Ghoulardi: Encyclopedia II - Ghoulardi - Biography

Ghoulardi - Biography

Ernie Anderson was a big band and jazz enthusiast, and WWII U.S. Navy veteran born in Lynn, Massachusetts on November 22, 1923. This irreverent and influential movie host was strictly hipster, unlike the horror character prototype. Ghoulardi’s costume was a long lab coat covered with “slogan” buttons, horn-rimmed sunglasses with a missing lens, fake Van Dyke beard and moustache, and various messy, awkwardly-perched wigs.

During breaks from the movies, Anderson addressed the camera live in a part-Beat, part-ethnic accented commentary, peppered with: “Hey, group!,” “Stay sick, knif” (“fink”), “Cool it,” “Turn blue” and “Ova deh.” Anderson improvised because of his difficulty memorizing lines. He played novelty and offbeat rock and roll tunes, plus jazz and rhythm and blues songs, under his live performance. Moreover, he had his crew surreally insert stock film clips or clips of himself into the movie he was hosting.

Shock Theater drew both a black and white cult audience, who loved Ghoulardi's beatnik costume, the music, and his hip talk, which was a nod to black jazz and R&B artists. White mainstream viewers enjoyed his broad, unpretentious ethnic humor. His stage name was created by combining the words "ghoul" and "Chef Boyardee".

Ghoulardi spared no unhip targets: the inhabitants of Parma, Ohio and Oxnard, California, bandleader Lawrence Welk and polka music, Cleveland television personalities Mike Douglas and Dorothy Fuldheim, plus other public figures. He also mocked the films he was hosting. In particular, Ghoulardi unmercifully jeered Parma, Ohio, a working-class suburb, for its ethnic “white socks” sensibility, creating a series of taped skits called Parma Place. He adopted a crow and named it “Oxnard.”

Ghoulardi used friends and members of his talented Channel 8 crew as supporting cast: cameraman “Big Chuck” Schodowski, film editor Bob Soinski and writer Tim Conway (later of The Carol Burnett Show and “Dorf” fame). He was further assisted by teenage intern Ron Sweed. Sweed boarded a cross-town bus to try to meet his idol at a live appearance, clad in a gorilla suit. Anderson invited Sweed onstage; to the crowd’s delight, Sweed stumbled offstage into the audience. This, plus some unnanounced gorilla-suited visits to the Channel 8 studios, sealed his place as Anderson’s right-hand man and heir apparent.

Channel 8, then owned by Storer Broadcasting, capitalized on Ghoulardi’s wide audience with a comprehensive merchandising program, giving Anderson a percentage as Storer owned the name. Anderson also formed “Ghoulardi All-Stars” sports teams, which played as many as 100 charity contests a year, which, reflecting his popularity, frequently attracted thousands of fans.

Anderson openly battled Channel 8 management. In spite of the show’s wide audience, they worried that Ghoulardi was pushing too many television boundaries too quickly, and tried to reign in the character. Anderson would have none of this. He provoked his bosses by detonating plastic action figures and model cars with firecrackers and bombs provided by viewers, on air, once nearly setting the studio on fire. (“Cool it with the boom-booms.”)

Induced by Tim Conway, who had already left town, and greater career promise, Anderson retired Ghoulardi in 1966 and moved to Los Angeles, California. His plan was to act in film and television. Instead, he made a successful career in voice-over work, most prominently as the main voice for the ABC TV network ("the Lu-u-uhv Boat") during the 1970s and 1980s.

In 1971 Sweed appeared on WKBF-TV, borrowing the "Ghoulardi" character traits and costume with Anderson’s blessing, but changed the movie host's name to “The Ghoul,” to not misappropriate the "Ghoulardi" name. Channel 8’s Bob Wells (“Hoolihan the Weatherman”) and “Big Chuck” Schodowski took over Ghoulardi’s Friday night movie time slot as “Hoolihan and Big Chuck,” becoming Anderson’s tamer but familiar successors. As of February 2006, Schodowski's show is still broadcast on WJW, now with co-host "Li'l John" Rinaldi.

Anderson died of cancer on February 6, 1997.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Biography", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki