LEW DEE SATURDAY NIGHT THEATRE
LEW DEE THEATRE

LEW DEE
? - "ARNOLD"
? - "BRUCIE"
? - "COUNT FLIT

Lew Dee was the host of the horror movie show "Lew Dee Saturday Night Theatre" (aka "Lew Dee Theatre"), starting on 23 November 1968 on KSEL-TV Channel 28 in Lubbock, Texas, USA. The show may have ended around 1971. Lew Dee surrounded himself with a ghouls gallery of support characters, including Count Flit (wearing a Topstone girl vampire mask, wig and top hat), Arnold (wearing a Frankenstein mask), and Brucie the gorilla. The names of these actors is not known. LEW DEE From Legacy: Lew Dee - the Lubbock radio and television legend, born Lewis Thomas D'Elia, passed away Oct. 24, 2011, at the age of 79 after a battle with cancer. Lew was born in Jan. 7, 1932, in Hell's Kitchen in Brooklyn, N.Y., the son of Italian immigrants who had arrived in America in 1901. At age 17, after the death of his mother, Bernadette, his father, an Air Force recruiter, insisted that Lew and his brother, Walter, enlist in the U.S. Air Force. Lew's father was concerned that the two motherless teenagers might fall victim to street gangs. After basic training in San Antonio, Texas, the brothers were separated, with Lew assigned to Reese Air Force Base, while Walter went to another Texas base. This separation was a bitter disappointment to the two young brothers, who had been told they would be stationed together. After getting out of the Air Force in 1954, Lew went back to New York, only to return and start his broadcasting career with the Cuckoo Network of radio stations owned by R.B. (Mac) McAlister in Post and Littlefield. He sold advertising in Littlefield and went on the air for the first time on KZZN. Eventually, Lew moved to Lubbock, where he worked at KSEL-AM (current AM 950) and KSEL Television, also owned by Mac McAlister. During his time at KSEL, Lew was a radio and television personality and was eventually promoted to the position of Vice President and sales manager at KSEL-AM & TV. While he was sales manager at KSEL, he called on one of his most loyal advertisers, Latham's Department Store. Latham's owner had recently named Diana Karvas as marketing director, and Lew was told he needed to talk to her about her account. Diana went on the air as his partner in 1978 on KEND radio and continued, at various stations, until 2008. Lew and Diana were married on Valentine's Day in 1988. In the late 1960s, Lew starred in a KSEL-TV show called Lew Dee's Saturday Night Theatre, hosting bad horror movies. Lew was master of ceremonies while fellow KSEL broadcasters were dressed in monster costumes, creating entertaining skits that were presented during breaks in the movies. The show won a national award for most-viewed program on a UHF station. He and Bill McAlister earned the highest rating in the nation with their acclaimed TTO-This, That, and the Other-morning show on KSEL Radio. The show garnered 62 percent of the Lubbock audience. Bill McAlister was the son of station owner Mac McAlister. In 1971, Lew left KSEL and helped form KEND Radio (currently KDAV-AM 1590, with Paul R. Beane. Years later, after the sale of KEND, Lew was at KKIK, and then, from 1991 to 2002, he and Diana starred in KKCL (98 Kool) radio's morning show while managing that station. During the 1990s, the Dees also produced two cable shows: TTO (This, That, and the Other) and Country Music Video's Live from The Midnight Rodeo. In 2002, they launched a new radio station, Stars 104.3, for Ramar Communications, as general manager, sales manager and co-hosts of the station's morning show. After going off the air in 2008, they continued in their roles as advertising consultants for Ramar's four radio stations. On the air from 1978 through 2008, the Lew Dee and Diana morning show became Lubbock's longest running morning. Lew Dee's radio broadcasting career was 48 years on the airwaves of Lubbock and the South Plains. During those years he mentored dozens of aspiring broadcasters and advertising sales persons, and they still remember him fondly and acknowledge the impact he had upon their lives. His colleagues, dating back to the early years, consider him one of the most, if not the most, influential radio personality ever in Lubbock. More than that, though, they cite his huge heart, his kindness and love, his unswerving loyalty and devotion to those he called friends. One former colleague said Lew Dee had the greatest heart he had ever seen, and another said he was the best advertising person he had ever known. On June 28, 2011, Lew and Diana received Lubbock Advertising Federation's highest honor at the organization's annual Silver Medal Award dinner. The Silver Medal Award recognizes an individual who has made outstanding contributions to advertising and who has been active in furthering the industry's standards, creative excellence and responsibility in areas of social concern. Below is a clip from the show: "Lew Dee Saturday Night Theatre" - clips from The Professor's Scary Clips on Vimeo.

LINKS

Internet Movie Data Base "Lew Dee Saturday Night Theatre"	Legacy "Lew Dee"	Internet Movie Data Base "Lew Dee"
YouTube "Lew Dee Saturday Night Theatre"		The Classic Horror Film Board "Lew Dee Saturday Night Theatre"

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