This horror star rose to fame in Cincinnati, despite not scaring a soul

Cincinnati audiences in the 1950s through the 1970s enjoyed a golden age of local live television. Ruth Lyons, Paul Dixon, Uncle Al – and the Cool Ghoul.

That last one, the campy ghoul portrayed by local actor and newsman Dick Von Hoene, is fondly remembered for his orange fright wig and signature tongue-flapping blubbering, “blu-bl-blu-blb-bleeah!”

The Cool Ghoul hosted the weekly horror movie on WXIX-TV Channel 19, before the station became a Fox affiliate, on Saturday nights from 1969 to 1972. He then returned for several Halloween specials over the years. Von Hoene also made appearances in costume for local festivals and charity events throughout the 1980s and ’90s – often for no money, just to interact with fans.

The Cool Ghoul was a familiar sight in Cincinnati long after the short run of his TV show.

“The Ghoul was never malevolent. He didn’t scare anyone,” longtime Channel 19 operations manager Rick Oliver told the Cincinnati Post after Von Hoene died in 2004. “It was always wacky comedy. He could appeal to every age group.”

Horror movies hosted by ‘macabre masters of ceremonies’

Creepy characters became a fixture of late-night television in the 1950s.

The first horror host was Vampira, played by actress Maila Nurmi, who squeezed into a tight Morticia Addams black dress to introduce old horror movies on KABC-TV in Los Angeles from 1954-1955. Vampira also appeared in Ed Wood’s schlocky 1959 film “Plan 9 from Outer Space” and inspired Elvira, Mistress of the Dark.

In 1957, Screen Gems offered a syndication package of 52 Universal horror movies – from “Dracula” and “Frankenstein” to “Pillow of Death” – to television stations under the name “Shock!” or “Shock Theater.” The “Shock!” press book encouraged stations to arrange “haunted” parties in their studios with people dressed as vampires, mad doctors and spider-women.

What resulted was a slew of spooky hosts on the airwaves of local television stations all over the country. Life magazine published a feature in 1958 on what it called these “macabre masters of ceremonies.”

Every major market had one. Zacherley in New York, Ghoulardi in Cleveland, Dr. Creep in Dayton, Sammy Terry in Indianapolis, Svengoolie in Chicago. In Cincinnati, it was the Cool Ghoul.

Origin of the Cool Ghoul

Von Hoene, a Cincinnati native born in 1940, created the character. He grew up in Madisonville and was a longtime Price Hill resident. The Purcell High School grad earned a bachelor’s degree in history and a master’s in theater from the University of Cincinnati. He acted with UC’s Mummers Guild, a student theatrical company, and also performed stock theater at Playhouse in the Park and Showboat Majestic.

While still in school, he started working as a writer for “Bob Smith’s Monster Mash” radio show on WCPO’s AM station in 1962.

“I came up with the Cool Ghoul the year before when Bob Smith was doing 'Shock Theater' on Channel 9,” Von Hoene told the Cincinnati Post in 1969. “I auditioned for the show but didn’t get the job. However, Bob liked the Cool Ghoul and used me on his WCPO radio show.”

The voice, Von Hoene told The Enquirer in 1970, came from doing an impression of a famous Dracula actor. “We thought, who really wants to hear Bela Lugosi? Let’s make him funny. I attempted to do Lugosi and the result was the Ghoul.”

Shortly after WXIX-TV began broadcasting in 1968, Von Hoene joined the station as host of “Scream-In” on Saturday nights, 9-11 p.m. The show debuted Dec. 7, 1968, but the Cool Ghoul took over as host on May 10, 1969, according to Tim Lucas’ Video WatchBlog.

“I revived the Cool Ghoul for Channel 19’s ‘Scream-In’ a few months ago when Doug McLarty, the station’s general manager, liked the idea of having the Ghoul as host for the Saturday night horror movies,” Von Hoene told the Post in 1969.

“We thought ‘Scream-In’ would appeal to the teenager, but we found that the Ghoul is also a hit with youngsters. I think they dig it because of the Ghoul’s mad love affair with Hattie the Witch on Larry Smith’s show.”

Puppeteer Larry Smith had a popular kids’ show, starring Hattie the Witch, on Channel 19, and there were several crossovers with the characters.

For TV, the Cool Ghoul needed a costume. His signature orange wig, Von Hoene found out years later, was the back half of a wig made for a woman who was killed in a car crash and buried with only the front half.

The Cool Ghoul started out as a sort of undead hippy, flashing the peace sign, but evolved into a hapless vamp. Von Hoene said Stan Laurel, W.C. Fields and Jackie Gleason’s Poor Soul character inspired him. “He’s humorous because he fails,” Von Hoene told The Enquirer in 1970.

The name “Scream-In” was a twist on “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In,” a swinging ’60s sketch comedy show. WXIX added a second movie in 1970 under the names “Shock It to Me” and “Creature Feature,” which Von Hoene introduced with his Boris Karloff announcer voice.

There was even a novelty album, “The Cool Ghoul’s Phantasmagorical Funky Fonograph Record,” released in 1971.

The show went off the air in Cincinnati on Oct. 28, 1972, but Von Hoene was asked to resurrect the Cool Ghoul at WCTI-TV in New Bern, North Carolina, in 1982, and made a new generation of fans there.

As a newsman, Von Hoene went on to become a reporter for WUBE-FM 105, an anchor for Storer Cable and, from 1992-2004, the host of “Northern Kentucky Magazine” for Insight Communications.

Von Hoene died Feb. 4, 2004, at age 63. He is buried in Spring Grove Cemetery.

Those who fondly remember late nights watching the Cool Ghoul’s silly antics have kept his spirit alive. There’s a Cool Ghoul of Cincinnati Appreciation Society page on Facebook. Cincy Shirts sells a Cool Ghoul T-shirt.

And in 2011, the Cool Ghoul was in the inaugural class inducted into the Horror Host Hall of Fame. To which the Cool Ghoul might say: “Blah-blu-blb-blu-bleahh!”

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: LA had Vampira. Cincinnati's horror star was the Cool Ghoul