#maila nurmi grave

[hometoursandotherstuff]

Goth girls visited late Vampira actress Maila Nurmi’s grave for her 100th birthday.

Oh, wow, look at the lipstick kisses on the stone.

Even this little guy came.

I wouldn’t go this far.

It’s amazing that after all these years, she has new fans.

halloweenforever

[bitter69uk]

“My friend, can your heart stand the shocking facts about grave robbers from outer space? Can you handle unspeakable horrors from outer space paralyzing the living and resurrecting the dead?”

On this day 65 years ago (22 July 1959), gloriously inept and twisted b-movie visionary Ed Wood Jr unleashed his much-ridiculed el cheapo sci fi horror thriller Plan 9 from Outer Space (original title: Grave Robbers from Outer Space) – frequently derided as the worst film ever made – on an unsuspecting and mostly oblivious public. Pictured: the dream team of cadaverous glamour ghoul Vampira (aka Maila Nurmi) and hulking Swedish wrestler Tor Johnson.

[tentaclesofhate]

talking abt being dead ig (i’m fine)

apparently three years ago yesterday I got home from the cross-country-trip-I-was-totally-going-to-off-myself-on, mostly because I sat with a peacock at Maila Nurmi’s grave for a solid ten minutes.

I have no idea why my brain fixated on that but dawg I forgot how rough October is for me Jesus fuck I just survived two weeks home alone & woke up crying my absolute ass off let me off the ride G O D

[catofthenine]

Elvira, Mistress of the Dark

1.(x) 2.(x)

Hey Ghouls!

As a continuation of my last post, I'd like to move to the next horror hostess, Elvira! This will probably not be the only time I talk about her, as she has reigned as the Queen of Halloween for three whole decades!

Elvira is played by Cassandra Peterson, and the character made her debut as the horror hostess of Elvira's Movie Macabre, which ran from 1981-1986. Elvira is best described as a "gothic witch slut", who (typically) wears a low-cut long black dress with a long slit on one side, a black bees-nest style updo and has an exaggerated hourglass figure. Elvira's makeup is inspired by Japanese Kabuki theatre makeup, which was likely was also mixed traditional gothic makeup.

Maila Nurmi, who played the original horror hostess, Vampira, was against Cassandra Peterson's portrayal of the new horror hostess because of how unserious and ditzy Elvira was. It was also likely because Lola Falana was supposedly Nurmi's heir to the Vampira throne, but the station would not hire her for the hostess role.

^I believe this is likely due to racist biases from the studio staff, but unfortunately, to delve into that would be off topic for this post.

Elvira's Movie Macabre operated a lot like The Vampira Show, and had five seasons and 140 episodes. Going down the episode list on Wikipedia illustrates how many goth niches were created by the horror movie genre alone! So many movies that were featured under the Elvira brand are also public domain, so maybe after this quarter I'll marathon my ass through them and do reviews?

If you don't know what I mean by niche, don't worry! I'll explain it in the next post!

Apart from Elvira's Movie Macabre, the gothic character also starred in movies (Elvira: Mistress of the Dark and Elvira's Haunted Hills, both of which are currently free on youtube!) Both movies are raunchy- which is a staple in Elvira anything. I wouldn't put your expectations too high for the writing however- it isn't too great.

In my opinion, Cassandra Peterson did an extremely clever thing when creating her character- including unseriousness. By making Elvira part-goth part-bimbo, she successfully tied in a very important element found throughout the gothic subculture- which is to not take yourself too seriously. A band who I think does this perfectly is 45 grave! I saw them live a year ago, and the show was super playful and fun!

There is SO much more Elvira media out there, so this is likely going to be part one so this post isn't long like others I've made

Song : Surf Bat by 45 Grave

I chose this song because I think it has big California goth vibes to it just like Elvira, and it's one of my favs!

That's all for now! Thanks for reading!

-Cat

(Catofthenine)

[tybaltsjuliet]

What are some places I should go next time I'm in LA?

off the top of my head, and i will add to this as i think of more neat places:

HOLLYWOOD FOREVER. the cemetery of the stars. my favorite place in maybe the whole city. forest lawn is gorgeous and westwood’s got marilyn monroe, of course, but there’s just something about hollywood forever, right in the middle of the neighborhood, a few blocks away from paramount studios. judy garland’s there. mel blanc’s there. maila nurmi’s there. when i’ve been running too many errands on the boulevard and i can’t bear to look at what it’s become a second longer, i go and sit on the bench at tyrone power’s grave for a few hours and leave him a kiss and i am at peace. you can get little maps that show you where everyone’s at, but i think it’s fun to just walk around and see who you meet, too.

heritage square. the most cohesive collection of victorian architecture still standing in L.A. (most of the buildings here were moved from elsewhere in the city, to be saved from demolition.) besides the regular guided tours of the houses on the grounds, they host all sorts of cool events throughout the year: artisan markets, a night circus, historical fashion shows, the annual mourning faire. (N.B.: here, you will be walking on a whole lot of gravel. do not wear heels. i forget this every single time i go.)

the mystic museum, a very fun horror/occult-themed museum and shop in burbank. every few months they change up the exhibit - right now, i think, it's a celebration of '90s slashers, and the first time i visited, it was a history of witchcraft in pop culture. the shop runs the whole Goth Stuff gamut, from tarot decks to vintage horror movie poster prints to whimsical taxidermy.

valley relics. a dope, eclectic collection of cars, clothes, obnoxious neon signs, whatever they can get their hands on, really, to honor The Once And Future SFV. this place serves much the same emotional and spiritual purpose for me as hollywood forever, actually, except for my alternate existence as a 1980s valley girl (or girl-adjacent being) instead of my alternate existence as a 1930s screenwriter.

the lake shrine, up in the palisades. run by the self-realization fellowship, although the Transcendental stuff is not overbearing for anyone who’d just like to come and enjoy an exceptionally pretty park. it’s a great place to spend a morning or an afternoon decompressing, if you’re worn out from running around the city. (fun fact: the memorial services for tom petty, judee sill, and lux interior were all held here.)

the academy museum. it’s huge, and it’s full of incredibly thorough and thoughtful exhibits on the history of cinema. the tourists might come just to see the ruby slippers or the midsommar gown, but so help me, they WILL learn about oscar micheaux and pedro almodóvar on the way. my personal favorite parts: the documentary hallway, the oscars gallery (with several notable statuettes on display, like sidney poitier’s for lilies of the field and eiko ishioka’s for the coppola dracula), the spike lee gallery, and the “behold” installation. if i die, just put my remains in "behold" so i can spend eternity there.

[multitudecontainer420]

maila nurmi, lili damita, natacha rambova, kyoko kishida, julie christie, nancy carroll, nora gregor, cicely tyson, ja'net dubois, leslie uggams, joan bennett, anita page, gillian hills , marianne faithfull, teresa graves

[scurybooween]

🖤 Classic horror vixens 🖤

Elsa Lanchester Bride of Frankenstein,

Yvonne De Carlo The Munsters,

Caroll Borland Mark of the Vampire,

Maila Nurmi Vampira,

Tessa Graves Old Dracula,

Cassandra Peterson Elvira,

Carolyn Jones Addams Family

Audrey Herbertson  

[fresherbrine]

[zodiacfilmclub]

Did you know that Vampira, aka Maila Nurmi was briefly BFFs with James Dean? Nurmi was a local celebrity thanks to her role as horror hostess Vampira when she spotted the then unknown actor looking grumpy at the premiere of Sabrina (1954). When she saw him again at hipster Hollywood hangout Googie’s coffee shop she exclaimed 'you're the only man in Hollywood I wanted to meet!'. The two began to bond over their shared interest in the occult, going for late night drives in Vampira's hearse. Dean even made an uncredited appearance on Vampira's TV show. Interviewed by the paranormal TV show Dead Famous in 2004, Nurmi told Gail Porter that Dean had predicted his own death. 'We were walking on Hollywood Boulevard in early September 1955, and it said 'Extra Extra, Robert Francis Killed in a Plane Crash.' And Jimmy said 'that's the second one – they happen in threes. I'm next.' And he was next.' Nurmi claims that the ghost of Jimmy was responsible for making her crash cars with Marlon Brando, as well as a series of other accidents that happened after Dean's death. However, according to Hollywood gossip, the two fell out before Dean's death as a result of the actor's sudden rise to fame, with Dean telling gossip columnist Hedda Hopper 'I don’t go out with witches…and I dig dating cartoon characters even less'. The gossip mag Whisper reported that after an argument at a party, Nurmi had created a black magic altar to curse Dean, and sent him a picture of herself next to an open grave with a note that said 'Darling, join me.' There's much more to tell about the amazing life of Vampira but that's for another post... https://www.instagram.com/p/CLE9tRzAswA/?igshid=40yq68agn0qk

[filmandtvhistory]

July 22, 1959 - Plan 9 from Outer Space is released in the US.

The sci-fi horror film was written and directed by Ed Wood. It starred Gregory Walcott, Bela Lugosi, Maila Nurmi and Lyle Talbot.

Originally titled Grave Robbers from Outer Space, the cult film was shot in November 1956, but not released until 1959 because the company (Distributors Corporation of America) that bought it in 1957 folded before the planned 1958 release.

[ttexed]

Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959) [Science Fiction] [Horror]

"Plan 9 from Outer Space" (originally titled "Grave Robbers from Outer Space") is a 1959 American science fiction film written and directed by Edward D. Wood, Jr. The film features Gregory Walcott, Mona McKinnon, Tor Johnson and Maila "Vampira" Nurmi. The film bills Bela Lugosi posthumously as a star, although silent footage of the actor had been shot by Wood for other, unfinished projects just before Lugosi's death in 1956. 

 The plot of the film involves extraterrestrial beings who are seeking to stop humans from creating a doomsday weapon that would destroy the universe. In the course of doing so, the aliens implement "Plan 9", a scheme to resurrect Earth's dead as what modern audiences would consider zombies (called "ghouls" in the film itself) to get the planet's attention, causing chaos. For years the film played on television in relative obscurity, until 1980, when authors Michael Medved and Harry Medved dubbed "Plan 9 from Outer Space" the "worst movie ever made". Wood was posthumously awarded the Medveds' "Golden Turkey Award" as the worst director ever. 

 In 1994 Tim Burton directed "Ed Wood", which includes some material about the trials and tribulations of making Plan 9. In the television series "The X-Files", Fox Mulder watches "Plan 9" whenever he needs to focus on a difficult problem, claiming that the film is so incredibly bad that it shuts down the logic centers of his brain, allowing him to make intuitive leaps of logic. He has seen the movie 42 times. In the 1996 edition of Cult Flicks and Trash Pics, the authors state that, "The film has become so famous for its own badness that it's now beyond criticism." 

 --- 

Directed by Ed Wood, produced by J. Edward Reynolds and Ed Wood, written by Ed Wood, narrated by Criswell, starring Gregory Walcott, Mona McKinnon, Tom Keene, Tor Johnson, Dudley Manlove, Joanna Lee, John Breckinridge, Vampira and Bela Lugosi. -

-- 

Source: "Plan 9 from Outer Space" Wikipedia

[bitter69uk]

“My friend, can your heart stand the shocking facts about grave robbers from outer space? Can you handle unspeakable horrors from outer space paralyzing the living and resurrecting the dead?”

64 years ago today (22 July 1959), gloriously inept and twisted b-movie visionary Ed Wood Jr unleashed his much-ridiculed el cheapo sci fi horror thriller Plan 9 from Outer Space (original title: Grave Robbers from Outer Space) – frequently derided as the worst film ever made – on an unsuspecting and mostly oblivious public. Pictured: cadaverous glamour ghoul Vampira (aka Maila Nurmi) and hulking Swedish wrestler Tor Johnson.

[quasar1967]

Plan 9 From Outer Space (1957)

Plan 9 from Outer Space is a 1957 independent American black-and-white science fiction-horror film, produced, written, directed, and edited by Ed Wood. The film was shot in November 1956 and had a theatrical preview screening on March 15, 1957 at the Carlton Theatre in Los Angeles (the onscreen title at this time read Grave Robbers from Outer Space). It later went into general release on July 22, 1959, in Texas and several other southern states re-titled Plan 9 from Outer Space, before being sold to television in 1961.

The film stars Gregory Walcott, Mona McKinnon, Tor Johnson, and "Vampira" (Maila Nurmi) and is narrated by Criswell. It also posthumously bills Bela Lugosi (silent footage of the actor had been shot by Wood for another, unfinished film prior to Lugosi's death in August 1956, and was inserted into Plan Nine later). Other guest-stars are Hollywood veterans Lyle Talbot, who claimed that he never refused any acting job, and former cowboy star Tom Keene.

The film's storyline concerns extraterrestrials who seek to stop humanity from creating a doomsday weapon that could destroy the universe. The aliens implement "Plan 9", a scheme to resurrect the Earth's dead, referred to as "ghouls". By causing chaos, the aliens hope the crisis will force humanity to listen to them; otherwise, the aliens will destroy mankind with armies of the undead. The film was originally developed under the title Grave Robbers from Outer Space, but in 1959 it was retitled Plan 9 from Outer Space and re-released under that name.

Plan 9 from Outer Space played on television in relative obscurity from 1961 until 1980, when authors Harry Medved and Michael Medved dubbed it the "worst film ever made" in their book The Golden Turkey Awards.[6] Wood and his film were posthumously given two Golden Turkey Awards for Worst Director Ever and Worst Film Ever. It has since been retrospectively described as "the epitome of so-bad-it's-good cinema"[7] and has gained a large cult following.[8]

[cinemamablog]

Hollywood Legends Never Grow Old

It all started with Vampira. (I wonder how many stories start that way?) I first read about her in a special edition of Rue Morgue magazine: Rue Morgue Library #2, Horror Movie Heroes. My fascination led me to Vampira: Dark Goddess of Horror by W. Scott Poole, both a biography for Ms. Maila Nurmi and a cultural study of the middle-American anxiety that contributed to the creation of her alter ego: Vampira.

I found out through Poole’s book that after she passed away in 2008, Vampira’s fans and admirers chipped in to have her remains interred at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Now the scene for onscreen funerals and off-screen social events, many Hollywood greats rest in peace on Santa Monica Boulevard.

When I first visited Los Angeles as an adult in 2015 with my husband Adam, best friend Kris, and mother-in-law Jessica, I took them on a hunt for Vampira’s final resting place.

While circling around the pond in the Garden of Legends, I saw my mother-in-law inch towards a duck resting in the grass. “Don’t pet the duck, Jessica,” I warned. I continued walking northwest when I heard: “Shit! The little fucker bit me!”

We eventually found Vampira, after visiting Douglas Fairbanks Sr. and Jr., Cecil B. DeMille, Jayne Mansfield, and Tyrone Power. I grinned like crazy in photos posed next to my spooky idol, a happy ending to my first “grave hunt” of many. What a rush!

One year and several apartment applications later, I took friends to Hollywood Forever whenever they visited me in Los Angeles, always searching for someone “new-to-me”: Peter Lorre, the Talmadge Sisters, Janet Gaynor and her ex-husband Adrian, John Huston, Fay Wray���

Once I built up the courage to drive on California highways and interstates on my own (honestly, the wait wasn’t very long), I moved on to bigger fish: Forest Lawn Glendale, Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills, and Westwood Memorial Park. I found quiet sanctuary in a bustling city of millions. I admired the statuaries and murals, the labyrinths and mausoleums. The mixture of religious art and political dogma, plus a good dose of masonic imagery, occasionally unnerved me. And sometimes, amongst the crosses and stars of David, I spotted inverted pentagrams. As above, so below, I suppose.

Some of my favorite memories of visiting and living in LA occurred in cemeteries. I will forever treasure the time I spent in front of Oscar Levant, the Freed Unit’s resident hypochondriac, perfectionist, and wise guy. I spent over an hour searching for Fritz Lang. My sister found Buster Keaton because his grave doubles as a PokeStop. I sneaked over the security chain to get a closer look at Clara Bow. I became a morbid tourist.

I figure, since I’m not a professional historian or researcher, how else could I ever get this close to Hollywood history without undertaking a book project and applying to peruse university and Academy archives? (I have since discovered the magic of the Hollywood Heritage Museum, but that’s a whole other blog post!)

I know I’m not the only movie fan with this macabre hobby of touring gravesites. In fact, many take it a step further by using paper and pencil to make rubbings of headstones. Others even befriend local groundskeepers to gain access to “private” gardens that house the likes of Mary Pickford and Humphrey Bogart. If only I had the chutzpah!

Every autumn, my husband and I travel to Los Angeles for #SpookTrip, our once-a-year horror-centric free-for-all. This year, I made multiple excuses to make detours and visit two of my favorites, Judy Garland and Bette Davis, and two new-to-me graves of screen legends: Charles Laughton and Vincente Minnelli. I hope that by paying my respects and sharing my enthusiasm for their work, I can help continue their legacies and teach future generations about their contributions to film. But also, I just really like graveyards.

[carousels-on-fire]

One day I want to make a kind of goth pilgrimage to Brandon Lee’s Grave, the bench that functions as a sort of memorial marker for Kurt Cobain, and Maila Nurmi’s grave.  I’ve met a lot of the people whose art defined me as a person. So far I’ve met Davey Havok and all of AFI, Kimberly Freeman, Emilie Autumn, Voltaire, Neil Gaiman, and Dani Filth.  But a lot of the people I like are dead, so I��ll have to do the next best thing and go visit their graves. I wish I could go on a whole haunted road trip for oddities and music history and famous graves and the like. My friend and I have been talking about it forever. Just getting an RV and making our way around the US.

[hyaenagallery]

The Amazing Criswell part 3 Criswell married a former speakeasy dancer named Halo Meadows, who once appeared on You Bet Your Life, and whom Coulombe describes as "quite mad": "Mrs Criswell had a huge standard poodle (named "Buttercup") which she was convinced was the reincarnation of her cousin Thomas. She spent a great deal of time sunbathing ... which, given her size, was not too pleasing a sight." Mae West used Criswell as her personal psychic. He once predicted her rise to President of the United States, whereupon she, Criswell and George Liberace, the brother of showman Liberace, would take a rocket to the Moon. Criswell and West were great friends and she would lavish him with home-cooked food which she had delivered to the studio that he shared with Maila Nurmi ("Vampira"). It is said that West sold Criswell her old luxury cars for five dollars. In 1955, Mae West wrote and recorded a song called "Criswell Predicts." He died in 1982. After Criswell's death, his longtime friend Paul Marco released Criswell's song "Someone Walked Over My Grave" on a 7" record which was recorded by Criswell as a memorial song that he wanted released posthumously. #destroytheday