Indianapolis's earliest broadcast horror host was Selwin, who performed on WISH Channel 8 (a CBS Network affiliate) from 1958 to 1963. Selwin's creator was then WISH Program Manager Dave Smith, who was kind enough to share some of his memories of those days with the webmaster recently (Dave, who was at Channel 8 for over 20 years, also hosted his own show on WISH, When Movies Were Movies, and has recently retired from Ball State University where he taught radio/TV and motion pictures for 22 years. . .see his website: When Movies Were Movies ).

As many horror-host afficianados know, the "host boom" of the late '50's was sparked by the marketing by Screen Gems (a division of Columbia Pictures) of the "Shock Package" of horror films which included many of the best Universal films of the '30's and '40's. Channel 8 purchased the package in 1958 (the station itself, the third to broadcast to the Indianapolis/Central Indiana viewing area, had come into existence only 4 years earlier) and took a cue from John Zacherle, who'd already developed a following hosting the Shock Package, originally in Philadelphia as Roland and later in New York City as Zacherley. Dave Smith created the Selwin character and enlisted Ray Sparenberg, one of the station's directors, to fill the role (Ray was selected from a small group of auditioners, one of his selling points being that he had a great maniacal laugh).

Dave wrote every word for him; the bits were fully scripted and on-prompter (Dave would write the shows in the early evening before the show was broadcast--later taped--and Ray would type the words into the prompter himself as the pages came from Dave's typewriter). Director for most of the series was Harry Heuston (whose name made its way into some of the scripts, as did those of other station personnel).

According to Dave Smith the name Selwin "came up when I was talking with the local representative for TV Guide. . .this guy was from England and when I told him I was trying to think up a name for our new horror host, he suggested Selwin. . .a British name." Sparenburg gave him an English accent as well, though at times he sounded a bit like Jack Benny. Ray developed the makeup and costume design himself, which included a pasty pallor, upswept eyebrows, sunken cheeks, long sideburns, a black cape, and a broad-brimmed hat. The show he hosted was dubbed Fright Night, and through it Selwin introduced a generation (and re-introduced another) to the horror classics of the '30's and '40's, including Frankenstein, Dracula, and The Mummy. Selwin's lead-in line was "It's Fright Night on Channel 8" and he would close each show with "Good night. . .whatever you are" (a lift from Zacherley and a lampoon on Jimmy Durante's perennial show closer "Good night Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are"). Selwin worked on a set which included a revolving bookcase (through which the host would emerge at the show's opening) and an ersatz Egyptian Sarcophagus (used for a number of site gags including an occasional ribbing of on-air news personality Richard Hickox). The show normally broadcast at 11:15 p.m. Fridays (once they went to tape the shows were taped a bit earlier in the evening; Channel 8 had the first video tape machine in the Indianapolis market and one of the first in the country). They usually ran a double feature of horror (later jungle and even later science fiction) films.

The production proved to be very popular in the Indianapolis market early-on. The first Halloween that the show was on the air the producers decided to invite people down to the station to see the show taped in person and were amazed when the fans lined up down Meridian St. (the station then had its facilities in the Riddick Building at 1440 N Meridian). The crowd was several times the capacity of their 150 seat audience area, but they managed to get all of the fans a glimpse of the show by moving groups through the small theatre to see one segment each (even at that they had to repeat some of the skits). Selwin rated his own fan club ("Selwin's Society of the Shroud"), the club card for which is a collector's item today. At one point in the run Selwin was paid a visit by Los Angeles horror hostess Vampira (played by Maila Nurmi), which led to a devilish ad-lib from Sparenburg, as recounted in an article by Michael Pitts which appeared in Filmfax magazine in 1990:

Gently irreverent humor was the mainstay of the show; Selwin poked fun at the show's sponsors, contemporary events, local culture, and of course the films he was showing, among other things. Here's an example of a skit with local flavor from March 6, 1959:

March 6, 1959 Selwin Script Page 1
March 6,1959  Selwin Script Page 2

Selwin also staged a skit or two involving a race (what's it called again?) that's run on Indy's west side in May. The
Ernie Kovacs-esque bit described in the following script is reminiscent of a running gag currently used on The Conan O'Brien Show--guess it proves the adage "what comes around goes around" (Make note of the visuals set to accompany the audio):

May 29th, 1959 Selwin Script

(More scripts to come.)

The character of Selwin went through three incarnations during his run on Channel 8. He began as a ghoul character with gnarled claws (a pair of rubber gloves which were later dropped due to them being too cumbersome), hosting Fright Night on Fridays. . .

In early 1961 Channel 8 began broadcasting a package of Tarzan and Bomba the Jungle Boy movies, and Selwin turned in his broad-brimmed hat for a pith helmet and a gun he dubbed his "trusty Selwinchester" (he retained the pasty ghoul makeup, however, and there was some overlap of horrorific presentation with the Jungle films, for instance in April they presented the Japanse monster flick Rodan). "Jungle Selwin" had a vine as a sidekick (actually one of the station's crew members waving his vine-costumed arms which were stuck through two holes in a flat). A popular promotion was the NAME THAT VINE contest, first prize being a transistor radio with 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th place being "real green, living, growing. . .house plants". The contest drew over 800 reponses, the winning appellation being "Handy Devine". "Jungle Selwin" began in the Friday night time slot and was later moved to Saturday afternoons (around October 1961). . .

The final incarnation of Selwin had him returning to Friday nights beginning in April, 1962. Many fans had written requesting a return to the late night horror film format. The station bought a Science Fiction package and Selwin finished out his run dressed in a space suit purchased from Philadelphia's Captain Company (producers had originally written NASA unsuccessfully about a suit). Ray seems to have toned down the ghoul make-up by this time. It was during this period that Selwin staged the publicity stunt of setting the record for most continuous rides on the rollercaster at Riverside Park (the park, now long gone, was for many years a popular attraction on what is now the city's near Northside). . .

Channel 8 chose to bring Selwin's reign to an end in early 1963, the horror host niche quickly being filled the same year by another t.v. ghoul on Independent station WTTV Channel 4 (guess who?). (Whether by coincidence or not 1963 also marked the end of Zacherley's original run on WOR-TV in New York.; likely this is when the film packages contracts ran out for both stations). Sparenberg moved to Atlanta, GA. and attempted to ressurect the character there with little success (according to Ray's obit he went to Atlanta to take a job at WXIA in programming and sales--the obit doesn't mention Selwin's apparently brief tenure at the station). Ray remained in Georgia, for a time operating an "upscale cheese shop", eventually working as a cab driver, and later as a hospital records keeper. Ray passed away on November 1st, 2001, the day after Halloween. As evidenced by the level of homage paid to Selwin in recent years (see below), he remains a cherished memory in the hearts of many a Hoosier. --JDM.

Text of this internet presentation by James D. Mannan 5/8/99.

References for this presentation:

"Selwin". . .The Who's Hoosier if 1950's Horror Hosts! by Michael R. Pitts Filmfax Magazine January, 1990

WISH-TV 20th Anniversary Show Script by Dave Smith, hosted by Mike Ahern June, 1974

Conversation with Dave Smith April, 1999

Television Movie Horror Hosts: 68 Vampires, Mad Scientists and Other Denizens of the Late-Night Airwaves Examined and Interviewed by Elena M. Watson MacFarland and Co., Inc., Publishers Jefferson, N.C. and London 1991 Chapter 3: Invasion of the Ghost Hosts, pages 25-26

Other Selwin references:

The Horror of Them All! Filmfax Magazine December, 1988 pgs 28-32

Underneath the Masks T.V. Guide December 6-12, 19 ? pgs 26-27

Special thanks to Dave Smith for providing the visual material used in this internet presentation of Selwin, and to Thomas Rude' for the vidcaps. Thanks also to William Beyer and Alan Deck, who helped me along early-on in the search for Selwin info--JDM 5/8/99.

Ray Sparenberg's obit as it appeared in the Indianapolis Star 11-5-01:

(Alex McBean as The Son of Selwyn, October, 1997.)

The memory of Selwin was revived during Halloween, 1997 by WTBU Butler University Television (a non-PBS commericial free public station). The regular host of Classic Cinema Showcase, Amy Ulrich, was held hostage in a bottle by The Son of Selwyn, and for that weekend the program became Classic Shock Theatre. As recounted by WTBU's Allen Deck: ". . .my own personal creation--The Son of Selwyn--premiered last Halloween week on WTBU TV 69 Butler University Public TV when he made two nightly appearances with a double feature each eve and then did his six-hour monster movie marathon on Classic Shock Theatre Halloween Night. He shrank our lovely Amy Ulrich--Afternoon Classic Cinema hostess--and entrapped her in a bottle, refusing to let her out until the station raised enough money during our WTBU Halloween Fun Drive. My version of "Buy This Magazine or We'll Shoot This Dog!" It worked! Largest fund drive in the station's history! The Son of Selwyn was portrayed by lacrosse star Alex McBean of Rochester, N.Y., and he was nothing short of fantastic. Make-up somewhere between the original Selwin and Zach (New York's Zacherley, one of the earliest t.v. horror hosts)."

According to the intro to the show, after the original Selwin left Indianapolis he traveled to New Orleans, where his union with a "Voodoo Queen" produced a son (appropo to the "bottle kidnapping, as the entrapment of souls in bottles is a oft-practiced voodo art). Films shown during the 1997 Fun Drive included Dreyer's Vampyr, Horror Hotel, The Vampire Bat, and, most appropriate to the Son's voodoo connections, White Zombie. The following vidcaps are from the Haloween, 1998 program:

(click the thumbnails for a larger image).

The Son returned for another go-round this past Halloween season (1998), hosting films throughout the month of October, culminating in a 6 hour monster movie marathon on Halloween night. This time Selwyn was accompanied by a niece named Vulnavia, who assisted him in presenting the films. McBean felt the new shows were all the more zany. Films shown included Tormented, Murder 'Round the Clock, The Bat, The Man Who Lived Again, Strangler of the Swamp, Condemned to Live, The Ghoul and the original Carnival of Souls. The Fun Drive also included presentations of the documentaries Vampires of New England and Vlad Tepes (about the historical Dracula), introduced by Alan Deck and Meghan Boots (pictures from the 1998 Fun Drive to come!--JDM).

If you would like to learn more about WTBU or make a contribution to the station I suggest you visit their website at

http://www.butler.edu/www/telecom/wtbu.html.