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Pleasant Nightmares
Posted: Oct 23, 2007 in Culture, Movies, TV and Celebrities
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Of the handful of personal heroes and artists (chefs included) which I've grown to admire over the past thirty years, I feel very fortunate---and am very grateful---to say that I've met several from the my "writers" category---two of which rank at the top: poet Thomas Lux and novelist Dan Simmons; and from the "entertainment, local celebrity, and kid-at-heart" category I name the creature feature king, Sammy Terry.
While Cowboy Bob's Chuck Wagon Theater, and Popeye and Janie did well to sate my cartoon fix, it was Channel 4's late night horror host Sammy Terry (who sometimes goes by the sobriquet of Bob Carter) who reigned supreme in the more macabre and cobweb-strewn crypts of my imagination.
Creeping toward midnight on Fridays---as the howling wind bore the preamble to a female phantom's intro poem---Sammy Terry's Nightmare Theater provided more than enough schlocky scares and "tales of woe" for my siblings and I to merrily scar us for life.
And let's not forget other creepy Midwest icons: Selwin, for instance; and Svengoolie, whose goofy brand of horror show I was able to enjoy while in Chicago.
So (in my best Andy Rooney "did you ever wonder" whine): why the decline of the late night creature features? Larger markets or simple lack of interest? Or what about the internet?: has anyone heard of any B-movie horror hosts who do broadcasts on the web?
Pleasant Nightmares, everybody.
I think Cowboy Bob came on around noon, and Popeye and Janie was on after school around 4 p.m.; I don't think either show was on Saturday mornings. Saturdays featured shows like the Banana Splits and HR Pufnstuf, two of my personal favorites. But I also liked Sammy Terry.
Nice.
After confirmation from my mother, who, as a young girl, watched Popeye and Janie at the CORRECT time (after school), it appears my memory is, indeed, more perverse than I initially suspected.
Good call.
I always wanted to be among the Girl Scout troupes who got to actually be on Popeye and Janie but, sad to say, it never happened. But one of my friends was on the local show Kindergarten College, where, if memory serves, preschoolers actually "went to school" on TV for a week. Talk about reality TV.
I wonder the same thing. What happened to Elvira, Mistress of the Dark? Well, she's most recently been on VH-1's I heart the '80s. So sad.
You must add me to your list of awesome people and I will add you to mine. You'll be my first one!
I missed out on HR Pufnstuf. Cowboy Bob kinda creeped me out more than Sammy Terry (although Sammy was awesome). I never got to meet him but my dad used to drive us by his house when he'd visit in a vain attempt to seem cool and well-connected.
I also liked The Great Space Coaster and Picture Pages -- The Cos' is always at the top of my list. (Anyone ... anyone? Can I get a what-what?)
Doo-noo-noo-noo-noo-noo-noo....noo-noo-noo-noo-noo.
Picture Pages was the best.
Too much nostalgia...I forgot to address Clint's question about the decline of late-night B-horror-flick shows. I think it's economics. Grabbing reruns of Seinfeld or The Family Guy or... infomercials are likely much more profitable than paying some guy to dress up and talk to a plastic bat for 10 minutes, then show some run-down B-horror movie. It's sad, really, because Sammy Terry and the way he scared the hell out of me was one of the things that really got me into movies to begin with.
Which reminds me. Ever see "Fright Night"? I still consider that movie to be a direct homage to Sammy Terry, though of course they had to change his name and his schtick a little bit so he wouldn't sue. Great, great 80s movie.
This just in: after non-chalantly mentioning the legendary horror host in class this morning, one of my students (Becca S.) mentioned that her "Nana & Poppy" (grandma and grandpa, to you and me) bought her a set of Sammy Terry pillow cases which, as a child, of course, "freaked [her] out at night, man." The pillow cases are currently tucked away in her father's safe. How golden is that?
OMG! Wow, I heard last week that he was making personal appearances & I about lost it!! Haha! Actually I was in disbelief b/c I thought he was like 85 years old back in the day & should have been dead by now! LOL! Yeah, he definitely scared the s_ out of me, but I was saved b/c the damn spider was hanging by a string so I convinced myself that he wasn't real! hahaha