"Shock!" (also known as "Shock Theatre") was a hosted horror movie show with Richard Dix as "Dr. Lucifer", occasionally joined by the rest of his family, his wife, "Mrs. Grace Lucifer" played by Nancy Lee Dix, a daughter, "Lucretia", and "Baby Borgia"; screened on Saturdays at 11:15 pm (live) on WBAL-TV, Channel 11, Baltimore, Maryland, USA from 9 November 1957 until 1959. The most prominent character to appear on the show with "Dr. Lucifer" was "Granny Gruesome".
"Dr. Lucifer" would always end his show with the sign off, "Good night - and pleasant dreams!"
The TV Star Parade cited above provides lots of information about these hosts and their show:
Dr. Lucifer ... Baltimore's bumbling bogeyman haunts on WBAL-TV. A macabre figure who comes off more mocking than menacing is Dr. Lucifer, a tremendously popular fellow in Balitmore, Md. In his laboratory at WBAL-TV (1 A.M. Sat.) his fiendish brain is constantly at work experimenting and creating—but his experiments usually backfire and his creations are harmless, making him a bumbling sort of bogeyman. As a terror he's all thumbs, and that's just the way Richard Dix, who breathes life into the luckless Lucifer, plans it. For instance, the bear trap he set to catch Santa Claus (just to prove there is a Santa Claus) caught the good doctor instead. His attempt to recreate a baby sitter from a 3,000-year-old mummy (because the label said she was young and beautiful) resulted instead in an unhappy 350-pound weight lifter in the Egyptian princess' clothing. One night Lucifer dropped a marble slab on a bill collector who was hounding him. At various times during the show he'd lift the marbe and ask the man if he'd give up. Each time the answer was no, so the slab would drop again. When the collector finally gave up Lucifer let him have it again—because he hates quitters! Though Lucifer works mostly solo he is occasionally joined by the rest of his video family—his wife, Grace; a daughter, Lucretia, and Baby Borgia. The formally attired doctor is also aided—or victimized—by a Great Dane who's addicted to showing up on camera with dismembered arms and legs of neighborhood children. For his Lucifer chastises him publicly as not being neighborly. And, believe it or not, the whole things is handled so amusingly that it comes off more "grin" than "grim." Years of acting, directing, producing and studying the dramatic arts are behind the 33-year-old Mr. Dix's week-after-week characterization. A native of Baltimore, Md., he attended City College of Baltimore and Johns Hopkins University. In addition he received a scholarship to the Institute of the Theatre in Williamsburgh, Va., in 1948 and again from 1950-51. A verteran actor, Dix has some 200 roles to his credit, including off-Broadway productions and a five-year run as lead in The Common Glory, a historical pageant staged annually at Williamsburg. A versatile performer, Dix has run the gamut of professional acting from such deep drama fare as The Glass Menagerie and Petrified Forest in legitimate theater, to the role of Officer Happy on WBAL-TV. His favorite role is that of Scrooge in Dickens' Christmas Carol, which he did on network television in 1948. At present he's a direcor of the Children's Theatre Association of Baltimore and president of the local AFTRA chapter. So when things go wrong on Baltimore's Shock Theatre, the viewers needn't get too upset, for Dr. Lucifer knows what he's doing—every stumble of the way.
Portrait of "Dr. Lucifer" by Bradley Beard.
"Dr. Lucifer" - biography (taken from Bradley's Facebook page)"
He was referred to as "Baltimore's bumbling bogeyman". Tonight I present Dr. Lucifer, host of Shock Theatre on WBAL-TV Channel 11 in Baltimore, MD, which began on November 9, 1957 and ran through 1959. The February 1959 issue of TV Star Parade ran a two-page spread on the show that provides horror host enthusiasts an excellent overview of the show and actor Richard Dix who played Dr. Lucifer, visit E-gor's Chamber of TV Horror Hosts to view the article in its entirety. It seems that Dr. Lucifer concocted crazy experiments that always seemed to backfire on him. Dr. Lucifer generally worked alone but was joined occasionally by his wife Mrs. Lucifer, his daughter Lucretia, and Baby Borgia. Dr. Lucifer was also aided by a Great Dane who always showed up on camera with the dismembered limbs of neighborhood victims.
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