SON OF CHILLER

ROSE MARIE EARP - "PENNY DREADFUL"
? - "PRETTY DREADFUL"
? - "AWFUL DREADFUL"

"Son of Chiller" was a hosted horror movie show with Rose Marie Earp as "Penny Dreadful" presenting horror movies on KMBC-TV, Channel 9, Kansas City, Missouri in the early 1960's. Penny Dreadful also had relatives - Pretty Dreadful, Awful Dreadful. From the Daddy-o Dilly web site: The show would start with spooky music as the camera panned down and then up a painting of a path leading to a tall spooky mansion. As it would pan up the tower on the mansion it would fade to another camera panning up a set design of the tower. At the top, there would stand Penny Dreadful in a dark window where she would announce that night's movie.

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

Her costume seemed more suited for hosting sci-fi than horror. Tonight I present Penny Dreadful, hostess of Son of Chiller KMBC-TV Channel 9 in Kansas City, MO, which ran during the early 1960's. Penny was played by Rose Marie Earp; she wore a long black robe with a wide white collar and a head piece that came to a point on her forehead making her look more like a cosmic nun than a horror host. The show began as the camera panned over several painted castle backdrops, eventually panning in on Penny as she stood in a darkened window ready to announce the evening's movie. According to sources, Son of Chiller was shown early Saturday evening around 6:30 pm and Gregory Grave's Chiller on KMBC was shown late Saturday evening around 10:30 pm. What a treat for Kansas City kiddies of that era, two different horror hosts both on the same channel. There are no know clips from the show.

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