COMPANY TOWN : Ghoul Crazy : Think Elvira Has One Foot in the Grave? Think Again

By SCOTT COLLINS

Oct. 31, 1995 12 AM PT

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

Even the woman who plays Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, admits that some people may have grown dead-tired of the character. But her financial performance can still cast a spell.

For more than 10 years, Elvira, a bosomy Valley Girl-as-vampire portrayed by actress Cassandra Peterson, has been using her tongue-in-cheek style to pitch beer, records, computer games and dozens of other products.

But if you want real spine-tingling chills, check out Elvira’s bank account. Peterson and her husband, former musician Mark Pierson, have built a mini-empire based largely on licensing the glamour ghoul’s name and likeness for Halloween-related and other merchandise.

“In L.A. and New York, I know people may think of me as ‘been there, done that,’ ” conceded Peterson, 43. “But in the rest of the country, I’m still very hot.”

Someone must still be buying Elvira. The couple’s Los Angeles-based Queen B Productions consistently scares up more than $1 million in annual revenue, even though Elvira has no high-powered agents or hit movies to keep her in the public eye. Such a figure is considered impressive for a living celebrity, although licensed products linked to old movie stars and blockbuster films routinely sell even more.

“We’re not dependent on any one area as part of our income,” said Pierson, 40, who manages his wife’s career. “Elvira does personal appearances, books, publishing, records. . . . If we were still looking for that big Hollywood deal, we probably would have starved to death a long time ago.”

That Elvira has exhibited a vampire-like refusal to die proves the enduring value of fame in America. Even minor celebrity can translate into major bucks, as long as entrepreneurs have the desire and ingenuity to exploit it.

Karen Raugust, executive editor of the Licensing Letter, the bible of the $70-billion licensing industry, said that Elvira has succeeded by developing a unique character and linking herself to an increasingly popular holiday.

“She’s basically a classic character,” Raugust said. “One reason to do licensing is to help distinguish your products from those of your competitors.”

Peterson’s unlikely success as a “professional pitchwoman,” to use Pierson’s phrase, has carried her a long way from Las Vegas, where in the late 1960s she was one of the youngest showgirls in the town’s history.

She next toured the United States and Europe as a rock singer before landing in Los Angeles, where she met Pierson, a Malibu native and aspiring musician. Soon Peterson was honing a popular Valley Girl character with the Groundlings comedy troupe. In 1981, when KHJ-TV (now KCAL) was looking for a hostess for its B-movie horror series, Peterson refined that character into a ditzy ghoul, with hair, makeup and costume help from designer friend Robert Redding.

The character proved instantly popular with viewers, though Peterson saw little financial gain right away. In May, 1982, the TV station sold 2.7 million pairs of 3-D glasses for a special broadcast, but Elvira netted just $350 for her hosting chores, according to Peterson.

“I felt a little shafted,” she said.

But that feeling didn’t last long. By the mid-1980s, with merchandising offers starting to roll in, Pierson had successfully negotiated all of the rights to the character.

The licensing agreements are similar to royalty contracts signed by authors and other artists. Companies typically pay a royalty in exchange for the right to use the character’s name and likeness on specific merchandise. The royalty rate can range from 5% to 15% of the wholesale price, or what the retailer pays for the product.

Expensive-to-manufacture goods, such as plastic models or perfumes, fetch lower rates than cheaper paper products such as calendars or posters, said Pierson, who recently inked new deals for Elvira phone cards, mystery novels and animated videos. Once the product is distributed, “then it’s just sitting back and getting quarterly royalty checks,” he said.

Linda Castillon, executive director of licensing for Novato, Calif.-based Landmark Calendars, said sales of the company’s Elvira calendars (currently retailing for $10.99) are comparable to those of model Anna Nicole Smith and James Dean. She declined to release specific sales figures.

But Elvira’s career has not always been so charmed. A 1988 feature film earned tepid reviews and less-than-supernatural box office receipts; a sequel has been stalled in turnaround at troubled Carolco Pictures, Pierson said. CBS failed to pick up her 1993 sitcom pilot, he added, because it was deemed “too sexy.” Even lingerie makers backed away from licensing underwear based on Elvira’s self-styled push-up bra (size 34D).

None of this worries Pierson much. He said Elvira continues to test well among every audience segment save one: people earning more than $150,000 a year. And the couple--who have a 1-year-old daughter--can afford a comfortable lifestyle, including a Hollywood home, an apartment building and a sizable investment nest egg.

In fact, Pierson sees Elvira as a “Halloween icon” that will endure for years, though probably with another actress in the role.

“Cassandra sees herself putting on this makeup and doing the act for another five years, tops, before she calls it a day,” Pierson said.

“But I can see us marketing this character till the day we die.”

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Scaring Up Deals

A partial list of Elvira’s endorsements and licensees:

* Bally / Midway (pinball game)

* Claypool Comics (comic books)

* Coors Beer (Halloween promotions)

* London International (press-on fingernails)

* Personal appearances (Up to $10,000 apiece)

* ABC Theatrical Costume (Elvira costume)