On Monday we began a discussion of the hosts of late night horror movie shows on local television that proliferated in the 1950s-70s (and maybe beyond?). Perhaps the true legend of the genre is Vampira, a local L.A. hostess whose mid-to-late 1950s show was on KABC, the ABC affililiate. Her fame has lived on through the years, but not because of her show, most which went un-recorded as was the norm with live local television. Rather, it’s because of her appearance in Ed Wood’s now legendary ‘Plan Nine From Outer Space’. Vampira was, in fact, an actress name Malia Nurmi and she based her characterization on the as-yet-unnamed Morticia Addams as she appeared in the pages of The New Yorker magazine (the television version had yet to be produced). Click here for Ms. Nurmi’s fascinating Wikipedia entry and click here for an excellent Vampira fan-site. She was a luscious, goth and very amusing presence and what little we have of her is precious. The above KABC promo was saved for reasons unknown and other scraps exist here and there.
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