Sad, sad news and a terrible loss to monster kids.
Maila "Vampira" Nurmi has left us, according to Tom Weaver (in a post on the Classic Horror Film Board)
and Joe Moe (in a post on the Scarlet Street "Final Curtains" forum).
No further details yet.
RIP Vampira ! Fangs for the memory's !
Tom
I just found out about this. Very sad news. Maila Nurmi was a very intelligent and articulate person, and a television horror host Icon. I consider her an inspiration and wish I could have had the opportunity to have met her.
Greetings and Farewell Vampira.
A recipe for Vampira:
2 oz. Theda Bara
(vamp, vamp)
2 oz. Morticia
(morbid Victorian)
3 oz. Norma Desmond
(Sunset Boulevard)
4 oz. Tallulah Bankhead
(the voice, dahling)
2 oz. Marilyn Monroe
(demons are a ghoul's best friend)
3 oz. Katherine Hepburn
(Victorian English)
2 oz. Bettie Davis
(mama, baby)
3 oz. Billie Burke
(dilettante)
3 oz. Marlene Dietrich
(singing voice)
8 oz. Bizarre pin-up
Add 3 lizard eggs, 2 mothballs and a glass eye from a pygmy. Shake
vigorously till steaming
She started here career as a model, actress and dancer in Hollywood,
but her life was forever changed when she attended the Ball Caribe
Masquerade Party in Hollywood in 1953. She attended dressed as a
vampish character based on the Charles Addams drawing of Morticia
from the New York Times. She beat out 2000 contestants in the
costume contest and won first prize! She also won the attention of K-
ABC channel 7 producer Hunt Stromberg Jr. He hired her to host the
station's new late-night horror show, called what else? The Vampira
Show!
The Horror Show premiered in 1954 and Vampira quickly got national
attention. Fan clubs and magazine articles followed. Soon she was
jet setting with Hollywood icons like James Dean and Marlon Brando.
Unfortunately, she was fired from the studio after only just a year
and a half. Why? Vampira claims she was blacklisted from Hollywood
because she didn't cooperate with the Hollywood factory.
I'm not too sure what that means coming from a late-night TV Horror Hostess!.
There was an infamous Vampira tape that a good friend dupped for me in 2003 from the
footage that HE got after joining the Creature Features group and
securing the footage from a fan there (whew!)
Originally in the possession of Dave (The Rocketer) Stevens, the
TV footage is short but breathtaking.
To hear Vampira's voice! Never heard it before that tape. Very blue-blood,
aristrocratic, and powerful. He body language...seductive yet creepy,
(nothing wrong with that combo)and her humor....well, shall we say it
is very appropriate for All Gallows Eve! (sorry, I was treading on
Forry's territory there)
I just wanted to say that seeing the footage, I'd have to say
that Vampira DID have cause to sue Elvira. I mean, the opening, with
the fog and candles and more importantly, that couch! It looked like
the same one!
It has been said that Malia was on board Movie Macabre in the
beginning and helped to develop it. But left after conflicts arose.
I've also read that she was very difficult to work with.
(Malia not Cassandra)
That tape footage is priceless, breathtaking and just plain fun. Oh, and
as a special treat, Art Baker, the host of You Asked For It,
introduces the footage in an old 'the history of channel 7' bit
holding keys with faces emblazoned on them.
Great stuff.
RIP Vampira
Prof. Griffin
RIP Vampira...thanks for all those memorable vampiric moments.
Here's Vampira playing around with the one and only Bela Lugosi.
(http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b388/ProfGriffin/vampira4.jpg)
(http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b388/ProfGriffin/vampira.jpg)
I am sure Eddie and Bela met her at the crossroads. HHW
A couple of more photos.
(http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b388/ProfGriffin/vampira-1.jpg)
(http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b388/ProfGriffin/vampira3.jpg)
(Geez, Bela - a little gauche, that Grab!)
Rest indeed, Maila. Thanks.
-Craig W.
RIP Vampira... sad to see you go.
Maila Nurmi was reported to be a pain in the butt by a lot of folks, but ya can't deny her the place in horror history she carved for herself. She was a self-determined woman, and had her own sometimes bizarre take on the world, and was a real character.
At any rate, I'm sure she has some answers now.
Rest in peace, my dear.
Mike C.
http://www.youtube.com/v/me9pT2Z8BqQ&rel=1
Vampira in the flesh
Rest in Peace, and rest assured, you left something very important behind, Vampira. After all, not everyone has a Misfits song written about them.
I'm sorry to see Vampira slip away from this world. I would have liked to have met her one of these days. What a lady. Waaaay ahead of her time. So sad that the pathfinders are often the last to benefit from their innovations.
I wrote this on the Mego board and like there I hope I am not double posting:
I apologize if this has been posted before but it is news to me that Vampira, aka Maila Nurmi has passed away.
http://blogging.la/archives/2008/01/rip_vampira_aka_maila_nurmi.phtml
Let's fling a silver hubcap in the air in her honor.
(yes, I know Plan 9 actually used off the shelf flying saucer model kits for thier alien ships, but they do look like hubcaps)
Now that I look I did miss this post:
http://universalmonsterarmy.com/forum/index.php?topic=543.0
But the link is new so hope others enjoy the link
I missed this post before I posted about Vampira. RIP Vampira!
I am very sorry to hear about this. Hope she's somewhere having a laugh with James Dean.
Sad to see anyone pass, but it seems she had quite a life, and unquestionably left her mark on a great number of people, me included. Thanks much Malia Nurmi, long live Vampira.
When someone's lifespan has come within hailing distance of a Century, and they've by all accounts led a full life, I feel an occasion for joy for them, not sadness.
Best,
-Craig W.
VAMPIRA DIES AT 86
This just in from the blog world: Maila Nurmi, better known as Vampira -- or "the original glamour ghoul <http://www.rue-morgue.com/blog/archives/2008/01/11/rip-vampira-maila-nurmi/> " -- has died at age 86. The actress was the nation's first horror host in the 1950s and also appeared in Plan 9 From Outer Space.
Didn't know if everyone knew or not...if this is a bad area for obituaries etc...let me know guys!
Quote from: Wich2 on January 12, 2008, 11:57:22 AM
When someone's lifespan has come within hailing distance of a Century, and they've by all accounts led a full life, I feel an occasion for joy for them, not sadness.
Best,
-Craig W.
That's a very positive and sensible way to look at it, Craig. You are right; it is a blessing to have such a long life. I guess often we see things from our own limited perspective, and we feel the loss for ourselves more than the person who's passed?
I earnestly hope that Maila's passing will be appropriately noted in publications like the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times, but I haven't seen anything yet. If you spot such an obit, please post information and a link, if possible. It will be particularly ironic if the NY Times doesn't publish her obituary, since the name "Vampira" is regularly used to add color to feature articles there.
Meanwhile, it's satisfying to see her being remembered and discussed all over the Net, especially since a lot of great personal photos and memories are being shared. The ground-breaking effect of her pioneering persona on the monster boom that followed her TV show appearances -- several YEARS later! -- can scarcely be exaggerated. Her original show ran on KABC-TV, Channel 7 in Los Angeles, from April 30, 1954 until April 2, 1955, less than a year, but her outrageously seductive personality attracted national coverage in publications like Life, Newsweek, and TV Guide. Her archetypal host character was well known all over the country when Screen Gems' SHOCK! package was first syndicated in October 1957.
Here's a very interesting webpage about the movies Vampira hosted, diligently researched by Dick "Nitelinger" Golembiewski for his terrific "Milwaukee Horror Hosts" site:
http://www.milwaukee-horror-hosts.com/VampiraShow.html (http://www.milwaukee-horror-hosts.com/VampiraShow.html)
Note that the December 18 1954 feature title was apparently truncated in the TV listings, and that Dick provides a footnote accounting for WHITE ZOMBIE not appearing on the list (as depicted in Tim Burton's ED WOOD).
Had her "Vampira" not been as fun-- and so popular-- the whole "horror host" phenomenon might not have happened. Perhaps then the monster craze might have been a fad without feet; some other aspect pop culture might have taken more attention instead.
UMA members, like all monster kids, are in her debt.
Rest In Peace Miss Nurmi. :'( She was a very nice lady, and sharp as a whip.
Enjoy this song about Vampira by Bobby Bare, my friends!
[mp3=200,20,0,center]http://tinyurl.com/2q4hyh[/mp3]
Or paste this URL into your browser window:
http://www.box.net/shared/3nci12b0ok
Thanks Max for the Mp3. It wasn't playing at first, so I dipped into the flle and ended up correcting the url. Plays now! Sounds groovy!
"Had her "Vampira" not been as fun-- and so popular-- the whole "horror host" phenomenon might not have happened."
Hear, hear, Master Max.
She and our beloved Cool Ghoul were pretty much The Founders of the Feast.
(Building on the foundations of the EC hosts, who in turn stood on the shoulders of radio folks like Raymond of the Creaking Door, and Old Nancy.)
Best,
-Craig W.
Maila's passing is being noted by major news sites at last -- apparently, since
she was reclusive, it took awhile for the official word to get out via the coroner.
Here's her obituary in the Los Angeles Times (lead obit since Jan 15):
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-nurmi16jan16,1,2687156.story?coll=la-news-obituaries&ctrack=1&cset=true (http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-nurmi16jan16,1,2687156.story?coll=la-news-obituaries&ctrack=1&cset=true)
Variety:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117979011.html?categoryId=25&cs=1 (http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117979011.html?categoryId=25&cs=1)
Many other news sources, like USA Today, use the Associated Press obit by Jacob Adelman:
http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2008-01-15-vampira-obit_N.htm (http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2008-01-15-vampira-obit_N.htm)
I haven't seen anything at the New York Times yet, though the NYT archives are full
of Vampira references.
Some other significant observances:
A message from Kevin Sean Michaels, director of VAMPIRA: THE MOVIE --
http://www.vampirathemovie.com/ (http://www.vampirathemovie.com/)
Maila's official website, Vampira's Attic, shut down save for this:
http://vampirasattic.com/ (http://vampirasattic.com/)
Maila's Official Memorial Page on Myspace.com, created by close friends:
http://www.myspace.com/officialmailanurmi (http://www.myspace.com/officialmailanurmi)
I was sad to hear the news about Vampira - a real shame. Did you guys ever see the Vampira guitar Schecter guitars put out. Man they're a beauty!
http://www.schecterguitars.com/news.asp?id=36
I posted something about this elsewhere this morning - I think they're no longer being made, but I hope they'll put them out again - I'd LOVE to have one!
(http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/5134/vampiraforwebfw7.th.jpg) (http://img507.imageshack.us/my.php?image=vampiraforwebfw7.jpg)
I didin't know where else to post this - Allan melvin, late of "The Brady Bunch" and other shows, died at 84...he also was the voice of Magilla Gorilla...
Link here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080119/en_nm/melvin_death_dc;_ylt=ArAnm2ZPvfpuKD23APLpNZ5Y24cA
Bizarro Jeff