Dr. Shock - Ghoulish host of the Saturday afternoon horror show seen on Channel 17 in Philadelphia during the 1970s. Once a week, Joe Zawislak, a former insurance salesman turned magician, slicked back his hair, donned a frock coat, an ascot with a gold spider, and a pair of white spats to become the part human, part vampire host of Mad Theatre. Using the comic insult formulas created by "Ro-LAND" (a.k.a. "Zacherley"), a 1950s horror show host, Dr. Shock greeted his viewers with such beastly barbs of barbaric banter as "Greetings, My hokey hucksters of horror"; "Frog-faced fools of fright"; and "Nostalgic numbskulls of the night." Assisting the Doctor was Boris, a one-eyed, scar-faced hunchback who lisped and a delightfully pretty little girl (Joe's daughter) named Bubbles, who often sat on his lap during the show. His sign off each week was "Let there be fright!" On September 28, 1979, Joe Zawislak died of heart failure at the age of 42. A few years later a vampish female horror show hostess named Stella continued the tradition of late night tom-foolery on the horror movie program Saturday Night Dead on KYW-TV Channel 3. See also "Stella, Maneater from Manayunk"