It was a beautiful sunny day in Chicago when I arrived at DePaul University to see a Q&A session with national horror host and broadcaster, Rich Koz/Svengoolie! While I’ve seen him at various appearances this would mark the first time I would catch him without his familiar make-up and, rather than greet fans, get to see him discuss his vast career.
Svengoolie puts the squeeze on the Daves.
Growing up a monster kid in Rhode Island had its limitations. We did not have a local horror host though we did have our weekly Creature Double Feature, a long running series of some of the best monster movies ever put on film. As the 70’s came to an end, so did the interest in monsters it seemed. The Creature Double Feature wanted to go in a new direction and they brought in the Son Of Svengoolie. I wasn’t sure what to make of this character when I first saw that the format changed but it didn’t take long for me to become hooked on this top-hatted ghoul.
This past Saturday, the FIRST major Svengoolie appearance of 2012 was “out of the gate!” Yes, I’m one of those lucky fans from Chicago who not only is able to STILL enjoy his childhood host as an adult, but saw him proliferate this past year by going national. Since TERROR FROM BEYOND THE DAVES is a horror host friendly site, created by two childhood fans of Sven, its become a great excuse to stalk the man’s appearances without raising two many eyebrows (except on Facebook where I seem to get called out on it all the time).
The other day I was at work perusing Facebook during my, ahem, lunch break when a post written on Svengoolie’s wall caught my attention. The negative comment was regarding Sven showing non horror related shows like tonight’s DUCK SOUP as well as suggesting that he change the name of his program to “The Abbott & Costello Show.” Apparently the writer, who felt the need to publicly chide Sven as opposed to sending him a direct complaint (which he would have responded to), had a TV black-out the previous weeks when he aired HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, and THE DEADLY MANTIS.
National Horror Host, Svengoolie, made his annual holiday appearance at the “Comic Collector” in North Riverside, Illinois this past Friday and marked the occasion with an ALL-NEW Sventa Claus suit! The Comic Collector has been a popular location for many Chicagoans to get their comic book fix for over a quarter of a century and its owners, Rich and Regina Lukes, have been Svengoolie fans for just as long!
Photo courtesy of Jim Roche
I had just seen Svengoolie the night before at Chicago’s Brookfield Zoo (see story HERE) but couldn’t pass up another chance to do so the next day at a local grocery store called Ultra Foods. My reasoning was simple; this past month I’d put in a lot of mileage to see the national host at various locations throughout the Chicagoland (and beyond) area. How could I NOT see him when he was appearing ten minutes from where I live? So, despite the fact that my Facebook friends are starting to accuse me of stalking the poor fellow, off I went!
