# Zacherley has Died! Just before Halloween! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 30, 2016, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zacherley-has-died-just-before-halloween/770115 "2016-10-30T14:32:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2016, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zacherley-has-died-just-before-halloween/770115/1 "2016-10-30T14:32:20Z")
Once again, it’s mentioned in the Death Pool thread ( [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=776787&page=39&highlight=Zacherle](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=776787&page=39&highlight=Zacherle) ), but John Zacherle deserves his own thread. I grew up watching him on WPIX’s _Chiller Theater_ (back _before_ they had the opening with the six-fingered hand). The cut in scenes of him into the movies he was showing (as a museum guard, for instance, directing the re-animated Roman in _The curse of the Faceless Man_ to where the heroine fled.) Later, he appeared in Frank Henelotter films **FBrain Dead** (where he provided the voice of the monster Aylmer) and as a weatherman in the background TV in _Frankenhooker_. I also have a tape of his anthology _Horrible Horror_. From the obits, I see that he did a few other movies I didn’t know about, as well as a 2008 one-time-only revival of _Chiller Theater_. There’s a video of him singing his novelty hit _Dinner with Drac_ on the Horrible Horror compilation. It wasn’t until years later that I realized that he had groomed his appearance to resemble Lon Chaney’s in _The Phantom of the Opera_. And he left us – at 98 years old – just before Halloween. ---
**Author:** ![randwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2016, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zacherley-has-died-just-before-halloween/770115/2 "2016-10-30T15:39:15Z")
His biggest record hit was “Dinner with Drac”. I have his “Monster Mash” album which contains his cover of the title song plus parodies of then-popular tunes with ‘monstrous’ lyrics. I never saw him on television but was aware of him through Famous Monsters of Filmland, where he appeared twice on the cover. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2016, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zacherley-has-died-just-before-halloween/770115/3 "2016-10-30T15:59:03Z")
Very sad. I grew up in Cleveland, not New York, so I was strictly a Ghoulardi man, but I loved Zacherle. He made an appearance introducing the Grateful Dead at a Fillmore East show on Halloween, 1970. It’s one of the early “Dick’s Picks” CD releases. ---
**Author:** ![quiltguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e47774/32.png) [@quiltguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quiltguy)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2016, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zacherley-has-died-just-before-halloween/770115/4 "2016-10-30T22:08:10Z")
Well, there goes my kerosene sales. RIP, Zach. Or CAN he??? :eek: