SHOCK!
(aka SHOCK THEATER)

GERI ROBERTS (NEE CHRONOWIAT) - "GHOULDA"
? - "DARLING"
? - "UNCLE DAVID"
? - "LUCIFER"
ROY LAMONT - "DESTINY"

The above posters are AI generated based on the real photographs of Ghoulda and Roy Lamont below. "Shock!" (aka "Shock Theater") was a hosted horror movie show with Geri Roberts (nee Chronowiat) as "Ghoulda" screened by WRVA-TV Channel 12 in Richmond, Virginia, USA from June 1958 - 1959. Ghoulda replaced the original non-hosted show "Shock!" that ran from 1 February to 13 September 1958. Ghoulda had an invisible husband named Darling, a werewolf Uncle David, a dead son named Lucifer and eventually a black cat. She was very popular and it was a shock when the show announced that she had suddenly left to get married, changing her name to Roberts. For three weeks, the show was left with "Destiny," played without fanfare by Thalhimers' "Teen-Age Party" host, Roy Lamont, and then for a few weeks it had no host. The show was replaced in 1959 with "Shock Theatre" with "Hazel Witch" played by Anna Inge Jump. GERI ROBERTS Geraldine Sophia Chronowiat Roberts (born 18 September 1926 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.), known to Richmond television viewers as the grotesque and mischievous horror hostess Ghoulda, was one of the earliest female horror hosts in US television and is regarded as Virginia's first female horror host. Born in Pittsburgh in 1926, she served in the Women's Army Corps during the postwar occupation of Europe before pursuing her artistic education. She attended the University of Pittsburgh and Richmond Professional Institute, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dramatic Art in 1951 and later obtaining a master's degree in fine arts. Roberts entered Richmond's fledgling television industry during the 1950s and worked at WRVA-TV Channel 12. For the station's late-night horror program Shock! she created the character Ghoulda. Roberts originally imagined Ghoulda as a glamorous figure, but station executives wanted something grotesque. Using elaborate makeup, face putty and a highly distinctive voice and laugh, she transformed herself into one of Virginia television's strangest characters. Ghoulda presented the horror movies on Saturday nights at approximately 11:10pm. She developed an elaborate fictional household consisting of her invisible husband Darling, her dead son Lucifer, represented by a little skeleton, and Uncle David, an off-camera werewolf. She improvised jokes about the films, sometimes adapting newspaper headlines and current events to whatever movie was being screened. Her performances made her a genuine local celebrity, and she appeared publicly in character at community events. At the height of Ghoulda's popularity, Roberts suddenly left Richmond after marrying William Roberts of Hartford. The station announced her departure to viewers, explaining that she had married and was leaving. For approximately three weeks, her place was taken by Roy Lamont, the popular host of WRVA-TV's "Teen-Age Party" program, who appeared as the horror host "Destiny". Geri and William Roberts settled in Old Saybrook, Connecticut, where they raised their family. Although her professional television career was over, her interest in performance continued. She worked as a teacher's aide and later as a police dispatcher, volunteered at children's events and became known for performing fortune-telling during the summer. Geraldine Sophia Roberts died at home in Old Saybrook on 17 June 2016, aged 89. Her rediscovery by the researchers of Virginia Creepers brought the story of Ghoulda, and one of the earliest female horror hosts in American television—back into public memory. ROY LAMONT Roy A. Lamont was an American radio and television broadcaster whose career began in college radio during the late 1940s and developed into a prominent television career in Richmond, Virginia, during the birth of local commercial television. A Communication Arts graduate of Seton Hall College, Lamont was already working as a student disc jockey at WSOU by 1949. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Communication Arts in 1950. By 1956 Lamont had joined WRVA-TV Channel 12 in Richmond, where he became the host of the highly successful "Teen-Age Party". The program appears to have begun in November 1956, and by 1957 it was being broadcast Monday through Friday from 5:00pm to 6:00pm. Lamont also hosted a separate weekly half-hour program, "The Roy Lamont Show". Lamont became one of Richmond's leading young television personalities. His program featured popular recordings and guest performers, including singer and bandleader Vaughn Monroe. In July 1957, "Cash Box" published a photograph of Lamont with Monroe and the program's producer Jennifer Shull. The music trade magazine also noted that Lamont was completing an adventure novel about the sea. His television popularity led to an unusual commercial distinction. In 1958 RCA Victor released "Roy Lamont Presents TV Record Hop", an album based upon his television presentation on WRVA-TV. The record placed Lamont among a select group of local television record-hop personalities whose programs were turned into nationally marketed RCA Victor albums. Lamont also had a brief and unexpected career as a horror host. WRVA-TV's late-night horror program "Shock!" had been hosted by Geri Roberts, who performed as the grotesque character Ghoulda. When Roberts suddenly left Richmond after marrying, Lamont temporarily assumed the program under the name "Destiny". According to surviving horror-host research, Destiny appeared for approximately three weeks before the program reverted temporarily to an unhosted format. The "Destiny" period was only a small episode in Lamont's long broadcasting career. By 1964 he had moved into television advertising, joining WFMY-TV in Greensboro, North Carolina, as an account executive. He subsequently continued working independently in broadcasting and eventually settled in North Carolina. Decades later, Lamont's voice found a remarkable new audience. In 2001 he provided the narration for Barry Adams's "Father's Love Letter". The recording became widely distributed through television and the internet, and Lamont continued providing the narration for subsequent versions, including the 2014 HD presentation and the 2017 extended "soaking" version. Thus Roy Lamont's career encompassed several distinct eras of broadcasting: student radio in the 1940s, pioneering local television in the 1950s, a brief excursion into horror hosting as "Destiny", television advertising in the 1960s and, ultimately, professional voice narration in the twenty-first century. For Richmond television history, however, he remains particularly memorable as the charismatic host of "Teen-Age Party" who unexpectedly stepped into the world of horror as "Destiny". Portrait of "Ghoulda" by Bradley Beard. "Ghoulda" - biography (taken from Bradley Beard's Facebook page)" She was Virginia's first female horror host. Today I present Ghoulda, host of Shock Theatre on WRVA-TV Channel 12 in Richmond, Virginia, which began in May of 1958. Geri Chronowit originally developed her character, Ghoulda, to be glamorous but TV station executives decided to make her hideous. She had an invisible husband named Darling and a dead son named Lucifer. She was known for mocking real newspaper headlines to make them fit the theme of the movie being shown. Ghoulda made her last public appearance after a Halloween promotion gone awry; the little "monsters" got out of control and ripped her clothes. The real shock for Shock Theatre, however, came when Ghoulda suddenly left the show at the height of its popularity to get married to a visible husband; she never had to ask "Where are you, Darling?" again. More glamorous beauty awaits you tomorrow. The following is from "Virgina Creepers". Shock Theater hosted by Ghoulda from The Professor on Vimeo.

LINKS

Internet Movie Data Base "Shock!"	Legacy "Geraldine Sophia Roberts"	Internet Movie Data Base "Geri Roberts"
Facebook: Bradley Beard - Horror Host Artist "Ghoulda"		Internet Movie Data Base "Roy Lamont"

Back to the USA

Send mail to:
professor@hotkey.net.au  
with questions or comments about this web site.
Page Content Copyright 2016 Paul Gerard Kennedy