“Shock Theatre” Debuts in Detroit, 1958: Hosted by ‘Mr. X’
Back in the 1950s, when movie studios like Universal, Paramount, Columbia, and MGM began selling their movie catalogs to television, the most popular package was Universal’s “Classic Horror” films. You know the ones; Dracula, Frankenstein, the Wolf Man, the Mummy, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, the Invisible Man, and all the other spin-offs, sequels, and one-shots. TV audiences – especially the kids – couldn’t get enough of these classic old horror films, so the need for a wrap-around was inevitable.
The success of the resurgence of these films brought about the very first ‘Monster’ magazine, Famous Monsters of Filmland in late 1957/early 1958, followed by numerous copycat magazines.
The magazines not only featured photos, puns, and articles of all the classic horror, but they also featured articles on the numerous late-night movie TV shows that presented these old creepy movies – the most famous of these shows was Shock Theatre which featured various “Horror Show Hosts”, depending on which American city you were watching the shiow.
The host was either a male or female, usually dressed in some kind of scary garb, hosting the evening’s fright flicks and doing shtick between film segments. Puns abounded, making the audience groan, but they loved every second of it.
Shock Theatre came from Universal Studios, who had syndicated 52 of their Classic Horror films from the 1930s, 40s, and 50s under that title. It debuted in February 1958 in Detroit on WXYZ-TV. The show debuted with possibly the most iconic Universal Horror Classic ever made…..the 1931 Bela Lugosi film Dracula.
A few years later, I was eight years old and Dracula was going to be shown on Shock again. I wanted to stay up late and see what Dracula looked like, as I had heard about this character for years. After begging my folks to let me stay up late to watch Shock Theatre, they said “if you wash & dry all the dishes tonight, you can stay up” (no automatic dishwasher at the time). I said OK and did all the dishes. Finally, everyone went to bed, leaving me all alone downstairs in the dark. I sat right smack in front of the TV, waiting for Shock! to come on. Finally, 11:30 arrives. Shock Theatre opened with its own host – a guy who called himself “Mr. X.”
Mr. X was a guy named Tom Dougall, an English professor at the Detroit Institute of Technology, who had worked for WXYZ radio writing scripts for the “Lone Ranger” and “Green Hornet” programs. The show opened with eerie organ drones and Mr. X would come out in his cape, talking about the film you were about to see. No cheezy humor - Mr. X was ‘deadly’ serious when it came to his fright flicks.
As the camera zoomed in, he would wrap up his monologue with the “lock your doors, turn off your lights” spiel, ending with “prepare for…..SHOCK!” and then, with a wisp of smoke – or fog - his head turned into a hideous skull. I sat there, watching the opening to Dracula waiting…with the lights on, natch. A hand slithers out of the coffin…the lid opens…and one of Dracula’s wives sits up slowly. I was too scared to watch any more. My sister asked me the next morning what Dracula looked like and I had to make up something that in no way resembled a vampire.
But I always remembered Mr. X. Fans of the show have been looking for video clips of the “Shock” open and Mr. X…but there doesn’t seem to be any available. Too bad, because it was such a popular Friday night show…..so popular, that another version came on right after “Shock” at 1am, called “Super Shock!” that showed more old classics.
Mr. X was one of the very first Michigan Horror Show Hosts and there is extremely little written about this character. Read more and see what he looked like after he morphed into a skull HERE. The article includes a newspaper clipping with a picture. Since no video has surfaced, hopefully someone with connections can find one after all these years.
Shock Theater W/ Bela Lugosi hosting "Frankenstein" w/Boris Karloff a classic 1931 horror thriller.
Dracula 1931 - Trailer (Colorized)
The Arrival At Dracula's Castle | Dracula (1931)