It’s weirdly comforting to know that, despite massive changes in the entertainment industry in the last 70 years, the institution of the TV horror movie host survives to this day. Svengoolie, Elvira, and Joe Bob Briggs are just a few of the folks keeping the tradition of hosting classic horror and sci-fi films—a tradition popularized by Vampira in the 1950s—alive in 2022.

In Wisconsin, Kenosha’s own Dr. Destruction has been keeping the tradition alive, too. The good doctor (real name Dale Wamboldt) has been piping out his Crimson Theatre to Milwaukee, Racine, Kenosha, and northern Illinois for more than 20 years. (Destruction is also a haunted-house mainstay at Jerry Smith’s Pumpkin Farm every fall.) And this week, he’ll be induced into the Worldwide Television and Radio Horror Host Hall of Fame.

Want to celebrate? A free party will take place at Fusion in Kenosha (5014 7th Ave.) on Thursday, July 21 at 6:30 p.m. The second annual online ceremony will be screened, and Dr. Destruction’s band—Die Monster Die—will perform. Costumes are encouraged, of course, and the whole thing will be recorded for an upcoming episode of Crimson Theatre, as well as an upcoming documentary focusing on Dr. Destruction and other Kenosha-area horror hosts (there are lots of them!) directed by Alicia Krupsky and produced by Tea Krulos and Christopher Kai House.

Other horror hosts being honored this year: Bill Cardille, host of Pittsburgh’s Chiller Theater (1963-84), and the one and only Vampira. Sadly, our own LiveSCREAM Theater didn’t make the cut. NEXT YEAR.

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Co-Founder and Editor

Matt Wild weighs between 140 and 145 pounds. He lives on Milwaukee's east side.