John Zacherle (/ˈzækərliː/ zak-ər-lee; sometimes credited as John Zacherley) was born in Philadelphia, the youngest of four children of a bank clerk and his wife. He grew up in Philadelphia's Germantown neighborhood, where he went to high school. He received a bachelor's degree in English literature from an Ivy League school, the University of Pennsylvania. In World War II he enlisted in the United States Army and served in North Africa and Europe. After the war, he returned to Philadelphia and joined a local repertory theatre company.
In 1954 he gained his first television role at WCAU-TV in Philadelphia, where he was hired as an actor playing several roles (one was an undertaker) in Action in the Afternoon, a Western produced by the station and aired in the New York City market. Three years later, he was hired as the host of WCAU's Shock Theater, which debuted on October 7, 1957. As the host, Zacherle appeared wearing a long black undertaker's coat as the character "Roland," pronounced "Ro-land", who lived in a crypt with his wife "My Dear" (unseen, lying in her coffin) and his lab assistant, Igor. The hosting of the black-and-white show involved interrupting the film to do numerous stylized horror-comedy gags parodying the film, an influential change which pioneered a now-standard television genre. In the opening sequence, Zacherle as Roland would descend a long round staircase to the crypt. The producers erred on the side of goriness, showing fake severed heads with blood simulated with Hershey's chocolate syrup. During the comedy "cut-ins" during the movie, the soundtrack continued to play on the air, while the visual feed switched briefly to a shot of Zacherle as Roland in the middle of a related humorous stunt, such as riding a tombstone, or singing "My Funny Valentine" to his wife in her coffin. The show ran for 92 broadcasts through 1958.
He was a close colleague of Philadelphia broadcaster Dick Clark, and sometimes filled in for Clark on road touring shows of Clark's American Bandstand in the 1960s. Clark reportedly gave Zacherle his nickname of "The Cool Ghoul." In 1958, partly with the assistance and backing of Clark, Zacherle cut "Dinner with Drac" for Cameo Records, backed by Dave Appell. At first, Clark thought the recording was too gory to play on Bandstand and made Zacherle return to the studio to cut a second tamer version. Eventually both versions were released simultaneously as backsides on the same 45, and the record broke the top ten nationally. Zacherle later released several LPs mixing horror sound effects with novelty songs.
The purchase of WCAU by CBS in 1958 prompted Zacherle to leave Philadelphia for WABC-TV in New York, where the station added a "y" to the end of his name in the credits. He continued the format of the Shock Theater, after March 1959 titled Zacherley at Large, with "Roland" becoming "Zacherley" and his wife "My Dear" becoming "Isobel." He also began appearing in motion pictures, including Key to Murder alongside several of his former Action in the Afternoon colleagues. A regular feature of his shows continued to be his parodic interjection of himself into old horror films. He would run the movie and have "conversations" with the monster characters. He kept his "wife" in a coffin on stage. His co-star was in a burlap sack hanging from a rope. The on-air conversation consisted of Zacherle repeating the words he heard from the sack.
In a 1960 promotional stunt for his move to WOR-TV, Zacherley-- by then, a Baby Boomer idol-- staged a presidential campaign. His "platform" recording can be found on the album Spook Along with Zacherley, which originally included a Zacherley for President book and poster set which is highly collectible today.
In 1963 he hosted animated cartoons on WPIX-TV in New York. He also hosted the TV show Chiller Theatre in New York on WPIX.
In 1964 he hosted a teenage dance show for three years at WNJU-TV in Newark called Disc-O-Teen, hosting the show in full costume and using the teenage show participants in his skits.
In 1967, he became a morning radio host for WNEW-FM. Two years later in 1969, he became the station night broadcaster (10 PM–2 AM) for a progressive rock format. In 1971 he switched his show to WPLJ-FM, where he stayed for ten years.
On February 14, 1970 he appeared at Fillmore East music hall in New York City to introduce rock act the Grateful Dead. His introduction of the band can be heard on the Grateful Dead album Dick's Picks Volume 4.
In the early 1980s he played a wizard on Captain Kangaroo, appearing without his Roland/Zacherley costume and make-up. He continued to perform in character at Halloween broadcasts in New York and Philadelphia in the 1980s and 1990s, once narrating Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven while backed up by the Philadelphia Orchestra.
In 1986, he hosted a direct-to-video program called Horrible Horror, where he performed Zacherley monologues in between clips from public domain sci-fi and horror films.
In 1988 he struck up a friendship with B movie horror director Frank Henenlotter, voicing the puppet "Aylmer," a slug-like drug-dealing and brain-eating parasite, one of the lead characters in Henenlotter's 1988 horror-comedy film Brain Damage, and cameos in his 1990 comedy Frankenhooker, appropriately playing a TV weatherman who specializes in forecasts for mad scientists.
In late 1992, Zacherle joined the staff of "K-Rock," WXRK-FM, at a time when the roster included other free-form radio luminaries such as Vin Scelsa (with whom he'd worked at WPLJ) and Meg Griffin. He departed in January 1996 when the station switched to an alternative rock format and hired all new jocks.
In 2010 Zacherly starred in the documentary, The Aurora Monsters: The Model Craze That Gripped the World. The film was written and produced by Dennis Vincent and Cortlandt Hull, owner of the Witch's Dungeon Classic Movie Museum in Bristol, Connecticut. The documentary includes a number of short pieces featuring Zacherly and his puppet co-host Gorgo, of Bill Diamond Productions. The film went on to win a Rondo award.
Zacherle continued to make appearances at conventions through 2015, and to this day, Zacherle collectibles are still selling, including model kits, T-shirts, and posters. The book Goodnight, Whatever You Are by Richard Scrivani, chronicling the life and times of The Cool Ghoul, debuted at the Chiller Theatre Expo in Secaucus, New Jersey, in October 2006. Scrivani and Tom Weaver followed it up with the scrapbook-style "The Z Files: Treasures from Zacherley's Archives" in 2012.
The comic book anthology, Zacherley's Midnite Terrors (created by Joseph M. Monks, and featuring top artists like Basil Gogos, Ken Kelly, William S. Stout and Mike Koneful), was created solely as a tribute to "Zach". Three issues were published, and Zacherley acted in a commercial to promote them.
He made a special guest appearance in Harry Chaskin's award-winning animated short film, Bygone Behemoth and recent on-air appearances include a two-hour show at WCBS-FM with Ron Parker on Halloween, 2007. A picture of Zacherley alongside fellow horror host Dr. Gangrene appeared in the October 30, 2007 issue of USA Today in an article about Horror Host entitled Halloween horror hosts rise again on radio, TV, film written by David Colton. Zacherley and Chiller Theatre returned to the WPIX airwaves on October 25, 2008 for a special showing of the 1955 Universal Pictures science fiction classic Tarantula!.
The Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia inducted Zacherle into their Hall of Fame in 2010.
He died in October 2016 at the age of 98.
He was the uncle of My Little Pony creator Bonnie Zacherle.
Dinner With Drac Pt. 1
John Zacherle Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
At dracula's house by the sea
The hors d'oeurve were fine
But i choked on my wine
When i learned that the main course was me!
The waitress a vampire named perkins
Was so very fond of small gherkins
While serving tea
Which pickled her internal workings!
Igor the scalpels go on the left with the pitchforks
Igor, igor...
What a swimmer is dracula's daughter
But her pool looks more red than it oughter
The blood stains the boats
But it's easy to float
Because blood is much thicker than water!
Instrumental interlude
Dracula old friend how are things in transylvania
For dessert there was batwing confetti
And the veins of a mummy named betty
I first frowned upon it
But with ketchup on it
It tasted very much like spaghetti!
Goodnight whatever you are!
The lyrics to John Zacherle's song "Dinner With Drac Pt. 1" describe a dinner party at Dracula's house where the main course is revealed to be the singer. The first two lines set the scene for the night's events. The singer is one of three dinner guests who begins to eat the hors d'oeuvres served, but when the main course is revealed to be them, they choke on their wine in surprise. The waitress, a vampire named Perkins, is described as being fond of small pickles and eats 43 while serving tea, which eventually cause her internal problems. Igor, who is Dracula's assistant, is given directions as to where to place the scalpels and pitchforks. Dracula's daughter is described as a good swimmer but her pool appears to be bloodied. The singer describes how blood is thicker than water, which helps them float easier in the blood-filled pool. The song then moves into an instrumental interlude before returning back to the dinner party. Dracula is asked about life in Transylvania before dessert is served. The dessert is made up of batwing confetti and the veins of a mummy named Betty. The singer initially frowns upon the dessert, but once adding ketchup to it, finds it tastes similar to spaghetti. The song ends with the closing line, "Goodnight whatever you are!"
Line by Line Meaning
A dinner was served for three
An event occurred where food was provided for three individuals
At dracula's house by the sea
The food event transpired inside a dwelling by the sea, belonging to Dracula
The hors d'oeurve were fine
The appetizers were of satisfactory quality
But i choked on my wine
I found difficulty swallowing my wine
When i learned that the main course was me!
My realization that my own flesh was the main course for the meal caused me great distress
The waitress a vampire named perkins
The server who was a vampire had the name 'Perkins'
Was so very fond of small gherkins
Perkins showed great admiration for small pickled cucumbers
While serving tea
During the act of providing a beverage of hot, steeped leaves
She ate 43
Perkins consumed a total of 43 gherkins
Which pickled her internal workings!
As a result, the vinegar in the gherkins caused harm to Perkins' internal physiology
Igor the scalpels go on the left with the pitchforks
Igor was instructed by someone to place the scalpels on the left, along with the pitchforks
Igor, igor...
A reference to Igor, perhaps to get his attention
What a swimmer is dracula's daughter
A comment is made about Dracula's daughter's swimming abilities
But her pool looks more red than it oughter
However, the water in her pool appears to have more of a red hue than expected
The blood stains the boats
The boats in the pool have been marked with stains from blood
But it's easy to float
Despite the stains, it is simple to remain buoyant
Because blood is much thicker than water!
This is possible because, biologically, blood has a higher density than water
Dracula old friend how are things in transylvania
Someone is asking Dracula how various aspects of his life are in Transylvania, an area in Europe
For dessert there was batwing confetti
The final dish consisted of a type of ornamentation made from the wings of bats
And the veins of a mummy named betty
In addition to the confetti, the veins of a wrapped, preserved corpse named Betty were also served
I first frowned upon it
Initially, I made a facial expression displaying disapprovement
But with ketchup on it
However, after sauce made from tomatoes and vinegar was added, my opinion was more favorable
It tasted very much like spaghetti!
In fact, the human remains were similar in flavor to a common Italian dish
Goodnight whatever you are!
A farewell is given to an unknown entity
Writer(s): Kal Mann
Contributed by Dylan F. Suggest a correction in the comments below.