John Zacherle (later changed to just 'Zacherley') is generally considered to be the original TV Horror Film Host. He certainly was the most famous, and heralded in the entire 1960s monster craze (Addams Family, Munsters, etc.), and he is still alive and kicking at 91 years of age.
In actual fact, he was pre-dated by the wasp-waisted Vampira, who had a show in Los Angeles in the mid-1950s. Vampira, aka Maila Nurmi, with the impressive measurements of 38-17-36 and clad in a very low-cut black dress, was considered extremely racy for the day, and was the inspiration for Morticia Addams and Cassandra Petersen, aka Elvira and many others. She was seen lurking around the cardboard tombstones with Tor Johnson in Ed Woods' cult classic 'Plan 9 From Outer Space'.
But Zacherley was The King. When he released his song "Dinner With Drac" he became an international star.
Zacherley started out hosting horror flix in Philadelphia, using the name Roland (ro-LAND), and was so successful that he went to New York and did the same, using the name Zacherley on a local NY station. Word spread about his show, which had a reasonably large budget and his very clever and idiosyncratic humour, and his show was actually filmed and sent out to other stations around the US.
Early Career and Elektra Records
As Zacherley's fame was growing, he cut his first LP, and it is arguably his best. Clever and well-produced, it was one of the very first records issued by the then-fledgeling Elektra Records, always known for their high production values and excellent pressings. Elektra later went on to be a Premier label during the Psychedelic era. Zacherley's album, "Spook Along With Zacherley", is the second rarest album of its type and has been out-of-print since 1958.
The Cameo/Parkway Albums
While still in Philly, Zacherley recorded his, um, monster hit, "Dinner With Drac" for the Cameo/Parkway record company, and the rest is, as is said too often, history. Zacherley also was a friend of the Dorian Gray of rock'n'roll, Dick Clark, whose "American Bandstand' was broadcast out of Philadelphia. Always the businessman, Clark thought the "Dinner With Drac" might be a bit too gory or unsuitable for airplay, so he suggested doing an alternate take for the B-side, and listed as 'Part 2'. And Clark was correct. Part 1 was indeed banned from airplay in much of the Great Lakes region, the midwest and the deep south. But whichever version got played, it heades for the top of the charts with a bullet.
The Cameo/Parkways albums -- especially the first 2 or 3 -- were excellent, because they used their best studio musicians, arrangers and engineers. Many were parodies of their own hits, and in many cases, they used the original backing tracks, and hired the same singers to do updated parody vocal backings. I have never seen a full discography of Zacherley's Cameo/Parkway output, but rumour has it that there may have been as many as a dozen (including compilations and the like).
Neither of these collections are complete, but the Elektra set is only missing 3 songs.
I am NOT posting anything well-known. I mean, do you /really/ want to hear 'Monster Mash' again? I don't.
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I knew the post was quite incomplete and I hoped that someone would have more. Thank You. Thank You, Thank You!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Rick
You found it. I couldn't find this album of Zacherley's. I found others but not this one. The other one that I haven't been able to find is his first album "Scary Tales" 1963 which is considered to be one of the rarest.
From what information I found and what came with the usenet posting what I posted was an alomost intact #2 and partials for 1 and 3. It is next to impossible to find completes and yes the second has been out of print since 1958.
----------------------------------Enjoy and if you find any more post em.-------------------------------------------Rick
Replies
I knew the post was quite incomplete and I hoped that someone would have more. Thank You. Thank You, Thank You!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Rick
You found it. I couldn't find this album of Zacherley's. I found others but not this one. The other one that I haven't been able to find is his first album "Scary Tales" 1963 which is considered to be one of the rarest.
Many thanks, katy
From what information I found and what came with the usenet posting what I posted was an alomost intact #2 and partials for 1 and 3. It is next to impossible to find completes and yes the second has been out of print since 1958.
----------------------------------Enjoy and if you find any more post em.-------------------------------------------Rick