Synopsis
Each show began with the spectral image of the wasp-waisted Vampira gliding through knee-deep fog down a dark corridor toward the viewer. At the end of her trance-like walk she would suddenly let out a long, piercing scream as the camera zoomed in on her face.
[7] She would then smile and coyly remark, "Screaming relaxes me so." After that Nurmi would sit on a Victorian double-ended sofa decorated with skulls and introduce the movie of the night, sometimes pausing to play with her pet spider Rolo, talk with off-camera ghosts, torment her advertiser, Fletcher Jones, in amusing commercials, or drink a Vampira Cocktail at her poison bar. The show's theme music was from the Adagio movement in
Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta by
Béla Bartók and excerpts from
Uranus from
The Planets by
Gustav Holst. Nurmi's salary for the show was $75 per week.
The show's concept of having a themed host introduce films was fresh at the time and had never been done before.[
citation needed] In later years, stations all over the world would duplicate its format with similar hosts.
The Vampira Show was seen in the Los Angeles area only but was featured in articles and photo spreads in
Newsweek,
TV Guide and
Lifewithin weeks of its first broadcast. The show and its hostess were an instant success and led to Nurmi's appearance on numerous 1950s television shows including
The Red Skelton Show and
Ed Sullivan's Toast of the Town.
[8]
In David J. Skal's book,
The Monster Show, Skal revealed that
James Dean, a friend of Maila's at the time before he became famous in films, appeared with his back to the camera in one Vampira episode, where she was dressed as a dominant schoolteacher and rapped his knuckles.
[9]
Cancellation
Despite its popularity, the series was canceled in 1955 when Nurmi refused to sell her rights to the character to ABC.
[10] Nurmi revived the series for a short time in 1956 on
KHJ-TV.
[11]
After the series' demise, Nurmi appeared in the cult film
Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959), dressed as Vampira and credited under that name but out of character. Nurmi told
Boxofficethat Wood's dialogue was so awful she sought and received permission to perform her entire role in a mute and spellbound manner she referred to as "Maila in an Alpha state." Nurmi also performed as Vampira in a
Las Vegas stage show titled
Come as You Are with
Liberace.
Revival and changes
In 1981, KHJ-TV hired Nurmi to recreate
The Vampira Show.
[12] When Nurmi quit the project, a new character, Elvira (portrayed by
Cassandra Peterson), replaced her. By 1982,
Elvira's Movie Macabre was syndicated in over 80 markets across the United States. Nurmi later sued Peterson for copying the Vampira persona. However, the case was dismissed.
[13]
In a 1987 interview with Skip Lowe, Nurmi stated there were over 150 similarities between Elvira and Vampira, including her closing remark "Unpleasant dreams, darlings"