Two Halloween Hotties to Go Batty Over

 

 

Before Elvira was even wearing a training bra, there was Vampira, the first TV horror hostess with the mostest and I mean mostest as in cup size.  Her self-titled show ran for maybe a year in the mid 50s, and there were around 50 episodes, with a running time of an hour and a half each, all of which aired only in LA on an ABC affiliate network. 

Vampira had impossibly long nails and an even longer cigarette holder, and she'd do a seductive lounge on a velvet, Victorian settee while introducing the various D-List horror pictures airing on her show. 

She meant to be campy and sexual, and she did both well with her exaggerated mannerisms, ripped shroud of a dress with fishnet stockings, and that figure.  Ooo wee?  Can you imagine the pain?  It makes me think of Chinese foot binding.  Her show may have not lasted long, but she did get exposure on The Ed Sullivan Show and appear in a few national magazines.  It should come as no surprise to you that Vampira does have a cult following, and, at least through that, she does get to be channeled from beyond the grave. 

Fast forward thirty years, and we have Elvira who gave the Vampira character a reboot. Elvira, too, was a TV horror hostess for a show titled Movie Macabre, which, like The Vampira Show, featured a horror movie.  The Elvira character was perfect for the 80s scene with her sharp, quick-witted, Valley girl ways mixed with an extra helping of evil and goth.  She also ratcheted up the sex appeal with her even lower than Vampira cut dress.  I think it's justifiable to say that Elvira is much more popular than Vampira seeing as how she has name recognition, has been branded, has appeared in a Coors Light commercial, and is still asked to make appearances on TV, but she would have never existed had it not been for Vampira.  Below is a clip from Elvira: Mistress of the Dark from 1988.