In 1954, Maila Nurmi shocked the world as sexy horror host Vampira on KABC. She rocketed to national, then worldwide stardom, then quickly faded ... although her character was a clear blueprint, much later, for Cassandra Peterson's "Elvira" character on TV and in the movies. Nurmi died in 2008.

In 2010 Off-Ramp contributor R.H. Greene, who became friends with Nurmi in her later years, told her story for Off-Ramp in a documentary called "Vampira and Me." (The radio doc became a film in 2012.)

Support for this podcast comes from Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live; and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

"I would run my sticky fingers across images that seemed to be beamed from some magical, alternative universe where people gave dinner parties and owned patio furniture." -- David Dean Bottrell's "Crafty Little Christmas" 

Every year, I'd put my name next to twenty toys in the JC Penny and Sears Christmas catalogs, and guess what ... every year I wouldn't get everything I wanted. And every years I was sorely disappointed. Big surprise. It took a long time before I woke up,  changed my ways, and discovered a lot more happiness on Christmas. 

The Christmas catalog played a slightly different role for actor/writer/teacher/Kentuckian/homosexual David Dean Bottrell, and this week, we're setting the proper mood for the season -- don't be greedy! -- by listening to his story "A Crafty Little Christmas," which he performed for "Once Upon a Christmas" in 2012. (We first broadcast it on Off-Ramp in 2013.)

Support for this podcast comes from Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live; and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

Off-Ramp theme music by Fesliyan Studios.

A Forefather of Modern Art in Southern California; Modern Love; Cool Curator; Cool Living; Are Black People Cooler than Whites?; Stone Cold; Where's the Future?; More Jazz at the Getty; Ahmad Jamal; Not Ruby Tuesday, Ruby Restaurant; A Trumpet in Every Pot

Careful Where You Point That Thing!; Twelve Tones, Hanging Ten; Hail, Little Caesar; How Green Was My Valley?; Say It Is So; Clippers' Main Man; Mariachis on the Move; The Closer's Closet; The Wagonmaster

Off-Ramp Goes Live to Report on the Fires

Vartabedian Handicap; Galileo at the Skirball; Taco Shop Memories; Puppets of Japan; Gunning for 100 and Still Pushing Art; Commuters looking for Community; I Am a Man Now; Hallowed Ground; From New York to LA; Birth of the Cool; Listener Comment

Wine Country: Echo Park; Wine Country: Slow Pickings; Wine Country: A Tasting; With Mallets of Forethought; United in Hate; Sisyphus has his rock and Alys his bug; Spider Pavilion; Spider's Web Snares Genius; Homeboy is Here To Stay; Wes Parker Reflects on Baseball; Listener Call: LAX Pylons

Soundtrack of Your Life; Song Stories; Going Super Sonic; Jobbing at the County Fair; Sad Life, Great Writer; Film, Music, Art and Sport?; Not The End; Getty Receives the Go on Antiquities; Solar Convention in Long Beach; You're listening...

Commentator Garrison Keillor; Art Tatum Rises ; California Canon; Unsung Beat; Skid Row Seafood Joint; The Straight Bacon; Whiskey Runs with Queena; From OC to Iraq; On The Gritty Side

Sentimental Kendt; Jerry Stahl on "Love Without"; All You Can't Eat; Anime Bento; Airport Beautification; Yogathon Habitat; Mix Tapes; Firehouse Cooks; Culture Clash's Zorro in Hell; Bike On