May All Your Blood Be Warm
A Tribute to Count Gore De Vol on his 8th Internet Anniversary
by The Mad Skotzman
I should warn you. This is a rather long, personal tale. I have tried to be to the point and unsentimental, but when you are pulling out thirty years of memories, some of it can’t be helped.
Bear with me, dear reader.
In 1975, I was ten years old and I saw my first horror hosted movie. It was not Count Gore De Vol, but Norfolk’s Dr. Madblood (who is still going strong too, by the way) and the film, as I recall, was Frankenstein.
This may seem a strange way to begin a tribute to Count Gore on his 8th anniversary online, but actually, that is the likely origin of my passion for horror and science fiction that has resulted not only in my friendship with Count Gore, but ultimately both my monster modeling column here, The Pit, and my magazine and site, CreatureScape.
Just so you understand, between 1975 and 1979, my idea of a perfect day was an afternoon of football in somebody’s front lawn, and evening of monster model building, and a night of hosted horror movies. Who could ask for more?
Anyway, in those days, there were no VCRs for the unwashed masses, and if you wanted to see a monster movie, you checked the papers and set your calendar around it (which I did). In other words, you had to prioritize it. And, if you are 10 years old, you have to cut deals with your parents to stay up late on Saturday night. Kids who could pull this off, by the way, were neighborhood hotshots.
Guess who . . .
In late 1977, my dad took a new job in Washington DC and we went up to visit the area and look for houses and this included a trip to the home of his new boss, who had two kids about my age. I wanted to know only one thing . . . did they get Dr. Madblood?
Naturally, they had never heard of such a person and they kind of vaguely knew of Count Gore De Vol. I take it they were not cool like me and were never allowed up past 11 pm. That night, in the hotel, I searched until I found the Count. How could I have known that I would still be watching his show on Saturday nights nearly thirty years later?
At first I did not know what to make of Creature Features, and admittedly, I was skeptical. Dr. Madblood’s show was very scripted with a lot of characters, but Count Gore was a shoot-from-the-hip, run-with-the-idea kind of host and quite frankly, you never knew what was going to happen in the next segment because there was no real storyline to follow. But quickly I adapted to the format and became a late night Gore junkie.
Also, Count Gore competed more or less directly with Saturday Night Live, something I did not have to worry about with Dr. Madblood, who came on afterwards. You must remember that this was the original golden era of SNL, the hippest show on network TV. Nobody wanted to miss the next national catch phrase, so the country tuned into NBC on Saturday nights.
And yet, people still watched Creature Feature. I think that little fact says a whole lot about Count Gore De Vol. You see, SNL killed a lot of horror hosts in the mid 70s, but Creature Features stayed and flourished. So why was that?
One reason was that Count Gore was that Creature Features was already taking advantage of its late night position to be a bit risqué and self-indulgent (and I mean that in the best way). Because the format was so open and playful, there was always the possibility of an utter breakdown of order. In other words, it was fun to watch.
Also, at the risk of aggrandizing our honored host, the only other consistent late night draw in the country at the time was Johnny Carson, and there was a little bit of Johnny Carson in Count Gore De Vol.
And like Johnny, he mocked popular commercials and also like Johnny, he brought on guests that were sometimes well known and at other times completely obscure. Also, Gore always used innuendo (though sometimes very thinly veiled). What you couldn't say and do was a creative blessing. Most importantly, he did what he thought was funny and remained timely throughout.
Gore also did what all great hosts do—he incorporated his audience and their lives. Jokes about the Beltway, 14th Street, the water in the Potomac went hand and hand with name dropping localities like Gaithersburg, Springfield and Chevy Chase. And in a town where national politics IS local politics, he was always knee deep in fodder for commentary.
For me, a stranger in a strange land, Count Gore was a welcome friend. I am sure there were plenty of Saturdays when Ackroyd and Belushi got my attention, but I got my fill of coffin openings in my early teens. On some days, you could basically watch horror and sci-fi all day on Channel 20 and the icing on the cake was Creature Feature.
Ironically, it was during the first decline of SNL that Creature Features got replaced for re-runs of NCAA football. In 1979, when the show was “put on hiatus” (for nearly five years!), Count Gore was a fixture in my life and I was disappointed to see him leave the air. He’ll be back in spring though, right? So why worry?
Over the next few years, Gore returned for the occasional Halloween show or movie special and I very distinctly remember running around my area 7-11 stores frantically searching for some of the free 3-D glasses available for his special showing of Creature From the Black Lagoon and Revenge of the Creature in 3-D. I caught every re-emergence I could.
Then, a few months before I graduated and went off to college, Gore returned to WDCA 20. This time the show was even more dynamic and five years of pent up late night creativity was once again unleashed on the local airwaves. Believe it or not, I stayed home some Saturday nights just to watch the show, even though I was 18 years old. In college, I caught Gore’s show when I came home from school, but by 1987, Count Gore was off the air and I was out of the area for good. And, even though we did finally have a VCR in the second run, I was too stupid to tape any of those shows (I’d LOVE to hear from someone who did tape them though!)
Let’s flash forward. In 1988, I was married (and still am, I am quite proud to say). In 1990, we had our first and only child, a son who has been brought up with a special blend of the DC area mixed into his rural upbringing—Washington Redskins football, political cynicism and monster movies. By 1995, he was fascinated with model trains which lead me back to my own childhood obsession with monster kits. (One of the great joys of being a parent is the chance to return to your youth--and impose it on your kids!)
But, there was a gap. Where I live now, there is not only no horror host—there has never been one. There is simply no tradition for it. Honestly, I always regretted that for my son because there is something charming and grounding about local television, especially for those of us who remember days when each station had a different movie package and you could see classics without cable.
So, like you, I eventually discovered that Count Gore had risen from the grave once again, this time on the internet. I found him just about the time I was launching CreatureScape and seeking horror host interviews for content. I downloaded Real Player excitedly and pulled my son into a dark room to peer at a tiny screen and watch for the first time a horror hosted movie. It was like one of those old pictures of a 50s family gathered inches from a primitive TV set.
I am sure that Count Gore De Vol must sometimes wonder if it is worth it to put all this effort into his page and show, but to me, it certainly was that evening. I got a copy of his DVD series, The Legacy Begins, The Legacy Continues and The Legacy Drags On. It gave me a great chance to show my son the value of local entertainment, the kind of thing that he had never really known.
And later, watching the Count Gore DVD version of Night of the Living Dead, my son said to me—“You know dad? It really is a lot more fun with Count Gore.”
Thanks, Count.
So now, as “Creature Features, the Weekly Web Program” enters its eighth year online and The Pit enters its third, I am proud to make my modest contributions to the Gore legacy. And the internet show is true to the original program, with crazy guests and commentary throughout.So, I am saving up for a video iPod for portable Gore and have finally decided it is time to spring for high-speed. It ain’t easy keeping up with an irrepressible innovator, by Count Gore sure does make it fun to try.
And for anyone finding Count Gore for the first time today . . . knowing the Count, you may be getting the interactive, holographic 3-D version in a few years.
Count Gore De Vol has four volumes of classic shows that were originally run in the 70s or 80s on WDCA Channel 20 like the one shown above. You can also get copies of his webshow on DVD or his own Legacy series featuring clips from two decades of outrageous airtime. Monster music videos, Penthouse Pets and roller derby queens, and a vampire doing a strip tease! Find out why Gore is a DC legend here.
© CreatureScape 2006