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Suzanne Waldron as Tarantula Ghoul with friend
On this day (9 October 1957) in old showbiz history: House of Horror premiered on Portland, Oregon TV station KPTV. Like Vampira (Maila Nurmi) before her and Elvira, Mistress of the Dark (Cassandra Peterson) afterwards, cadaverous cutie Tarantula Ghoul (real name: Suzanne Waldron, 1931 – 1982, affectionately known by fans as “Taranch”) provided campy comedic introductions to horror movies as the morbid Morticia Addams-like hostess of the weekly TV show from 1957 to 1959. Sadly, not a single frame of House of Horror survives (as was routine at the time, KPTV wiped and re-used the tapes of her shows), but backed by rock’n’roll band The Gravediggers, in 1958 Ghoul cut one immortal Halloween novelty single in her brief heyday: "Graveyard Rock" / "King Kong". Both songs are seasonal staples – crank ‘em up LOUD today! Her 1950s TV show may be long forgotten, but "Graveyard Rock" lives on every Halloween. Pictured: 1955 portrait of Waldon when she was appearing in the play "Oh, Men! Oh, Men!" As you can see, even out of Tarantula Ghoul drag she possessed a nicely macabre quality. (Frustratingly, there are extremely few decent quality pics of Ghoul / Waldron in circulation, and I’ve already posted them all over the years!). Link to the Lobotomy Room Halloween playlist. Read more about Waldron here.
Tarantula Ghoul
Suzanne Waldron as Tarantula Ghoul... Portland, Oregon's first TV Horror Host, haunting the airwaves of television station KPTV from 1957 to 1959.
. . . Said The Spider To The Fly
King Kong - Tarantula Ghoul and Her Gravediggers.mp4
Tarantula Ghoul was Portland's vampy monster of ceremonies on House of Horror, a late night horror movie showcase on KPTV in the late 1950s. Taranch, as she was affectionately known to her fans, was played by Suzanne Waldron. King Kong was the A-side of Taranch's single released on Meadows Records. The flipside was "Graveyard Rock."
Tarantula Ghoul And Her Gravediggers - Graveyard Rock (Meadows, 1958) https://youtu.be/CZyBsp1Axg4
http://monsterkidclassichorrorforum.yuku.com/topic/29644