The Ghosts of Philadelphia

I think we could all use a little nostalgia in our diet. Especially forgotten glimpses of our city %u2014 ghosts, if you will.

by Duane Swierczynski

Halloween makes me nostalgic — mostly because, while growing up, my father would constantly try to scare the living crap out of us.

Dad meant it in good fun, of course. He fed my brother and me a steady diet of Channel 48's Creature Double Feature. He'd pretend to be a monster and chase us around the house. He kept rubber horror-movie props around, including a severed hand (complete with stump painted bright red), which was used in many household pranks over the years. My brother has yet to forgive me for stumbling into the bathroom, screaming, then dropping the rubber hand into the tub where he was taking a bath.

Dad would also have a constant horror soundtrack playing in the house this time of year, including some albums featuring Germantown native and WCAU-TV star John "The Cool Ghoul" Zacherley.

OK, probably lost most of you there.

If you're my age, you probably only remember Stella, the self-styled "Maneater from Manayunk" who hosted Saturday Night Dead on Channel 3. If you're younger, you probably have no freakin' idea what I'm talking about.

But if you're just the right age — or had a dad like mine — you remember Zacherley.

Zacherley's Shock Theater debuted on WCAU-TV 50 years ago this past October. My dad was about 8 years old at the time, and was all over this show like blood on a severed stump. I'm pretty sure he wanted to be Zacherley as badly as he wanted to be Elvis Presley. And he must have lost his mind when Zacherley released "Dinner with Drac" (backed by the house band at Cameo Records), which became a Top 10 rock hit and went into heavy rotation on American Bandstand.

This explains a lot about my father, and my family.

But I mention Zacherley (who is alive and well, I'm happy to report; check out www.zacherley.com ) because it's Halloween, and I'm all hopped up on nostalgia, and I think we could all use a little nostalgia in our diet. Especially forgotten glimpses of our city — ghosts, if you will.

A short while ago, Michael T. Regan asked to take a break from his "Angle" photo column to concentrate on photo essays. When I thought about possible replacements, PhillyHistory.org was the first thing that jumped into my brain.

I've raved about these guys in past columns — single-handedly digitizing our city's history, one black and white photo at a time. Well, we've struck a deal to bring you a cool new PhillyHistory.org photo every week in a new column called "Time Machine." (You'll find the first installment on the opposite page.)

We want to show you pieces of the city you may have forgotten about — or pieces that haven't changed a damn. If you have a suggestion, feel free to e-mail me, with the subject line "Time Machine."

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the ghosts. And be sure to visit PhillyHistory.org if you're craving more.

What a Coup

There are a few writers who make me feel OK about keeping my long-ass surname. One is Jamie Malanowski, who I first discovered on the masthead of SPY magazine when I was in college. If Malanowski can keep the long Polish name and make it in the crazy world of magazine publishing, I reasoned, well, maybe I can, too.

Later, when I had lunch with Malanowski, he told me: "My first piece of advice is change your name."

Hmmm.

That's not stopping me from introducing Malanowski when he reads from The Coup, his hilarious new political satire, this Saturday afternoon at Robin's Bookstore. The event starts at 3 p.m.; hope to see you there.

(duane@citypaper.net)