{"id":32102,"date":"2020-07-14T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-14T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gobacktothepast.com\/?p=32102"},"modified":"2020-06-25T09:56:16","modified_gmt":"2020-06-25T13:56:16","slug":"the-original-horror-host-or-hipness-value","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gobacktothepast.com\/the-original-horror-host-or-hipness-value\/","title":{"rendered":"The Original Horror Host (or “Hipness & Value”)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Welcome back to Hammer Drops,<\/strong> where we usually<\/em> discuss the how’s and why’s of prices we are seeing for items sold at auction…but today, we’re looking to our virtual storefront on eBay<\/a>. The item in question is a limited edition Bowen Designs statue of Maila Nurmi’s Vampira<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n An actress and pin-up model, Nurmi created the character of Vampira after being “discovered” at a Hollywood costume party by producer from KABC-TV. He hired her to introduce low-budget horror movies on the station, allowing her a pretty free hand when it came to crafting her host segments. The Vampira Show<\/em> debuted in L.A. on May 1, 1954 with an uncommonly macabre sense of humor and was an instant hit, earning it a Life Magazine photo spread and Nurmi an in-character guest spot on the Red Skelton Show (both with national reach). It was cancelled after less than a year, however, when Nurmi refused to sell the character to the station.<\/p>\n Due to her show’s popularity in the entertainment capital of the world, Nurmi landed movie roles here and there, either credited as or in-character as Vampira, through the end of the 50s. The best known of these appearances today is in the infamous Plan 9 From Outer Space<\/em><\/a>, which Nurmi had mixed feelings about in her later years. The Vampira Show <\/em>itself went out live and was not taped or available to syndicate, meaning it’s pretty much lost to time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Vampira was the very first<\/em> horror host in TV history, and without her we wouldn’t have Svengoolie, The Ghoul, Sir Graves Ghastly, or (most obviously) Elvira, Mistress of the Dark<\/a>. Her influence on a whole generation of pop culture fans’ weekend evenings and movie tastes is incalculable, and yet, ironically, most of them probably haven’t heard of her. <\/p>\nThe Lot<\/h4>\n
The Teachable Moment: Being Hip & Playing Hard-To-Get Can Help Value<\/h4>\n