Nightmare Theatre
Nightmare Theatre
Nightmare Theatre was one of the more prominent late-night horror programs of the 1960s and 1970s. During its fourteen-year run, this show introduced several generations of television viewers to the horror films of yesteryear across the Pacific Northwest. Produced by Seattle-based KIRO-TV, and utilizing much of the same cast and crew as the similarly popular The J.P. Patches Show, Nightmare Theatre reached an audience that stretched as far north as Alaska, as far east as Idaho, and south into Oregon. Its residential horror host, The Count, has accrued a cult following over the years, much in the same vein as his make-up laden peers Maila Nurmi ("Vampira"), John Zacherle ("Zacherley"), and Cassandra Peterson ("Elvira").
Contents
1 Early history
2 Opening Sequence
3 The End of Nightmare Theatre
4 Lost Footage
5 Joe Towey
6 References
7 External links and additional references
Early history
Late night horror programs had become immensely popular during the 1960s, so KIRO-TV decided to tap into a market virtually untouched by the Pacific Northwest stations at the time. Nightmare Theatre was conceptualized by Joe Towey, who not only functioned as the director of The J.P. Patches Show for its entire twenty-three years, but who also played a host of characters on the long-running children's program. (Just a few of his recurring characters include the klutzy handyman Mal Content, and J.P. Patches' evil twin brother, I.M. Rags.)
Nightmare Theatre debuted on September 25, 1964, with the 1958 low budget shocker The Screaming Skull. By April 1965, the program began playing double-bills which stretched into the early morning hours. The show proved popular among children and teenagers, but it found a ratings booster when it introduced its mascot a few years later. The Count (played by Towey) didn't actually appear in front of the camera until Halloween of 1968, but the character proved an instant success with viewers lucky enough to be able to tune in. Nightmare Theatre aired every Friday night on Channel 7 in the 11:30 pm time slot for most of its run, but was aired progressively later during the 1970s. KIRO-TV attempted to phase out the program on several occasions, but audience pressure forced them to revive it time and again.
Opening Sequence
For most of its run, the late-night program opened with a shot of a mist-shrouded castle (in actuality, a touched-up Addams Family Haunted House Aurora model kit), accompanied by sound effects borrowed from Walt Disney's Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House and music pilfered from Neal Hefti's score for the 1966 Roddy McDowall film Lord Love a Duck. Within its mouldering recesses, the camera settled onto a coffin, which opened to reveal a skeleton. A clever camera fade transformed the bones into The Count, a dime-store Dracula whose shtick was worse than his bite. (A fallible bloodsucker, any attempts to frighten his younger viewers would be undermined by such antics as slamming his fingers beneath his coffin lid.) Armed with a battery of bad puns and a mock Transylvanian accent, The Count would introduce double-features that usually consisted of low-budget horror and science-fiction fare, although occasionally it would be padded out by poverty-row thrillers from the 1930s and 1940s. During its leaner years, only a single film was aired, usually a tiring re-run which regular fans had already seen far too many times. KIRO-TV had one of the largest libraries of old films at its disposal, including all of the classic Universal monster movies, which they showed with some regularity.
The End of Nightmare Theatre
From 1971 to 1975, KIRO-TV and The Count found themselves facing competition from KTVW-TV and horror host Robert O. Smith aka Dr. ZinGRR. Broadcast on Channel 13, the station had less of a reach than Channel 7, but Smith's cadre of characters—The Dream Maker, Peter Gorre, the Masked Doily, Count Lickula, et al.--proved popular among horror fans in the Seattle area. Dr. ZinGRR retired only a year after The Count in 1976.
Although The Count hung up his cape in 1975 as far as Nightmare Theatre was concerned, the program continued for several more years without his presence. (Like his early-morning compatriot J.P. Patches, The Count had become a local celebrity and pop-culture icon.) His retirement—and the fact that horror cinema had lost favor with an audience now more interested in modern science fiction fare like Star Wars--spelled the inevitable death knell of Nightmare Theatre. Towey returned in full regalia for a one-off televised Halloween special in 1978, which also marked the official end of Nightmare Theatre.
Lost Footage
Because the live wraparound sequences for Nightmare Theatre was shot on half-inch videotape, the master cassettes were regularly recycled by the program's producers for economical reasons. Thus, very little of Towey's televised performances survive today, far less than what remains of The J.P. Patches Show. The only introduction from Nightmare Theatre known to exist—about two minutes worth of footage—has been saved for posterity on the J.P. Patches: Memories video and the J.P. Patches DVD Collection. A few audio clips have survived as well, recorded by young fans with portable tape recorders during its original run, which have recently surfaced on the Internet.
Joe Towey
After the show ended in 1978, Joe continued to make live appearances as The Count for such special events as parties and charity auctions in Washington State, usually alongside longtime friend and partner-in-crime Chris Wedes aka J.P. Patches. (Chris made at least one guest appearance on Nightmare Theatre, but he never directed the show as some sources erroneously claim.) Towey died in 1989 at the age of 55, having been in ill health for more than a year. During his thirty-year stay at KIRO-TV, Joe Towey received two Emmy Awards for his work as director on The J.P. Patches Show, and another for set designer on Nightmare Theatre.
References
J.P. Patches DVD Collection [City Dump Productions; 2005]
J.P. Patches: Memories VHS [City Dump Productions; 1991]
J.P. Patches: Northwest Icon by Chris Wedes (aka Julius Pierpont Patches) & Bryan Johnston [J.P. Patches Publishing; 2003]
Television Horror Movie Hosts by Elena M. Watson [McFarland and Company, Inc.; 1991]
Trashfiend: Disposable Horror Fare from the 1960s & 1970s by Scott A. Stine [Critical Vision; 2008]

A great feature of the Pan-American Exposition, as unanimously conceded by all visitors, was the electric illumination of the Exposition grounds at night. After a great deal of experimenting and patience, we succeeded in securing an excellent picture of the buildings at the Pan-American as they appeared when lighted up at night.

Alice and her big sister are sitting on the side of a hill overlooking the lake, the big sister busy with her book...

Country rube thinks what he sees on the movie screen is real. He jumps out of his seat to try to stop a kissing scene.

Seven toy teddy bears of varying sizes suddenly come to life, getting in all sorts of merry misadventures.

A portrait of the Dam family.

This is a classic from Edwin S. Porter, the man who gave us The Great Train Robbery [1903].
It's December 24th, and 'Santa Claus' is busy feeding his reindeer and finishing up the toys that he will soon deliver. Meanwhile, the children in a large family hang their stockings over the fireplace, and then are put to bed. But the restless children cannot sleep, and they soon start a lively pillow fight. Back at his workshop, Santa loads up everything and begins his journey. Written by Snow Leopard

Adapted from Winsor McCay's films and comics of the period, this film follows the established theme: the "Rarebit Fiend" gorges himself on rarebit and thus suffers spectacular hallucinatory dreams.

A winner and sure to please. In front of one of the largest newspaper offices is a hot air shaft through which immense volumes of air are forced by a blower. Ladies in crossing this shaft often have their clothes slightly disarranged. A young man is escorting a young lady and talking very earnestly. They walk slowly along until they stand directly over the air shaft. The young lady's skirts are suddenly raised to an almost unreasonable height, greatly to her horror and much to the amusement of the newsboys, bootblacks, and passersby. (Written by Edison Catalog)

Based on the novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe: Eliza, a slave who has a young child, pleads with Tom, another slave, to escape with her. Tom does not leave, but Eliza flees with her child. After getting some help to escape the slave traders who are looking for her, she then must try to cross the icy Ohio River if she wants to be free. Meanwhile, Tom is sold from one master to another, and his fortunes vary widely.

One of the 50 films in the 4-disk boxed DVD set called "Treasures from American Film Archives (2000)", compiled by the National Film Preservation Foundation from 18 American film archives. This film was preserved by the Library of Congress. This version has a piano music score and runs 4 minutes.

Porter's sequential continuity editing links several shots to form a narrative of firemen responding to a house fire. They leave the station with their horse drawn pumper, arrive on the scene, and effect the safe rescue of a woman from the burning house. But wait, she tells them of her child yet asleep in the burning bedroom . . .

A woman being fitted for shoes exposes her ankle to the shoe clerk, who is intrigued. He kisses her, but her chaperone hits him with her umbrella.

This is a film taken of the execution of Topsy, an elephant employed to help build Luna Park on Coney Island. She had killed three men, including a drunken spectator who fed her a cigarette. Cyanide-laced carrots fed to her by park officials failed, and the ASPCA forbade a hanging. Thomas Edison, meanwhile, had been publicly killing dogs and cats with AC power to show that his DC power was more effective and less dangerous. Edison performed the execution of Topsy and captured it on film, though the brief short shows only the event, and not the background behind it. It makes a disturbing sight, particularly embedded in Errol Morris's _Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A Leuchter, Jr._.

1903 American silent short Western film directed by Edwin Stanton Porter