You Get Cancelled…

Once upon a time, a man by the name of Jerry G. Bishop played a horror host called “Svengoolie” on Screaming Yellow Theater. Although only on the air from 1970-1973, the series gained a loyal following. One fan by the name of Rich Koz submitted so many sketch ideas to the show that he was eventually brought on as a writer. Flash forward to 1979, when Koz got the okay to portray a character called “Son of Svengoolie.” Koz’s portrayal not only paid tribute to the original, but also showcased his own unique sense of humor and numerous musical parodies. Sadly, the series went off the air in 1986 when the station carrying it was sold to Fox and was stripped of most of its original programming in order to (presumably) streamline all of the participating channels into bland clones of eachother. But even in the face of cancellation, he had the time for one last amazing song parody…

According to Strange Jason, the musical mastermind of Gravedigger’s Local 16, this is a parody of Ray Charles’ “Busted.” Which certainly explains why Sven is wearing dark sunglasses throughout the segment. Some might view the line about Elvira’s physique as an insult, but I don’t. While Cassandra Peterson is a very talented person (I love her albums and her two films were hilarious), I’d be kidding myself if I said that her looks had nothing to do with her success. If you had some guy in black spandex telling jokes about his junk instead of Elvira, Movie Macabre wouldn’t have made it past the pilot stage. Another thing to consider is how a lot of the people who slag on Mystery Science Theater 3000 often give Elvira a pass on doing the same thing, simply because they’re attracted to her. Check out this video of the two hosts meeting at the 2008 “Flashback Weekend” in Chicago and there doesn’t seem to be an ounce of animosity between them:

Thankfully, Rich Koz was still employed and doing work television after the cancellation. In 1994, he was even granted permission to both revive the show and officially take the name “Svengoolie.” The revived show still runs to this day and is even shown on ME-TV! Oddly enough, Elvira’s revived version of Movie Macabre got cancelled…