Horror Host Graveyard

In an episode of the 1990's cable access show Professor Kinema , the host, Jim Knusch, presented a look at the history of horror hosting called Nightmare - TV's Horror Hosts and Hostesses . Watch the show here:

Marvin and Dear, from Shock Theatre , made an appearance during the show's run at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, Illinois. Watch the footage, with rare Marvin audio, here:

The only known on set footage from the Chicago area Shock Theatre , is behind the scenes color footage from the show and rehearsals. In it, you can see Shorty, Orville, and Marvin's house band, The Deadbeats. Watch the footage, with some rare audio, here:

In 1956, Marvin and Dear from Chicago's Shock Theater visited Wrigley Field to do some promotions with the Cubs baseball team. Watch some video from their trip, along with some rare audio from Shock Theater here:

Chicago's Shock Theater debuted on December 7, 1957 with Marvin as it's host. Marvin was joined on his show by his wife, only ever referred to as Dear, Shorty, Orville, and his house band, The Deadbeats . The show ran until August of 1959 and on the last show Marvin dropped out of character and his alter ego, Terry Bennett, spoke to the audience and introduced everyone who played a part in making the show. Terry Bennett passed away October 12, 1977. Though no footage of Marvin exists, you can listen to the last nine minutes of his last show here:

Chicago TV Horror Movie Shows: From Shock Theatre to Svengoolie authors Ted Okuda And Mark Yurkiw were interviewed by Frank Avila. They talk about horror host shows from Chicago as well as children's shows from the past. Watch the full interview here:

The book Chicago TV Horror Movie Shows: From Shock Theatre to Svengoolie by Ted Okuda And Mark Yurkiw is an examination of almost all the TV shows that regularly scheduled horror and science fiction movies in Chicago. There are chapters dedicated to the horror hosts of the area, such as Marvin, Svengoolie, Son of Svengoolie, and The Ghoul. Also featured are the shows without hosts, like Creature Features, Monster Rally, and Thrillerama. Most get their own section of the book where the dates the shows ran, reminisces of them, and interviews with people who were involved with them, both behind the scenes and in front of the camera. Spread throughout the book are many pictures and vintage ads from the shows, as well as movie posters of films that they ran. Other chapters in the book cover the authors' top 100 monster movies, reviews of 8mm versions of some of the movies, and a guide to the "Shock!" and "Son of Shock" film packages that were shown in the 1950's...