R.I.P. Sammy Terry

It's a sad day for Hoosier horror fans: Bob Carter, who played Indianapolis TV horror host Sammy Terry, has died at age 83. 

Sammy Terry was known throughout Central Indiana as the host of Nightmare Theater on Channel 4. He hosted the show for three decades, from 1962 to 1989.

Every Friday night Sammy would hoist himself out of his coffin, utter his trademark sinister chortle and introduce various horror and sci-fi films. His sidekick was a large spider named George who spoke gibberish that only Sammy could understand.

In real life Bob Carter had a far less fiendish occupation: he owned and operated the Family Music Center in Indianapolis. He did his best to keep the two jobs separate and I'm sure many a customer bought an oboe from him without ever knowing they were in the presence of a ghoulish TV star.

Carter was married to his wife Phyllis for 59 years (!) and had four children.

In recent years Carter's health began to fade and his son Mark took over the Sammy Terry role, appearing at various horror conventions. Hopefully Sammy's legacy will live on through him.

I have very fond memories of watching Sammy Terry back in the day. In the pre-home video days of the 1960s and 1970s you couldn't watch movies on demand. If you wanted to see a particular film you just had hope it would come on TV some day. Sammy's show was a godsend, as he regularly aired old horror and sci-fi movies on Nightmare Theater. Sammy introduced me to Frankenstein and Godzilla movies and many more. I wouldn't be a horror fan today if not for him.

You can read more of my reminiscences about Sammy Terry here.

Doctor Creepmare

 

Halloween's coming up soon, so I thought it was time to post a seasonal illustration. It's everyone's favorite fictional TV horror host, Doctor Creepmare!

I'm not real crazy about that name, but it'll do until my addled brain can think of a better one.

This is a vector drawing, drawn all in InDesign.

Here's the original very rough and tiny sketch of the Doctor.

Famous Monsters Convention 2010

A couple of weeks ago I went to the first annual Famous Monsters Convention in Indianapolis. Apparently the old Famous Monsters magazine is making a comeback, and the publishers sponsored this show.

I went with my nephews Kyle and Aaron, and non-nephew KW Monster (not picture: me). This was Aaron's first ever geek convention. I was so proud (Sniff! Sob!).

Kyle had been to a horror con once before, but fortunately this time he didn't get sick and vomit in my car.

We saw this while standing in line. Don't jump, Kong! Peter Jackson's remake wasn't that bad!

It's Sammy Terry, famous Indiana TV horror host. I drew an illustration of Sammy and wrote a piece on him here. This is actually a statue of Sammy, as he wasn't there in person. He's getting up there in years, and I'm assuming the convention grind is too much for him these days.

His son was there though, and he's spearheading an effort to have Sammy inducted into the Indiana State Museum!

Kyle got to meet Rupert Boneham of Survivor fame. OK, I'm not quite sure why Rupert was at a horror convention, but whatever. Rupert has a charity called Rupert's Kids that helps troubled teens, so I'll give him a pass. He also lives in Indy, so maybe that's why he was there.

Kyle got an autographed photo, book and his picture taken with Rupert.

Yes, Kyle's wearing a Dr. McCoy t-shirt.

Dr. Tongue (from Day of the Dead) and the American Werewolf in London browsed the convention as well.

There were a lot of horror celebrities in attendance, including the casts of Return of the Living Dead (minus James Karen though, darn it), Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead, the Lost Boys, and Halloween. Ernie Hudson, the 4th Ghostbuster, was there as well. And Paris Themmen, who you know better as Mike Teevee from the original Willy Wonka movie.

Aaron was most impressed by a group of guys dressed as Ghostbusters, complete with proton packs and ghost traps. He wanted to know where one went to buy a proton pack. I tried to explain that you don't buy them anywhere, you have to make one yourself, but I don't think he believed me.

I was happy to find a rare and out of print art book that I'd been looking for forever, and for a reasonable price. We sat down to rest for a while, then headed for the car. As I got to the car I realized I'd left the sack with my book in it back in the convention. I ran back inside, and amazingly the sack was still leaning against the wall where I'd stupidly left it. I guess horror fans are an honest lot. Soon I'll be forgetting to wear pants when I got out.

As we left the show, we saw Death walking through the parking lot. I'd seen Death before at another horror show earlier this year. We asked if he needed a ride and he said he was good. He bid us farewell, told us to drive carefully, and said he'd see us soon.

See you next year, Famous Monsters Horror Convention!

Sammy Terry

Sometimes I feel sorry for kids today. Sure they've got phones the size of matchbooks, hyper-realistic video games and blankets with sleeves, but they're missing out on the fun of watching a good local TV horror host.

When I was a kid, a horror host named Sammy Terry was the star of Nightmare Theater on Channel 4 in Indianapolis. We lived 70 miles away from Indy and if I turned the TV antennae just so and all the atmospheric conditions were right, I could pick up a snowy image of Nightmare Theater and see Sammy every Friday night.

Each week Sammy Terry would raise the lid of his coffin, hoist himself out, utter his trademark evil laugh and introduce that week's movie. He had a rubber spider on a string named George, who served as his sidekick and spoke in high-pitched gibberish that only Sammy could understand.

Sammy would interrupt the movie periodically for some truly awful puns and one of his patented scary soliloquies. He'd drone on and on in his drawn out "spooky" voice for what seemed like half an hour, talking about all manner of macabre topics. Due to the late hour I'd sometimes doze off during one of his interludes and when I'd wake up 20 minutes later he'd still be talking!

Despite his penchant for rambling, I loved Sammy and his show and never missed it for years. Back in the pre-home video days, if you wanted to see a particular movie you just had to wait until it showed up on TV. There were no video stores and only 3 major networks. Shows like Sammy's were the only place you could see old horror and sci-fi movies. He introduced me to Frankenstein and Godzilla movies and many others, and for that I am truly grateful to him. I wouldn't be a horror fan today if not for Nightmare Theater.

Even though I loved the films he aired, I rarely managed to see the entire movie. Most of the time I'd fall asleep halfway through the show and wake up on the couch at 3 a.m. with the TV blasting away a blank screen full of snow. It just came on too late for me to make it through all the way.

Sadly, most of Sammy's shows are lost forever. A few years ago I worked with a guy who interned at Channel 4 in the 1970s, and he said back then it was common practice to videotape a show, air it, and then tape the next week's show over the previous one. Apparently videotapes were prohibitively expensive back then and in those pre-home video days no one dreamed there'd ever be a market for old TV shows. It makes my head hurt just thinking about all the hours of Sammy's show (and dozens of other samples of TV history) that are gone forever.

By the way, I watched his show for many, many years before one day I finally got his name. Sometimes I can be a little slow. Sammy's retired now, but still occasionally appears at horror conventions around the Hoosier state.

I wish there were still horror hosts on TV, but in an age in which you can own or download any movie you might ever want to see, there's probably not much point in it. Plus, most local horror shows operated on shoestring budgets. Each week Sammy would rise up out of his plywood coffin and stand in front of a cardboard set. He was literally creating something out of nothing. I'm not sure today's more sophisticated kids would stand for such nonexistent production values. Sadly, horror hosts have gone the way of buggy whips and powdered wigs.

Anyway, here's my version of Sammy Terry and his pal George the spider. I didn't notice it back when I was watching him on a snowy TV set, but in reality Sammy's yellow gloves appeared to be everyday dishwashing gloves, with what looked like "veins" drawn on with a marker (!). No idea why he'd have veins on his gloves, but whatever.

Drawn in Photoshop on the graphic tablet.

Here's the original rough sketch of Sammy & George.

And here's a tighter sketch of him.