Svengoolie and ‘Eddie Munster’ to make Hammond appearance

TV host Svengoolie, joined by Chicago radio personality Patti Vasquez, is celebrating his 40th year broadcasting his Windy City based television series. (Patti Vasquez photo)

Former TV child star Butch Patrick donned the guise of this character alter-ego Eddie Munster at a January event joined by his wife Leila Murray. (Butch Patrick photo)

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Philip Potempa

Of Notoriety

Karen Maravilla and her Downtown Hammond Council team have a spooky and kooky duo surprise for Northwest Indiana in October.

In recent years, the organization’s annual DHC Haunting in Hammond event has included Chicago’s nationally syndicated scary movie show host Svengoolie as the featured celebrity guest posing for photos and meeting and greeting fans.

The 2019 event will pair Svengoolie with former TV child star Butch Patrick, who played Eddie Munster on the CBS creepy comedy “The Munsters” from 1964-66 opposite Fred Gwynne and Yvonne De Carlo as his parents.

Svengoolie, one of my favorite Chicago TV heroes, is the alter ego of actor Rick Koz, 67, who created the character in 1979.

This month, Koz and Svengoolie celebrated the 40th anniversary of his now iconic Saturday weekend TV show, which stars him as the host of a weekly showcased classic horror film.

His June 15 broadcast included flashback clips from earlier years as well as a screening of the 1958 film, “Attack of the 50 Foot Woman.”

I’m told that Patrick, 65, will join Svengoolie in October. He will also bring two of his custom cars, both similar as seen on “The Munsters” TV series — the hearse-like automobile called “The Koach” and a coffin-like drag racing design called “The Dragula.”

This isn’t Patrick’s first visit to Northwest Indiana.

In October 2016, I wrote about the pre-Halloween surprise residents in Munster received when Patrick showed up unannounced to the Munster Town Hall. He said he was traveling through the area and decided to visit the town of Munster because of the town’s name association with his TV show. He posed for some photos, which Munster town officials later shared on Facebook, alerting the world that Butch Patrick aka “Eddie Munster” had visited the mecca which shares the same name as his pop culture TV persona.

In September 2016, Patrick surprised family, friends and fans when he married Leila Murray during a small ceremony with 90 guests in Macon, Missouri, and also included his recreation of “The Koach” as part of the day in homage to the eerie automobile the Munsters drove on the TV series.

Scattered with events throughout Downtown Hammond near the intersection of Hohman Avenue and Sibley Boulevard, the 2019 DHC Haunting in Hammond will be from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Oct. 5. Call 219-512-4298 or go to www.downtownhammond.org

Philip Potempa is a journalist, author and the director of marketing at Theatre at the Center.