Bloofer Lady: Vampira
We’ve had a lot of Bloofer Gents in recent years, so I think it’s time we returned to praise the beauty of a shady lady, don’t you? And we won’t be alone in singing the praises of this year’s horrifying hottie, as many rockabilly, psychobilly and punk bands have also waxed lyrical about Vampira’s deathly charms. Actress Maila Nurmi wasn’t a stranger to the spooy side of things before reincarnating as Vampira; she’d already appeared on the Broadway stage in midnight show Spook Scandals, and adopted bat-shaped glasses after they were a prop in a photo shoot she did with Man Ray. A fortitous encounter at a masquerade – she went as the Charles Addams cartoon character who would later be named Morticia, and a television producer in attendance was looking for someone to host suspense films – led to the summoning of the spirit of our spooktastic siren Vampira. For five years or so, in the 1950s, Vampira was queen of the night. Life magazine ran an article on her. She appeared on ...
