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Cleveland TV host is subject of new documentary
By Rich Heldenfels
Beacon Journal popular culture writer
Published on Thursday, Oct 22, 2009
More than 40 years after Ghoulardi ended his local run, the name and memory of the local TV host can still excite fans.
That is evident in the frequent Ghoulardifests, the latest of which begins Friday at the Cleveland Airport Marriott.
Still more evidence is Turn Blue: The Short Life of Ghoulardi, an hourlong production about the iconoclastic host and the equally unconventional man who played him, Ernie Anderson. Coming from Phil Hoffman, a lecturer at the University of Akron and documentary maker, it will premiere at 7:45 p.m. Friday at Ghoulardifest, with more showings at 4 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. It will then air at 9 p.m. Tuesday on WNEO/WEAO (Channels 45/49).
Turn Blue is based on the book Ghoulardi: Inside Cleveland TV's Wildest Ride, which I co-wrote with Plain Dealer reporter Tom Feran. It draws on vintage Ghoulardi footage and interviews with me, Feran, Plain Dealer reporter and horror expert Mark Dawidziak (a Beacon Journal alum), TV personality and Anderson friend ''Big Chuck'' Schodowski, Bob ''Hoolihan'' Wells, local broadcasting veteran Mike Olszewski, Syracuse University pop-culture scholar Robert Thompson, and other people familiar with the Ghoulardi saga.
With black-and-white animated segments, Turn Blue also tries to recapture some of the feel of TV in the '60s. When revisiting old footage, Hoffman conceded that a lot of it was badly done. ''But as a kid watching some of this stuff, to me it was magic,'' he said.
He at first thought about doing a documentary about Big Chuck and Hoolihan, Ghoulardi successors whom Hoffman watched. Now 47, he recalls being too young for the Ghoulardi era. Schodowski told Hoffman he was doing a piece of his own. But Hoffman sensed that Schodowski's production wouldn't go into too much detail about Ghoulardi, and ''I thought, all right, let's look into that.''
He began production about a year ago, just before the 2008 Ghoulardifest, where many of the interviews were taped. The long passage of time since the Ghoulardi heyday prevented other interviews — Anderson himself died in 1997. And in some cases, the timing was just wrong.
Hoffman worked out a trip to Los Angeles for interviews with Anderson friend Tim Conway and Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh, a Ghoulardi fan; but Mothersbaugh's schedule changed and Conway had health problems, so neither interview happened.
The animation was also a challenge. Hoffman wanted a visual component for accounts of legendary (but unphotographed) events. ''I thought, let's . . . make it black-and-white, and make it kind of low-tech, sort of like the style of the kind of thing they would have done [in the '60s],'' he said. ''It's always easy for people to suspect your motives when you say, 'I intended for it to look bad.' But I actually did.''
But even relatively simple animation can take a lot of effort.
''It's incredible,'' he said. ''There's one sequence, I think we worked on it nonstop for two weeks.''
But in the end, besides telling the Ghoulardi story, the documentary looks wistfully at a time when TV was something far more varied than news and the occasional daytime talk show.
''I feel like the local character of television has changed in a way that I personally don't particularly like,'' Hoffman said during an interview in his University of Akron office. ''I have nothing against local news product. It's all well and good. But . . . there isn't really anything else locally. I miss watching television and seeing all the crazy, wacky kind of programs that were done on a local basis.''
Like many viewers who enjoyed Ghoulardi's poking fun at local celebrities, Hoffman came to like Anderson's style.
''The more I looked into it, the more I was able to relate to Ernie,'' he said. ''I'm sort of an anti-authoritarian person, and that was a clear streak in Ernie's personality. And I can relate to working in the media industry and working sometimes for people who don't get what you're trying to do.''
And he connected, both directly and vicariously, with his own youth.
'''As my wife [artist Joan Fagan-Hoffman, who also worked on Turn Blue] describes it, I'm busy going through my 12-year-old boy phase,'' he said. ''I've done a couple of documentaries that were sort of on the rock scene in the Akron area, and I actually missed that [scene]. I was too young to go to the clubs where [bands] would play. It was my way of experiencing that. . . . Ghoulardi is the same thing for me. I missed it.''
Through the documentary, he got a taste. And he sounded for a moment like that 12-year-old sneaking gleefully downstairs after the grownups have gone to sleep.
''Really, what it gets down to is what my wife said: 'You just like sitting in the dark and watching monster movies late at night.' ''
Rich Heldenfels writes about popular culture for the Beacon Journal, in the HeldenFiles Online blog at http://heldenfels.ohio.com, on Facebook and on Twitter. He can be reached at 330-996-3582 and rheldenfels@thebeaconjournal.com.
More than 40 years after Ghoulardi ended his local run, the name and memory of the local TV host can still excite fans.
That is evident in the frequent Ghoulardifests, the latest of which begins Friday at the Cleveland Airport Marriott.
Still more evidence is Turn Blue: The Short Life of Ghoulardi, an hourlong production about the iconoclastic host and the equally unconventional man who played him, Ernie Anderson. Coming from Phil Hoffman, a lecturer at the University of Akron and documentary maker, it will premiere at 7:45 p.m. Friday at Ghoulardifest, with more showings at 4 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. It will then air at 9 p.m. Tuesday on WNEO/WEAO (Channels 45/49).
Turn Blue is based on the book Ghoulardi: Inside Cleveland TV's Wildest Ride, which I co-wrote with Plain Dealer reporter Tom Feran. It draws on vintage Ghoulardi footage and interviews with me, Feran, Plain Dealer reporter and horror expert Mark Dawidziak (a Beacon Journal alum), TV personality and Anderson friend ''Big Chuck'' Schodowski, Bob ''Hoolihan'' Wells, local broadcasting veteran Mike Olszewski, Syracuse University pop-culture scholar Robert Thompson, and other people familiar with the Ghoulardi saga.
With black-and-white animated segments, Turn Blue also tries to recapture some of the feel of TV in the '60s. When revisiting old footage, Hoffman conceded that a lot of it was badly done. ''But as a kid watching some of this stuff, to me it was magic,'' he said.
He at first thought about doing a documentary about Big Chuck and Hoolihan, Ghoulardi successors whom Hoffman watched. Now 47, he recalls being too young for the Ghoulardi era. Schodowski told Hoffman he was doing a piece of his own. But Hoffman sensed that Schodowski's production wouldn't go into too much detail about Ghoulardi, and ''I thought, all right, let's look into that.''
He began production about a year ago, just before the 2008 Ghoulardifest, where many of the interviews were taped. The long passage of time since the Ghoulardi heyday prevented other interviews — Anderson himself died in 1997. And in some cases, the timing was just wrong.
Hoffman worked out a trip to Los Angeles for interviews with Anderson friend Tim Conway and Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh, a Ghoulardi fan; but Mothersbaugh's schedule changed and Conway had health problems, so neither interview happened.
The animation was also a challenge. Hoffman wanted a visual component for accounts of legendary (but unphotographed) events. ''I thought, let's . . . make it black-and-white, and make it kind of low-tech, sort of like the style of the kind of thing they would have done [in the '60s],'' he said. ''It's always easy for people to suspect your motives when you say, 'I intended for it to look bad.' But I actually did.''
But even relatively simple animation can take a lot of effort.
''It's incredible,'' he said. ''There's one sequence, I think we worked on it nonstop for two weeks.''
But in the end, besides telling the Ghoulardi story, the documentary looks wistfully at a time when TV was something far more varied than news and the occasional daytime talk show.
''I feel like the local character of television has changed in a way that I personally don't particularly like,'' Hoffman said during an interview in his University of Akron office. ''I have nothing against local news product. It's all well and good. But . . . there isn't really anything else locally. I miss watching television and seeing all the crazy, wacky kind of programs that were done on a local basis.''
Like many viewers who enjoyed Ghoulardi's poking fun at local celebrities, Hoffman came to like Anderson's style.
''The more I looked into it, the more I was able to relate to Ernie,'' he said. ''I'm sort of an anti-authoritarian person, and that was a clear streak in Ernie's personality. And I can relate to working in the media industry and working sometimes for people who don't get what you're trying to do.''
And he connected, both directly and vicariously, with his own youth.
'''As my wife [artist Joan Fagan-Hoffman, who also worked on Turn Blue] describes it, I'm busy going through my 12-year-old boy phase,'' he said. ''I've done a couple of documentaries that were sort of on the rock scene in the Akron area, and I actually missed that [scene]. I was too young to go to the clubs where [bands] would play. It was my way of experiencing that. . . . Ghoulardi is the same thing for me. I missed it.''
Through the documentary, he got a taste. And he sounded for a moment like that 12-year-old sneaking gleefully downstairs after the grownups have gone to sleep.
''Really, what it gets down to is what my wife said: 'You just like sitting in the dark and watching monster movies late at night.' ''
Rich Heldenfels writes about popular culture for the Beacon Journal, in the HeldenFiles Online blog at http://heldenfels.ohio.com, on Facebook and on Twitter. He can be reached at 330-996-3582 and rheldenfels@thebeaconjournal.com.
Comments
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akron, oh
Posted 07:03 AM, 10/22/2009
i can't wait. i spent many nights watching his movies & crazy antics. of course that was before 400 channels & dvd's.
Posted 07:31 AM, 10/22/2009
It was great staying up late watching Ghoulardi. I didn't always make it to the end of the movie but I had fun with my big brothers, eating popcorn and laughing. Later came Big Chuck and Hoolihan they were great together too. Thanks for all the laughs and good times.
WADSWORTH, OH
Posted 08:30 PM, 10/22/2009
ABJ needs to grow some chinuts and allow posts on the MAYOR
akron, oh
Posted 03:36 PM, 10/23/2009
@Billybob: You are SO right.
akron, oh
Posted 03:39 PM, 10/23/2009
I was too young for GHoulardi, but I grew up with Big Chuck and Hoolihan. SFT3000 (science fiction theatre 3000) was a great imitation of those days, as well.
Posted 10:50 AM, 10/24/2009
"It draws on vintage Ghoulardi footage and interviews with me, Feran, Plain Dealer reporter and horror expert Mark Dawidziak (a Beacon Journal alum)," Rich, Please notice correct order...."It draws on vintage Ghoulardi footage and interviews with Feran, Plain Dealer reporter and horror expert Mark Dawidziak (a Beacon Journal alum), TV personality and me.."
