Reply #22: Ashley Ghastly, Charleston, SC, late 70's to early 80's?

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Very little to be found of his show, but it was hilarious - it was him in a top hat, a bat puppet sidekick, reggie, a huge spider puppet and Swamp Woman. Great memories, wish I could find some of the old shows.

Here's a decent rundown on the show found at this site: http://myweb.wvnet.edu/e-gor/tvhorrorhosts/hostsa.html



ASHLEY GHASTLY
(Cyrus Newitt)

See the Official ASHLEY GHASTLY Phantom Phan Club Membership Card: front | back (with autograph!), courtesy of Robert Everett.

See Cyrus Newitt's Internet Movie Database entry.

Scream Theater
Saturday at midnight
WCSC-TV, Channel 5 (Charleston, South Carolina)
Late 1970's - early 1980's?


NOTES:

* Larry Creasy contributed the initial information for this entry, with the following details:

I am thrilled that you have an interest in Ashley Ghastly. ....A couple of years ago, I myself did some research, and it will now just be a matter of picking up where I left off. The people working at Channel 5 are very genial, so I will revisit the studio and see if they can help me unearth anything from their archives.
The host was Cy Newitt. If I can successfully contact him, he may very likely be able to contribute a wealth of memorablia from the show. As for my own memories of the show —

o Ashley wore a top hat and had vampiric make-up.

o He also had a side-kick named Reginald which was a large floating bat that also wore a top hat!

o There was also a huge spider that made appearances from time to time, but I can't remember his name; although I do recall that he was a very elaborate puppet of great size.

o Ashley showed all kinds of horror movies. Anything that was allowed to be shown on public television.

o Every Halloween he would run a classics marathon, and run the old Universal titles.

Anyway, I'll get on this and see what I can find. I'm genuinely glad to have an outlet for the research.

* Here's a great peek behind the scenes from the show's producer!:

Funny to find this tid bit about Ashley Ghastly on line. I'm Eve Olasov, producer at Channel Five back in the 70's and 80's. I actually wrote (if you can call it that) the script for Reginald the Bat, Ashley Ghastly, and the gang.
As I recall I would off the cuff simply write in magic marker directly onto the long rolls of paper the entire show straight from my brain to the teleprompter.
The joke of the week was generally pulled from the corniest material I could find - usually an old issue of Reader's Digest.
This show was fun, corny, and more corny. Impromptu fun at a televsion station. Something you're not likely to find anymore. I suppose these were the end of the golden period of TV. At the time we thought those days were long gone but now looking back I realize those indeed were the tail end of an era of golden days.
Cyrus is now in New York still acting.
I'm still in Charleston SC selling high end luxury real estate. I left Channel Five in 1988 and very rarely look back or think of those days.
Thank you for jogging my memory.
Eve Olasov
Charleston SC

* Here's some E-gorespondence and some terrific mementos of Ashley Ghastly from his fan Robert Everett:

Fangs for your efforts extended in constructing such a wonderful Horror Hosts site. My young mind was forever colored by one, Ashley Ghastly, when growing up in Summerville, SC outside of Charleston. When Ashley lit the screen I held séance with him through the flickering luminance of the TV and the surrounding room curtained in dark. I have attached scans of the front and back of my Official ASHLEY GHASTLY Phantom Phan Club Membership Card. I would be honored if you would be so kind as to add them under his profile. If Ashley is still among us I would relish the opportunity to thank him for the impact he had as an inimitable character in adding some deliciously ghoulish flavor to this individual's life. A Phantom Phan Forever — "I Love It!" ... echoes through eternal night.
This name runs black...
Robert Everett

Ashley Ghastly (Cyrus Newitt) left his mark on me. It remains most apparent in the way I walk this Earth and I wear that mark proudly. And... as long as persons of our ilk live, these gloriously maleficent agents of the black flame will never go the way of being forgotten.
Thanks to my Mother, what very well may be the only surviving photos of Ashley have been saved from the fate of oblivion. These images were discovered in an old photo album. That is me on top, and below is my Brother, Eric, doing his damnedest to edge the unknown woman out of the shot.
(See note from Carol Phillips below for her identity — E-gor!)
Reginald the Bat came along for a ride perched, albeit rather precariously, atop Ashley's top hat. These were taken in Summerville, SC, at a Burger King that, to the best of my knowledge, still stands today. In the halls of time I remain where it is now quite dark...
Robert Everett
Charlotte, NC

* Another old fan of the show writes from Atlanta:

This is about ASHLEY GHASTLY of Scream Theater in Charleston, SC from late 70's through early 80's. I watched his show like religion and was even on it as his cousin "Shalob" visiting from the old country once! Cy was a great, funny, nice guy that I met on a few occasions at public appearences. That is where he asked me once if I wanted to come on the show since he had already shown pictures on TV I had sent him of me crawling out of the grave for a gag. He also did the weather there at channel 5 for a time before and afterwards. I always dreamed of returning to Charleston and picking up the gauntlet where he left off.
Merrick M

* Art Barton adds:

In reference to Ashley Ghastly (Channel 5, Charleston, SC in the late 70s), the spider that he had on his show was named DISCO. Appropriately horrible name.

Ashley showed a lot of the typical "B" movies. One night as he started the program, he said something like this -- "We have a different type of show for you tonight -- we actually have -- a GOOD movie!" (It was Invasion of the Body Snatchers from the 50s.)

(E-gorespondent "kjvbart" also remembered Disco's name — E-gor.)

* Another person who helped Ashley on the show contributed these memories with a couple of e-mails in July 2007! First note:

Well, thanks for bringing back those memories. I'm Carol Phillips, and I played Swamp Woman for a time on Scream Theatre in the early 80s. The giant purple spider was named Disco, and he was created by Dave Frederick, a WCSC staffer who was also a puppeteer ... Dave made Reginald the Bat as well.

Eve Olasov's recollections were right on the mark: the show was impromptu and taped on Tuesday afternoons generally. We had a great deal of fun. I was a staffer at WCSC-TV who for some reason was pressed into service clapping the "slate" at the front of the show. Ashley (Cy) called me Slate Woman, and one day he couldn't think of it, so it became Swamp Woman. I wore an Australian bushwhacker hat and was basically a very second banana to Cy's amazing extemporaneous talent. Each week Ashley Ghastly "punted" a stuffed animal, and it was my job to visit a local toy store and borrow the critter of the week. I recall that once we brought a live tarantula to the studio, and only one grip would touch it ... lol. Those were the good old days, and I had a great deal of fun reading your site. Thanks so much.
Carol Phillips Blue, MCC

Second note:

After sending the previous email, I looked at Robert Everett's two fan photos of Ashley. The "unknown woman" in the center was Swamp Woman ... a much younger me ... lol.