Ronald D. Sweed (January 23, 1949 – April 1, 2019) was an American entertainer and author, known for his late-night television horror host character "The Ghoul".
Early life and career
Sweed was born on January 23, 1949, in
Euclid, Ohio
Euclid is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. It is an inner ring suburb of Cleveland. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 49,692.
History
The City of Euclid was originally a part of Euclid Township, first m ...
.
His mother is Irene Barnard.
His father was Robert Sweed.
He grew up in Cleveland.
In an interview with his mother, ''
Metro Times
The ''Detroit Metro Times'' is a progressive alternative weekly located in Detroit, Michigan. It is the largest circulating weekly newspaper in the metro Detroit area.
History and content
Supported entirely by advertising, it is distributed f ...
'' reporter Anita Schmaltz asked, "Did you ever expect to give birth to a Ghoul?" She responded, "Ron was very different right from the time he came out of the chute."
Sweed was 3 or 4 when he went to downtown Cleveland with his grandfather to see
Santa Claus
Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a Legend, legendary figure originating in Western Christianity, Western Christian culture who is said to Christmas gift-bringer, bring ...
and buy him a
Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...
present. He picked out a
puppet
A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or Legendary creature, mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. The puppeteer uses movements of their hands, arms, or control devices such as rods ...
. When Sweed was 8 or 9, he was given
marionette
A marionette (; french: marionnette, ) is a puppet controlled from above using wires or strings depending on regional variations. A marionette's puppeteer is called a marionettist. Marionettes are operated with the puppeteer hidden or revealed ...
s.
Sweed would put on shows for the neighborhood kids with the marionettes. His fourth grade teacher at one time could not keep his attention. Every Wednesday Sweed would put on a show for the class with his
Jerry Mahoney dummy.
In 1963, 13-year-old Sweed and his friends went to an afternoon
matinee of "
Dr. Silkini
Jack Baker (born John Kessler; 1913/1914 – October 5, 1980), also known by his stage name Dr. Silkini, was an American stage magician, film producer and distributor best known as the host (or "ghostmaster") of the traveling midnight ghost show, ...
and his live stage show of horrors, on stage in person, the Frankenstein monster, Dracula, King Kong and 45 horror movies".
On the way home, he found a gorilla suit in an open trunk of Silkini's. He wore the gorilla suit to a live appearance by
Ghoulardi
Ghoulardi was a fictional character created and portrayed by voice announcer, actor and disc jockey Ernie Anderson as the horror host of ''Shock Theater'' at WJW-TV, Channel 8 (a.k.a. "TV-8") the CBS Affiliate station in Cleveland, Ohio, from J ...
, a popular Cleveland television personality played by
Ernie Anderson
Ernest Earle Anderson (November 12, 1923 – February 6, 1997) was an American radio and television personality, horror host, and announcer.
Known for his portrayal of "Ghoulardi", the host of late night horror films on WJW Channel 8 on Cleve ...
on
WJW. Ghoulardi took note of the costume and brought Sweed on stage, and over the next few weeks, Sweed became Anderson's production assistant.
After Anderson left Cleveland for
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
in 1966, Sweed left for
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green State University (BGSU) is a public research university in Bowling Green, Ohio. The main academic and residential campus is south of Toledo, Ohio. The university has nationally recognized programs and research facilities in the ...
, but continued to help with the production of the ''
Hoolihan and Big Chuck
Charles "Big Chuck" Schodowski (born June 28, 1934) and "Lil' John" Rinaldi (born January 19, 1946) – together commonly known as Big Chuck and Lil' John – are a duo of entertainers who served as late-night horror hosts of ''The B ...
'' show, which was Ghoulardi's replacement on WJW.
The Ghoul Show
In 1970, Sweed approached Ernie Anderson with a proposal to revive Anderson's "Ghoulardi" character. Anderson was not interested, but gave Sweed his blessing to revive the character on his own. With that blessing, Sweed took "The Ghoul" to Cleveland's
Kaiser Broadcasting
The Kaiser Broadcasting Corp. was an American broadcast media company that owned and operated television and radio stations in the United States from 1957 to 1977.
History Creating a broadcast chain
Kaiser's involvement in broadcasting began ...
station
WKBF-TV
WKBF-TV was a television station that broadcast on channel 61 in Cleveland, Cleveland, Ohio, United States, from January 1968 to April 1975. Owned and operated by Kaiser Broadcasting as one of an eventual group of six stations, it was the first ...
(channel 61) in 1971.
Though it started as a tribute to Ghoulardi, Sweed soon developed his own eye-catching gags and energetic style. Known for his zany, early-adolescent humor (particularly surrounding his abuse of a rubber frog named "Froggy," his well-known penchant for blowing up model ships and aircraft with firecrackers, and his habitual smearing of Cheez Whiz over everything in sight), late night monster movies were a unique experience for Cleveland viewers in the 1970s.
Catch phrases included "zingy-zingy," "Overdey!" and "stay sick, turn blue".
The Ghoul would typically take an unbelievably bad horror movie and dump in sound bites at appropriate moments, using audio clips from novelty records,
George Carlin
George Denis Patrick Carlin (May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008) was an American comedian, actor, author, and social critic. Regarded as one of the most important and influential stand-up comedians of all time, he was dubbed "the dean of countercul ...
,
Firesign Theater
The Firesign Theatre (also known as the Firesigns) was an American surreal comedy troupe who first appeared on November 17, 1966, in a live performance on the Los Angeles radio program ''Radio Free Oz'' on station KPFK FM. They continued app ...
and rock albums of the '60s and early '70s. And whenever a character took a drink of something on-screen, The Ghoul would supply a good, loud belch.
"Shooting from no-budget studio sets, the Ghoul inserted his own dialogue and sound effects over insufferably bad B movies, blew up food, model cars and figurines with firecrackers, and produced strangely compelling, culturally relevant skits and parodies. The show was destructive and childish enough for little kids, subversive and timely enough for young adults."
Later in the 1970s, Kaiser Broadcasting syndicated ''The Ghoul Show'' to
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...
,
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, coordinates =
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, subdivision_name ...
,
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
,
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
,
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
and Los Angeles.
It bombed in Chicago—replacing the locally-produced ''
Svengoolie
''Svengoolie'' is an American hosted horror movie television program. The show features horror and science fiction films and is hosted by the eponymous character Svengoolie, who was originally played by Jerry G. Bishop from 1970 to 1973, before ...
'' hosted by
Jerry G. Bishop—and in Boston, but found success in Detroit at
WKBD
WKBD-TV (channel 50) is a television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States, affiliated with The CW. It is owned by the CBS News and Stations group alongside CBS owned-and-operated station WWJ-TV (channel 62). Both stations share studios o ...
(channel 50) and enjoyed varying degrees of success in the other markets. Despite the show's popularity, Kaiser eventually canceled it in 1975 amid complaints from parents about the content of some of Sweed's skits, as well as the permanent closure of WKBF by Kaiser itself. But ''The Ghoul Show'' resurfaced on independent Detroit station
WXON (channel 20) from 1977 to 1979,
followed by a brief stint at
WGPR-TV (channel 62) for several months in 1979.
WKBF-TV's successor station
WCLQ-TV (channel 61) revived the show from 1982 until the spring of 1984;
this iteration of the show was also syndicated to WXON.
Sweed was on and off the air in Cleveland and Detroit for over three decades, at times even branching out into radio and the internet.
The Ghoul returned to Cleveland TV in 1998 on
WBNX-TV
WBNX-TV (channel 55) is an independent station (North America), independent television station licensed to Akron, Ohio, United States, serving the Cleveland area. The station is owned by the Winston Broadcasting Network subsidiary of locally ba ...
(channel 55) where he remained for the next six years airing on Friday, then later Sunday nights. He also did a Saturday night request show on classic rock station
WNCX
WNCX (98.5 FM broadcasting, FM) is a commercial Radio broadcasting, radio station licensed to Cleveland, Cleveland, Ohio, featuring a classic rock format known as "98.5 WNCX". Owned by Audacy, Inc., WNCX serves Greater Cleveland and much of surr ...
(98.5 FM) during the same time period.
The same year, Sweed co-authored (with Mike Olszewski) ' (), a book collecting memories, on-set photographs, transcripts, correspondence, and memos from his years on the air. Said Robert St Mary, a Detroit journalist and author of ''The Orbit Magazine Anthology: Re-Entry'': "Ron understood that times had changed from the beatnik version of Ernie. It was spectacle. It was blowing stuff up. He was using the crazy hip lingo that Ernie had, and tweaking it a bit more."
In 2015, Sweed appeared at the
Redford Theatre
The Redford Theatre in Detroit, Michigan has served as an entertainment venue since it opened on January 27, 1928. It is owned and operated by the Motor City Theatre Organ Society (MCTOS), a 501(c)(3) organization. Architects Ralph F. Shreive alo ...
. It would be his final appearance there as he was scheduled to perform there in October 2018, but due to health problems, it was canceled.
In an October 2017 interview with ''Metro Times'' Jarrett Koral, he stated how he gets ready for a show: "smoke a good kielbasa," further remarking that "smoking a kielbasa will take you to places Steppenwolf never imagined on his magic carpet ride." For a boost of instant insanity? "Snort a couple blobs of Cheez Whiz."
Influence
The Ghoul was well known enough in the Cleveland and Detroit markets that some of his catch phrases ("Overdey!", "Hey group!", "Scratch glass, turn blue", "Stay sick, climb walls", "Pluck your magic twanger, Froggy!", "Holy Parma", "Amrap" and Froggy's "Hiya gang, hiya hiya hiya!") are still widely recognized among the children of the 1970s.
An interesting side element is that the aforementioned rubber toy referred to simply as "Froggy" (and much abused by the Ghoul) was a toy dating from 1948 by a company named Rempel and featured often in comedic skits on the 1955 television show ''
Andy's Gang
''Andy's Gang'' was a children's television program broadcast on NBC from August 20, 1955, to December 31, 1960, hosted by the actor Andy Devine. It was the successor to the radio and television program ''Smilin' Ed McConnell and His Buster Brown G ...
'' where he was named
Froggy the Gremlin
Froggy the Gremlin was a character created by Smilin' Ed McConnell and brought to radio in the 1940s and television in 1950s on the ''Smilin' Ed McConnell, Smilin' Ed's Gang'' show, and later ''Andy's Gang'' TV show, hosted by actor Andy Devine af ...
. The Ghoul's oft-uttered catch phrases "Hiya, gang. Hiya, hiya, hiya" and "Pluck your magic twanger, Froggy" originate from that earlier show.
Awards and honors
On March 5, 2016, Sweed was presented with a Certificate of Recognition by Cleveland mayor
Frank G. Jackson to commemorate the 45th anniversary of his debut on Cleveland TV, and to honor his continuing popularity in the city.
In 2020, he was inducted into the
Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards
The Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award, often called the Rondo Award, is an annual award founded in 2002 that honors journalism, scholarship and film preservation in the horror genre, particularly of classic horror film and their modern-day counterp ...
' Monster Kid Hall of Fame.
Lawsuit
Sweed sued Keven Scarpino, a.k.a. the
Son of Ghoul
The Son of Ghoul is a horror host played by Keven Scarpino, appearing on ''The Son of Ghoul Show'' based in Akron, Ohio, where a B movie is presented along with comedy sketches. In 2020, he was inducted into the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards ...
, in 1987 for infringing upon The Ghoul's character, but eventually lost the case. The judge ruled that no infringement occurred, as most horror show hosts portrayed the same basic character - a ghoulish individual who pranced about in costume, performed comedy routines, and showed horror movies.
Personal life and death
Sweed met his first wife, Barbara J. King, when she was 17, and she was 18 when they married. They were married for 14 years. King and Sweed remained friends after divorcing.
He met Mary Therese Matousek in 1988.
Sweed later married Matousek around 1993 as they were married for 26 years.
Sweed died on April 1, 2019, five months after suffering a massive
heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...
. He had undergone triple
bypass surgery
Bypass surgery refers to a class of surgery involving rerouting a tubular body part.
Types include:
* Vascular bypass surgery such as coronary artery bypass surgery, a heart operation
* Cardiopulmonary bypass, a technique used in coronary artery ...
on November 7, 2018.
References
Further reading
*
External links
TheGhoul.com- Official Site
HorrorHosts.com*
Obituary of Ron Sweedon Ferfolia Funeral Home
https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheGhoul/ Facebook group dedicated to Mr. Sweed
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sweed, Ron
1948 births
2019 deaths
People from Euclid, Ohio
American male television actors
Writers from Cleveland
Television in Cleveland
Television in Detroit
Television personalities from Cleveland
Horror hosts
Bowling Green State University alumni