Commercial Appeal Article
By Bill Dries
March 25, 2005

'Sivad' spooked generation of kids as Mid-South's 'Monster of Ceremonies'

Every Saturday night for more than a decade on Memphis television, Watson Davis frightened and charmed legions of children and young adults with his fanged and pale-faced alter ego. Davis donned a cape, cane, top hat and false vampire teeth in the early 1960s to become Sivad -- the "Monster of Ceremonies" for "Fantastic Features," WHBQ-TV's weekly showing of an old horror movie.
Mr. Davis, an actor and an advertising director for Malco Theaters, died Wednesday of cancer in Stuttgart, Ark. He was 92 and still had his costume close by, according to his nephew, Buddy Davis of Memphis.

The Saturday evening tradition began with the ominous dirge of classical music and a film of Sivad driving a horse-drawn hearse in a foggy Overton Park, pulling a coffin from the back and opening it. In the studio, he would begin with a suitably ghoulish "A goooooood evening." He hosted commercial breaks in the horror movies with routines that were more slapstick than frightening.
"He had no idea how big it would become. He just decided to put on the hat and cape and teeth and turned his name around," his nephew said. Mr. Davis had shown a fondness for costumes, including Sivad's, when promoting movies at what is now the Orpheum. He began working for Malco as an usher when he was 13.

The origin of the stage name was simple, he explained years later. "That's my name backwards. I just made that up thinking in terms of something like Houdini. You know, one word." An early indication of the character's popularity was a June 1963 appearance at the Fairgrounds that drew 30,000 people. Buddy Davis said his uncle was offered a flat fee of $500 or a percentage of the dollar-a-head admission, and to his later regret, took the $500. He made several novelty records including "Sivad Buries Rock and Roll" that have since become collectors' items. Mr. Davis soon hired an agent.

At home, he took calls from neighborhood children delighted to hear him answer the phone with his famous opening line. And the Davis home was a mandatory stop on Halloween. By 1971, Sivad had so many appearances booked in Memphis and the Mid-South that Mr. Davis left his job with Malco. His fame continued long after WHBQ discontinued the horror movies in the mid-1970s and network programming ran into the later evening hours. Mr. Davis and his son opened an auto repair shop and despite requests over the years, Mr. Davis always insisted, "Sivad is gone forever."

Mr. Davis, the husband of Mable Bullock Davis, also leaves three daughters, Robin Lavell Inman, Debbie Maier and Beverly Ideker, all of Stuttgart; a son, Billy Davis of Clarendon, Ark.; 12 grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren. Graveside services will be Saturday at 2 p.m. at Shady Grove Cemetery in Clarendon. Bob Neal & Sons Funeral Home of Clarendon has charge.

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