Chiller Theater: Remembering Bill Cardille's Weekly Scarefest

PITTSBURGH, PA - Two months before John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, a Saturday afternoon program inauspiciously debuted on WIIC-TV that featured the cheesiest of horror movies - cinematic Swiss with titles such as “The Brain From Planet Arous,” “The Crawling Eye,” and “Attack of the Crab Monsters.”

Few at the time realized that after the Saturday afternoon cheesefest soon moved to a different time slot and was given an on-air host, "Chiller Theater" would become must-see local TV for the next two decades.

WIIC (now WPXI-TV) studio announcer Bill Cardille presided over the show’s campy weirdness and adopted the moniker “Chilly Billy” for the program. Cardille, who died in 2016 at 87, spent nearly 60 years in broadcasting as an announcer, DJ, weather forecaster, studio wrestling show host and local Labor Day weekend Muscular Dystrophy telethon emcee.

Out of his many professional roles, he knew the one for which he ultimately would be remembered.

"Chilly Billy is what I'm known for," Cardille told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review in 2007. "I'll always be Chilly Billy."

Cardille started as the solo host, but in later years a castle set was constructed for “Chiller Theater” and a cast of oddball characters was introduced whose names probably still resonate with many Pittsburghers.

They included the Steve Luncinski,who played Stefan the Castle Prankste;, Bonnie Sue Barney, AKA as Georgette the Fudgemaker; Norman Elder as Norman the Castle Keeper and Donna Rae, better known as Terminal Stare.

The show had famous guest stars as well. According to GeekPittsburgh.com, those dropping by the Chiller Theater set included comedy stars such as Jerry Lewis and Phyllis Diller; Pittsburgh wrestler Bruno Sammartino, whom Cardille got to know while hosting another WIIC’s studio wrestling show; and Pittsburgh native Barbara Feldon, a Pittsburgh native most famous for playing Agent 99 on the 1960s TV comedy “Get Smart.”

But those occasional guest stars took a backseat to the familiarity fans expected when they tuned in to the show as the Saturday night ended. That included the haunting theme, “Experiment in Terror,” composed by western Pennsylvania’s own Henry Mancini and recorded by guitarist and arranger Al Caiola; the interplay between Cardille and his offbeat cast of castle dwellers and of course weekly double features of some of the worst in horror and science fiction cinema.

Occasionally a classic like “Frankenstein” would sneak in as an offering. But most of the time the offerings were movies such as “The Thing That Couldn’t Die,” “Billy the Kid Versus Dracula,” “Bat Men of Africa,” and, of course, “Pillow of Death.” Seriously, “Pillow of Death.”

Given that fare, those unfamiliar with “Chiller Theater” likely would be amazed to learn it was so popular locally that it kept a cultural phenomenon off of the air for years in Pittsburgh. NBC began airing “Saturday Night Live” in 1975 and the show almost immediately made stars of Chevy Chase, John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray and others.

But SNL’s debut proved to be the beginning of the end for Chilly Billy and company. Bowing to network pressure, the local NBC affiliate started airing the show in 1979 and bumped “Chiller Theater” to Saturdays at 1 a.m.

Although the program lingered on for a few more years, the handwriting was on the wall. “Chiller Theater” concluded its spectacular weekly run in December 1983.

But until his health began to fail, Cardille and other cast members often would attend local horror and fantasy conventions. They also appeared at an annual Chiller Cruise aboard the Gateway Clipper Fleet. A tribute website, ChillerTheaterMemories, also helps to keep the show alive.

Much like the zombies and vampires that were staples of the show, even after its death “Chiller Theater” proved impossible to kill.

Image via YouTube.

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