Joy Bennett

Born Joy Ann Page, Joy would met her future husband Terry Bennett while he was performing at a Florida gig in 1950. Three years later, on 18 June 1953, they married in New York and embarked on a one year Canadian tour with Red Flannels (ventriloquism doll) in tow. When they returned to the states, they chose Chicago as the place to be to try out the act they'd been honing for the last year up north. In 1957, Terry Bennett was presented with an interesting challenge. Screen Gems had packaged 52 of the old Universal horror films for the local TV market, including 1931's Frankenstein. The management of WBKB thought it would be a good idea if the movies had an emcee, someone they hoped would be more popular to watch than the old films themselves - "Shock Theatre" was born. Joy would play "Dear", the faceless victim of Marvin's macabre sense of humor on Shock Theatre. The show gained so much popularity that management decided to expand the series an additional half hour after the movie. This new segment, called The Shocktale Party, Marvin and Dear are joined by Shorty, resembling the Frankenstein Monster played by Bruce Newton; and Orville, a grotesque character created and portrayed by Ronny Born. The show even boasted a studio "Shocktale" band called The Deadbeats. Sadly, after a two year illness, Terry Bennett passed away on 12 October 1977. Joy passed away on 15 December 2005 in Tampa, Florida.