Farewell Zacherley

Legends. Icons. People throw around words like those far too often nowadays. It is rare that a person rises to the very top of their chosen profession and becomes the undisputed best at what they do.


But John Zacherle, aka Zacherley, aka Roland (emphasis on the RO), was just that. He was the very epitome of a TV horror host, the definition of the word. The gold standard all other hosts aimed for.

 

Zacherley pioneered techniques that are used to this very day by horror hosts everywhere, including the “cut-in”, where he would insert himself into the movie as if he were part of the action. This back in the 1950s, mind you, decades before green screen technology. His madcap experiments and zany skits were the stuff of legend, and imitated by hosts to this very day.

He had a long career that touched many areas, including hosting American Bandstand and Zacherley’s Disco Teen, being a radio deejay, recording a number of monster novelty records with songs that cracked the top 10 on the Billboard charts, appeared on the cover of Famous Monsters Magazine, edited two paperback anthologies of horror stories, hosted the Horrible Horrors VHS compilation, was a regular staple of the Chiller Theater Expo conventions and so much more. Check out his website to learn more at http://zacherley.com

But above and beyond all of that he was a great guy. I got the chance to meet Zach at the Wonderfest convention in Louisville, KY in 2007. I will always be indebted to Dave Conover and the WF convention for that opportunity. That weekend I was part of a panel on horror hosting alongside Zacherley, and a photo of the two of us taken there by Eileen Colton even appeared in USA Today.




I later did a painting of Zacherley that I ended up mailing to him. I never said anything about it publically, as I just wanted this to be a gift for him. He loved it, and I later spotted it in another horror host’s (Karlos Borloff) video that was shot in John’s home. That’s my painting hanging right beside him in this shot. It is a pic of him doing his famous amoeba experiment – and I ironically didn’t even take a picture or scan it before mailing it. This frame grab is all I have of it, although you can see it in Borloff’s video quite clearly.

John was always kind and supportive and a true professional. He will be missed, but definitely not forgotten. Here’s to you, Zacherley, thank you for the inspiration and for being such a class act. May your Jacob’s ladder always burn bright.

Shout! Factory Shenanigans and YouTube

UPDATE: Since the time of this initial posting SHOUT! Factory has reviewed and released claim on the video in question. See my post here for full details.



This is a follow-up to yesterday’s post about SHOUT! FACTORY and THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN’T DIE. This has been a hot topic here and on facebook, where I posted the article. Lots of people are angry and disappointed that SHOUT! FACTORY would continue pushing such a flimsy narrative as the fact they “own” this public domain film. That begs the question, why are they doing this?

It is very simple. Money. If you go to YouTube and type in “The Brain that Wouldn’t Die” you are presented with multiple pages of videos of that film – some feature the entire film, some just clips from it, some reviews. YouTube offers 22 videos per page – and there are hundreds of videos that can be “claimed” by a copyright holder. Some have views in the thousands (even hundreds of thousands).

Even if the monetary amount from any one video isn’t that much, multiply that by hundreds of videos and you see it quickly adds up. My fellow horror movie host Karlos Borloff in the DC area was mentioning this morning that he is having a similar issue, once again from our good friends at SHOUT! FACTORY. BUT it is with a totally different film – ATOM AGE VAMPIRE.

Who knows how many public domain films SHOUT! FACTORY is claiming “ownership” of on YouTube and monetizing.

The truth of the matter is that the blame for this lies with YouTube themselves, for allowing this to continue. They have a system in place where a person can claim to own a video and not have to show any proof. If it is questioned they merely continue to say they own it, and YouTube takes them on their word.

When I disputed the claim from SHOUT! FACTORY, here is the response I got back from YouTube:

Hi drgangrene,

After reviewing your dispute, Shout! Factory, LLC has decided that their copyright claim is still valid.

Video title: Dr. Gangrene's Creature Feature - The Brain that Wouldn't Die
Includes: Audiovisual content
Claimed by: Shout! Factory, LLC

SHOUT! FACTORY decided their claim is still valid!
Well of course they did! They’re not going to arbitrarily give up their easy money! How about you look at it yourselves YouTube, and make a determination, make them show proof of ownership – which doesn’t exist! -  before allowing them to make money off other people’s work!

It’s my hope that if enough people continue to expose YouTube’s shameful copyright system - as well as the shady practices of companies such as SHOUT! FACTORY - that something will eventually be done about this.

In the meantime here are the host bits – without the movie – for my hosting of THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN’T DIE, for your enjoyment… at least until Shout! Factory decides to claim ownership of it, too.

Dork Forty

Wanted to tell you guys about a cool blog that had a post recently about Dr Gangrene - it is called Dork Forty, and it's a cool blog that regularly features posts about various horror hosts, among other cool stuff. You can check it out here:

http://dork-40.blogspot.com/2010/10/son-of-crypt-of-horror-hosts.html

to see the post about Dr. Gangrene and fellow horror host Karlos Borloff.