John Zacherle 1918-2016 Legendary Horror Film Host (Zacherley)

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Scope J, Oct 28, 2016.

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  1. Scope J

    Scope J Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Michigan
  2. bummer - right before Halloween too... I love his records on Cameo / Parkway
     
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  3. davmar77

    davmar77 I'd rather be drummin'...

    Location:
    clifton park,ny
  4. BradOlson

    BradOlson Country/Christian Music Maven

  5. davmar77

    davmar77 I'd rather be drummin'...

    Location:
    clifton park,ny
  6. Splungeworthy

    Splungeworthy Forum Rezidentura

    My memories of Zacherle are from when was on WPLJ in New York. He was a great DJ. I can't believe how long he lived! RIP.
     
  7. Scope J

    Scope J Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Michigan
  8. Scope J

    Scope J Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Michigan
  9. JozefK

    JozefK Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dixie
    In the mid to late '60s he hosted the local NY area Bandstand imitation Disc-O-Teen, where the guests did not mime but stood around while kids danced to their records. Only a handful of episodes are known to survive -- one with the Doors is long rumored to be extant but AFAIK not yet confirmed.

     
  10. Culpa

    Culpa Forum Resident

    Location:
    Philadelphia, PA
    RIP Zacherle.

    (Or is that "Roland"?) :)
     
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  11. The Wanderer

    The Wanderer Seeker of Truth

    Location:
    NYC
    The Cool Ghoul!
     
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  12. stereoptic

    stereoptic Anaglyphic GORT Staff

    Location:
    NY
    My Halloween setlist starts off with this Zacherle track from Rob Zombie's excellent Halloween Hootenanny collection:
     
  13. stereoptic

    stereoptic Anaglyphic GORT Staff

    Location:
    NY
    Covering Creedence Clearwater Revival with Southern Culture on the Skids
     
  14. JozefK

    JozefK Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dixie
    John Zacherle, 94, Ex-Television Horror-Movie Host, Can Still Play the Ghoul »

    October 21, 2012

    In the mid-1960s, he was hired to host, still as Zacherley, an afternoon teenage dance show called “Disc-O-Teen” that was broadcast for three years. The show — think “American Bandstand,” Transylvania-style — attracted bands like the Lovin’ Spoonful, the Young Rascals and even the Doors.

    “Jim Morrison looked at our weird set and mumbled, ‘This is the damnedest TV show I’ve ever seen,’ ” recalled Mr. Zacherle, who hobnobbed with rock legends and became a regular at concerts at the Fillmore East. He became a rock D.J. on stations like WNEW and WPLJ before finally retiring in the early 1980s.

    On his desk on Thursday were CDs of Led Zeppelin and Stevie Ray Vaughan, along with a photograph of Mr. Zacherle and Ringo Starr. On his windowsill was a statuette of Jerry Garcia.

    “I had a lot of fun with him,” he said, and returned to watching “Judge Judy.”​
     
  15. The Wanderer

    The Wanderer Seeker of Truth

    Location:
    NYC
  16. FredV

    FredV Senior Member

    Loved Zacharle. :cry:

     
  17. Jimi Bat

    Jimi Bat Forum Resident

    Location:
    tx usa
  18. theoxrox

    theoxrox Forum Resident

    Location:
    central Wisconsin
    Requiescat in Pacem, John Zacherle! I hope you will be reunited with your Shock Theater spouse, "My Dear!"

    I lived about 30 miles from Philly from mid-1956 to mid-1959 and used to watch Shock Theater every weekend, as did every other 6th grader that I knew.

    Our teacher, Mr. Wilson knew a good teaching opportunity when he saw one and instituted the practice of allowing we students to write a short horror story to be read in class in the afternoon, and then he would grade it for grammar and spelling and give a little extra credit for it! Mr. Wilson's students probably improved their spelling and grammar and became more comfortable expressing themselves in writing as a result.

    I have had the paperback "Zacherle's Vulture Stew" and an LP by him since about 1961, bought from an advertisement in the old magazine "Famous Monsters of Filmland." My favorite song from the LP was one called "Ring-a-Ding Orangutang." The LP was reissued on CD probably 10 or 15 years ago in true stereo, so I bought a copy at the time.

    So I bid farewell to "Roland" and thank him for damn near 6 decades of enjoyment......
     
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  19. BradOlson

    BradOlson Country/Christian Music Maven

  20. Silver Surfer

    Silver Surfer Love Is Understanding

    One of THE originals and a genuine nice guy, too. This is definitely gonna make it a sad Halloween.

    Thank you, Zach, for all the laughs and all the memories. You will be missed.
     
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  21. jimac51

    jimac51 A mythical beast.

    Location:
    Allentown,pa.
    Yes,I realize there's a thread in the Visual Arts section. I'm primarily concerned with his audio legacy,as novelty artist and DJ. If a gort throws this over to Visual Arts,so be it.
    Odd so close to Halloween,a personality with Philly origins,later local New York fame,as well as a national bona fide chartmaker,has died at 98. As early TV developed hosts to introduce kiddie fare like the Three Stooges,there was also a market for old horror movies hosted by dressed up-fiends specializing in black humor and bad puns. John Zacherle was possibly the best,serving in two major markets,Philadelphia and New York. In Philly,he was known as Roland,in New York as Zacherley and,thanks in part to low budgets,black and white transmission and chocolate syrup pretending to be blood,he was a big deal as many a baby boomer was discovering Boris Karloff,Bela Lagosi and Lon Chaney Jr. as well as many a lesser story involving the dead,the undead and those in-between.
    As a friend and sometime replacement for Dick Clark's live appearances,with Clark's suggestion,Zacherle cut Dinner With Drac via Cameo Records,with assistance from Dave Appel(Cameo-Parkway's hose band leader,responsible for Chubby Checker's The Twist). While not as melodic as Monster Mash,Dinner With Drac was basically a spoken-word novelty, much funnier, and included John's signature sign-off:"Good night,whatever you are!" The A hit side is basically a tamed down version of the earlier recorded B side,as Clark wanted a version sanitized for the masses.
    But that is just a couple of Zacherle's many fifteen minutes of fame that would result in many hours of fame. 1967 found him at WNEW-FM and in 1969,one of the city's seminal hosts to progressive radio as it went from underground to aboveground and later a fixture at WPLJ throughout the 1970s. He was still showing up for personal appearances as recently as last year and many an obit will note that he was one of the nicest guys in the business. Add to that,he graduated from an Ivy League school(Penn) and served in World War II-no dummy he.
    As zombies,go-Best.Zombie. Ever.
    RIP-for real.
     
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  22. the sands

    the sands Forum Resident

    Location:
    Oslo, Norway
  23. FredV

    FredV Senior Member

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    FredV Senior Member

  25. FredV

    FredV Senior Member

     
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