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“In the realm of horror culture, there’s one woman whose name is forever etched into the celluloid of our dreams,” reflected Scream Queens Illustrated earlier this year. “She’s the Maiden of the Macabre, the Mistress of the Dark—she is Elvira, the icon.
“Cassandra Peterson’s creation has been part of the world of horror entertainment for 35 years now {her horror hosting of a late-night cable access show began in September 1981}. She’s still as flawless as ever and as popular as ever—indeed, the drop-dead damsel is even enjoying a major revival these days!
And today is HER day … known as The Queen of Halloween, she’s still a hands on heroine.
“I hope you’ll enjoy taking a walk with me down mammary, uh, I mean memory lane,” she teases … yet amazingly, even at age 65 (last month), we saw that no copycat horror hacks can hold a candle to Elvira’s still ‘Great Pumpkins’!
2016 has truly been a banner year for The Mistress of the Dark …
… in March she became only the fifth person and second woman {after iconic actress Barbara Steele} to be given The HorrorHound Lifetime Achievement Award “designed to honor exceptional contributions to horror.” The citation emphasized Elvira’s “35 years as an iconic figure in the industry, a merchandising genius, and an inspiration to people around the world.” People like these walking dead inspired to animate for her ceremony:
And earlier this month she was picked to be Special Guest Judge for the Food Network’s Halloween Wars—a culinary clash between witches and warlocks.
Among chef Elvira’s personal favorite recipes are her Hungarian Ghoulash and Corn on the Macabre, washed down with a Bloody Mary Poppins.
“It would be nice if they got the jokes,” the former improv comic (with pal Pee-Wee Herman from her Groundlings days, below) says of her audience. “But if they don’t, at least they’ve got the cleavage.”
Which is why she’s even gearing up for a post-Halloween campaign: with the election just 8 days away, the self-proclaimed Dead, White and Blue patriot is throwing her pumpkins into the ring for her second presidential run (goth great Masuimi Max models the candidate’s—what else?—black T shirt).
When Elvira first ran against the Bush-Quayle ticket in 1992, her campaign slogan was: “We’ve already got twoboobs in the office. Why not mine?”
Hers pushed to the front early: Born on September 17, 1951 in Manhattan, Kansas (“I usually tell people I’m from Manhattan and skip the Kansas part,” she quips), Cassandra Peterson grew up—and out—in Colorado Springs. “I was about 14,” she recalls, “a really skinny, nerdy-looking kid until then, and over the summer I grew this enormous bosom. Suddenly, I had the best figure in the entire school.”
As a senior—she graduated, of course, in ’69—Cassandra went to Vegas on vacation … and was recruited by the Vive Les Girls topless revue to join their ranks. The day after graduating, she returned to become what the Guinness Book of World Records recognizes as “The Youngest Showgirl in Las Vegas History” at age 17!
“I’m certainly not shy and I don’t have a problem with nudity,” Elvira explains. “Years before I was Elvira I was a showgirl in Vegas. It wasn’t like I was a prude.”
But she was a virgin … which kept her from consummating matters on a date with her idol, Elvis Presley. Taken to his suite by a fellow showgirl, she reveals: “That was a dream come true for me. Elvis kind of glommed on to me because, you know, I was 17 and everybody else there was probably over 30.” After everybody else left, “there was a lot of making out going on,” Cassandra continues. “We had a great time.”
But not as great as The King expected: “I was a virgin, so when something did start happening—we were kissing hot and heavy—I told him that. I was just panicked about guys … and I said ‘no’ to Elvis—can you believe it? I wasn’t a good girl with Elvis … I was a stupid one!”
Yet smart enough to heed his advice: You ought to get the hell out of Vegas before you’re 40 years old and your boobs are sagging.” Unlike, ironically, those of the first-ever Elvis impersonator—who started performing in just pasties on the Strip in 1957 and called herself, in an amazing irony, Elvira Presley!
And even though the future Elvira’s 18-year-old ‘boobs’ had gotten the music idol All Shook Up, she did what he asked {except for the sex part}. “I don’t think if it had come from anybody but Elvis, I would’ve done it,” the redhead reflects. “He is one hundred percent responsible for me getting out of Vegas and going on with my career. The day my {stripping} contract ended, I was done. I couldn’t handle it.”
Nor could she handle the other big headliner in Vegas at the time: “Tom Jones was a total ass,” Cassie confides. She lost her virginity to him … and it wasn’t pleasant. “Tom seemed gentlemanly and nice, so when he was jumping on me … I thought, ‘Well, if I’m ever gonna do this, it might as well be with Tom Jones. It was painful and horrible.”
Of course, It’s Not Unusual for the first time to hurt … but the famously endowed singer’s “roughness” required the teen “to get stitches after the sex session was over.”
Though that same year she was able to accommodate the girth of guitar great Jimi Hendrix—whose classic organ was dubbed ‘The Penis de Milo.’ Asked about their sexual encounters, Elvira exclaims: “I had quite a lot of fun with him, I must say. Ow! Big and wet. Let me say no more.”
But she does say that even before Elvis, Tom and Jimi, “I was a big groupie from the age of 14 to 17. The whole time I was trying to avoid losing my virginity.” A running-buddy of ‘The World’s Most Famous Groupie,’ Pamela Des Barres (below right), Cassandra can boast of conquests—after ‘losing her cherry’—such as Eric Burdon of The Animals (together below left) and Jimmy Page of The Yardbirds.
Some stars were too shy to show their face while ‘with’ the redhead rebel (below left), but Rebel Yell rocker Billy Idol was happy to get his (guitar) licks in.
Likewise, bad boy Axl Rose (below left) and mesmerized stoner Cheech Marin.
Plus, Elvira and addled Alice Cooper were openly lovers in the early Eighties.
“I wasn’t a groupie to hunt down guys,” she makes clear. “I was a music freak, so I had to like the music in order to chase the band.” Still, the actress admits: “I think Elvis and Hendrix were the only ones that didn’t try to jump me right away.”
And Cass acknowledges: “I did a million and one music videos back then with all kinds of artists.” Sleuth has unearthed this one with eerie spine-tingling premonitions of Elvira:
Elvis’ advice to leave Las Vegas and pursue a singing career—they did duets that never reached a climax—“prompted a trip to Italy” to front two Roman rock bands I Latins Ochanats and The Snails. Things moved fast, however: “I was a huge Federico Fellini fan and literally met him walking down the street in Rome where he was filming the movie Roma (1972). He thought I looked like his wife Giulietta Masina when she was really young and asked me if I wanted to work on the film,” Elvira remembers. So she and a fellow showgirl friend “played different parts every day, wearing wacky wigs and different costumes.” Sometimes without a top (below center).
Back stateside, Cassandra went back to what she knew best—burlesque—in 1973 playing a stripper in the sexploitation film The Working Girls …
… which she parlayed into a part that shocked diner cook Al in Happy Days.
Not to mention being ogled by Arte Johnson as harem girl Ptatateetah on Fantasy Island.
Actually, her first acting part, at age 19—uncredited as an Acorn Girl serving Shady Tree (comedian Leonard Barr) in the 1971 Bond film Diamonds Are Forever—found her in the familiar role of a Vegas showgirl (below right), paired with fellow former topless dancer Valerie Perrine.
And probably her most memorable gig before being reborn as Elvira was once again playing a stripper—topless except for tiny tassels—in the background on the cover of Tom Waits’ 1976 album Small Change.
“That is a giant mystery to me,” she laughs nowadays. “I don’t remember having done it. But of course, I don’t remember a lot of stuff I did in the ’70s. I went straight from the ’60s to the ’80s. But it looks like me! I’ve stared at it really, really hard {no doubt her fans have too!} and I’m pretty sure it’s me. But I don’t remember that one.”
She does remember “twirling tassels on my tits,” though: “I knew how to do that since I was 14 years old,” Cass crows. “I was a big girl when I was 14. I was a go-go dancer in a Colorado nightspot called Club A Go-Go. I can have them go in either direction.” And still can: “It’s like riding a bike—once you learn, you never forget. It’s all a muscle control thing.”
The aspiring actress was pretty much out of control before landing her Elvira job in 1981. “I was your typical struggling starlet. I went to every audition…and spent years wondering where my next meal was coming from.”
Then fate threw her a bone. As Femme Fatales magazine put it when selecting Cassandra’s character as #1 on its list of Sci-Fi’s Sexiest B-Queens of All Time: “Had a revival of the old Gilligan’s Island TV series gone as planned, Peterson may have never slipped into her Elvira alter ego.” The actress confirms: “When I was little, I was a freak for Gilligan’s Island … especially Ginger, and I always wanted to be just like Tina Louise.” After auditioning “over and over” for that role in the revival, series creator Sherwood Schwartz “took me aside and said, ‘You’re the one! You’re the only one we want. You are Ginger. You’re perfect for it.’”
Until “another producer came down to the set on the last day. Apparently, he had seen me in The Groundlings on a night we wound up doing a risqué improve. I did a sketch involving a gynecologist. The producer decided her didn’t want ‘that element’ in the Gilligan’s Island remake.” So the part went to similarly stacked JudithBaldwin (below right) … though Cassie’s chassis is the real thing.
Heartbroken, Peterson went to a cattle call for a crummy cable access show: “They interviewed over 1,500 people” to be horror hostess Elvira, she looks back. “And it came down to me and two other finalists, both of whom had the biggest busts I’ve ever seen on human beings in my life! These girls put Dolly Parton to shame.” Yet somehow the 38-26-37 Cassandra got the part …
… and even found a specially designed corset by burlesque legend Lili St. Cyr to push up her natural 34D bra. “It’s a miracle of modern science,” she quips. “But there is nothing in there except my major steel-belted, double-radial brassiere, which contains a lot of metal. There’s no glue, no staples, no nails involved.”
Asked what happens if she sets off airport security alarms, the horror hostess notes: “I always opt for the strip search.”
“Out of drag,” the petite Peterson points out, “I’m short {5-foot-7}, freckled, red-headed and not that busty.”
“The hair was based on {singer} Ronnie Spector from the Ronettes,” Elvira explains, “and the dress was just made as sexy as humanly possible. I couldn’t believe they were going to let me wear it on TV. And then it just became this overnight hit. I don’t think people could believe what they were seeing!”
Neither will you … when Part 2 presents Sleuth’s Top Ten All-Time Nudes of the Queen of Halloween as evening approaches.
You’re in for a treat.
