The “Golden Hits Of The 50s”
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JOHN ZACHERLE
“The Cool Ghoul”
“DINNER WITH DRAC”
(Jon Sheldon, Harry Land)
Cameo 130
No. 6 March 31, 1958
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“I was not allowed to see horror movies when I was a kid,” John Zacherle, the “Cool ghoul,” a moniker given
him by friend and TV host Dick Clark, in an exclusive interview. “So I spent a lot of Saturday afternoons
with another poor sucker who couldn’t go to the movies either. I didn’t get to see Dracula and Frankenstein
till I was 37 or so and this TV ghoul thing happened.”
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Surely, John Zecherle (b. September 26, 1918, Philadelphia, PA) would be a very unlikely candidate for the
status of great ghouldorn. Now listen, the gentlemen earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of
Pennsylvania in English literature. During World War II he served in the Army eventually working his way
to the royal rank of major. On his return, however, John reportedly looked about for what he considered a
more relaxed profession, something with bite and depth, something intelligent, yet emotive. Yes, yes, why
not become an actor?
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For years he worked in local stock companies. “Action in the Afternoon” was a daily western and sudsy TV
cowboy show, broadcast over Philly’s WCAU. “Now things c an go wrong with cows, guns and horses, live
and all moving around,” said John.
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“Well, I played an undertaker this one season. I put on these spats and a long black frock and left an
impression, apparently. When RKO and Universal issued all these horror flicks, like Wolfman and whatnot
for TV, ‘Shock Theatre’ was created, with different ‘horror’ hosts in each major city; like Morgus in Baltimore
and Marvin in Chicago.
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“When WCAU launched their ‘Shock Theatre,’ someone at channel 10 recalled my role in ‘Action in the
Afternoon’ and I Roland, the blood-drinking midnight emcee. They couldn’t afford a second person on the
show so I had a sack hanging on a meat hook; a creature named Gasport who moaned and groaned, and I
woulkd operate on him on occasionally. Then my wife lived in a large box, you see, and all you could see of
her was the stake that I’d move around to excite her.”
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The response was immediate. Ratings soared, fan clubs were formed, personnel appearances were
demanded, and none of this madness was lost on the offspring of Cameo Records president Bernie Lowe.
“Bernie use to sit and watch the show with his little daughter,” said John. “Some one sent us a limerick;
others sent them, and it became a habit to do a crazy rhyme thing. Bernie got the brainstorm one night
to have me come in and recite these lyrics and they’d put some funky music behind it.” A session was
arranged. Staff writers created his gruesome lyrical lines, while Dave Appel and his Applejacks (formerly
known for their “Mexican Hat Dance” (#16, 1958) and “Rocka-Conga” (#38, 1959) provided the legitimate
rock accompaniment. “Dinner with Drac” was cleaned (of overly offensive lines), baked, and dished.
Surprisingly the honkin’ but distasteful dishing that featured a Dracula imitation from Zach, received enough
airplay to pllant this ghoul and his goons firmly in the upper reaches of the pop charts.
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“I was shocked,” said Zacherle. “I expected nothing from this foolery. The song was banned in Englland,,
however. I think that’s as great mark of distinction. They had censorship back in those days. it was too gory
or some such, so we had to change the lyrics and put it out a second time.
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“Dick Clark had a Saturday night show with a Top Ten of the week, and I was on it and did a video-like and
MTV thing–doing that song. Now this is ’58–oh so long ago, scary, really–had to be one of the first videos for
a song. I was a very bad lip syncer, so it’s fortunate that all those dancers were jumping around.”
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John moved his hobgoblin hosting to New York City and WABC. He fronted the “American Bandstand”
Halloween party, in 1958 and thereafter for years.
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In 1963, when “Bandstand” shifted to Saturday’s only, Zach moved to WOR-TV
to host a further run of horrors and who-dunits. After “Dinner with Drac,” several more singles–particularly,
“Eighty-Two Tombstones”, “I was a Teenage Caveman”, “Hury Bury Baby”, “Hello Dolly”–and eventually a
few lps–Spook Along With Zacherle (1960); Monster Mash (1962); Scary Tales (1963) were packed and
pushed but nothing much in way of attention was given most of these artifacts.
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