The latest press release from the office:

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“LiveFeed Video Imaging is pleased to announce the restoration of the only known video footage of Maila Nurmi, in her role as the legendary TV horror movie hostess “Vampira.”

Originally airing live during 1954-55, exclusively in the Los Angeles area, it was believed until recently that no footage of the iconic late-night program had been preserved—but during a recent vault search, it was discovered that about 3 minutes of studio material from the August 14, 1954 program had been incorporated into a sales film that the sponsoring station (KABC) used to attract advertisers to their local programming.

After securing the material, and giving loyal fans a “first look” at the footage on the popular “Vampira’s Attic” website (www.vampirasattic.com), Nurmi and her business associate, Clint Hickman decided to go one step farther with the presentation of the material, and hired video restoration expert Kevin Segura (“The Kingston Trio: Wherever We May Go” and “Elvis Presley: The Ed Sullivan Shows”) to assess the clips for a possible LiveFeed Video Imaging processing that would restore the program’s “live broadcast” look.

“Well, to say the least, it was a pleasant surprise to hear that the material had been located.” Segura said. “With a local television production, particularly one of this vintage, you always have to expect the worst, in terms of survival. Since there was no requirement or financial incentive in those days for a local station to preserve their originating broadcasts, all too often, when you go to look for something, the first thing you discover is that nothing was ever saved in the first place. And although we’d previously heard vague rumors of some “Vampira” footage actually having been archived, there was never any firm evidence offered to indicate that was actually the case.”

“As it turned, we were lucky– the film clips had been compiled and then largely overlooked for the intervening half-century— which meant they were in great shape when we viewed them. Fortunately for all of us, the surviving footage, like Vampira herself, just refused to stay buried. And as always, it was thrilling to see the LiveFeed treatment bring her so realistically back to life— er, death.”

A project which will showcase the restored footage is currently in development.”

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I found this restoration project quite satisfying, not only because it turned out quite well, but also because of the absolute rarity of the material… to anyone’s knowledge, there is no more Vampira footage out there. At least what has managed to survive has now been properly restored.

And– believe it or not, there’s another LiveFeed announcement to be made, but I’m afraid the details will actually have to wait until November, when the official project announcement is due to be issued… promise to fill you in as soon as possible, so stay tuned!!