Her pale white skin, arched eyebrows, blood red lips, raven hair and hour glass figure in a slinky black dress were simply irresistible. Not only did she make television history by becoming the first horror movie hostess but she also created her own remarkable, illustrious persona that would become adored by the nation and imitated repeatedly over time.

The femme fatale Vampira was born when Maila attended a masquerade ball held by the famous choreographer Lestor Horton in 1953. She was inspired by the character created by Charles Addams in his cartoons for The New Yorker. She decided to create her own version of Morticia Addams — a busty, sexy, single vampire wearing a skin tight, low cut dress with long black hair and 3 inch long red fingernails. That night she won the costume contest out of 2,000 other candidates and gained the attention of Hunt Stromberg who would later approach her to host a late night horror television show.

The Vampira Show aired in April 30, 1954 and she was nominated for an Emmy for Most Outstanding Female Personality. The show became notorious for its beginning. Vampira would glide through spine chilling fog down a candlelit corridor and stop suddenly with a blood curdling scream and announce to the frightened audience that, “Screaming relaxes me so.” She would then recline on a Victorian couch adorned with skulls and entertain her guests throughout the evening of horror between commercials and movie reels.

Some of her specialties were talking to unseen ghosts and her fictitious pet spider Rolo, or giving recipes for ghoulish drinks from her poison bar. She would tell people that “I hope you have been lucky enough to have a horrible week.” She even discussed a hospital plan for would-be suicides called The Yellow Cross. At one point she also ran as Night Mayor of Hollywood with her platform of dead issues. Sometimes Vampira would promote the show by having a chauffeur drive her around LA sitting rigidly in the back of an old 1932 Packard with the top down and her black parasol up. She would be in her full makeup and wardrobe and whenever the car would stop at red lights she would scream. She would tell fans asking for her coveted signature, “I give epitaphs not autographs.”