In 1971, Ron Sweed took up the lab coat and fake beard of the absurdist late-night horror host Ernie Anderson’s Ghoulardi, becoming the Ghoul. Sweed would put his own scorched mark on B-movie night, blowing up action figures and tormenting a rubber Froggy during between-commercials sketches.
Chicago-based graphic and tattoo artist Mitch O’Connell grew up outside Ann Arbor, Michigan, but followed the witching-hour antics of Cleveland’s chief creep when the show played in syndication. Now, in collaboration with Cleveland Height’s Kollective Gallery, O’Connell and other Midwest artists influenced/ruined by Sweed pay tribute to his persona in Ghoul Power, a group exhibit of painting and sculpture with a year-round Halloween vibe.
This article appears in Sep 5-11, 2012.
Is any or all of the show going to be filmed? Not sure if I would want to be a captive audience, but I would like to see some of the best clips. The Ghoul was good but Ernie Anderson was the total deal. That short window of Ghoulardi on Friday nights was the talk of the Junior High on Monday’s. Then you could test out some of Ghoulardi’s best quotes like…”What do you got against Dor-a-thee?” I like Bush Sr.s question lately a little better though: “Who in the hell is Grover Norquist?”
I live in Northern California, and we received The Ghoul on Kaiser’s channel 44 out of San Francisco back in 1973. He had a huge impact on my circle of friends at the time. When he returned to Cleveland TV in the late 90s, I was able to get a hold of a show on which he mentioned this “Ghoulardi” character. Curious, I tracked down some Ghoulardi video. The first thing I found was a tribute show to Ernie Anderson presented by Big Chuck and Lil’ John. By the end of the show, I was a fan of Ghoulardi AND Big Chuck and Lil’ John, and well on the road to a lasting love of Cleveland and Cleveland TV (particularly the horror hosts). I’ve got many friends now in Cleveland and have made many trips out there over the last decade. The Ghoul appeared in a documentary I worked on, AMERICAN SCARY. He’s in the book version of that film and I devote a chapter to him in my book, SHOCK IT TO ME, a history of San Francisco horror hosts. Clearly, The Ghoul remains a huge influence. I wish I could make it to this event! I hope everyone has a blast – or TWO!
Michael in Berkeley