On Friday nights in Indiana during the 1960′s and 70′s, you invited your best friend over to spend the night (Denny), pleaded with Mom to fix a tray of pizza rolls and, out of courtesy, asked to stay up late for a night of Nightmare Theater with Sammy Terry. Of course, Mom always allowed it, as you knew she would, fixed those pizza rolls, brought in the blankets and left the two of you to your night of magic because she sure as heck was not going to watch those “scary movies’.
The creaking of the coffin filled the house as you watched, transfixed, as Sammy Terry and his spider, George, emerged to host a night of classic horror. Usually, it was one of the Universal movies starring Karloff, Lugosi, or Chaney, Jr.
Bride of Frankenstein, Dracula, The Mummy, The Black Room, Werewolf of London, The Invisible Man, The Wolfman, Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman, and Creature from the Black Lagoon were frequently shown favorites. Quite a few of the Val Lewton RKOs were shown regularly, as well as the occasional Jack Arnold film, such as Monster on the Campus, Tarantula, or The Incredible Shrinking Man. My own personal favortie was Ulmer’s The Black Cat with Karloff and Lugosi battling out to strains of the Beethoven 7th. If the films shown on Nightmare Theater were not always approached by the filmmakers as high art (i.e. The Wolfman) , then there was certainly consummate craftsmanship that one always felt Sammy approved of.
In between the features, Sammy Terry would discuss the movies, make jokes with George and other regulars (Ghost Girl, Ghoulsbie) , have an occasional guest, talk about the Pacers, or show off the crayola drawings of Sammy and George that local children would send to WTTV 4. Sammy had an inimitable laugh that would send shivers down the 8 year old spine.
If you made it to the end of the night (and frequently did not, hence the blankets) Sammy would retreat to his coffin and bestow his wish of “Many Pleasant Nightmares.“ You knew, with excitement and dread, that he would return the following Friday.
There were lots of local urban myths about Sammy Terry and we were all too happy to spread those myths to fellow classmates since Sammy was a favorite subject. Of course, this was long before the days of cable TV, VCRs, and even color TV (at least until the mid 70′s at our house) so the local WTTV 4 Station ruled the roost out of the four available TV stations.
Local WTTV cartoon hosts Janie, Peggy and Cowboy Bob excited too (especially Peggy, whose mini-skirts aroused the young boys and annoyed Mom. Whatever happened to Peggy?), but it simply got no cooler than Sammy, at least to the boys (most of those silly Janie-loving girls just could not appreciate the Nightmare Theater atmosphere, and they were more than a tad jealous of Peggy).
When color TV finally did grace our homes, we had to adjust to Sammy Terry in color, just as we did seeing George Reeves’ Superman in red and blue rather than black and white. The magic was present, but a little diminished. The movies were still in black and white and there remained an inexplicable otherworldliness, but we had no idea that preoccupation with hyper-realism was soon going to render our world as “obsolete and lost.”
When an interview with Karloff aired, the star explained that these films were more akin to Grimm’s Fairy Tales, rather than outright horror in the contemporary view. He clearly preferred the world of those fairy tales to the cold, brittle modern world. Why wouldn’t he? Karloff’s monster was only a monster by exterior design. He suffered misunderstanding and loneliness. He loved, was rejected and died in the iciness of that rejecting, real world. One of Karloff’s last (and better) films, Targets, was aptly sentimental for those fairy tales.
Towards the end of the 70′s Nightmare Theater was canceled and Sammy was off the air for several years. He returned in the 80′s, but it was not the same. He was saddled with more current and, decidedly inferior, horror films. It was a bit like the Night Gallery letdown after Twilight Zone disappeared. Bob Carter, the man behind Sammy’s face paint let it be publicly known that he was not altogether pleased with the quality of the newer films being shown. Still, Sammy had class and mantled the attitude that the show must go on, even if we knew that the outdated fairy tale had gone the way of the dinosaur.
Predictably, Sammy’s return did not last long. Television and the world had changed. Sammy Terry now seemed like an alien character from a ghostly, dead romantic era. He was as out of place as Bing Crosby’s depression era man, so he gracefully departed, making occasional appearances at haunted houses and horror conventions.
Sammy Terry has lived long enough to see a local comeback. In the early 2000′s, he returned for a few televised specials, such as WTTV 4′s 50th anniversary special, Scary Tales (hosting a special of Indiana ghost stories) and Halloween Night showings of George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead and Tim Burton‘s superb grand guignol Batman Returns.
Last year, Sammy Terry, now approaching 80, made an appearance at the Asylum House. The onslaught of age has taken it’s deadly toll and Sammy nobly struggled through the night, signing autographs and posing for pictures. It was difficult to connect his fragility with the vibrant horror host we grew up with 40 years ago, but late in the night, after the crowd had dissipated, Asylum host Trick and myself talked with Sammy about his family music store. Bob Carter seemed please that I remembered his store (about the only local place one used to be able to obtain sheet music of everything from Beethoven to Mahler and onto Xenakis) . Later, as the conversation returned to classic horror, Bob Carter, on cue,morphed into his classic character, Sammy Terry once more and , briefly, he was his young horror host self again.
Due to health issues, Sammy Terry is making no more appearances this Halloween and that is a first. One suspects this is a permanent retirement.
Dedicated in nostalgic honor to that much missed, magical world of Grimm’s Fairy Tales that Sammy Terry brought to us on those Friday Nights, along with Boris Karloff’s monster and Mom’s pizza rolls.
Sammy, the Fairy Tale was so much warmer, and better.
Peace.
Sammy Terry’s website:
I loved ytour article. I can relate so much to everything you said about those wonderful nights with Sammy Terry,that there really is nothing for me to add. My children loved him,and my son posed with in front of Paramount Theater back in 1989 during a Halloween Show. My granddaughter saw him on a tape and puts him right up there with Santa Claus! Sammy is scary in a cool way. Thanks for the memories. Danny Troxel
his son is the new sammy terry and sammy terry might be coming back on the air
They had pizza rolls back in the 70′s? I don’t remember them! Then again we were poor lol.
I can remember staying up late and watching Sammy Terry. I was scared outta my mind. It was so much fun. Great memories.
Can you buy the tv movies , on dvd ? Any collections out there, We love Sammy Terry and watched all the time when we were kids , Go Sammy Terry!!!
I’m fairly certain there are no official Sammy Terry DVDs at the present time, however, you can catch some of the host segments (without the accompanying movies) on Sammy’s youtube channel.
The bell tower ringing. The ominous wind blows. A castle appears. A coffin slows creaks open, and an ominous laugh escapes the form rising from the red cloth lined box. “Good evening, I am Sammy Terry….” Magical words to a wondrous audience sitting alone in darkened living rooms all about the central Indiana region. Each Friday, our dear ghoulish friend hosted for us a fun and frightful evening/morning of delightful and delicious horror, humor and film of days gone by. It is sadly an era gone by, gone but not forgotten. I am proud that I was privy to partake in the phenomenon that was presented by our ghoulish beloved fiend of horror, the great “Sammy Terry.” He endeared himself to a genration of viewers, myself included. Bob Carter, his alter ego has retired or old friend, but his son, Mark has now donned the cape cowl and personna to carry on the legacy of our master of ghoulish delight. May we all continue to have fond remembrances and “pleasant nightmares.”
I AM TRYING TO FIGURE OUT THE NAME OF THIS MOVIE I WATCHED AS A LITTLE GIRL ON “SAMMY TERRY”. THE LITTLE GIRL WAS POSSESSED AND SHE HAD LONG BLACK HAIR AND SOME OF THE DARKEST EYES. YOU WOULD BE SO FRIGHTENED BY HER STARE. THE PART I WILL NEVER FORGET IS WHEN HER MOTHER WAS LAYING IN THE BED AND AND SHE HEARD A NOISE. SHE ROSE FROM THE BED LOOKING AROUND THE ROOM AND DIDN’T SEE ANYTHING. THEN ALL OF A SUDDEN YOU SEE THIS FACE ARISE AT THE END OF THE BED AND THE MOTHER SCREAMS FOR HER LIFE. CAN SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME REMEMBER THE NAME OF THE MOVIE? I WOULD LOVE TO WATCH IT AGAIN AND EVEN PURCHASE IT. “SAMMY TERRY” AND “ELVIRA” SHOWED SOME OF THE BEST HORROR FILMS EVER. IF ANYONE ELSE FIGURES IT OUT, SEND ME AN EMAIL AT Thechosenone.1973@yahoo.com
I’m adding your request to the “What Was That Weird Movie?” page, Tasha. I wouldn’t post my email address here (or anywhere) if I were you (spammers will harvest it). If you ask me to remove it for you I will.
Hello Everyone,
I remember ‘Sammy’ very well. He was the music teacher at my grade school in the 1960′s, Saint Thomas Aquinas. Moreover, in the 1970″s we moved about 2 blocks away from ‘Sammy’s house. I remember he had some form of military armourment in his front yard, it was green and very big, and it rested on 2 big tires. I believe his real name was Bob Carter. He helped me to learn to play the trumpet, as well. We found him to be the opposite of his television character. He was a very funny, patient, warm, loving and caring person. I don’t believe he had an enemy in this whole wide world. He was the type of man that every child had wished that he could be their dad, briefly. He had an assistant music instructor. I can’t remember his name, but he wore glasses, was short and rotund in stature, and not as attentive as Mr. Carter, but he was nice. I remember back in the early 1960′s, before I was of school age, our Aunt Hazel, who worked at the White Castle, would come home just before Nightmare Theater would come on (WTTV Channel 4-it was the only station that broadcast after midnight-at that time)! She would bring home White Castle hamburgers and cola for my brother and I to share as we watched his show. We watched Frankenstein, or Wolfman or some other freightening, yet zany flick like, ‘She Devil’, or some such; then pass out before the ending. I can truely say that ‘Sammy’ brought joy into my childhood and, as you can see, I will always remember and appreciate the man, as well as the legend. We will never forget you Bob ‘Sammy Terry’ Carter, and we love you and miss you and your persona very, very much!!
Your friend, greatest fan of all time, and former student, Joseph Scott (now 55 years old).
P.S. Thanks for the ‘Pleasent Nightmares’
Oh man, the memories. Yes, I too would sit up late on Friday nights, with popcorn or potato chips and cokes. I planned it every Friday, and sometimes wondered why I sat up in my Grandmother’s big old house at Shadeland and 21st street….all by myself, and watched Sammy scare the tar out of me. When I ran out of coca-cola, I had to walk through the living room, through the dark dining room and into the dark kitchen for more. Turning on lights was not an option, as the only lights were the living room lamps and the wall switch in the kitchen. The trip to the kitchen was always dark and spooky. The only place I saw “The Screaming Skull” movie was on Sammy Terry’s show. Lots of grade B movies, but entertaining just the same. His sometimes morbid humor kept me scared, and then watching the movies made me even more scared. I would be afraid to get out of my chair and would end up sleeping in it sometimes. And when I slept in the chair, I always had…..”Pleasant Nightmares..Ahumm hmm hmmm hmmmmm” Loved it.