Broadcast out of Wichita, Kansas, initially from 1958-59. [Hat tip: Gary L. Prange.]

THE WOLF MAN (1941)

On December 5, 1957, in a town near Marion, Indiana, two gunmen forced their way into the home of Ted Edwards and his wife as they were entertaining a visit from Mrs. Edwards's sister and brother-in-law. Their faces covered by the upturned lapels of their raincoats, the intruders ordered the Edwards and their guests to turn off all the lights in the house except the TV. As one of the gunman sat in the living room with the hostages and watched television, the other took Edwards four miles by car to the furniture store where Edwards worked as manager. There, Edwards was forced to open the safe and hand over "several hundred dollars"; later, Edwards and the robber returned, and the two perpetrators made their getaway in the Edwards's car.

The reporter for the UPI syndicated story played up the coincidence that a community theater production of The Desperate Hours had been staged a mere six blocks from the furniture store as it was being plundered (you may have seen the 1955 Paramount movie version with Humphrey Bogart as one of a trio of escaped convicts who hold a suburban Indianapolis family hostage in their home), but I want to point to a different detail: while the safe at the store was being robbed, "Edwards said the second gunman stayed behind and watched THE WOLF MAN, a murder mystery show, on television while Mrs. Edwards and the guests lay on the floor, their hands and feet tied, for two hours."

My best guess is that the bandit who kept the hostages on ice was watching the Indianapolis CBS affiliate WISH-Channel 8 during the robbery. Channel 8 had purchased the SHOCK! package from Screen Gems and broadcast them on the "Fright Night" showcase Fridays at 10:45 PM (starting in Fall 1958, these films were to be horror-hosted at WISH-TV by Selwin). December 5, 1957--- the night of the furniture store safe robbery ---would have been the television broadcast premiere of THE WOLF MAN for that particular market. Because the robbery took two hours, the gunman was presumably able to watch the entire telecast. (There must be more to this story, right? Doesn't it seem strange that it took two hours to drive the eight miles to and from the furniture store from the Edwards home and burgle the safe that you knew the combination of?)

(And while I'm digressing: I guess describing THE WOLF MAN as "a murder mystery show" as the UPI story does seems a little peculiar, too. It was a popular film when it was released in 1941 and it enjoyed many theatrical re-releases, so certainly people recognized that it was more of a "horror melodrama" than a "murder mystery." But then look at this television listing for the movie:

Indiana [PA] Evening Gazette, Wednesday November 8, 1958

It is technically accurate, but would you synopsize the movie in that way? It would be like writing "A girl tries to run away from home when her dog is seized for destruction by a sheriff's order" as a description for THE WIZARD OF OZ.)

There's no denying that THE WOLF MAN is a classic, "classic" in the sense that it is "timeless in its relevance and accomplishment." Unlike DRACULA, FRANKENSTEIN, or THE MUMMY, there's very little creaky in THE WOLF MAN that needs to be excused as "a product of its time." Despite the faint whiff of trendy (for Hollywood in the 1940s) and oh-so-modern psychoanalytic theory that screenwriter Curt Siodmak wafts over the proceedings, THE WOLF MAN feels mythic--- it unspools like a fable or a fairy tale, following a tragic arc that we've seen a zillion times in literature and motion pictures but nonetheless manages to ring true as an insight into the human condition and experience. Somewhere between Mr. Hyde and the Incredible Hulk, the Wolf Man is a Jungian "shadow" that haunts each of us, forever threatening to slip out from under our very best and well-intentioned efforts to be good, civilized, disciplined, well-behaved, and nice to each other.

And because the struggle is intimately familiar to all of us, the monster is one that arouses sympathy as well as fear. When that dark side breaks loose inside of us (to return to Marion, IN, for a second, it is that feeling that we are all helpless hostages to our own home-invading gunmen), there is a terrible feeling of dismay and the dread feeling that it will happen again. When it appeared on TV as part of SHOCK!, THE WOLF MAN may have had a special connection to people living in the anxious Cold War atmosphere of the late 1950s where conformity and self-restraint were seen as vital components of homeland security (I recommend K.A. Cuordileone's Manhood and American Political Culture in the Cold War for deeper meditations on all that).

It's no surprise, really, that THE WOLF MAN has forever set the standard for reluctant, doomed lycanthropes that have shown up on movie and TV screens since 1941. For example, Paul Naschy's hombre lobo, Waldemar Daninsky, uses Lon Chaney, Jr.'s Talbot/werewolf as a point of reference and a touchstone; Naschy, whose films are so obviously inspired by the Universal horror classics, makes the werewolf his own, but he does so in a way that references Chaney's Talbot and then continues that arc into his own work. In the process, Naschy's hombre lobo is not some derivative rip-off, but a deeper exploration of familiar ground. I'll probably never bother to get around to seeing Benicio del Toro's THE WOLF MAN from earlier this year, but I can't imagine that he does anything to improve or expand upon Chaney's work that Naschy hadn't already done (and with a lot less money).

But still, I have to say that--- as iconic as it is --Chaney's Talbot is a little over his head. Though he's damn good as the ferocious and fearsome werewolf, Lon is painfully miscast as the gentry scion of Talbot Castle and estates. Chaney doesn't seem to get "tragedy" in the dramatic sense and plays it instead as a privileged bratty guy who feels entitled to a better shake than what he's getting. I was watching Edmund O'Brien in D.O.A. (1950) the other night; O'Brien's character follows a very similar arc to Chaney's Talbot--- cocky, self-assured guy has the bottom drop out and then he discovers that "the way he walks is thorny, through no fault of his own." He is suddenly at war with terrifying lethal forces inside of his body that he can't understand. Maybe it's not fair to compare Chaney to O'Brien, but if you can imagine the latter's work in D.O.A. as Talbot, then you can see what I mean.

Claude Rains is spot-on as Sir John; usually you can depend on Rains to chew up the scenery like a termite, but his performance here is understated and restrained, as if he didn't want to thoroughly swamp Chaney (or Ralph Bellamy, for that matter) in his scenes. Evelyn Ankers is completely unbelievable as the small-town Welsh girl, but she does an excellent job acting emotionally drawn to a charisma-less creep who has been spying on her bedroom with a telescope and who won't take "no" for an answer (her acting is even more impressive when you read about the behind-the-scenes friction between Ankers and Chaney on the set). And props to Maria Ouspenskaya for her work, too--- the scenes between Maleva and Talbot are Chaney's worst work in THE WOLF MAN, but Ouspenskaya keeps it together well. Finally, I want to say that it's too bad that budget and shooting schedule wouldn't allow for Lugosi's gypsy werewolf to get the full make-up treatment... I would've loved to see that.

Chester [PA] Times, Saturday October 25, 1958

Nowadays, sadly, "late late show" refers to a celebrity publicity-driven talkshows hosted by smug chuckleheads rather than interesting overnight movie presentations.

NEXT: "A behind-the-scenes view of murder in a wax museum will thrill you when SHOCK presents Lon Chaney in THE FROZEN GHOST on this channel!"

THE WOLF MAN preview

"A night monster...prowling, killing, terrifying a countryside. Don't miss the Hollywood SHOCK dramatic feature-length sensation THE WOLF MAN starring Lon Chaney and Ralph Bellamy on this channel! For thrill-packed drama at its best, see THE WOLF MAN!"

SECRET OF THE CHATEAU (1934)

It's not uncommon for a murder-mystery-in-an-old-dark-manor-house to masquerade as a horror movie. Some people feel cheated by this; I know that, as a kid waiting all week for a monster flick and then sneaking out of bed in the middle of the night to see it, I was furious when this sort of bait-and-switch happened. For instance, I can recall being particularly incensed to learn that CASTLE IN THE DESERT--- which is a delightfully evocative horror movie title to see listed in a TV guide--- was actually a Charlie Chan picture without a monster.

But I've mellowed in my old age, and I'm far more tolerant of these titles. Truth be told, I admit that I enjoy them enough to actively seek them out. The plots are ridiculously improbable, the action is contrived, and the characters are shallow caricatures meant only as future murder victims or red herrings. But I like the mood and the ambiance and the art direction of these spooky murder-mysteries even if no monster ever materializes (a typical example would be one that finally came out on DVD a few months back, 1939's THE CAT AND THE CANARY).

But SECRET OF THE CHATEAU is not a spooky murder-mystery pretending that it is a horror movie. It's even more frustrating than that--- it's a crime film pretending that it is a spooky murder-mystery that is trying to slide in under the "horror movie" radar. It's not a bad picture on its own merits; it is competently made and features perfectly acceptable performances. But as it is put forward as a Universal horror movie, it is exasperating. The Brunas brothers and Tom Weaver in Universal Horrors blame the studio's publicity and marketing offices that promoted the movie in 1934 with eerie old-dark-house tag lines such as "Shadows Come to Life! Traps Snare Women! Trunks Swallow Men! Bells Toll Out Death!" in order to lure in audiences:

Clearfield [PA] Progress, December 31, 1934

And look at the one-sheet (designed by Karoly Grosz, maybe?) at the top of this post: an ectoplasmic monster with hooked claws looming over a frightened, fleeing crowd of silhouetted figures backlit by what appears to be a lightning strike. The titular chateau appears at the right, dark and foreboding (here's how it actually appears in the movie, bathed in bright sunshine:)

The most "horror movie" thing about SECRET OF THE CHATEAU (and there is no "secret" about the chateau, by the way, other than it has no electricity and has only one bathroom for 27 bedrooms) is the threat of the infamous murderer/rare-book thief known only as "Prahec." For at least ten years, Prahec has been cutting throats to obtain rare books, and this time around she or he has set his sights on a previously undiscovered Gutenberg Bible from the mid-1400s (there's only twenty or so complete Gutenberg Bibles today) whose value is set at a million francs. The Bible is stashed in an alarmed cabinet-trunk at a chateau in south-central France in the town of Aubazine, and there are a couple of heirs vying for it. An ex-con rare-book thief named Julie Verlaine (a charming Claire Dodd) weasels her way into the chateau just as the executor of the estate has assembled a small group of interested persons.

Pursuing Prahec is the Sûreté inspector Marotte (Ferdinand Gottschalk); he had previously arrested Julie and he turns up at the chateau just as bodies begin piling up. Marotte gets a morbid thrill from the crimes ("What a beautiful murder!" he says at one crime scene. "How delightful!") and he likes to brag about himself in the third person singular, but his ratiocination skills aren't much in evidence right up to the time that Prahec's identity is revealed. Mention should be made, as well, of the irritatingly un-funny comic relief (George E. Stone, who you might recognize from the Boston Blackie pictures of the 1940s).

Julie prowling around the chateau after dark

Within the context of my viewing project, I found the most interesting thing about SECRET OF THE CHATEAU was how its release to TV as part of the SHOCK! package has horrorized it over the years--- it's as if the deceptions made by Universal publicity agents in 1934 have continued unchallenged for decades afterward, even when it is clear that this is not even an old dark house mystery, let alone a horror movie. But it somehow attained a horror movie momentum on TV for decades. In fact, based on my (admittedly limited and perhaps statistically unsound) research, it would appear that SECRET OF THE CHATEAU was programmed as late-night horror movie fare far more in the 1970s than it was from 1957-1968.

SECRET OF THE CHATEAU turned up a lot in those Friday and Saturday night horror/sci-fi movie TV showcases in the 1970s. Sir Graves Ghastly, Son of Svengoolie, and the Fearmonger have all hosted (and, presumably, roasted) it; I've seen listings for SECRET OF THE CHATEAU that have double- and triple-featured it with SON OF DRACULA, MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE, THE CONQUEROR WORM, THE MUMMY’S CURSE, WEREWOLF OF LONDON, and TARANTULA. In one 1974 listing for the Boston television market, I saw SECRET OF THE CHATEAU screened as part of the "Classic Horror Feature" showcase at 1 AM following the horror-hosted "Simon's Sanctorum" on WCVB-Channel 5. Here are some other instances of SECRET OF THE CHATEAU's horrorization in the 1970s:

Salt Lake City [UT] Tribune, Saturday July 2o, 1974

Simpson's Leader-Times, Kittanning, PA, Saturday September 3, 1977

I think that, more than any other non-horror movie included in SHOCK!, SECRET OF THE CHATEAU has succeeded in passing for a horror movie for decades. So how did this happen? I can understand if it was shown a lot when it first came out in SHOCK! in 1957 since the novelty was fresh and the movie pickings were slim. But why so prevalent in the 1970s, when folks presumably had had about ten years to realize that this wasn't really a horror movie at all? And why does SECRET OF THE CHATEAU have a horror movie afterlife that it may never shake off, but other non-horror mysteries that were "Shock!"-packaged for TV by Screen Gems (like THE LAST WARNING, NIGHTMARE or MYSTERY OF THE WHITE ROOM) have managed to avoid being classified as such throughout the decades?


NEXT: "A night monster...prowling, killing, terrifying a countryside. Don't miss the Hollywood SHOCK dramatic feature-length sensation THE WOLF MAN starring Lon Chaney and Ralph Bellamy on this channel! For thrill-packed drama at its best, see THE WOLF MAN!"

Shock It To Me - Forthcoming Book

Coming up early next year (March or April) will be a book on the horror hosts and horror Shock Theater-type programming of the San Francisco area. Titled SHOCK IT TO ME, The Featured Creatures of Bay Area TV, and written by Michael Monahan (Doktor Goulfinger), the book promises to contain a wealth of information, exquisitely researched, on the following hosts:

Terrence (Jr. and Sr.)
The Cool Ghoul
Asmodeus
Bob Wilkins
The Ghoul (syndicated)
Tom B. Stone
John Stanley
Son of Svengoolie
Creepy KOFY Movie Time (with No Name and Balrok)
Ms. Monster

... and unhosted shows and later entries like Commander USA and Elvira.

Previously unpublished photos and rare ads will serve as visual treats and the kindling of memories, even if you don't have them! The book will be published in conjunction with AMERICAN SCARY, a book version of the documentary that Michael was involved with.

We wish Michael the best on these projects and very much look forward to reading his books.

And here are a couple of ad mats from the Ghoulfinger Archives, courtesy of Michael:

Our Lady of Horrors: Vampira's Programming, Part 2

What follows is another update on the pre-SHOCK! films hosted by Vampira. After reading my post last week, doctor kiss contacted me to say that he had some corrections and refinements to the original list that I had used.

In his note, doctor kiss said that he took some time to scour California newspaper TV listings for KABC during the run of Vampira's show, concluding that "although most of what I found corresponded with Dick Nitelinger's list, there were a couple of notable discrepancies among the early episodes (5/1/54 and 5/29/54), as well as the final movie (4/2/55) having been announced as a Vampira episode, but in fact ending up being shown with no host."

He goes on to say that programming did not begin as "The Vampira Show," but rather as "Lady of Horrors." The doctor explains: "The first five shows from 5/1/54 through 5/29/54 were billed in publicity, press reports, and TV listings as 'Lady of Horrors,' and it was only following Vampira's swift rise to fame did the show become billed as 'Vampira' from 6/5/54 onwards."

What follows are excerpts from doctor kiss's extensive research notes. I am putting these up here as insight to the origins of the Monster Culture revolution in the 1950s and to aid any future Vampira researcher who stumbles upon this blog:

5/1/1954 – all sources consulted from Bakersfield, Long Beach, and Van Nuys name WHITE ZOMBIE as the movie being shown on "Lady of Horrors" that night, and both the Long Beach Independent and Long Beach Press-Telegram additionally name Bela Lugosi as the star. (Nitelinger identifies THE CHARGE IS MURDER as the film shown).

The shift from a midnight slot to an 11pm slot beginning on 5/29/54 is attributed in all sources consulted to the KABC song-and-dance/variety show “Party at Ciro's” (which previously filled the 11pm slot) having lost its sponsor.

5/29/54 – all sources consulted from Bakersfield, Long Beach, and Van Nuys name CONDEMNED TO LIVE as the movie being shown on "Lady of Horrors" that night, and both the Long Beach Independent and Long Beach Press-Telegram additionally name Ralph Morgan and Mischa Auer as the stars. (Nitelinger identifies CORRIDOR OF MIRRORS as the film shown).

6/5/54 – none of the sources consulted name the film being shown on this date; Nitelinger reported the same situation in the Los Angeles press. This was the first date on which the show was billed as "Vampira" rather than "Lady of Horrors."

8/7/54 – Vampira appeared on two shows on this night, the earlier of which constituted her first appearance on a nationally-syndicated network show, "The Saturday Night Revue," hosted by Ben Blue. The show aired at 9pm on KNBH in the Los Angeles area; Blue's other guest that night was George Jessel. Vampira hosted DANGEROUS INTRUDER (1945) during her regular 11pm slot on KABC.

Ellis Walker's “Video Notes” column in the Hayward Daily Review (CA) of 8/7/54: “Ben Blue figures his stint on Saturday Night Revue tonight at 9 (KRON) will be about as jolly as a tour through the morgue. He'll introduce Vampira to the nation's televiewers. This doll hopes she kills the audience. Really.”

John Frederick's “Looking and Listening” column in the Long Beach Press-Telegram of 8/7/54: “Vampira to do haunting on 'Saturday Night Revue.' Ghoulish glamour girl Vampira of the KABC (7) 11p.m. mystery theater, will move over to KNBH (4) at 9p.m. to do a guest stint with George Jessel and Ben Blue on the 'Saturday Night Revue.' Jessel subs for Eddie Albert and Ben Blue gets involved with Vampira in her 'most horrible home in the world.'”

9/18/54 – RED DRAGON (1954).

John Frederick's “Looking and Listening” column in the Long Beach Press-Telegram of 9/18/54: “Vampira, the amazing glamour-ghoul (7) at 11p.m., will take a bath during the show. Naturally it'll be in a cauldron of fire fanned by gasoline.”

9/25/54 – THE MISSING HEIRESS. Both the Long Beach Independent and Long Beach Press-Telegram give a longer version of the film's title, as THE CASE OF THE MISSING HEIRESS [a confirmation of my own guess at identifying it in last week's post].

10/23/54 – THE SHADOW RETURNS (1946).

Terry Vernon's “Tele-Vues” column in the Long Beach Independent of 10/23/54: “Vampira, who'll be dining at Brower's in Long Beach on Thursday evening, will do a poison-to-poison interview with sponsor Fletcher Jones on her 11p.m. horror show on (7). Vampira opens at the Orpheum Theatre on Oct.29-30 in a stage horror show for Halloween.”

[10/28/54] As promoted on her 10/23/54 show, Vampira was the special guest interviewee on KFOX radio program ON THE AIR WITH DON MAY, broadcasting a Halloween-themed show from Belmont Shore that ran from 11pm to 1am. Vampira was billed in advertising as the “best lookin' spook in town.”

10/30/54 – KING OF THE ZOMBIES (1941).

Terry Vernon's “Tele-Vues” column in the Long Beach Independent of 10/30/54: “Vampira, the dream ghoul of (7) at 11p.m. will have a special show for this Halloween with fun and games for her friends (?). Formaldehyde-and-seek, bobbing for poison apples and other such games will be played and refreshments will include sui-cider and Thirteen Up.”

11/6/54 – Vampira appeared on two shows on this night, the first of which was a postponed Halloween episode of nationally-syndicated show PLACE THE FACE, hosted by Bill Cullen. The show aired in the Los Angeles area at 8.30pm on KNBH, and Cullen's other guests that night were Pat O'Brien and Tony Martin. Vampira hosted DOOMED TO DIE (1940) during her regular 11pm slot on KABC.

Ralph W. Shelden's “TV Hilites” column in the Elyria Chronicle Telegram (OH) of 11/6/54: “The October 30 'Place the Face' show was pre-empted by a political speech and will be carried over for the show of tonight on Channel 3 at 8.30. Scheduled to appear as a special guest is Vampira, TV's most frightening glamour girl. Vampira, who resembles a character in a Charles Addams cartoon, has created quite a stir throughout the country even though her TV show is seen only in the West.”

11/27/54 – DEAR MURDER (1947).

Terry Vernon's “Tele-Vues” column in the Long Beach Independent of 11/27/54: “Vampira (7) at 11p.m., will take her flying hearse to Decadence Manor for a Thanksgiving dinner of young Tom Vulture. Rest of the dinner menu includes Sparkling Arsenic, Sour Potatoes, dressing of head crumbs and tid-bits of toes, crank-berry sauce and dead lettuce salad.”

12/4/54 – CASTLES OF DOOM. John Frederick asserts below that the show's sponsor had agreed to another 26 episodes at this point.

John Frederick's “Looking and Listening” column in the Long Beach Press-Telegram of 12/4/54: “'Vampyre,' a French horror film of 1930 (silent) but said to be terrifying, will be offered by Vampira on (7) at 11p.m. The glamour ghoul is quite happy since Fletcher Jones, her sponsor, just dipped a vulture into a blood bank and signed a new 26-week contract.”

12/18/54 – RETURN OF THE APE MAN (1944). Show had a seasonal theme.

Terry Vernon's “Tele-Vues” column in the Long Beach Independent of 12/18/54: “Vampira (7) at 11p.m. goes Christmas chopping to fill her hate list.”

1/29/55 – CASE OF THE GUARDIAN ANGEL. Both the Long Beach Independent and Long Beach Press-Telegram additionally name Hugh Latimer as the star [this seems to confirm my previous attempt at identifying the film in last week's blog post].

Terry Vernon's “Tele-Vues” column in the Long Beach Independent of 1/29/55: “Vampira will receive the first 'Black Skull of Death Award' from the Mystery Writers of America during her show on (7) at 11p.m. Along with the mounted death head will be an assortment of weapons that have been featured in mystery stories written by the famous authors.”

John Frederick's “Looking and Listening” column in the Long Beach Press-Telegram of 1/29/55: “Vampira, the glamour ghoul of (7) at 11p.m., will be given the first 'Black Skull of Death Award' for her outstanding work as the most 'nightmarish ghoul of 1954' by the Mystery Writers of America.”

2/5/55 – LADY CHASER (1946).

Terry Vernon's “Tele-Vues” column in the Long Beach Independent of 2/5/55: “Vampira (7) at 11p.m. visits the spider pound to reclaim her black-widow spider.”

The shift from an 11pm slot to a 10.30pm slot beginning on 3/5/55 was identified in all sources consulted as part of a general adjustment of the KABC evening schedule after the station stopped showing live boxing matches from the Hollywood Legion Stadium on a Saturday night.

Terry Vernon's “Tele-Vues” column in the Long Beach Independent of 3/5/55: “At 8p.m. in this program realignment an old movie will take over and Vampira will do her ghoulish hostessing starting at 10.30p.m. instead of 11. This will all combine to fill the former boxing time, but we doubt that it'll improve the station's audience much.”

3/12/55 – Vampira appeared on two live shows on this night. She was a special guest on AL JANIS' HI-JINX on Channel 7 (KABC) at 9pm, in addition to hosting GLASS ALIBI (1946) during her regular slot on the station at 10.30pm.

John Frederick's “Looking and Listening” column in the Long Beach Press-Telegram of 3/12/55: “Al Jarvis will help Vampira introduce the new dance 'Vampira Vamp' during his “Hi-Jinx” on (7) at 9p.m.”

4/2/55 – Nitelinger identifies THE WOMAN WHO CAME BACK (1945) as the final film hosted by Vampira. However, although initially announced as being hosted by her, Vampira's show was canceled prior to broadcast, and the movie was instead shown without a host as the first feature in KABC's "Nitecap Theater" package, which continued in subsequent weeks with MR. WONG, DETECTIVE (1938; 4/9/55), GANG BULLETS (1938; 4/16/55), THE BATTLE OF THE RAILS (1946; 4/23/55), and THE STRANGE MR. GREGORY (1945; 4/30/55).

Vampira instead appeared at 10pm on Channel 4 (KNBH), as a last-minute addition to the line-up of the nationally syndicated GEORGE GOBEL SHOW, reviewed (incorrectly) as her first network appearance; Gobel's other (surprise) guest that night was Fred Allen.

Many thanks to doctor kiss for looking into this in more detail and for sharing his findings. What (very) little research that I have done on Vampira seems more concerned with her persona, her popularity, and her impact; so far, I haven't seen much said at all about which old wine she poured into new bottles on her show. This re-packaging of horror and murder-mysteries for TV is one of the important precursors to SHOCK!.

Vampira with Béla Lugosi on "The Red Skelton Show," October 1954