Studio announcer for Los Angeles television station KHJ-TV channel 9, Wayne Thomas would introduce the show as: "The Master of the Macabre, the Epitome of Evil, The Most Sinister Man to Crawl the face of the earth, Seymour" or "Seeeeeeeeeeeee-moorrrre!".
The WOR-TV version did not have any on-screen host, instead off-screen announcers introduced the movies and handled bumpers. One of the staff announcers handling these duties for the show, Ted Mallie, had been the final announcer for the long-running Mutual series "The Shadow" in its final two seasons (1953-1954) on the air.
In 2017, Larry Vincent - "Seymour", was inducted into "The Official Horror Host Hall of Fame".
In 1981, six years after the death of Larry Vincent, show producers began to bring the show back, and decided to use a female host. They asked 1950s' horror hostess Maila Nurmi to revive The Vampira Show (1954). Nurmi worked on the project for a short time, but quit when the producers would not hire black actress Lola Falana to play Vampira. The station sent out a casting call, and Cassandra Peterson won the role. Producers left it up to her to create the role's image. She and her best friend, Robert Redding, came up with a sexy punk/vampire look and she called herself Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. The show was then retitled Elvira's Movie Macabre, which launched her very popular and iconic character to the world in 1981.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content
