Ghoulardi

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
/wiki/Ghoulardicreator
Stay sick!

Ernie Anderson, also known as Ghoulardi, hosted a local Cleveland late-night horror movie program called Shock Theater from 1963-1966. Anderson died of cancer in 1997.

He was one of the first horror movie hosts in the country.

His character was a 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, a fake Van Dyke beard and moustache, and various messy, awkwardly-perched fright wigs.

Unlike most movie hosts, he would openly mock the B-movies he hosted. "This movie is so bad, you should just go to bed.". During chase scenes, he would insert footage of himself running away or model cars being exploded.

He openly mocked the residents of Parma, a suburban working class bedroom neighborhood that he ridiculed for their taste in music (polka) and their "white socks" sensibility.

Another of his favorite targets was venerable Cleveland news personality Dorothy Fuldheim ("Dorothy, Baby!"), whom Anderson said actually didn't mind at all - "she knew what I was doing".

His irreverent humor finally got him kicked off of Cleveland television in 1966. He moved to Los Angeles and made a name for himself as a voice talent.

His son later became famous in his own right.


Ghoulardi's Shock Theater contained examples of: