Week 3 of the “Horror Actors of the 1940s” series in JPiC’s “Inktober” continues with Rondo Hatton.

Rondo Hatton was a star athlete at Hillsborough High School in Tampa, Florida, excelling in track and football. He was also voted Most Handsome Boy in his senior year. After high school, he worked as a sportswriter for The Tampa Tribune. Soon after service during World War 1, Rondo began to develop symptoms of acromegaly. The disease distorted the shape and definition of his head, face and extremities. The disease, incorrectly identified as elephantiasis, was believed to have been contracted from mustard gas exposure during the war, which was also a misdiagnosis.

Director Henry King discovered Rondo while he was covering production of King’s film Hell Harbor for the Tampa Tribune. King, finding his unusual look somewhat appealing, cast Rondo in a small role. This led to a larger, though still uncredited, role in 1939’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame as well as an extra in The Ox-Bow Incident as a member of a lynch mob.

Universal Studios used Rondo’s image to promote its horror movies, cast him as “The Hoxton Creeper” in the Sherlock Holmes film The Pearl of Death. He made two more big-screen appearances as “The Creeper,” the hulking figure with which he became closely associated.

Rondo’s acromegaly brought on a series of heart attacks in 1945. In early 1946, a massive heart attack claimed his life at age 51.

Many years later, Rondo’s familiar face has been featured, copied and parodied in a number of films, television shows and even cartoons. “The Creeper” character in Scooby Doo was an homage to Rondo, as was the fearsome “Lothar” in Disney’s 1991 adaptation of the 80s comic The Rocketeer. Since 2002, the “Rondo Award” is presented to outstanding achievement in various forms of the horror genre.

Comments

comments

The third entry in JPiC’s Inktober 2024 in the “Regional TV Horror Hosts” series continues with Philadelphia’s Dr. Shock.

Philadelphia native John Zacherle was an announcer and actor at WCAU-TV, portraying various characters, as needed, in the station’s home-grown Action in the Afternoon Western series. He also hosted the popular Mad Theater at the station, showing old horror movies as the character “Roland” and performing little skits during the breaks. He eventually moved his show to WABC in New York, at which time local magician Joe Zawislak expressed an interest in taking over hosting duties on local TV.

With John Zacherle’s permission, Joe created “Dr. Shock,” a zombie-like character patterned after “Roland,” even employing the same makeup. Premiering in 1970, Mad Theater featured a showing of the 1963 horror film Diary of a Madman, with Joe performing magic and telling macabre, yet corny, jokes during breaks in the movie. As his popularity grew, Dr, Shock was hosting three different shows on WPHL-TV. With his appeal skewing to families and younger audiences, the “sinister” aspects of the broadcasts were toned down and Joe introduced his young daughter — dubbed “Bubbles” in recognition of show sponsor “Bubbles Booth” soda. Long-time fans watched Bubbles grow up on television.

After ten years of performing, Joe passed away suddenly at the young age of 42. He still attracts legions of loyal fans who grew up watching “The Good Doctor” to a Facebook page maintained by his daughter.

Comments

comments

Week 2 Series 2 of JPiC’s “Inktober” continues with with Fay Wray.

Moving to Hollywood from Alberta, Canada, 16-yrear old Vina Fay Wray made her film debut in  an historical film sponsored by a local newspaper. Bitten by the acting bug, Fay landed a number of uncredited roles with the Hal Roach Studios in the early 1920s. Director Erich von Stroheim cast the young beauty in a starring role in his 1926 film The Wedding March.

Fay was featured in several horror films before taking the role that would bring her international fame. Director Merian C. Cooper offered Fay $10,000 to take the role of “Ann Darrow” in his 1933 epic King Kong. Fay agreed to the part and the film was a huge success. It made Fay Wray a star and saved RKO Pictures from bankruptcy.

Fay continued to make movies and easily made the transition to television, taking numerous guest roles on popular series like Perry Mason and The Real McCoys. In 1980, after the TV movie Gideon’s Trumpet with Henry Fonda, Fay Wray called it a career.

In 1997, director James Cameron approached the now retired Fay to play the role of “Rose” in his blockbuster Titanic. She turned the role down.

Fay Wray passed away in 2004 at the age of 96. The lights on the Empire State Building were dimmed in her honor.

Comments

comments

The second entry in JPic’s Inktober’s series of local TV horror movie hosts is Cleveland’s legendary Ghoulardi.

In 1963, announcer and disc jockey Ernie Anderson was tapped to host the late-night showings of horror movies on Cleveland’s WJW-TV. Dispensing with the usually “mad scientist” or “vampire” persona favored by other TV movie hosts, Eddie adopted a cool but wacky hipster dubbed “Ghoulardi.” Decked out in a crazy wig and identity-hiding facial hair, Eddie wanted to keep the character separate from his usual (and recognizable) duties at the station. He played novelty songs and made friendly fun of Cleveland’s suburbs.  He improvised all of his on-air dialogue and often mocked the film he showed. “If you want to watch a movie,” he say, “don’t watch this one. Go to bed instead.” The character and show format were wildly popular, attracting 70% of Cleveland’s late-night audiences. Ernie was receiving over a thousand pieces of fan mail per day. His cast of on-air supporting players included future sitcom star Tim Conway.

Ernie moved to Los Angeles where he enjoyed a long and successful career in voice-over work, specifically as the long-time announcer for the ABC Network. His iconic pronunciations of “Fall Guy” and “The Love Boat” in network promos were memorable. He passed away in 1997, having only reprised his popular “Ghoulardi” character a few more times.

Ernie and Ghoulardi were often referenced on The Drew Carey Show which took place in Cleveland. Ghoulardi had many other famous fans, including The Cramps, The Black Keys, Devo and Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders. Ernie was the father of director Paul Thomas Anderson, who named his production company “The Ghoulardi Film Company” in his father’s honor.

Comments

comments

Week 1 of series 2 – “Horror Actors of the 1940s.” – of JPiC’s “Inktober” starts with Colin Clive. A prominent stage actor in his native London, Colin Clive made his Hollywood debut in 1930’s Journey’s End, a drama about an alcoholic British Navy officer, a role that eerily mirrored his own life. The film was directed by James Whale, who tapped Colin to star in his big-screen adaptation of Mary Shelley‘s classic novel Frankenstein.  The film was well-received and Colin’s performance was applauded by critics and fans alike. Colin signed on for the sequel in 1935.

Frankenstein and The Bride of Frankenstein were the only two horror movies he made in his short career. Colin was reportedly very difficult to work with, most likely a by-product of his alcoholism. Estranged from his wife and struggling with his own demons, Colin Clive died in 1937 at the age of 37.

Comments

comments