As the reigning Queen of Halloween for four decades and counting, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, is justly celebrated for her goth-tastic fashion sense, quick wit, and enormous … ratings. But her alter ego, Cassandra Peterson, wants to be remembered by two simple words: great businesswoman.
“A lot of my fans don’t realize that I run a company,” Peterson tells ADWEEK with a grin. “That’s my 24/7 job—being Elvira makes up just a tiny part of it.”
While Elvira would surely object to being described as “tiny,” she’s not the one in charge of Queen “B” Productions, the full-service operation Peterson oversees from her home in Portland, Ore. As the boss, the 73-year-old actress gets the final say on the character’s comings and goings.
Whether the Mistress of the Dark is adorning a new piece of merchandise, striking a fresh brand partnership, taking part in a convention or live event, or opening her vintage vault of Z-grade horror movies for an interested streamer, you can be sure that it’s been vetted and approved by the person who knows her best.
And Peterson has had plenty of time to get acquainted with Elvira. After all, they’ve been in each other’s lives since 1981, when she first donned the character’s signature cleavage-baring black dress—a look she created with her friend and collaborator, Robert Redding—and invited viewers to enter Elvira’s Movie Macabre during the late-night hours on Los Angeles’ local KHJ-TV station.
An immediate hometown hit, Elvira quickly entered the national pop-culture zeitgeist and remains an immediately recognizable figure to this day. It’s the story of how smart brand management can transform a seemingly flash-in-the-pan character into an enduring (and endearing) icon for multiple generations. It’s also the story of a pioneering female entrepreneur controlling the rights to her own intellectual property in a male-dominated space like the fandom industrial complex.
But perhaps most important, it’s a story of liberation. For decades, Peterson had to be Elvira in order to manage her—cloaking her own identity to ensure that the character stayed front and center. A few years ago, though, she made the risky decision to essentially retire the role, only appearing in public as Cassandra, not Elvira. Today, creator and creation exist independently of each other—and business has never been bigger.
“That was my goal for a long time,” Peterson says happily. “I wore that drag for 46 years. At a certain point, it wasn’t going to be pretty!”
