It’s no secret that Halloween is my favorite holiday. So, I wanted to take a moment to wish you a happy one. To me, Halloween is an entire month spanning from late September, when I put up my decorations, until early November. While the amateurs spend one day getting their scare on, I hit the haunts all month long, some years even sporting more than one costume. As a kid, I always felt like an outcast. I never felt like I fully belonged at my Catholic school. Halloween was the one day out of the year to go a little crazy (or mad as Norman Bates puts it). It was the one day out of the year where you were encouraged to be someone else and go wild. You could escape your boring little reality. You could eat sweets, be evil and decadence was accepted. As a teenager, I got into The Cure and Nine Inch Nails and soon became obsessed with horror variety shows, anthology series and the TV hosts. I was a bit of a goth kid. The Crypt Keeper and Svengoolie (UPN fixture in Chicago) were the ones that dominated my parents’ TV screen. But, before they could do their thing, there was one woman who revolutionized local TV. Her name was Vampira.
Vampira (real name Maila Nurmi) is one of my favorite gothic icons. Hell, I even played her in a theatrical production. She had a dark sensibility long before there was an Elvira. (She even sued her for stealing the idea/look). While Elvira was cheeky, Vampira was seductively evil. She was a fixture in California for being a horror TV host in the 1950s, but didn’t really grab the nation’s attention until much later when Ed Wood’s “Plan 9 From Outer Space” became a cult hit. Even though she has no lines, she’s the one thing I always remembered.
This Russian site has some pretty awesome and rare Vampira photos. Check it out!
http://www.liveinternet.ru/users/irena_69/post244683517/
Happy Haunting!
Televixen: When 140 characters just isn't enough 