SHOCK THEATER

PIERRE ELLIS MYERS - "MAD DADDY"

"Shock Theater" was a hosted horror movie show with Pete Myers as "Mad Daddy" presenting movies on Friday or Saturday nights on WJKW-TV Channel 8 Cleveland, Ohio in the Summer of 1957. "Mad Daddy" would wear a vampire type cape. He requested that the studio hang a camera from the ceiling so that he would look like he was upside down. The studio declined, so from time to time "Mad Daddy" would hang upside down. From the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History web page: "Piere Ellis "Pete" Myers - born 7 April 1928, death 4 October 1968, served a brief but trend-setting stint as a Cleveland radio disc jockey at the beginning of the rock and roll era in the late 1950s. Born in San Francisco, California., to Pierre and Gayle Myers, He trained as an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and moved into the field of radio announcing in San Diego, Cal. Seeking to break into the Cleveland market, he found work first in Akron and then in January 1958 with WJW in Cleveland as the nighttime disc jockey. He drew upon his acting experience to develop the persona of the crazy DJ, affecting a flowing black cape and such signature phrases as "mellow as Jello" and "Hang loose, Mother Goose." "Once he got into a character, it really took him over," said Bill Randle, one of his contemporaries on another station. Taken off the air by WJW for signing on with WHK before giving his contractual 90-day notice, Myers stayed in the public eye by parachuting 2,200 feet into Lake Erie from an airplane on 14 June 1958. He remained with WHK for about a year before moving to WNEW in New York. There he was given one test evening in his "Mad Daddy" role, but adverse reaction forced him to play it straight thereafter. Frustrated in his efforts to recapture his Cleveland fame, Myers shot himself to death a decade later. His first marriage to Sylvia Crane in 1955 ended in divorce. He was then married in Cleveland to Ann Boyce Myers on 29 March 1958; he was survived by a later spouse, Lisa Jordan Myers. Portrait of "Mad Daddy" by Dave Dunlap.

Portrait of "Mad Daddy" by Bradley Beard.
"Mad Daddy" - biography (taken from Bradley Beard's Facebook page)

"Welcome, little stinkers, to the land of winky blinkers! We've boiled up wavy gravy and it's ready to flow, so hang loose, Mother Goose, here comes the show!" Tonight I present Mad Daddy, host of Shock Theatre on WJKW-TV Channel 8 in Cleveland, OH. Pete "Mad Daddy" Myers began his career as a rock radio disc jockey and garnered much popularity with his outrageous banter and manic off the cuff rhyming. Mad Daddy has the honored distinction of being Cleveland's first horror host. The show aired during the summer of 1957; according to sources, it lasted only a few weeks. It's rumored that the show was cancelled due to Mad Daddy's weird antics, personally, I think that he was too far ahead of his time. Some viewers recollect that he hosted a show where his segments were shown upside down. Words such as "genius" and "brilliant" are used when describing Pete "Mad Daddy" Myers. In 2014, Pete Meyers - "Mad Daddy" for "Shock Theater", was inducted into "The Official Horror Host Hall of Fame". In 1958, Pete Meyers released a 45 single - "I Love A Practical Joke" by The Joker, with the flip side being - "What Is A Fisterris". Play "I Love A Practical Joke" Play "What Is A Fisterris" There are no known clips from the show. Below is the video from Mad Daddy's induction into "The Official Horror Host Hall of Fame". "Shock Theater" - Mad Daddy from The Professor's Scary Clips on Vimeo.

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