We just discovered that Ghoulardifest IV, the convention and gathering to honor the icon, the legend, the great one, Ghoulardi himself, has moved to a new location for 2008 and will be held this year on October 17-19, 2008. Ghoulardifest IV will be held at the Holiday Inn located at 6001 Rockside Road in Independence, Ohio.
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For those outside the northeast Ohio area and who aren’t baby boomers Ghoulardi is a legend in northeast Ohio television during the 1960’s. Ghoulardi was Ernie Anderson, who came to Cleveland in 1958 to work at WHK radio. He eventually worked at KYK-TV before landing at WJW-TV Channel 8. In addition to producing and writing for other programs, including Tim Conway’s show before he left for Hollywood, Anderson achieved stardom as the guru of northeast Ohio youth, Ghoulardi, the host of a Friday late night movie program he hosted called Shock Theatre.
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To say Anderson, and his character of Ghoulardi, was irreverent would be to understate matters. He hosted Shock Theatre from 1963-1966 before heading west to Hollywood where he made a mint as a voice over actor and announcer. Anderson passed away on February 6, 1997.
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Ghoulardifest will be bringing in lots of well-known celebrities and other attractions that will be announced soon. Keep updated by visiting the Ghoulardifest website and be sure and check out the Big Chuck & Lil John (and Hoolihan!) forum. We’ll have more on Ghoulardi in a future installment.
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Tags: Big Chuck and Lil John, Bob Wells, Cleveland, Ernie Anderson, Ghoulardi, Ghoulardifest, Ghoulardifest IV, Hoolihan, Parma, Shock Theatre, Tim Conway, WHK, WJW Channel 8
