Ghoulardi (VIDEO) STAY SICK! ERNIE ANDERSON with baby-PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON (PTA) That's Right! Boogie Nights, Magnolia...
ERNIE ANDERSON
The Legendary Voice
of
Radio
Commercials
&
Film
Everybody Knows Who Plays the Most Music
Put it on, leave it on!
Lock it in and rip the knob off
Lock it in and jerk your knob off
Turn it up, write it down
Rockne' at the speed of light
Broadcasting live...
On the air, everywhere
Don't leave home without it
At home, at work or in the car
Hot Hits
This is real radio
No pain, all gain
Air conditioned radio
Any Questions?
Made in America
Rockne' & realign' and Anacin' on the Celina'
If it's too loud, too bad - you're too old!
How do you spell today's best music
Today's best music
Think about it!
Hotter than hot
Turn up the best station when you want to hear today's best music
Now, more of what we're famous for
The hits just keep on comin'
All the other guys are a bunch of weenies!
Section B: Sweepers
More back to back hot hits
More variety, less repetition, so you can listen longer
Back to back, MONSTER hits
The radio station so hot it's cool
Who really plays the most music
Are you sitting down?
Faster than the speed of sound
Grab hold of your radio
More music - less talk, awesome!
More music, less talk, more variety - awesome!
Stronger than dirt
Your station
It's not the size, it's the frequency
Move over rover and let the big dogs eat
What radio station are you listening to right now?
jocking'
Hey, listen up, then turn it up!
(Ladies and) Gentlemen, start your engines (2 ways)
When we say it, we play it
Where the music keeps going and going and going
All hits, all the time
It's too good to be free
This is a full service station
Listen 2, 3, 4 times a day
Power hits
Superstars of the 70s, 80s & 90s
Stand by!
Put it on, and leave it on
One hell of a radio station
Section C: Music Quantity
|
| Back to back, non-stop, commercial free |
| Now, back to the music |
| More continuous music, fewer commercials |
| Crank it up for more continuous music |
| Now, even more music than ever before |
| 100 percent music, zero percent commercials |
| Now, it's time to shut up and play the music |
| The best music, more of your favorite songs back to back |
| We only stop the music twice an hour for commercials |
| 30 minutes of continuous music, now playing |
| You're in the middle of 30 minutes of continuous music |
| Put those commercials away, we've got music to play |
| Miles of music, inches of commercials |
| Today's best music with fewer commercial interruptions |
| Sit back, we're plain' so much music, you radio's gonna explode! |
| That didn't take long, did it? |
| Always proving nobody plays more music |
| We're into an all night, nonstop, power play |
| Gives you the thrill of variety without the agony of repeat |
| Nobody plays more music |
| One hit after another |
| Hit after hit after hit... one right after another |
Section D: Music
|
| Best new music first |
| Fresh music |
| Fewer commercials, more music |
| Less talk, and the best music mix |
| Less repetition, more variety, fresh new music |
| Dance to the music |
| When you absolutely, positively have to hear your favorite song |
| Where you don't have to sit through this.. ..to get to this |
| New music exclusive |
| We can't stop it now - all we - can do - is slow -it - down |
| Set the first button on your car radio for more music |
| All kinds of music - one kind of radio station |
| Music you like without a cover charge |
| Now, here's another song you can only hear on (stun) |
| Music is our business and business is good |
| How do we get all this music inside your teeny weenie radio? |
| A better mix of music |
| Gammon' the hits |
| Always the hottest music |
| A fresh new music mix |
| More of the best music, back to back |
| The hottest music on the planet |
| A lot of music without a lot of talk |
| A better variety of music, so you can listen longer |
| It's your music, we just play it |
| Feel the music (feel good) |
| Who's still gammon' the hits? |
| A better music mix, less talk |
Ernie Anderson
Ernie
Anderson was born Nov. 12, 1923 in Lynn, Massachusetts & was
destined to become one of the most famous & highest paid voice
talents of the 20th century. He broke into radio at Burlington,
Vermont's WSKI-AM in 1946. Later, he became the number one DJ in the
Providence, Rhode Island market. After a stint in Albany, New York, he
went to WHK-AM in Cleveland & met Tim Conway. Before Conway became
famous, he wrote comedy for radio & TV host Malcom "Big" Wilson.
Ernie (with Conway in tow & passing him off as a director) was
hired by Cleveland's WJW-TV in 1961.They created "Ernie's Place", a
daytime show of movies interlaced with comedy skits. Anderson, at the
same time was a booth announcer & spokesman for Ohio Bell. So as
not portray a conflict of interest, he started giving his dialog in
"Beatnik" tones. He then donned a lab coat, fright wig, fake goatee
& moustache. It was with this twist of fate Ernie created one of
the legendary local TV show hosts, "Ghoulardi".
His
Ghoulardi character became a staple for WJW-TV's Friday night horror
movie show "Shock Threater.". "He was the original hippie." , said
"Big" Chuck Schodowski, who later played Ghoulardi & would later
create the "Big Chuck & Houlihan Show" for WJW-TV. "Ghoulardi" did
not simply mock the grade-Z horror flicks, but would also superimpose
himself on the screen, shouting to characters & joining the action.
He riffed his way through host segments in a dimly lit studio, reading
fan & hate mail, blowing up model cars with firecrackers, smoking
cigarettes profusely, tossing rubber chickens & talking on an
old-fashioned telephone.
READ A WHOLE LOT MORE: INCLUDING ALL OF ANDERSON'S OBITS FROM TWO YEARS AGO AND MORE ON GHOULARDI AS A FATHER TO AWARD WINNING DIRECTOR
AND EX-BOYFRIEND OF MY IDEA OF HEAVEN, FIONA APPLE, PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON (PTA)
At the peak of his popularity, "Ghoulardi" commanded an astounding 56 percent share of the local TV audience, compared to Johnny Carson at 38 shares & Steve Allen at 6. With the highest local ratings beating national shows & making local appearances across Cleveland, Ernie, as "Ghoulardi" owned that market. Shortly after that, Rose Marie, best known as "Sally" on The Dick Van Dyke Show, promoted Conway to Steve Allen, who summoned Conway to Hollywood for his show. Back in Cleveland, Ernie's battles with management & corporate types became legendary. His on-air antics continued mercilessly until his departure for California in 1966, where he later appeared as an actor on the first two episodes of Conway's short-lived series "Rango" in 1967. Ernie & Conway then became a comedy act. They appeared together on "Hollywood Palace" & recorded two comedy albums together.
Later, Ernie would move on with Tim Conway & become the announcer for the Carol Burnett Show. In 1970, Ernie returned to Cleveland to tape a TV special & met up with Ron Sweed. Ron had worked with Ernie on Shock Theater & had produced WJW-TV's "Big Chuck & Houlihan" show. Sweed felt that the market needed Ghoulardi & asked Ernie if he could continue the character. After some hesitation, Ernie christened Sweed & "The Ghoul" was born. The Ghoul is still on today in Cleveland on WBMX-TV (WB 55).
At the end of the 1970's, ABC's then chief Program Director, Fred Silverman, decided to hire "the golden throat" as ABC's voice. Ernie Anderson's style & delivery set the precedent for network announcing. His voice was instantly recognizable when introducing spots for America�s Funniest Home Videos, The Winds of War, Roots, & of course, The Love Boat.
Ernie was involved with Paul's film career in many ways. In addition to narrating The Dirk Diggler Story, he helped Paul finance Cigarettes & Coffee with his college fund & appeared in Hard Eight.
Ernie Anderson passed away on February 6, 1997.
Paul Thomas Anderson named in his production company after his father's famous persona & continues to pay homage with sequences like "The Rahad Jackson Firecracker Scene" & character names such as Phil Parma. Others do the same as local Cleveland resident, Drew Carey wears a Ghoulardi shirt on his show from time to time.
Quotes from PTA
"As I got older," Paul Thomas Anderson said, "I kept thinking, 'What is this Ghoulardi thing? What is it? What? What?' We went back to Cleveland once when I was 14 and we were mobbed at the airport by people chanting 'Ghoulardi! Ghoulardi!' And when I do interviews anywhere in the country, constantly, constantly, people who are enamored of my father or who grew up with him bring him up or even thank me for Ghoulardi!" Toledo Blade - 1/24/00
My dad was one of the first guys on the block to have a VCR. So along with all the videotapes that I would rummage through, I would find porno movies. Not that it twisted me into some maniac or anything. I was watching porno from age 10 to 17. I had an interest in it. - Rough Cut Q & A - 10/97
He also thinks that his father would be proud of the films he's made after Hard Eight, the only one the elder Anderson saw because there is some thing personal about them.
"I think all three movies that I've made in roundabout ways reflected his (Ernie's) life in small, intimate, personal ways that I wouldn't want to reveal, but you can be sure that there's a lot of my Dad in these movies." - Akron Beacon Journal
(November 12, 1923 – February 6, 1997)
ERNIE ANDERSON
The Legendary voice of TV, Radio, Commercials & Film (& Ghoulardi)
12 November 1923, Lynn, Massachusetts
Date of Death: 6 February 1997
Los Angeles, California, USA.
(cancer)
THE GHOULARDI LEGEND A
new era in Cleveland television began on a cold Ohio night in January,
1963 back when everything on TV was in black and white. Ernie Anderson
came on the air as the host of a late night horror movie presented as
Shock Theater. The movie was … The show lasted until 1966 when Ernie
Anderson left for fame and fortune in Hollywood. He became the voice of
the ABC network. Although his voice could be heard doing promos for the
“Love Boat” and miniseries like “Winds of War,” he was seldom seen. He
showed up on a few PM Magazine segments and on the Carol Burnett show
with his old friend Tim Conway. Ernie Anderson and Tim Conway recorded
two comedy albums for Liberty Records titled “Are We On?” and “Bull!”
Ernie was the straight man interviewing Tim as various characters.
Anderson died of cancer on February 6, 1997.
The Legendary voice of TV, Radio, Commercials & Film (& Ghoulardi)
was an American television and radio personality, voice announcer, actor and the father of film director Paul Thomas Anderson.
Born in Lynn, Massachusetts, Anderson became known as a television personality on a local Cleveland, Ohio TV show on Ernie's Place, where he collaborated with Tim Conway.
As the hipster character Ghoulardi, Anderson later hosted Shock Theater at WJW-TV in Cleveland, from 1963 through 1966. Shock Theater featured grade-“B” science fiction and horror movies. Shock Theater was aired in a Friday late-night time slot, but at the peak of Ghoulardi's popularity, Anderson also hosted the Saturday afternoon Masterpiece Theater, and the weekday children's program Laurel, Ghoulardi and Hardy.
In 1966, Anderson left Cleveland, and moved to Los Angeles, California, where he was heard throughout the United States as the voice of the American Broadcasting Company and various television stations across the country: "Eyewitness News...starts...NOW!"
Anderson died of cancer in Los Angeles on February 6, 1997, aged 73. Director Paul Thomas Anderson dedicated his 1997 film Boogie Nights to his memory. Similarly, a 1997 episode of The Drew Carey Show was also dedicated to his memory.
| NEW YORK TIMES - February 2, 2004 |
Legendary Voice for Hire. No Live Gigs.
|
12 November 1923, Lynn, Massachusetts
Date of Death: 6 February 1997
Los Angeles, California, USA.
(cancer)
Ernie Anderson was born Nov. 12, 1923 in Lynn, Massachusetts.
Ron "The Ghoul" Sweed was later hired by Ernie as an assistant.
After
Ghoulardi left the Cleveland airwaves, he was replaced by Big Chuck
Schodowski, formerly known as handsome, debonair, downstairs neighbor,
Jerry Kreegle on Parma Place. Big Chuck was joined by Bob Wells,
formerly known as Houlihan the Weather Man. The Houlihan and Big Chuck
Show began. After Houlihan left the show to pursue religious
programming and a role in “Summer Rental” with John Candy, he was
replaced by Lil’ John Rinaldi a local jeweler who had appeared in skits
with Big Chuck and Houlihan. Their show continued until June of this
year when Big Chuck decided to retire. It was the end of an era in
Cleveland.
In
the 70s, Ron Sweed created a character based on Ghoulardi and called
himself the Ghoul. Ron Sweed was discovered by Ghoulardi when he showed
up at one of Ghoulardi’s personal appearances in a gorilla suit. He has
been on and off the airwaves in Cleveland and Detroit and is currently
doing his show as a web cast. Super Host, the Cool Ghoul, and the Son
of Ghoul have also been on in the Cleveland area. The Son of Ghoul is
the only remaining local horror host on TV.
After
Ernie Anderson died in February, 1997, the first GhoulardiFest was held
in October of that year in his honor. The second GhoulardiFest was held
in 1998. The third GhoulardiFest was held this past weekend. If you
missed it, don’t worry, you can still get Ghoulardi T-Shirts like this
black and orange number for Halloween! Help keep the legend alive!
This
Ghoulardi website was created almost ten years ago in November of 1997.
If you would like to know more, you can read the book “Inside Cleveland
Television’s Wildest Ride” by Tom Ferran and R. D. Heldenfels.
Ghoulardi
was a fictional character invented and portrayed by disc jockey, voice announcer, and actor Ernie Anderson (November 22, 1923 - February 6, 1997), as the horror host of late night Shock Theater at WJW-TV, Channel 8, in Cleveland, Ohio from 1963 through 1966.
Shock Theater featured grade-“B” science fiction films and horror films. Shock Theater was aired in a Friday late-night time slot, but at the peak of Ghoulardi's popularity, Anderson also hosted the Saturday afternoon Masterpiece Theater, and the weekday children's program Laurel, Ghoulardi and Hardy.
Ernie Anderson was a big band and jazz enthusiast, and WWII U.S. Navy veteran born in Lynn, Massachusetts on November 22, 1923.
This irreverent and influential movie host 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, fake Van Dyke beard and moustache, and various messy, awkwardly-perched wigs. Ghoulardi's stage name was devised by Cleveland restaurateur Ralph Gulko, who was making a pun of the word "ghoul," and his own similar last name, tagged with a generic "ethnic" ending.
During the breaks from the movies, Anderson addressed the camera live in a part-Beat, part-ethnic accented commentary, peppered with: “Hey, group!,” “Stay sick, knif” (“fink”), “Cool it,” “Turn blue” and “Ova deh.” Anderson improvised because of his difficulty memorizing lines. He played novelty and offbeat rock and roll tunes, plus jazz and rhythm and blues songs, under his live performance.
Shock Theater drew both a black and white cult audience, who loved Ghoulardi's beatnik costume, the music, and his hip talk, which was a nod to black jazz and R&B artists. More mainstream viewers enjoyed his broad, unpretentious ethnic humor.
Ghoulardi spared no unhip targets: the bedroom communities Parma, Ohio ("Par-ma?!") and Oxnard, California ("Remember...Oxnard!"), bandleader Lawrence Welk and polka music, Cleveland television personalities Mike Douglas and Dorothy Fuldheim, plus other public figures. In particular, Ghoulardi unmercifully jeered Parma, for its ethnic, working-class, “white socks” sensibility, creating a series of taped skits called Parma Place. He adopted a crow and named him “Oxnard.”
He also mocked the poor quality films he was hosting: "If you want to watch a movie, don't watch this one," or "This movie is so bad, you should just go to bed." He had his crew absurdly insert stock film clips or his own image at climactic moments.
Ghoulardi used friends and members of his talented Channel 8 crew as supporting cast: cameraman “Big Chuck” Schodowski, film editor Bob Soinski and writer Tim Conway (later of The Carol Burnett Show and “Dorf” fame). He was further assisted by teenage intern Ron Sweed. Sweed had boarded a cross-town bus to try to meet his idol at a live appearance, clad in a gorilla suit. Anderson invited Sweed onstage; to the crowd’s delight, Sweed stumbled offstage into the audience. This, plus some unnanounced gorilla-suited visits to the Channel 8 studios sealed his place as Anderson’s right-hand man.
Channel 8, then owned by Storer Broadcasting, capitalized on Ghoulardi’s wide audience with a comprehensive merchandising program, giving Anderson a percentage as Storer also owned the "Ghoulardi" name. Anderson also formed “Ghoulardi All-Stars” sports teams, which played as many as 100 charity contests a year, which, reflecting his popularity, frequently attracted thousands of fans.
Anderson openly battled Channel 8 management. Schodowski was quoted as saying: "[S]tation management lived in daily fear as to what he might say or do on the air, because he was live." In spite of his solid ratings and profitablilty, they worried that Ghoulardi was testing too many television boundaries too quickly, and tried to rein in the character. Anderson responded by, among other things, detonating plastic action figures and plastic model cars with firecrackers and small explosives sent in by viewers, on air, once nearly setting the studio on fire. (“Cool it with the boom-booms.”)
Induced by Tim Conway, who had already left town, and greater career promise, Anderson retired Ghoulardi in 1966 and moved to Los Angeles, California. His plan was to act in film and television. Instead, he made a successful career in voice-over work, most prominently as the main voice for the ABC TV network ("the Lu-u-uhv Boat") during the 1970s and 1980s.
Anderson died of cancer on February 6, 1997.
More than 40 years after Ghoulardi signed off, his legacy endures: Clevelanders still associate polka music, white socks, and pink plastic flamingo and yard globe lawn ornaments with Parma, Ohio.
In the mid-1960s, Ghoulardi's irreverance overtook the rarefied Severance Hall. Cleveland Orchestra conductor George Szell introduced one of his musicians as being from Parma, Ohio. According to Tim Conway, the concertgoing audience replied: "Par-ma?!"
As a tribute, jazz organist Jimmy McGriff wrote, recorded and released his song "Turn Blue."
In 1971 Sweed appeared on WKBF-TV, borrowing the "Ghoulardi" character traits and costume with Anderson’s blessing, but changed the movie host's name to “The Ghoul,” to not misappropriate the "Ghoulardi" name.
Channel 8’s Bob Wells (“Hoolihan the Weatherman”) and “Big Chuck” Schodowski took over Ghoulardi’s Friday night movie time slot as “Hoolihan and Big Chuck,” becoming Anderson’s tamer but familiar successors. Schodowski's show continued on WJW, with co-host "Li'l John" Rinaldi from 1979 onward, until July 2007.
Cleveland native Drew Carey has paid tribute to Ghoulardi in his television sitcom (Carey can often be seen wearing a Ghoulardi T-shirt). In his endorsement of the biography, Ghoulardi: Inside Cleveland TV’s Wildest Ride, cited below, Carey was quoted as saying "Absolutely, big time, Ghoulardi was an influence on me."
The punk-a-billy band The Cramps, named their 1990 album Stay Sick! David Thomas, of art rock band Pere Ubu, said that the Cramps were "so thoroughly co-optive of the Ghoulardi persona that when they first appeared, Clevelanders of the generation were fairly dismissive." Thomas credits Ghoulardi for influencing the "otherness" of the Cleveland/Akron bands of the mid-1970s and early-1980s, including the Electric Eels, and The Mirrors, the Cramps, and Thomas's own groups, Pere Ubu and Rocket From The Tombs, declaring: "We were the Ghoulardi kids." (Akron's Devo aren't included on Thomas' list, but they were formed in the same era as the other groups and shared a similar esthetic.)
In 2002, Cleveland-area indie band Uptown Sinclair featured a Ghoulardi-derived basketball referee in the slapstick music video for their song "Girlfriend."
The most obvious Ghoulardi kid, Anderson's son, film director Paul Thomas Anderson, named his production entity "The Ghoulardi Film Company."
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