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Dr. Paul Bearer - In a run-down castle covered
with spider webs and other yucky things, there lived Dr. Paul Bearer (Dick
Bennick), a zany undertaker who hosted Creature Feature, an afternoon and
Saturday late night horror show on WTOG-TV Channel 44 in St. Petersburg, Florida
during the 1970s and 1990s.
When Dick Bennick first took over the reigns of the program (formerly called
Shock Theatre hosted by Count Shockula) he sponsored a contest to come up
with the name of a new horror show host to replace the skeleton-like Count
Shockula character.
The contest spawned Dr. Paul Bearer, a slender mortician with dark sunken
eyes, a scarred right cheek and hair parted down the middle.
In typical horror show fashion Dr. Paul Bearer greeted his viewers with a
scary introduction and then proceeded to show old horror and sci-fi flicks to
his faithful viewers.
In between movie segments, Dick Bennick cracked bad jokes, got pelted with
props tossed by off-stage camera crew members, and generally did his best to
lower the IQ of his fans.
When making public appearances around town, Dr. Paul Bearer drove a black
1963 Cadillac hearse. Going my way?
Dick Bennick died February 18, 1995, at the age of 66.
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