Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Elvira Mistress of the Dark A Photographic Retrospective of the Queen of Halloween by Cassandra Pete The Untold Truth Of Elvira. There are some public figures who seem to have always been around, people everyone knows even if they are not familiar with their body of work. B-movie horror show hostess and Elvira is one such entity, instantly recognizable with her enormous black bouffant hairstyle and gratuitous cleavage accented by the plunging neckline of her skin-tight vampiress gown. But behind the vamp-camp drag image is a woman with a storied history, one that often takes a backseat to her biggest claim to fame. From her birth in Kansas in 1951, to her first stint as horror hostess on Movie Macabre , to her present-day fame as television, movie, comic book, and merchandise star, seems to be consistently growing and building her image. As she continues to work well into her sixties, still as simultaneously campy and glamorous as ever, her fascinating history deserves a deeper dive. Marked by fate to become Elvira. Many people with a penchant for the paranormal grow the fascination early on, their interests not aligning with those of their peers, marking them as an outsider. It was no different for a young Cassandra Peterson. As a very young child, she suffered scalding burns over 35% of her body that resulted in her needing to have a host of skin graft surgeries. This incident later caused her to feel marked, both physically and otherwise, as different, and began her fascination with monsters and outcasts. Ironically, her fame is largely based upon her beautiful face and figure, which she accentuates to great effect. Many people who don't know much about the woman behind Elvira would never guess that she had ever had any disfiguring accidents in her youth. And yet, without this particular accident, Peterson might not have grown into the woman who embraces the strange and the unsightly. Go-go girl and drag dreams. Despite her early fascination with the macabre, Peterson didn't pile on the bouffant wig right away. As a teen, she loved dancing and knew that it was her destiny to become a showgirl. Before she was even legally allowed to drink, she had auditioned to be a professional dancer and made the cut, traveling all around the country dancing in bars and hotels. Because of this, she spent a great deal of her teen years surrounded by a pack of gay men and drag queens. It is no wonder that Elvira, so over-the-top with such an extra-large personality, while appealing to straight men as a sexual object, is also a huge gay icon. Peterson gives a lot of credit to her early performance days for the genesis of her Elvira character and the know-how to create an enduring camp persona. It must be both gratifying and surreal to be so thoroughly accepted by the community — also made up of outsiders like Peterson — who helped bring her up into the world of showy, glitzy, outrageous fashion and fun. Elvira, singing sensation. Vegas nightlife wasn't Peterson's only pre-Elvira experience in performance. For a while in the early '70s, she was living in — a seemingly far cry from the bright lights of working the nightlife. While in Italy, she got involved in music, singing for the Italian funk/bossa nova band I Latins 80. Examples of this group's music aren't easy to come by, but what does exist out on the internet shows Peterson's remarkable ability to sing well in Italian — not her first language. While making the musical rounds, Peterson also met legendary Italian film director . She took a small, uncredited role in Fellini's 1972 film Roma , thus beginning her screen career — albeit in what is now considered a classic of Italian cinema, rather than the kitschy horror work for which she would become best known. She would continue to use her singing ability in her work as Elvira later on in her career, though! How gave rise to Elvira. After Italy, Peterson found herself in , involved in the improvisational acting group the Groundlings. This group, established in 1974 and still going strong to this day, derives its name from the term used to describe theater-goers in Shakespeare's day, who were typically of the lower class and would sit or stand on the ground directly in front of the Globe Theatre's stage. Since its origin, the theater has boasted a huge and impressive list of comedic alumni, many of whom have gone on to become regulars on sketch shows like and MADtv . Along with Peterson, who largely constructed the basis of Elvira (minus the macabre) during her Groundlings days, alumni include (who similarly credits his time in the troupe with the creation of his PeeWee Herman), the scathing and insightful Kathy Griffith, and the quirky and delightful . Peterson's experience in improv comedy would help secure her role as Elvira later on. Writing Elvira. To some viewers, Elvira is thoroughly all about her sex appeal. For many others — particularly young women and gay men — she is the marriage of sexiness and intelligence. Peterson is to credit for this confluence, as she has had a very strong hand in developing this character. Though she initially auditioned for the ready-made role of a horror TV hostess, Elvira herself is a product of Peterson's own craft and creativity, her own over- sexualized, sardonic, weird and wonderful brainchild — not, as many might assume, the whims of some guy in Hollywood with a fetish. Peterson has writing credits on many of Elvira's biggest appearances, including her very first film, the simply-titled Elvira: Mistress of the Dark . For the Movie Macabre series, she helped with many of the jokes, along with fellow Groundlings alum John Paragon, after watching the features together. She currently has an animated film script that she's ready to pitch, as well as an animated television show in the works! Maybe once the film is made, it'll turn into a Halloween classic like The Nightmare Before Christmas or It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown . Literary lady. Writing for the screen isn't Peterson's only literary claim, however. She has co-authored three novels with John Paragon: Transylvania 90210 , Camp Vamp , and The Boy Who Cried Werewolf . These were all credited as being written by Elvira, and all centered on the character's adventures. Originally published in the '90s, these books were out of print for years but have resurfaced in e-book format for the modern pulp horror fan. In 2016, Peterson published Elvira, Mistress of the Dark: A Photographic Retrospective of the Queen of Halloween . She currently has an as-of- yet untitled autobiography slated to come out in October of 2020, which she has allegedly been working on for 15 years! This book will hopefully provide fans everywhere a more intimate glimpse of Peterson's life before Elvira, as well as some in-depth explorations into the realities of working as a pop culture icon for nearly 40 years. Cassandra without Elvira. Obviously, Peterson is best-known and best-loved for her portrayal of the hilarious scream queen, but she has also appeared in non-Elvira roles, even after the character's debut. In fellow Groundlings alum Paul Reubens' Pee-Wee's Big Adventure , Peterson plays a small but memorable role as "Biker Mama" in a scene where Pee-Wee endears himself to a seedy bar full of rough-and-tumble bikers. It seems appropriate, in retrospect, that she has become a huge sensation among both bikers and tattoo artists and aficionados. In 2010's All About Evil , Peterson stays true to her comedy-horror roots in an absurd gorefest. And though it's clear that she's capable of moving beyond her black-clad seductress shtick, she does seem most comfortable — and like she's having the most fun — when she's the face of the bouffant and bosoms. But live-action is not the only venue for an actress with a talent for adapting to fit a role. Voice of the vampire. Like horror, animation as a medium is frequently dismissed as not worthy of serious study or consideration when it comes to discussions about influential media. However, many actors have found a niche within voice acting that has allowed them to move out of playing the same role (or type of role) over and over again. Peterson is one such actor, though she has certainly lent her voice as Elvira to both cartoons and video games (and she does seem to enjoy sticking to horror-related media). She's appeared in several Scooby-Doo endeavors, both as Elvira and as other spooky ladies. In 2005, she appeared in an episode of Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go! called "Season of the Skull." This episode draws from a couple horror classics, including The Wicker Man and An American Werewolf in London — references its audience of young viewers probably wouldn't pick up on, but which suit Peterson's reputation quite well. On the less obvious end of the casting spectrum, Peterson was involved in the most recent Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles television series playing the role of the Utrom Queen, an alien who uses a humanoid disguise, over six episodes. Veggie vamp. As Peterson approaches 70 years old, it is remarkable to note how ageless she seems. She continues to don the Elvira drag with grace, crediting her slim figure and youthful appearance not on draining the blood of virgins as one might surmise, but on good clean living — including yoga, regular running, and maintaining a vegetarian diet. Her diet isn't just about keeping trim, however. She has publicly advocated for a vegetarian diet for animal rights, even filming an ad for PETA where she admonishes a zombie who is taking a bite out of a recent corpse. "Silly zombie, flesh- eating is for worms!" the Mistress of the Dark exclaims, encouraging viewers to eschew meat. It seems incongruous that a figure who is best known for hosting horror movie marathons would be so conscious about her impact on other living creatures, but such incongruity adds to Peterson's charm and mystery. These days, it seems she does eat some meat, but she's still focused on keeping it primarily fruit and veggies. Vampira vs. Elvira. Part of what makes Elvira so appealing is the fact that she's a parody — of horror on the whole, but also very much on the concept of the seductive vampiress/sorceress. Younger generations might liken her to , and while that assessment isn't wholly incorrect, it is probably fair to say she owes a lot more to Vampira, the camp TV creation of Finnish American actress Maila Nurmi. Vampira, like Elvira after her, was the host of her own 1950s horror show, The Vampira Show . Fans of bad B-movies might also remember her appearance in Ed Wood's . Nurmi was not a fan of Peterson's new vamp tramp on the block, even going so far as to take Peterson to court. The case was ultimately dismissed, panning out in Peterson's favor, but Nurmi continued to harbor resentment until her death in 2008. For Peterson's part, it seems she never intended to plagiarize Vampira and in fact had a great deal of respect for the character, but her incredible success with Elvira does rub salt in the wounds Nurmi harbored from her own declining career that paved the way for Elvira to be the success that she has become. One imagines that Elvira simply struck the airwaves at exactly the right time to hit it big — and knew how to follow the money. What Elvira, Mistress Of The Dark Looks Like Today. She's the "Queen of Halloween." She's the "Mistress of the Dark." She's a little bit vampire with a whole lot of vamp, and she wears just about the skimpiest (but still tasteful) dresses legally allowed on television. She is, of course, the iconic Elvira. Debuting on a Los Angeles TV horror movie showcase in 1981, Elvira is the creation of her longtime portrayer: comedian/actress/singer/model Cassandra Peterson. Starting with Elvira's Movie Macabre, where she poked fun at old scary flicks (and at herself), Peterson has brought the magic of Halloween and her campy blend of classic Hollywood fun to the masses for decades. Elvira has been big on the public's radar for nearly 40 years through movies, sitcoms, talk shows, live performances, commercials, and more, but how much do you really know about the fabulous and self-made Cassandra Peterson? Here's a look at the creation, rise, and impact of Elvira and Peterson — including what the latter really looks like without that fright wig. From a girl putting on a show to a showgirl. Cassandra Peterson always wanted to be a star, or as she more accurately told the Lenny Letter , she wanted to be "the center of attention." At the age of 3, her parents would put her on tables at eateries and "have me dance and sing 'How Much is That Doggy in the Window,' and people would throw change at me, and I thought, This is an awesome way to earn money. " A few years later, she narrowed down her interests. "So I saw this movie Viva and I got this idea in my head to become a showgirl like Ann-Margret," Peterson told Vulture . Soon thereafter, Peterson's family took a vacation from its home in Colorado Springs to , with a brief stop in Sin City. "I begged them to let me go see one of those shows with them. So I dressed up to look super old and sophisticated, you know, like I was actually old enough to get in to see the show." While sitting in the audience all dolled up in "eyelashes and a push-up bra," Peterson caught the eye of the show's dance captain, who asked her to audition for a spectacular called Vive Les Girls. Peterson got the job, and, amazingly, her parents signed off on it. Literally — they had to sign some legal forms because Peterson was only 17 at the time. When the Mistress of the Dark was a bohemian queen. In the 1970s, Cassandra Peterson did what a lot of young Americans did at the time. She bummed around having grand adventures. Shortly after leaving that gig in Vegas, Peterson took another dancing job in France at the Folies Bergere. "The girls didn't like me first because I was an American, and second because I was so much younger than they were," she told Cinema Retro , "so they treated me horribly and I quit before my first performance." Peterson fled to Rome, where, as luck would have it, she ran into a friend from Las Vegas who was on the crew of Federico Fellini's Roma. The pal introduced Peterson to Fellini, who put her in the movie, using her as a background extra in various scenes. While in Italy, Peterson began singing with a couple of local rock bands, the Snails and Latins 80. Peterson paid the bills in the early '70s modeling for second-tier "men's magazines" (nudie mags like Playboy that weren't Playboy ) and a famous album cover . well, maybe. There is a naked redheaded woman on the cover of ' 1976 album Small Change. "It looks like me, but I don't have any recollection of ever doing that," Peterson told Screen Anarchy . "But it was the '70s, so I don't have a recollection of a whole lot that I did then." The loves of Elvira. At some point during Peterson's Vegas run (she can't recall the exact date), reportedly came to watch Vive Les Girls . "He invited all of the showgirls back to his hotel room," she told The Huffington Post , declaring that the King "instantly glommed on to" her. Presley was supposedly in the midst of a divorce at the time, but despite his attention and availability, Peterson claims not much happened. "You have to remember, I was underage. So nothing did go on, except some kissing," she said. Peterson says she and Presley talked all night and into the next day. He even gave her some advice that jump-started her career. "He said, 'If you really want to be in showbiz, you've got to get out of this town,'" she recalled. He also suggested voiced lessons, because by 25, she'd "be too old to dance." The next day, Peterson says she got a vocal coach, and a month later, she was singing in her stage show. Though she didn't get it on with Presley, Peterson did lose her virginity to another male singer during her Las Vegas days: Tom Jones. In 2008, she told Blender (via Dlisted ) that Jones "seemed gentlemanly and nice, so when he was jumping on me, I thought, 'Well, if I'm ever gonna do this, it might as well be with Tom Jones.'" Unfortunately, the experience was "horrible" for, um, anatomical reasons we won't get into here. Elvira is born. The lines between Cassandra Peterson and Elvira are blurred. That will happen after more than 25 years in character. Both ladies rose to prominence in 1981, when Los Angeles TV station KHJ-TV decided to revive its old-fashioned horror movie-with-a-host show . The series had been dormant since 1975, following the death of host Larry Vincent, who ran the show as a character named "Sinister Seymour." (Most cities had at least one show of this nature in the '60s and '70s.) Peterson got the hosting gig, which became Elvira's Movie Macabre. (Her salary: $350 a week.) With her friend, makeup artist Robert Allen Redding, Peterson devised Elvira's signature look — a cross between a scary movie monster (with a Bride of Frankenstein-reminiscent beehive hairdo) and a hyper-sexualized Morticia Addams (her costume showed off a lot of leg and a lot of cleavage). That made for an amusing disconnect between image and voice, which wasn't at all spooky or sensual. Peterson gently made fun of the horror movies she was tasked with hosting in a sunny, "Valley Girl"-esque accent. Surprisingly, the Elvira look was not Peterson's first pick. "I initially wanted to go a very different way, like a in The Fearless Vampire Killers look," Peterson told the Lenny Letter , "but KHJ wanted to go with the all-black thing." Mistress of pop culture dominance. The mixture of comedy, campy old movies, and an attractive woman in revealing clothing was (big shock) a hit, but how did the star of a local TV show become famous around the world? A television syndicator picked up the high-profile, no-frills show and sold it to more than 70 other TV stations within about five years. That solidified Elvira's status in pop culture. When Peterson landed an endorsement deal with Coors, she became the first woman to become the focus of a national beer campaign. (Your uncle surely still has a sexy cardboard standee in his man-cave of Elvira holding a six-pack.) Along with the show and the ad work came, of course, the merchandise. Fans of the camp vamp pin-up could buy Elvira calendars, Halloween costume kits, toys, comic books, collector's plates, and pinball machines. (Again, check with your uncle.) Halloween 1987 just might have been "Peak Elvira." The horror hostess expanded her TV duties from hosting thrilling schlock and schlocky thrillers to include NBC's Friday Night Videos and an appearance on Saturday Night Live. Elvira, the Movie! The woman who made fun of movies got one of her own in 1988: Elvira: Mistress of the Dark. The tongue-in-cheek horror-laced comedy finds Elvira inheriting a creepy old mansion and clashing with uptight locals. Peterson co-wrote the film with TV writer Sam Egan and longtime collaborator John Paragon (best known for portraying head-in-the-box genie Jambi on Pee-wee's Playhouse ). The film earned a little more than $5 million at the box office, but became a cult classic when it reached VHS and cable. Peterson made a sequel in 2001 called Elvira's Haunted Hills . She and then-husband and manager Mark Pierson came up with most of the $1 million-plus budget by mortgaging their real estate holdings. As with the first Elvira film, Peterson wrote the script with Paragon. Set in the Carpathian Mountains in 1851, Elvira takes refuge in a spooky castle, which sets up a horror-comedy that pays homage to a lot of old movie tropes and feels like an old Roger Corman or Vincent Price film. While Haunted Hills never received wide theatrical release, it's been a popular "," similar to The Rocky Horror Picture Show (it even costars that film's creator and Riff Raff portrayer, Richard O'Brien). Peterson and Pierson also screened their creation at fan conventions, benefits for AIDS organizations, and festivals. It even won best feature at the 2002 Provincetown Film Festival. She isn't always Elvira. Cassandra Peterson and Elvira are not the same person, of course, and Peterson has acted in a handful of movies and TV shows portraying characters that are not the Mistress of the Dark, particularly during the dominant Elvira years of the 1980s. It's just that it's really hard to recognize her as the lady who plays Elvira when she isn't wearing the black dress, the black wig, and the goth makeup. That's her (above) as "Biker Mama" alongside Paul Reubens in 1985's Pee-wee's Big Adventure . (She's one of the toughs that Pee-wee wins over with his "Tequila" dance.) Peterson also portrays Queen Sorais in 1987's Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold, an ill-fated attempted to bring a 19th century book adventure series to the screen. More recently, she played "Hunter's Mom" in Red Riding Hood, the 2006 horror-ish retelling of the famous kiddie tale. Elvira today. One doesn't just ascend to the title of "Queen of Halloween" and then quit. Though the widely syndicated Elvira TV show, movies, and beer commercials may be in the past, Cassandra Peterson has never stopped playing her incredibly famous character for long. Elvira's Movie Macabre briefly returned to TV in 2010 and to Hulu in 2014 in the form of 13 Nights of Elvira . In 2016, Peterson released a career retrospective coffee table, or rather "coffin table book," called Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. Most years, she also headlines an October full of Halloween-themed stage shows at Knott's Berry Farm in California. She's basically the Santa of Halloween, so the fall is still an incredibly busy time for Peterson, who turned 67 in 2018. She told TIME that each October, " My phone doesn't stop ringing, and I don't sleep, and I'm working during the day, and I'm working at night. It's pretty hectic! I love it, I'm happy. But I sometimes wish all my work didn't come in a one-month period." When the wig comes off and more sensible clothes come on. What man could ever please Elvira for all of eternity and beyond? A guy named Mark Pierson tried his best. The year 1981 was a big one for Cassandra Peterson. During the same year that Elvira's Movie Macabre premiered, she married Pierson, her manager. One of their first trips together was perhaps not the best omen: They took a road trip in Peterson's parents' Winnebago — with those parents — from Los Angeles to the Kansas town where Cassandra had lived as a child. "My husband read a book the entire time," Peterson told The Spokesman-Review . "It wasn't the greatest adventure spending 24/7 crammed in a small space with the in-laws." The couple later celebrated the family business it built together in an Elvira-approved, 5,600-square foot mansion in the L.A. area, lining the home's dark wood and copper walls with Elvira merch. And get this: The house was haunted. "Footsteps above my head on the ceiling. Clouds of smoke forming into what looked like a human and then disappearing. A black shadow floating on the bottom of the pool that wouldn't go away," Peterson told the Marriott Traveler . After an exorcism, Peterson reportedly sold the place to actor Brad Pitt. In 1994, Peterson and Pierson turned their attentions toward starting a family. She gave birth to their only child, a daughter named Sadie, in 1991. Peterson and Pierson divorced in 2003. Elvira Mistress of the Dark: A Photographic Retrospective of the Queen of Halloween by Cassandra Peterson. Count your blessings. The title above just barely missed being MISTRESS OF THE DORKS. Cassandra Peterson (born September 17, 1951) is an actress, writer and singer. She is best known for her portrayal of the horror hostess character Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. Peterson gained fame on Los Angeles television station KHJ-TV wearing a revealing, black, gothic, cleavage-enhancing gown as host of Elvira's Movie Macabre, a weekly presentation. Peterson was born in Manhattan, Kansas. When she was a toddler, she was scalded by boiling water, and required skin grafts to over 35% of her body, spending three months in the hospital. In a 2011 interview, Peterson stated that as a child, she was more fascinated by horror-themed toys while other girls were occupied with Barbie dolls. In elementary school, she watched House on Haunted Hill, which was the first she ever saw. During her teens, Peterson worked as a go-go dancer in a local gay bar. Inspired by Ann-Margret in the film Viva Las Vegas, while on a trip to Las Vegas, Nevada, during high school, she convinced her parents to let her see a live show whereupon she was noticed by the production staff; despite being only 17 years old, she convinced her parents to let her sign a contract. Immediately after graduating high school, she drove back to Las Vegas, where she became a showgirl in Frederic Apcar's pioneering "Vive Les Girls!" at The Dunes; here, she met Elvis Presley, whom she briefly dated. She had a small role as a showgirl in the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever (1971) and played a topless dancer in the film The Working Girls (1974). She also purportedly posed for the cover of Tom Waits' album Small Change (1976). Peterson has since described it as "a giant mystery" claiming that while she has no memory of the event, the picture looks enough like her that she feels "pretty sure" it is her. In the early 1970s, Peterson moved to Italy and became lead singer of the Italian rock bands Latins 80 and The Snails. Introduced to film director Federico Fellini by the producer of a documentary on Las Vegas showgirls in which she had appeared, she landed a small part in the film Roma (1972). Back in the , she toured nightclubs and discos around the country with a musical/comedy act, Mammas Boys. In 1979, she joined the Los Angeles-based improvisational troupe The Groundlings, where she created a Valley girl-type character upon whom the Elvira persona is largely based. Peterson auditioned for the role of Ginger Grant for the third Gilligan's Island television movie in 1981, shortly before KHJ-TV offered her the position. Peterson also was a personality on Los Angeles radio station KROQ-FM 106.7 from 1982 to 1983. In the late spring of 1981, six years after the death of Larry Vincent, who starred as host Sinister Seymour of a Los Angeles weekend horror show called Fright Night, show producers began to bring the show back. The producers decided to use a female host. They asked 1950s horror hostess Maila Nurmi to revive The Vampira Show. Nurmi worked on the project for a short time, but quit when the producers would not hire Lola Falana to play Vampira. The station sent out a casting call, and Peterson auditioned and won the role. Producers left it up to her to create the role's image. She and her best friend, Robert Redding, came up with the sexy punk/vampire look after producers rejected her original idea to look like Sharon Tate's character in The Fearless Vampire Killers. Shortly before the first taping, producers received a cease and desist letter from Nurmi. Besides the similarities in the format and costumes, Elvira's closing line for each show, wishing her audience "Unpleasant dreams", was notably similar to Vampira's closer: "Bad dreams, darlings. " uttered as she walked off down a misty corridor. The court ruled in favor of Peterson, holding that "'likeness' means actual representation of another person's appearance, and not simply close resemblance." Peterson claimed that Elvira was nothing like Vampira aside from the basic design of the black dress and black hair. Nurmi claimed that Vampira's image was based on Morticia Addams, a character in Charles Addams's cartoons that appeared in The New Yorker magazine. Peterson's Elvira character rapidly gained notice with her tight-fitting, low-cut, cleavage-displaying black gown. Adopting the flippant tone of a California "Valley girl", she brought a satirical, sarcastic edge to her commentary. She reveled in dropping risqué double entendres and making frequent jokes about her cleavage. In an AOL Entertainment News interview, Peterson said, "I figured out that Elvira is me when I was a teenager. She's a spastic girl. I just say what I feel and people seem to enjoy it." Her campy humor, sex appeal, and good-natured self-mockery made her popular with late-night movie viewers and her popularity soared. The Elvira character soon evolved from an obscure cult figure to a lucrative brand. She was associated with many products through the 1980s and 1990s, including Halloween costumes, comic books, action figures, trading cards, pinball machines, Halloween decor, model kits, calendars, perfume and dolls. She has appeared on the cover of Femme Fatales magazine five times. Her popularity reached its zenith with the release of the 1988 feature film Elvira: Mistress of the Dark, on whose script, written directly for the screen, Peterson collaborated with John Paragon and Sam Egan. After several years of attempts to make a sequel to Elvira: Mistress of the Dark, Cassandra and her manager and then-husband Mark Pierson decided to finance a second movie. In November 2000, Peterson wrote, again in collaboration with Paragon, and co-produced Elvira's Haunted Hills. The film was shot in Romania for just under one million dollars. With little budget left for promotion, Cassandra and Mark screened the film at AIDS charity fund raisers across America. For many people in attendance, this was their first opportunity to see the woman behind the Elvira character. On July 5, 2002, Elvira's Haunted Hills had its official premiere in Hollywood. Elvira arrived at the premiere in her Macabre Mobile. The film was later screened at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival. In September 2010, Elvira's Movie Macabre returned to television syndication in the U.S., this time with public domain films. In October 2014, it was revealed that a new series of thirteen episodes had been produced, 13 Nights of Elvira for Hulu. The show began on October 19, 2014, running through to Halloween. Peterson is currently working on the direct sequel to 1988's Elvira: Mistress of the Dark, as well as an animated Elvira project. Elvira on home video. In 1985, Elvira began hosting a home video series called ThrillerVideo, a division of International Video Entertainment (IVE). Many of these films were hand-selected by Peterson. Choosing to stay away from the more explicit cannibal, slasher and zombie films of the time, these were generally tamer films such as The Monster Club and Dan Curtis television films, as well as many episodes of the Hammer House of Horror television series. Since she had refused to host Make Them Die Slowly, Seven Doors of Death, and Buried Alive, however, the videos were released on the Thriller Video label without Elvira's appearance as hostess. After this, several extended episodes of the British namesake series Thriller (i.e. The Devil's Web, A Killer in Every Corner, Murder Motel) were also released without an appearance by Elvira; in some, such as Buried Alive, the cast replaced her. The success of the ThrillerVideo series led to a second video set, Elvira's Midnight Madness, released through Rhino Home Video. In 2004 a DVD horror-film collection called Elvira's Box of Horrors was released, marking Elvira's return to horror-movie hosting after a ten-year absence. Elvira appeared in comic books from DC Comics, Eclipse Comics and Claypool Comics. DC published a short-lived series in the mid '80s titled Elvira's House of Mystery. Claypool took over the series and in the 1990s distributed a new series, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, co-branded with and distributed by Eclipse. After Eclipse ceased publication, the series was distributed solely by Claypool. The series was edited and occasionally written by and featured photographic covers with interior stories and art by , , , , and others. It ran for 166 issues plus two trade paperback collections, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark: Comic Milestones-Comics Format and Elvira, Mistress of the Dark: Double Delights. In 2012 another series, also titled Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, was announced for a 2013 debut to be written by R.H. Stavis and drawn by Jeff Zarnow. The comic book series, to date, has never materialized. On July 18, 2017, it was announced that a new licensing agreement was made with for a multitude of new Elvira-related merchandise, including a new comic book series, trading cards, posters, lithographs, card games, and board games. Dynamite formally announced that a new comic book series, Elvira: Mistress of the Dark, written by David Avallone and penciled by Dave Acosta, would hit stores in July 2018. Along with a new comic book series, a new line of graphic novels were mentioned. Beginning in 1996, three Elvira novels (authored by Elvira and John Paragon) were published by Berkley Books, Transylvania 90210, Camp Vamp, and The Boy Who Cried Werewolf. Long out-of-print, all three titles were republished and made available as e-books in 2018. In 2016, Peterson published an Elvira 35th anniversary photographic retrospective she dubbed a "coffin table" book. Computer, video and pinball games. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, a number of Elvira-themed computer games were produced: Elvira: Mistress of the Dark, Elvira 2: The Jaws of Cerberus, and Elvira: The Arcade Game. Two Elvira-themed pinball machines were produced by Bally/Midway: Elvira and the Party Monsters[18] in 1989 and in 1996. A third pinball machine has been produced by Stern Pinball and was released in October 2019, titled Elvira's House of Horrors. Elvira was also one of the special characters featured in the 2007 PlayStation 3 game Pain. Elvira stars in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare "Absolution" released in 2017. In the early 1990s, Peterson began a series of Elvira calendars featuring characteristically provocative and campy poses in macabre settings. One calendar photo is seen throughout the video game Blood. Peterson has also portrayed non-Elvira roles in many other films, most notably Pee-wee's Big Adventure in 1985 alongside friend and fellow Groundling Paul Reubens, who starred as his Pee-wee Herman character; Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold, released in 1987, which starred Richard Chamberlain and ; and All About Evil, as a mother named Linda, who says not to go to the old theater to watch scary movies. She married musician Mark Pierson in 1981. Pierson soon became her personal manager. They had one daughter, Sadie Pierson (born October 12, 1994), and were divorced on February 14, 2003. In an October 2016 interview with on The Nerdist Podcast, Peterson revealed that she was scalded on over 35% of her body in a kitchen accident when she was one and a half years old. She said that she was teased at school over her scars and jokingly added that her Elvira costume "showed only the good bits." Peterson originally planned to release her autobiography in late 2020, but the release date has been pushed back to Fall 2021. Elvira, Mistress of the Dark: A Photographic Retrospective Book. Why do you want Elvira, Mistress of the Dark: A Photographic Retrospective of the Queen of Halloween ? Because the icon known as Elvira hasn’t been shackled by the confines of October 31 for a very long time. Besides, she has a great pair of… legs. You don’t have to love Halloween to know who the true queen of the holiday is because Elvira is the kind of person who’s hard to miss. This 240-page hardcover book features over 350 images, with many of them never published before. It also includes original commentary by Cassandra Peterson, the woman behind the raven-haired, cleavage-popping holiday vixen. Elvira, Mistress of the Dark: A Photographic Retrospective of the Queen of Halloween will be available October 2016 but it can be pre-ordered now for $44.95 at Tweeterhead. A signed copy is also available for $89.95. Be the first to comment. Leave a Reply Cancel reply. Related Articles. Elvira Rock Candy Vinyl Figure. The Mistress of the Dark offers unpleasant dreams as the Elvira Rock Candy Vinyl Figure. Standing approximately 5-inches-tall and based on Cassandra Peterson’s iconic and sexy hostess with the mostest, Elvira joins Funko’s Rock Candy collection with her trademark beehive hairdo and tight black dress […] Elvira Mistress Of The Dark Photo Girls T-Shirt. The queen of Halloween is ready to reign supreme on the Elvira Mistress Of The Dark Photo Girls T-Shirt. Trick or treat, the queen of Halloween has something sweet for you to… wear. Yeah, it doesn’t rhyme but that’s okay. Elvira, the curvy horror movie […] Elvira Mistress Of The Dark Statue. Have you been naughty? From the look captured in the Elvira Mistress Of The Dark Statue, the woman who used to be known as the hostess with the mostest (bewbz) thinks you’ve been very naughty… and the whip is a good clue as to what […] Elvira’s Scary Christmas Exclusive Maquette. The Mistress of the Dark becomes the Mistress of Christmas with the Elvira’s Scary Christmas Exclusive Maquette. 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Julien’s Auctions announced Thursday morning that it will be selling property from the collection of Elvira, the wisecracking horror hostess who rose to fame on L.A.'s TV airwaves in the early 1980s. In October of next year, Julien’s will auction off memorabilia from the pop-culture icon, played to campy perfection by actress Cassandra Peterson, including her signature black gown, props and costumes from her TV series and films. The auction will take place online, as well as at Julien’s Auctions in Beverly Hills. Peterson, 69, talked to The Times about her favorite items for sale, her status as a gay icon and how she’ll be celebrating Halloween during the pandemic. What’s your favorite item up for auction? It was a gift from my in-laws. And I love it so much. It’s a really, really cool, dark, German carved desk. I’m sad to see it go. … [There’s] a lot of sentimental value for me in that desk. It’s something I had to go back and forth in my brain to see if I really wanted to give it up. What items might be especially popular with fans? You co-wrote “Mistress of the Dark,” right? Then I segued into writing “Movie Macabre,” and then eventually writing this movie and the next. I’ve written three books with John Paragon that were a young-adult book series. And then I wrote my autobiography recently, which was completely me on my own. I just want people to know: no ghostwriting, no nothing. I personally love autobiographies when they’re in the voice of the person who’s writing it. People don’t realize as much that you’re a writer and comedian. Would you consider the Elvira character a comedian too? So when the Elvira thing came along, I wasn’t sure if they wanted comedy. They might have been thinking of a more, you know, “Come in, darling, drink a glass of blood,” that kind of vibe. But I did a little improvised sketch, I kind of riffed on the script they gave me. And they loved it. They said, “Oh, so interesting. We could make this funny and sexy and spooky.” And the three things together really teamed up to make a very unique character. You once remarked that you were “raised by a pack of wild drag queens.” What impact did drag culture have on Elvira, and vice versa? And then I went on to form an act with seven gay men and myself, called Mama’s Boys. And for several years, we toured the country. And they were like my best friends, my brothers, everything to me. We were so close. And they influenced me tremendously. Even right down to one of them — who was my very best friend — helping design the Elvira costume. He and I really talked about how it should look. He was an artist, and he drew up the sketch, and he came up with that hairdo, the makeup. We both decided to make the dress as sexy as possible.