Creatures of the Night That We Loved So Well: TV Horror Hosts of Southern California - Second Edition

I read the first edition of this book and thought that it contained really great information and pictures about all of the many television horror hosts that graced the airwaves of Los Angeles. That book is now out of print and very hard to find. When I saw that this 2nd edition was available, I reluctantly purchased it thinking that it was basically a reprint of the first edition. I was pleasantly surprised to find a lot of great new Los Angles horror host information along with many new and different photographs. I enjoyed both books a lot, and was shocked to find out that L.A. has had such so many different horror hosts over the years. I grew up in L.A. in this era and I don't remember most of them. Strict parents? Too early of a bedtime? I wonder if L.A. has had the most variety of horror hosts in the entire country? Monster movies accompanied by a horror host in the 1950's through the 1970's were about the coolest thing a 'Monster Kid' of the era could have to enjoy. (You had to be there!) Get this book before it goes out of print too! And maybe you can still find the first edition, if you search around. Also, a highly recommended very detailed book about horror hosts is: Television Horror Movie Hosts: 68 Vampires, Mad Scientists and Other Denizens of the Late-Night Airwaves Examined and Interviewed by Elena M Watson.

I remember staying up late to watch the horror show hosts come "alive" on TV back in the late 70s. I lived in Las Cruces, New Mexico, but cable TV had just made its appearance, and we got KHJ TV all the way from Los Angeles. Grimsley became my obsession during an impressionable period, and I'm happy to say he and his fellow horror show hosts have stunted my growth and warped my mind ever since. You can barely find any information on this fascinating and now little known (except perhaps Elvira) niche in the history of TV. Thanks so much to the author for going to the trouble to do all this research. A note to him by the way: I remember two you didn't put into the book: One was Simon from Simon's Sanctorum, who was a disembodied head who talked in a rather grand manner. The other was Captain USA, who had little to recommend him and who I barely remember anyway.

So full of facts and so expertly researched it's hard to believe. The only fall back was the price. But i highly recommend it.

I grew up in San Diego the same time as the author (he grew up in the SD suburb of Lemon Grove, I grew up in Chula Vista) and we are about the same age, so for that crop of dudes out there just like us who loved all of the horror hosts, Aurora monster models, Famous Monsters magazine, watching Lon Chaney Jr. go through the moonlight change, and toughed-out the creakiest moments of the Universal classics (you get the idea, but you can't count yourself among the crop unless you stuck it out watching 'The Mummy' with Karloff and 'Dracula' with Lugosi, again and again, and again... as well as enjoyed those cheesy "Pizza Man' commercials that ran at 2 a.m.) this book is a treasure. I am half way through it and loving it. There are loads of informational surprises and I give James huge credit for the research. I never, never thought I'd get to the bottom of who played Ghoulita, find out anything about her or the show (which I thought ran forever but, alas, it only lasted a few months); and Larry "Seymour" Vincent was a god to my brother and I during all three incarnations of his series (with all 3 different stations). If you're a self-professed and proud horror geek like the rest of us, buy it without question, Fringies. Great work, James.

Virtually same pictures from first edition emphasizes how low res they are, even the mind numbing number of reproduced script pages aren't that sharp. That said if you don't already have the first edition a good book on the subject.

This is a great, and very informative, book. Entertained from cover to cover. If you have a love for Horror Hosts, you will never find a better history of the ones who got their start in Southern California.

Anyone who grew up in Southern California watched those old horror movies on late night TV hosted by one of many characters who creatively dressed and acted appropriate to the films they presented. The scripts were cleverly written and they acted with a dry sense of humor. I found it enjoyable and took me back to those characters and memories of their programs.

Very well-researched book about all the late night "fright" hosts from long ago......considering that Grimsley was/is a personal friend of mine I was especially interested in reading it. And really brought back some memories. The author did a great job with this genre...