Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • A16

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And here it is, in the Golden Bowl of Garbage, go- ing to obliterate it so that we have to wor- ry about Sweed threw the M-80s in the garbage can. Film everywhere. getting a standing he said. no fool. I saw the change in reaction.

I we had to step this thing up. So, the fol- casting, which owned stations in Cleveland, Detroit, San Francisco, Boston and elsewhere, decided to syndicate the Ghoul. But Sweed could only duplicate his fame in Detroit, on Channel 50. is, by far, and even though I origi- nated in Cleveland and been in seven of the top 10 markets, Detroit has by far and away, since day one, been the best fans that The Ghoul has. First of all, you know Detroit and Cleveland match up, city for city, suburb for suburb.

very Hamtramck, he felt, resembled the Cleve- land suburb of Parma. So the jokes translated well. intellect, the fan base (in Detroit), whatever, they get he said. have to explain to them, and never did. It was just gangbusters right from the beginning.

Gangbusters in Cleveland, too, but even more so in Detroit. My appearance in Detroit, just wild, rabid people. But always polite. It was a 10-star generals in the Ghoul Power Army. And they never let me down.

There were no ap- pearances where no one showed The Ghoul reached his height on Channel 50 between 1972 and 1975. He would never appear out of costume, which gave him the option of traveling about town freely without being ha- rassed by exuberant fans. He said he learned that lesson from the late Muhammad Ali, who told him, never let that public out who you or what you are. Because once they you out, on to something Television would change, making the act less salable. Night would suck the oxygen out of the Satur- day night time period after 1975.

Television stations found it easier to sell infomercials in the late night hours. He would appear on and on Channel 20 and 62, most recently on three holiday specials on Channel 20 in late 2001, but rarely after that. During the last few years, he would make occasional appearances at metro Detroit clubs. He remained a hero, particularly among De- punk musicians. Said St.

Mary: was irreverent about things that people were supposed to be irrever- ent about. It was free-form chaos. And people loved In a 2017 interview, he seem to regret the fact that his television career was over. time for somebody else to start en- tertaining he said. Sweed Continued from Page 4A Ron Sweed remained a hero, particularly among punk musicians.

FREE PRESS ARCHIVES Detroit has by far and away, since day one, been the best fans that The Ghoul Ron Sweed chest. So I play along, stagger back. The stage is about 5 foot high and I backed right the stage. on my back, like an armadillo, my warms waving. I just see him peering over, laughing.

you OK, baby? Come on back up OK. So once again I stumbled upon the stage and did the rest of the That dive into the orchestra pit would prove to be a turning point in life. He went to work part-time for Anderson while still in high school. When Anderson eventually departed for Hollywood to work as an announcer he was the guy who an- nounced luuuuvvv on Love Ghoulardi disappeared from the Cleveland airwaves as Anderson made his fortune in Los Angeles. But Sweed was intent on somehow bringing his hero back to Ohio, even on a temporary ba- sis.

The two went out to dinner when Anderson returned home one weekend. said, it be fun if you came back once a month, did four shows, wrap them out real quick in one day, go back to the West Coast and continue to be a Well, I presented him with the idea that evening at dinner. He said: Did it. done. I have any desire to do that I wanted to be his gopher again, producer, production assis- tant.

He said: (But) if you want to do it, you have my He said knock Call yourself the Ghoul or whatever thing you want to call it, and give it a So Sweed appropriated cos- tume and became the Ghoul in 1971. It was a disaster, at Fans saw it as a of their hero. old beatnik attitude lost something in translation during the rock roll era. And then, Sweed hauled out the ers. doing an appearance.

Nothing. not getting a reaction. People are just looking at me like, I know, like an alien from some- place. I know watching the show, be- cause they got the references. And so I got to amp it up here.

got to get some sort of he recalled. so I had a garbage can full of scraps of 16 millimeter I had some M-80s in my lowing week I came just roaring in on roller skates, crash into my set, knocking the set Said Rob St. Mary, a Detroit journalist and author of Orbit Magazine understood that times had changed from the beatnik version of Ernie. It was spectacle. It was blowing up.

He was using the crazy hip lingo that Ernie had, and tweaking it a bit Sweed liked to show old horror Really old. Often really bad ones. movies he shows have been around so long that anyone who seen them by the time they get passed on to The show had the TV set for 10 one reader complained to Bettelou Peterson, the Free Press TV writer. The Ghoul, of course, mocked those as part of his act. The combined of the chaos, ers, and irony made him a hit.

Kaiser Broad-.