Glamour Ghoul: The Passions and Pain of the Real Vampira, Maila Nurmi w/ Sandra Niemi

On this spooky season edition of Parallax Views, a previously unpublished and at one point thought-to-be-lost edition of Parallax Views! Sandra Niemi joins the show to discuss her book Glamour Ghoul: The Passions and Pain of the Real Vampire, Maila Nurmi. Sandra Niemi is the niece of Maila Nurmi, better known as the buxom TV horror Vampira!

Maila Nurmi is perhaps most known for her iconic character Vampira, the sexy, sultry, and seductive 1950s horror movie host with an impossibly tiny waist. In addition to being a trailblazer amongst TV horror hosts, predating Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, and the hero of the Last Drive-In's Joe Bob Briggs by decades, Nurmi is also known her appearance in the Ed Wood cult classic Plan 9 from Outer Space. The woman behind the character, however, proves just as fascinating as Vampira herself. A lover of the bohemian lifestyle who rebelled against bourgeois values, Nurmi was also involved in the beatnik counterculture. And she rubbed elbows with such well-known Hollywood names as Orson Welles and Marlon Brando. Sandra will give an insight into who her aunt was and the legacy of Vampira.

Among the topics covered:

- How the character of Vampira came to be and the influences Nurmi drew from in creating the character

- How Nurmi achieved the impossibly tiny waist that Vampira is forever known for

- How Vampira became a huge hit in Los Angeles; the overt sexuality of the character; Vampira as a strong, empowered, liberated female character; how Vampira differed from the later Cassandra Peterson character Elvira, Mistress of the Dark

- The sad story of Nurmi's relationship with Orson Welles

- Knock-off Vampira characters that came about due to the success of The Vampira Show.

- How she introduced the Vampira character to the LA-based ABC affiliate KABC-TV

- The humble beginnings of Maila Nurmi and her childhood

And much, much more!