Lord of the Unzipped Flies

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Some More Foundlings, Featuring the BOSS OF POLES

Keeping on Ghouling

THE GHOUL'S official website:
http://www.theghoul.com/index2.html

Ron Sweed, (born 1950, Cleveland, Ohio), is an American entertainer best known for his late-night television horror host character The Ghoul.

In 1963, 13-year-old Sweed wore a gorilla suit to a live appearance by Ghoulardi, a popular Cleveland television personality played by Ernie Anderson on WJW-TV. Ghoulardi took note of the costume and brought Sweed on stage, and over the next few weeks, Sweed became Anderson's production assistant.

After Anderson left Cleveland for Los Angeles in 1966, Sweed left for Bowling Green State University, but continued to help with the production of the Hoolihan and Big Chuck show, Ghoulardi's replacement.

In 1970, Anderson returned to Cleveland to film a television special, and Sweed approached him with a proposal to revive the Ghoulardi character. Anderson was not interested, but gave Sweed his blessing to revive the character on his own. With Anderson's permission, and a name change to protect himself from the legal wrath of WJW, Sweed took "The Ghoul" to Kaiser Broadcasting station WKBF-TV in 1971. Though it started as a tribute to Ghoulardi, Sweed soon developed his own eye-catching gags and energetic style. Known for his zany, early-adolescent humor (particularly surrounding his abuse of a rubber frog named "Froggy," his well-known penchant for blowing up model ships and aircraft with firecrackers, and his habitual smearing of Cheez Whiz over everything in sight), late night monster movies were a unique experience for Cleveland viewers in the 1970s (Not to mention viewers in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, one of whom, a nasty little twerp named Chuck Miller, would idolize the Ghoul beyond reason). The Ghoul would typically take an unbelievably bad horror movie and dump in sound bites at appropriate moments, using audio clips from novelty records, George Carlin, Firesign Theater and rock albums of the 60's and early 70's. And whenever a character took a drink of something on-screen, The Ghoul would supply a good, loud belch. (He would also read letters from viewers on the air, then flush them down a prop toilet.)

Kaiser Broadcasting soon syndicated The Ghoul Show to Detroit, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Los Angeles. It bombed in Boston and Chicago, where Sweed had the thankless task of replacing the popular Svengoolie, but was huge in Detroit at WKBD TV-50, and enjoyed varying degrees of success in the other markets. Despite the show's popularity, Kaiser eventually canceled it in 1975 amid complaints from parents about the content of some of Sweed's skits, as well as the permanent closure of WKBF by Kaiser itself. But The Ghoul resurfaced a couple of years later on independent Detroit station WXON TV-20, and on WKBF's successor station, WCLQ TV-61.

Sweed has since been on and off the air in Cleveland and Detroit for over three decades, at times even branching out into radio. The Ghoul returned to Cleveland TV in 1998 on WBNX-TV Channel 55 where he remained for the next six years airing on Friday, then later Sunday nights. He also did a Saturday night request show on WNCX FM 98.5 during the same time period. The same year, Sweed co-authored (with Mike Olszewski) The Ghoul (S)crapbook (ISBN 1-886228-22-1), a book collecting memories, on-set photographs, transcripts, correspondence, and memos from his years on the air.

The Ghoul is still well known enough in those markets that some of his catch phrases ("Overdey!", "Hey group!", "Stay sick, turn blue", "scratch glass, climb walls", "Pluck your magic twanger, Froggy!", "Holy Parma," "Go fuck yourself, you pathetic little douchebag," and Froggy's "Hiya gang, hiya hiya hiya!") are still widely recognized among the children of the 1970s. Sweed eventually inspired another horror host. Keven Scarpino won a Ghoul look-alike contest on The Ghoul Show and was dubbed the "Son of Ghoul" by Sweed. Scarpino set up his own show on WOAC in Canton, Ohio in 1986. Sweed sued Scarpino in 1987 for infringing upon The Ghoul's character, but eventually lost the case. The judge ruled that no infringement occurred, as most horror show hosts portrayed the same basic character, a ghoulish individual who pranced about in costume, performed comedy routines, and showed horror movies. (Wikipedia, more or less)

The Ghoul especially enjoyed blowing up a character called Froggy, a silly looking frog in a tuxedo that was inspired by the Froggy the Gremlin character from ANDY'S GANG in the 1950s. You could say that the Ghoul's Froggy was the forerunner of the Mr. Bill puppet who constantly got sliced, diced, chopped, pummeled and pureed by the heartless Mr. Sluggo character on NBC's SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE.

Ron Sweed, once told Cleveland.com "I took what Ghoulardi did ten steps further and made it more radical--that's why they called me punk rock puke."

During one show, a teenager named Russ Stein made a request "Please sing Happy Birthday to me on your show this week." The boy came to the studio with a home-made birthday cake to celebrate the moment. But when it came time to sing, The Ghoul said "I've never done it before and I'm not going to do it now." Then The Ghoul picked up the birthday cake and smashed it in to the boy's face. The boy responded, "You're Sick Ghoul. Sick! Sick! Sick!" Of course, the whole thing was done in fun. (TV Acres Dot Com)

Tales From the Criz

Howdy-ho, all you blockheads and chicken rapers out there in cyber-land! It's your homeboy, Crunk-Up Criswell, back again for reasons you'd never understand. Neither do I, for that matter, so it's fortunate I don't give a fuck. I'm here, I'm there-- it's all the same. The REAL question, my darling little bathtub hairs, is why the fuck are YOU wasting your time here? Couldn't find any nude photos of Ed Asner on Google? There's really nothing to be gained from this, but since you're here, I suppose I can serve you this flea-bitten excuse for a sci-fi adventure tale. This frankly flatulent and flaccid fable was written and drawn by people who should have known the fuck better. And it will be read by folks from that same demographic. Even my buddy Ed Wood, a remarkably tolerant man artistically, would steer clear of it. But I predict that you will love this classic melodrama. Of course, if that prediction comes true, it'll be the first one of mine that ever did...

Be a Ghoul! Turn Sick and Stay Blue!

GHOULARDI
(Portrait by Slim Gil Deluxe)

OCT. ????, 2010

VISIT the GHOULARDIFEST homepage:
http://theghoulardifest.com/

Article from Wikipedia. Thanks to Kogar the Swinging Ape for the groovy pics. --Chuck

Ghoulardi was a fictional character invented and portrayed by disc jockey, voice announcer, and actor Ernie Anderson as the horror host of late night Shock Theater at WJW-TV, Channel 8, in Cleveland, Ohio from January 13, 1963 through December 16, 1966. Shock Theater featured grade-“B” science fiction films and horror films. Shock Theater was aired in a Friday late-night time slot, but at the peak of Ghoulardi's popularity, Anderson also hosted the Saturday afternoon Masterpiece Theater, and the weekday children's program Laurel, Ghoulardi and Hardy.

Ernie Anderson, a big band and jazz enthusiast and WWII U.S. Navy veteran, was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, on November 22, 1923. His irreverent and influential host character was a hipster, unlike the horror character prototype. Ghoulardi’s costume was a long lab coat covered with “slogan” buttons, horn-rimmed sunglasses with a missing lens, a fake Van Dyke beard and moustache, and various messy, awkwardly-perched wigs. Ghoulardi's stage name was devised by Cleveland restaurateur Ralph Gulko, who was making a pun of the word "ghoul," and his own similar last name, suffixed with a generic "ethnic" ending. During breaks in the movies, Anderson addressed the camera live in a part-Beat, part-ethnic accented commentary, peppered with catchphrases: “Hey, group!,” “Stay sick, knif” (“fink”), “Cool it,” “Turn blue” and “Ova-dey.” Anderson improvised because of his difficulty memorizing lines. He played novelty and offbeat rock and roll tunes, plus jazz and rhythm and blues songs under his live performance. He frequently played the Rivingtons' "Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow" over a clip of a (nearly) toothless old man.

Shock Theater drew both a black and white cult audience, who loved Ghoulardi's beatnik costume, the music, and his hip talk, which was a nod to black jazz and R&B artists. More mainstream viewers enjoyed his broad, unpretentious ethnic humor.

Ghoulardi spared no unhip targets: the bedroom communities Parma, Ohio, ("Par-ma?!") which he often called "Amrap" (Parma backwards) and Oxnard, California, ("Remember...Oxnard!"), bandleader Lawrence Welk and polka music, Cleveland television personalities Mike Douglas and Dorothy Fuldheim ("Dorothy Baby"), plus other public figures. In particular, Ghoulardi unmercifully jeered Parma for its ethnic, working-class, “white socks” sensibility, creating a series of taped skits called Parma Place. He adopted a crow and named him “Oxnard.”

He frequently mocked the poor quality films he was hosting: "If you want to watch a movie, don't watch this one," or "This movie is so bad, you should just go to bed." He had his crew comically insert random stock footage or his own image at climactic moments. In movies with chase scenes, for example, they might superimpose a shot of Ghoulardi running away, as if it was Ghoulardi being pursued.

Ghoulardi used friends and members of the station crew as supporting cast: engineer “Big Chuck” Schodowski, film editor Bob Soinski and writer Tim Conway (later of The Carol Burnett Show and “Dorf” fame). He was later assisted by teenage intern Ron Sweed, who had boarded a cross-town bus to try to meet his idol at a live appearance, clad in a gorilla suit. Anderson invited Sweed onstage; to the crowd’s delight, Sweed stumbled offstage into the audience. This, plus some unanounced gorilla-suited visits to the studio, sealed his place as Anderson’s intern. The station, then owned by Storer Broadcasting, capitalized on Ghoulardi’s wide audience with a comprehensive merchandising program, giving Anderson a percentage as Storer also owned the "Ghoulardi" name. Anderson formed the “Ghoulardi All-Stars” sports teams, which played as many as 100 charity contests a year, frequently attracting thousands of fans.

Anderson openly battled station management. Schodowski was quoted as saying: "[S]tation management lived in daily fear as to what he might say or do on the air, because he was live." In spite of his solid ratings and profitablilty, they worried that Ghoulardi was testing too many television boundaries too quickly, and tried to rein in the character. Anderson responded by, among other things, detonating plastic action figures and plastic model cars sent in by viewers with firecrackers and small explosives on air, once nearly setting the studio on fire. Induced by greater career promise and Tim Conway, who had already left town, Anderson retired Ghoulardi in 1966 and moved to Los Angeles, California, planning to act in film and television. Instead, he made a successful career in voice-over work, most prominently as the main voice for the ABC TV network during the 1970s and 1980s.

Anderson died of cancer on February 6, 1997.

More than 40 years after Ghoulardi signed off, his legacy endures: Clevelanders still associate polka music, white socks, and pink plastic flamingo and yard globe lawn ornaments with Parma, Ohio.

In the mid-1960s, Ghoulardi's irreverance overtook the rarefied Severance Hall, where Cleveland Orchestra conductor George Szell introduced one of his musicians as being from Parma, Ohio. According to Tim Conway, the concertgoing audience replied: "Par-ma?!" As a tribute, jazz organist Jimmy McGriff wrote, recorded and released his song "Turn Blue."

In 1971, Ron Sweed first appeared on WKBF-TV as “The Ghoul,” borrowing the "Ghoulardi" character traits and costume with Anderson’s blessing, but with a name change to keep Storer Broadcasting at bay, as they still owned the "Ghoulardi" name. "The Ghoul Show" went on to air for many years in Cleveland, Detroit, and limited national syndication.

Channel 8’s Bob Wells (“Hoolihan the Weatherman”) and “Big Chuck” Schodowski took over Ghoulardi’s Friday night movie time slot as “Hoolihan and Big Chuck,” becoming Anderson’s tamer but familiar successors. Schodowski's show continued on WJW, with co-host "Li'l John" Rinaldi from 1979 onward, until July 2007.

Cleveland native Drew Carey has paid tribute to Ghoulardi in his television sitcom The Drew Carey Show, where his character can often be seen wearing a Ghoulardi T-shirt. In his endorsement of the biography, Ghoulardi: Inside Cleveland TV’s Wildest Ride, Carey is quoted as saying "Absolutely, big time, Ghoulardi was an influence on me."

The punk-a-billy band The Cramps named their 1990 album Stay Sick! David Thomas, of art rock band Pere Ubu, said that the Cramps were "so thoroughly co-optive of the Ghoulardi persona that when they first appeared in the 1970s, Clevelanders of the generation were fairly dismissive." Thomas credits Ghoulardi for influencing the "otherness" of the Cleveland/Akron bands of the mid-1970s and early-1980s, including the Electric Eels, and The Mirrors, the Cramps, and Thomas's own groups, Pere Ubu and Rocket From The Tombs, declaring: "We were the Ghoulardi kids." In 2002, Cleveland-area indie band Uptown Sinclair featured a Ghoulardi-derived basketball referee in the slapstick music video for their song "Girlfriend."