The first television horror host was Los Angeles’ Vampira, portrayed by Maila Nurmi (real name Maila Elizabeth Syrjäniemi), who hosted The VampiraShow on KABC-TV in 1954 and 1955.
Each show opened with Vampira gliding down a dark corridor flooded with dry-ice fog. At the end of her trance-like walk, the camera zoomed in on her face as she let out a piercing scream.
She then introduced (and mocked) that evening’s scary, suspenseful film while reclining barefoot on a skull-encrusted Victorian couch, talking to her pet spider Rollo, and appearing in commercial breaks.
Her make-up and costume were closely based on cartoonist Charles Addams’ gaunt beauty, Morticia, a decade before the 1964 debut of ABC’s The Addams Family.
The show was an immediate hit, and in June 1954, Maila appeared as Vampira in a horror-themed comedy skit on The Red Skelton Show along with Béla Lugosi and Lon Chaney Jr.
That week, Life magazine ran an article about her, including a photo spread of her show-opening entrance and scream.
After the cancellation of the KABC show in 1955, Nurmi retained rights to the Vampira character and took the show to a competing Los Angeles television station, KHJ-TV.
Each show opened with Vampira gliding down a dark corridor flooded with dry-ice fog. At the end of her trance-like walk, the camera zoomed in on her face as she let out a piercing scream.
After the cancellation of the KABC show in 1955, Nurmi retained rights to the Vampira character and took the show to a competing Los Angeles television station, KHJ-TV.
