What higher time than Halloween to show to our metropolis’s personal longtime crypt keeper and ambassador of corny but creepy films?
Svengoolie picked up in 1970 the place Chicago’s authentic horror-movie host Mad Marvin (performed by Terry Bennett) left off.
Right here’s a glance again on the males who’ve portrayed the now iconic ghost host by means of the many years.
The Chicago Ghoul Who Would Not Die! How horror host Svengoolie has stayed on the air for many years
Chicago historical past headlines
Sept. 18, 1970: A cool ghoul emerges
The present, initially named “Screaming Yellow Theater,” premiered at 10 p.m. on WFLD-Ch. 32 and confirmed, “Ghosts on the Free.” Viewers had been welcomed to the antics by the opening track “Rumble” by Hyperlink Wray and the Wraymen, and a load of rubber chickens. The unique host was Jerry G. Bishop, who donned inexperienced hair and a beard and mustache to painting a coffin-dwelling hippie with a wacky humorousness named Svengoolie.
In an early commercial, the Friday night time function was described as together with, “Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi at their hair-raising finest.” Different movies screened throughout the first season included “Corridors of Blood,” “Strangler of the Tower” and “Horrors of the Black Museum.”
Simply two years later, the Svengoolie-hosted late-night presentation was among the many hottest TV style — horror. Chicago Cubs pitcher Fergie Jenkins and Bears teammates Bobby Douglass and Bob “Smasher” Asher had been friends.
“The pattern began when tendencies don’t typically begin — on native stations, whose determined efforts to seize viewers from the discuss reveals led to such packages as ‘Creature Options’ and ‘Screaming Yellow Theater,’” Tribune TV critic Clarence Petersen wrote in February 1972. “In Chicago, ‘Creature Options’ on WGN-TV is second in reputation solely to WBBM-TV’s ‘Better of CBS’ film collection on Saturday nights, and ‘Screaming Yellow Theater’ on WFLD-TV (struggling the obstacle of UHF channeling) ranks larger on Friday nights than Merv Griffin — and the scores had been taken earlier than ‘Svengoolie,’ host of the present, went reside.”
Bishop’s reputation rose too. He additionally led the post-midnight discuss present “What’s Occurring?” and the 11 a.m. “Newstalk” on WFLD. However his groundbreaking spooky present was canceled by WFLD in 1973. He moved to San Diego within the late Nineteen Seventies to host a weekend morning TV present. Bishop died there in 2013 on the age of 77.
June 16, 1979: ‘Son of Svengoolie’ debuts
Wealthy Koz, who landed a spot on the unique present after mailing Bishop concepts for jokes then grew to become Bishop’s co-writer and protege, launched the brand new tackle Svengoolie — with Bishop’s blessing. The then-20-something author, who grew up in Morton Grove and attended Northwestern College, was accountable for most of the jokes and antics (produced on a good finances and filmed in a modest WFLD studio in Marina Metropolis) that new viewers got here to like concerning the character — together with dodging rubber chickens hurled at him by stagehands and delivering pronouncements in a very dangerous tackle a Transylvanian accent.
“You possibly can’t simply fake to be a vampire who comes out of the coffin as soon as every week to point out a movie,” he instructed the Tribune in 1983. “It’s started working on much more ranges than that, in any other case you’re doing the identical factor week after week and also you get stale.”
After its launch, the present received a string of consecutive native Emmy Awards for excellent achievement in native leisure. When it reached its 2 hundredth episode, Tribune columnist Eric Zorn wrote, “The rationale Svengoolie has lasted 200 reveals, gathered a powerful viewers and received all these awards is that Koz augments the random-motion badness with fastidiously thought-out dangerous comedy sketches and dangerous satirical movie clips.”
Koz appeared delighted but in addition shocked by the next his character had created.
“You recognize, I by no means anticipated this to be a full-time factor,” he instructed the Tribune. “My pursuits are literally rather a lot broader. I’d love to do one thing alongside the traces of ‘SCTV’ or ‘Saturday Evening Reside’ through which I wouldn’t be restricted by the Svengoolie character in retaining the present recent.”
The ultimate episode aired in early 1986.
Dec. 31, 1994: ‘Svengoolie’ revived
Koz grew up and so did his character. Each moved to the brand new unbiased station WCIU-Ch. 26 and have remained there ever since.
“It’ll be like Ed Begley Jr. dropping the Junios,” he instructed the Tribune on the time. “We’ll drop the ‘Son of’ and I’ll simply be Svengoolie.’ Even on the finish of the primary run of ‘Sven,’ there have been individuals who puzzled who ‘Svengoolie’ was. Lots of people weren’t acutely aware of the station when Jerry was doing his stuff.”
Neal Sabin, govt vice chairman of Weigel Broadcasting, sought so as to add extra domestically produced reveals to the lineup when he took over WCIU in 1994.
“(Wealthy) was somebody we pinpointed as being underutilized available in the market and whose program was already established.”
April 2, 2011: ‘goolie goes nationwide
For the primary time, “Svengoolie” was broadcast throughout the nation on Weigel Broadcasting’s Me-TV community.
However how would Berwyn (which named Koz an honorary citizen in 1982) play in Peoria, Phoenix or Portland?
“The primary reveals can have a bit piece that explains you’re going to listen to about Berwyn,” Koz instructed the Tribune. “It’s like several TV present. As soon as folks begin watching it, folks will choose up on issues.”
October 2024: A ghoul appears at 45
Koz has been Svengoolie for 45 years now. However at 72, he’s by no means been hotter.
“Svengoolie” is so profitable that its place within the Saturday programming block — which incorporates the ‘60s iterations of “Star Trek” and “Batman” in addition to Three Stooges movies — was expanded previously 12 months from two stable hours to 2 and a half hours.
One purpose for this reputation, maybe, is that Koz and Svengoolie — and so they really are one and the identical — are among the many final of their breed, throwbacks to the early days of native tv. “He’s a bit Borscht Belt,” mentioned Sabin, “but in addition, a bit vaudeville, too. And a bit UHF basement programming, and there’s a actual allure to that in 2024.”
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