Shock in the early days, said that the horror host performed a version of the rubber chicken gag later made popular by Svengoolie.

[2] Joseph Zawislak was a fan of John Zacherle, who had previously been a "horror host" on local Philadelphia television and created his Dr.

The character he played was costumed as a lively zombie with slicked-down hair, a black frock coat and white spats, assisted in his laboratory by a one-eyed hunchback named Boris.

In the revised format, he brought on his nine-month old daughter Doreen in 1969 and named her "Bubbles" for the show's sponsor, Bubbles-Booth soda.

Zawislak was a resident of Roxborough, a neighborhood in Philadelphia, a devoted amateur magician, a deli worker, an insurance salesman, a pinball arcade manager, a gas cylinder truck driver, then a horror host.