FORGOTTEN BOOKS - ZACHERLEY'S MIDNIGHT SNACKS & VULTURE STEW

Zacherley (real name John Zacherle) was the host of a Philadelphia horror movie television program.  There was a time when you couldn't throw a rock on television without hitting Zacherly or someone like him.  It seemed every television station had their own local version of Zacherley, usually made up to look like a "host" from one of the old EC horror comics.  (Then there was Elvira, Mistress of the Dark -- but she's in her own catagory.)  Bad puns, cheap sets, cheesy movies -- a formula that kids ate up, myself among them.  I can't remember the name of the guy who hosted this type of show in the Boston area, but I remember watching him faithfully.

     Zacherley (who I never saw and had never heard of until then) was different.  This guy knew horror, knew it so well that he had two anthologies published by Ballantine that helped warp a generation.  Both books blew me away, givng me my first introduction to Theodore Sturgeon, James Blish, A. E. van Vogt, Anthony Boucher, Richard Matheson, and many more.    Here is where I first encountered Henry Kuttner's fabulous Hogben family, still one of my most memorable reading experiences.  (Looking back today, I'm only surprised that he did not include a Robert Bloch story -- surely a natural for an anthology of this type and quality.)

Here's the line-up:

Zacherley's Midnight Snacks (Ballantine, 1960)

• Richard Matheson, Sorry, Right Number (from Beyond Fantasy Fiction, November, 1953)
• Jerome Bixby & Joe E. Dean, Share Alike (from Beyond Fantasy Fiction, July, 1953)
• Theodore Sturgeon, Talent (from Beyond Fantasy Fiction, September, 1953)
• Wallace West, Listen, Children, Listen (from Fantastic Universe, October-November, 1953)
• William F. Temple, The Whispering Gallery (from Fantastic Universe, October-November, 1953)
• Robert Moore Williams, The Piping Death (from Unknown, May, 1939)
• A. E. van Vogt, The Ghost (from Unknown Worlds, August, 1942) 
• "Philip James" (Lester del Rey & James H. Beard), Carillon of Skulls (from Unknown Fantasy Fiction, February, 1941)
• Henry Kuttner, Pile of Trouble (from Thrilling Wonder Stories, April, 1948)

Zacherley's Vulture Stew (Ballantine, 1960)

• L. Ron Hubbard, He Didn't Like Cats (from Unknown Worlds, February, 1942)
• Mindret Lord, Dr. Jacobus Meliflore's Last Patient (from The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction , November, 1953)
• Manly Wade Wellman, The Devil Is Not Mocked (from Unknown Worlds, June, 1943)
• Donald A. Wollheim, Bones (from Stirring Science Fiction, February, 1941)
• Charles R. Tanner, Out of the Jar (from Stirring Science Fiction, February, 1941)
• A. E. van Vogt, The Witch (from Unknown Worlds, February, 1943)
• Anthony Boucher, They Bite (from Unknnown Worlds, August, 1943)
• E. Everett Evans, The Shed (from Avon Science Fiction and Fantasy Reader, January, 1953)
• James Blish, There Shall Be No Darkness (from Thrilling Wonder Stories, April, 1950)

     Surprisingly, nothing from Weird Tales.  And, sadly for me, only these two anthologies.  I wished the series had gone on forever.

     And did I mention, two great cover paintings by Richard Powers?