Who me/Jamie Lee Part 2: Preparing to meet the hosts at Horrorhound

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By Jamie Lee Cortese:
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Yes, faster than you can say, “Svengoolie”, I’ve found myself hopelessly entangled in the horror host web, and I couldn’t be happier! While I was doing exhaustive research on Svengoolie and Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, I found out about a documentary entitled American Scary that was all about horror hosts.  I found it online, and began to watch it.  From the very beginning, I was captivated.  I think my first clue that it was going to be amazing was when I saw none other than Neil Gaiman sitting in front of the camera.  Thanks to Mr. John Aranza of the Horrorbles store in––– you guessed it––– Berrrwyyyn, I was able to obtain a copy of it on DVD.  As I watched it again on my television, I remember making mental notes about the various hosts I saw that particularly impressed me and whom I might look into more, including Count Gore De Vol, Mr. Lobo, Dr. Sarcofiguy, and Professor Anton Griffin.

Dr. Destruction’s Dorian Gray Art Show: Horror Hosts and Horror Creations!

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Back in 1984, the rural town of Kenosha, Wisconsin became the unlikely venue for a unique type of art show.  Local resident, Dale Wamboldt, was determined to create a venue where artists such as himself  (who delve in the more ominous side of creativity) could showcase their work for a public audience.  A fan of Oscar Wilde’s classic novel, “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” Dale was fascinated by the concept of using art to express his own darker side. Years later, he would adopt his own alter ego as a horror host, Dr. Destruction, while continuing the annual tradition of the “The Dorian Gray Art Show.”

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Who, Me? Part 1: A Little “Superstition” Leads To Elvira And Svengoolie, Inspiring A Late-Blooming Monster Kid! by Jamie Lee Cortese

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The Daves would like to welcome our latest guest blogger, Jamie Lee Cortese. We met Jamie recently at HorrorHound Weekend in Indianapolis and were immediately impressed with her, especially with her horror host knowledge! We think she has a huge future ahead of her and we are honored to have her writing on our site!

Let me start off by admitting that I have not been a real “Monster Kid” for very long.  In fact, the first full-blown horror movie I ever saw all the way through was Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd:  The Demon Barber of Fleet Street when it was in theaters.  However, as I began my “monster” journey, I quickly realized that from the very beginning, all signs pointed to my eventual transformation into one.  For one thing, I’ve always been drawn to offbeat, “weird” things:  I am a huge fan of Tim Burton (hence my seeing Sweeney Todd), and a consistent highlight of any October is my family’s annual visit to Fright Fest at Six Flags.

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Finally getting to meet Svengoolie!

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It’s been awhile since I have had fun…I mean fun like a kid. As adults we become pre-occupied with things such as working, paying bills, raising a family, etc. Not that these are bad things but in the process, we forget how to have fun like we did when we were kids. I think that is why I like being a monster fan so much…you can do all of the important and responsible things in life and yet still be a kid! Who can forget the excitement as a child on Christmas Eve. Family get-togethers that then led to a sleepless night, in anticipation of Santa’s annual visit. This followed by the nervous excitement of walking down the stairs to see if the big guy brought us everything that we had asked for. These times were magical and that is the first thing to go in adults…the magic.

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DINNER WITH SVENGOOLIE!

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TERROR FROM BEYOND THE DAVES is pleased to welcome Mary a.k.a “BlueCat” as our guest writer for today’s post! Blue Cat has been essential to Svengoolie fandom by spending the last several years moderating the official Svengoolie YAHOO group, without which David Albaugh and I would never have met (story HERE).  Blue Cat was also present during White Castle’s special “Dinner with Svengoolie” contest that took place last month and delighted both Daves by agreeing to share her story. So grab a “slider,” and get cozy or, if you won the contest…Kozy.

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