Professor Griffin says goodbye to the first horror host... Vampira...

The first REAL TV Horror Host has died. Vampira aka Maila Numri is gone. A recipe for Vampira (as provided by Vampira herself): 2 oz. Theda Bara (vamp, vamp) 2 oz. Morticia (morbid Victorian) 3 oz. Norma Desmond (Sunset Boulevard) 4 oz. Tallulah Bankhead (the voice, dahling) 2 oz. Marilyn Monroe (demons are a ghoul's best friend) 3 oz. Katherine Hepburn (Victorian English) 2 oz. Bettie Davis (mama, baby) 3 oz. Billie Burke (dilettante) 3 oz. Marlene Dietrich (singing voice) 8 oz. Bizarre pin-up Add 3 lizard eggs, 2 mothballs and a glass eye from a pygmy. Shake vigorously till steaming She started here career as a model, actress and dancer in Hollywood, but her life was forever changed when she attended the Ball Caribe Masquerade Party in Hollywood in 1953. She attended dressed as a vampish character based on the Charles Addams drawing of Morticia from the New York Times. She beat out 2000 contestants in the costume contest and won first prize! She also won the attention of K- ABC channel 7 producer Hunt Stromberg Jr. He hired her to host the station's new late-night horror show, called what else? The Vampira Show! The Horror Show premiered in 1954 and Vampira quickly got national attention. Fan clubs and magazine articles followed. Soon she was jet setting with Hollywood icons like James Dean and Marlon Brando. Unfortunately, she was fired from the studio after only just a year and a half. Why? Vampira claims she was blacklisted from Hollywood because she didn't cooperate with the Hollywood factory. I'm not too sure what that means coming from a late-night TV Horror Hostess!. There was an infamous Vampira tape that a good friend dupped for me in 2003 from the footage that HE got after joining the Creature Features group and securing the footage from a fan there (whew!) Originally in the possession of Dave (The Rocketer) Stevens, the TV footage is short but breathtaking. To hear Vampira's voice! Never heard it before that tape. Very blue-blood, aristrocratic, and powerful. He body language...seductive yet creepy, (nothing wrong with that combo)and her humor....well, shall we say it is very appropriate for All Gallows Eve! (sorry, I was treading on Forry’s territory there) I just wanted to say that seeing the footage, I'd have to say that Vampira DID have cause to sue Elvira. I mean, the opening, with the fog and candles and more importantly, that couch! It looked like the same one! It has been said that Malia was on board Movie Macabre in the beginning and helped to develop it. But left after conflicts arose. I've also read that she was very difficult to work with. (Malia not Cassandra) That tape footage is priceless, breathtaking and just plain fun. Oh, and as a special treat, Art Baker, the host of You Asked For It, introduces the footage in an old 'the history of channel 7' bit holding keys with faces emblazoned on them. Great stuff. RIP Vampira and thank you. Prof. Griffin