Virginia Creepers: The Horror Host Tradition of the Old Dominion

Bob Dalton and the Black Cat (1952-1955?) has been suggested as the first television horror host, preceding even Vampira, but after researching what little information remains, it is a stretch to call it horror hosting in the sense that we know it commonly. Dalton was a career employee of WTOP Channel 9, now known as WUSA, moving from radio to TV. He was as smooth on TV as he was on radio and he eventually became well known as the evening news anchor for the station.

"Tales of the Black Cat" was a CBS television show that was something of a pre-cursor to "Twilight Zone" and "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," and it appears to have originated in New York City perhaps as early as 1950. Apparently it featured the exploits of a gifted crime solving cat named Thanotopsis aiding James Monk in getting to the bottom of things unseemly. VERY little info is available on this show despite the fact that it ran until at least 1954. IMDB does not even have a listing and it gets only passing reference in TV history texts. Then, on February 8, 1952, a curious help-wanted announcement appeared in the Washington post for a black cat to aid WTOP studio talent Bob Dalton as he hosted the show during cut aways. Make of the opening line what you will . . .


The following day, February 9th, Bob appeared with Thanatopsis for the first time and according to Jim Silman, the floor producer of the show, it was a simple affair. Bob appeared in a black leotard with the cat on a stool and did the commercial breaks. Back then, TV was still local even when it was national, and Bob was a gifted newsreader, and thus was likely mixing in promos with whatever else he did. The listing on the TV page says at 10 pm, WTOP viewers could expect the following: So, was Bob Dalton the first horror host in the country? You can make an argument, but as George Chastain, creator of E-gor's Chamber of TV Horror Hosts, points out, there were traveling spook shows and radio programs prior to this, so it is difficult to say. However, the site does post this interesting note from Bob Dalton's Washington Post obit in 1974: In one notable assignment in 1953, he was host of a clutch of horror movies that the station had programmed under the title of "The Black Cat." In introducing the films, Mr. Dalton was clad in a black leotard. On his lap, to enhance the atmosphere of fright, was Thanatopsis, a large black cat. Switching on the brilliant television lights made the animal nervous. Inevitably, on one show, the cat answered the call of nature. On another, it dug long claws through Mr. Dalton's leotard and into his thighs. Years later, Mr. Dalton remembered with amusement that the cat earned a $5 talent fee for each show. Mr. Dalton received no extra pay. "It's been a lot of comfort for me that I have outlasted that cat," he said long afterward. Given the fact that 1953 is ultimately the wrong date, one has to wonder about other aspects of this Washington Post obituary. Still, cat pee is pretty memorable and it sounds like Dalton was playing something of a familiar role even if the show itself was only 30 minutes and the films were not from a cinematic studio.

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