SHOCK THEATRE

DICK BENNICK, JR.
- "COUNT SHOCKULA" &
"DR. PAUL BEARER"

"Shock Theatre" was a hosted horror movie show with Dick Bennick as firstly "Count Shockula" (1966-1966) and later "Dr. Paul Bearer" (1966-1971) presenting movies on Friday or Saturday nights around 11:15pm or 11:30 pm on WGHP, Channel 8 Winston-Salem, North Carolina from 1966 until 1971. The show had morphed from the non-hosted show "Schock Theatre" on WGHP, running from 1963-1966. No one was noticing "Count Shockula", so Dick Bennick came up with the idea to invent a new character - "Dr. Paul Bearer", who would kill off "Count Shockula"on the show.

For more information on Dr. Paul Bearer, click on the below link:

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

The ratings may have killed him but his legacy still lives. Today I present Count Shockula, host of Shock Theatre on WGHP-TV Channel 8 in Greensboro, North Carolina. The show began in 1966 and was immediately onset with bad ratings. Dick Bennick Sr., creator of Count Shockula immediately sought solutions to the problem. Count Shockula was featured in Famous Monsters Of Filmland #45 as the "Monster of Scarymonies" for the "Mess America" contest. After numerous efforts to increase the ratings failed, Bennick devised the televised death of Count Shockula. He ran a promotion called "How Do You Kill Count Shockula?" and used fan response to determine his fate. Bennick showed up as his new character and shoved a stake through the heart of his old character. And thus Dr. Paul Bearer was born. In 2012, Dick Bennick - "Dr. Paul Bearer" of "Creature Feature", was inducted into "The Official Horror Host Hall of Fame". There are no known clips from the show:

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