by Batzina Belfry (aka Rosalie Kicks, Old Sport)

Paying respect to horror hosts from days gone by… John Zacherely 

Good evening fellow crypt dwellers, I am Batzinia Belfry otherwise known as Rosalie Kicks, the Old Sport. There is no time like the spooky season! The chill in the air, the sound of leaves rustling in the breeze and nights spent under the pale moonlight… it’s when I truly become aliveeee! In honor of the most thrilling time of year, I thought it would be most fitting to visit the tombs of some of the spooktacular horror hosts of yesteryear. 

In 1957, Universal Studios released 600 of their pre-1948 films for television play. These movies were from a  time when the studio’s main focus was horror. The release of these films created a new sensation: the television horror host. Every local TV station employed a goblin or ghoul to host the program which often would be referred to as Shock Theater! 

This term Shock Theater was derived from the fact that many of the movies were packaged for TV to cause awe and horror to home viewers. Movies within the package included: Dracula, Frankenstein, Son of Dracula, Son of Frankenstein, Night Monster, and Dead Men’s Eyes. Showing these films on television revived an interest in horror which had fallen by the wayside during the 1950s when science fiction was all the rage. It was this revival of the creature features shown during Shock Theater that led to the formation of Hammer Films, a British film studio that would go on to remake many of the Universal pictures in Lavish! Color (specifically highlighting blood red, of corpse). They wanted to show the gore, not just allude to it and Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing would become the new Lugosi and Karloff. 

It was also the success of Shock Theater that led to horror hosts popping up out of the graves all across the United States. However, the most popular and quite possibly the inventor of the horror host format is a man named John Zacherele born September 26, 1918 in Philadelphia - coincidentally the city your favorite lil gravedigger rests. I'll kick off this Grave Time series with a visit to the tomb of the extraordinary, Zacherely. So grab your favorite beverage and get cozy in your coffin for a trip down spooky lane.

John Zacherele’s  television career would begin in Philadelphia on WCAU-TV on an program known as “Action in the Afternoon” a 30 minute episode that consisted of a stranger coming to town. Zacherely typically played a variety of roles on this program, including an Undertaker. Based on this character, he was soon asked to host the station’s Shock Theater program. 

In September 1957 John would go by Roland and later become simply known as Zacherely as he showed classic horror pictures from the 30s and 40s. Prior to being asked to host this program, Zacherely had not watched much horror as his mother forbade it during his younger years. However, this would quickly change for him as well as his audience. 

He was described as a cadaverous fellow, donning a pale ghoulish complexion and black frock coat, lurking around the tv set conducting experiments much like the mad scientists featured in the films he showed on the program. At some point he would be referred to as the “cool ghoul” known for the crime of stealing the best lines from horror films and operating on amoebas without a license. His popularity rose quickly and he became a staple in many homes. He had only been hosting for three months, when he asked viewers to send in three human hairs each as he wanted to make a pillow for his vampire wife’s coffin. The station received over 23,000 letters! 

One could surmise that the New York TV station was impressed with the size of the hairball when in 1958 they offered Zacherely a role at their station. He would leave Philadelphia for New York and began to host at WABC-TV now known as Zacherley. By 1959, the ratings tripled, and Zacherely had two time slots - Friday and Saturday evenings and the show became entitled: Zacherley at Large.

He became known for introducing the movies in a frenzied manner, a deep maniacal laugh and spoke to unseen characters such as his Vampire wife who he called my dear and would make murmurs from her coffin - there was also Igor and Gasport.

During the program, he would poke at a severed head in a basket, giant spiders and amoebas. Zacherely would perform dissections on a cauliflower that he referred to as a brain. One of his most frightful experiments consisted of him performing a surgery on a large amoeba made out of Jell-O wrapped in cheesecloth that he would hack away at with a meat cleaver. He also made use of electricity with a gizmo he created to fry twinkies and zap a doll’s head. Thrilling experiments to witness but suggested not to be tried at home.

One of my favorite aspects of his horror hosting was that he would splice himself into the films he was showing. Many of the films he found not worth watching, so he would entertain himself and the audience by stealing some of the best lines. The first film he did this to was the 1935 flick, Black Cat in which he pretended to be one of Boris Karloff’s followers. 

Fans of the show would send Zacherely all sorts of odd and unusual things - such as animal brains which often came from butchers’ children. It was in 1958 when he would begin to be referred to as The Cool Ghoul, a nickname that was given to him by a close colleague, Philadelphia broadcaster Dick Clark. It was also in 1958 when Zacherely would obtain a record deal with Cameo Parkway records and record his first hit single: Dinner with Drac. The song would land itself on the Billboard top ten leading him to make another album he would define as Transylvanian Rock n’ Roll, describing it as ghoul n drool music. 

At the height of his popularity, he would even run a campaign for President with the slogan “Put a Vampire in the White House.” By 1963, he began to fade away. He would go on to what he referred to as “Transylvanian Dick Clark Show” which was a Disco Teen show that appeared on a local TV station in Newark. By 1966: he became a radio deejay and in the 1980s would appear as a guest on network Halloween specials. In 1989, he had a revival of sorts on ZTV, which ran a weekly half hour program that would show clips of upcoming horror and classics. He was referred to as Mr. Z - a chap that inherited an old movie theater, from a great aunt. From the creepy projection room he would play host to guests such as puppet parodies of siskel and ebert, Toxie from the hit Troma film Toxic Avenger and makeup artist Tom Savini.

Zacherely would make his feature film debut in the 1990 Frank Henenlotter flick, Frankenhooker. Zacherely would appear briefly in this film as a TV weatherman, which can’t be missed! No matter how small the part, he always seemed to make an impression. He is rightfully credited as the ghoul that started it all in terms of Horror Hosting. Zacherely lived until 98 years old, dying on October 27, 2016. 

Next week, be sure to join me at the cemetery when we dig up our next horror host, Morgus the Magnificent.