by Batzina Belfry (aka Rosalie Kicks, Old Sport)

Paying respect to horror hosts from days gone by… Gorgon

In our initial visit to the cemetery, I discussed the introduction of Shock Theater in the late 1950s when I uncovered the corpse of John Zac herely. What a time to be alllliveeeee! Every local TV station employed a goblin or ghoul to host a program with the focus of showing classic horror and sci-fi flicks from the 1930s and 40s.

The past two fiends I shared with you (Zacherly and Morgus the Magnificient) took a more comedic approach. However, one should note that not all horror hosts or hostesses went for laughs and instead saw their program as serious business. Gorgon was one of these creatures. Instead of spoofing the spooks, he tried to bring the horrific atmosphere and tone of the films to his TV studio or more appropriately I should say, crypt.

The name Gorgon was derived from a french noun meaning: wild, terrifying, repulsive, or petrifying. Based on these descriptors, it is easy to surmise that this was simply the most spooktacularly perfect name. One may also be familiar with the name, Gorgon from Greek mythology as it is a creature that had the ability to turn men into stone. (CREEEEEPTASTIC!) Gorgon, the horror host, may not have been able to turn people into stone, but he did possess a voice that managed to be not just unique but absolutely haunting. To help accentuate this characteristic, he utilized a special audio effect for maximum eeriness. Viewers still remember him fondly for his long, penetrating laugh. He was a mysterious man with a ghoulishly pallid complexion and a prominent mole on his cheek. He donned a black cape and carried a candelabra that gave him a magical appearance.

The man behind Gorgon’s makeup was William Joseph Camfield, the chief writer at the station KFJZ-TV in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas. Prior to this, he worked as a radio and tv director for the ad department at a local department store from 1949-1955. KFJZ was the only independent station in the southwest at the time and they snagged every syndicated movie and cartoon package that was available. After hearing of Zacherely’s success they, of corpse, purchased the Shock! package.

Camfield was given free reign in terms of the design and overall look and feel of the show. He went on to say, “Since I have been an english major at TCU, I became enthralled with the gothic novel background of Frankenstein, Dracula, and Wolf Man works and decided to play our show for authenticity rather than tongue and cheek.”

Before each show, the stage director and set man would view the movie to be screened so that something could be duplicated such as a major prop or set dressing. Items like a coffin with Dracula’s crest and a lantern from the Wolf Man were re-created for the show. Typically, Gorgon would open his show with a monologue that was done in a style that Camfield referred to as “Gothic doubletalk - much allusion… little substance.” He believed it was the mood and atmosphere that led to terror, not the acts themselves.

His program, Nightmare premiered live in September 1957 with a double feature starting at 8pm and would continue to air on Saturday evening. The show would continue to be aired live until 1959, at which time they switched over to videotape. The program showed the classic Universal horrors such as Dracula, Frankenstein and the sons and daughters of horror, like Dracula’s Daughter, Son of Frankenstein, but it also dipped into some of the Warner collection and MGM such as: Ho us e of Wax and the Pit and The Pendulum. Gorgon never featured sci-fi or murder mystery titles as he really wanted the show’s main focus to be that of the supernatural.

In 1960 Nightmare was cut back to a single feature and by 1962 the program was moved to Fridays at midnight. The program would later be moved back to Saturday and end in 1964 only to be revived for Halloween specials. Eventually Bill would move to Denver to manage the station KOA-TV and would make his last appearance as Gorgon in 1976 in Dallas, Texas for a Hallowen special in which he showed House of Wax.

Over the course of his life, Bill would develop many on screen personas including a magician, a puppeteer, and a clown. One his most popular personas was a character known as Icky Twerpwhich host of Slam-Bang Theatre, a children’s program that presented cartoons and Three Stooges comedies. He would perform slapstick skits while donning masks or an oversized cowboy hat, a striped suit, and horn rimmed glasses. Bill would later admit in life that acting was not a main interest to him. He enjoyed more of the behind the scenes aspect of broadcasting and held various positions throughout his career.

Bill died in 1991 from brain cancer in his home in Fort Worth, Texas but not before completing two screenplays and starting a newspaper column. William Camfield was known to say “my principal passion is writing, this is the type of last career you put off until you can make a good living doing something else.”

I very much understand Gorgon’s sentiment as I feel I am hopefully now embarking on the last legs of my current career and will soon be entering my true destiny: a life of film.