B-MOVIE HOSTESS MISTY BREW (1982-1983)

MISTY BREW – Faye Fisher (later Faye Fisher-Ward) played Misty Brew, the witch hostess of Creature Feature. The program aired Friday nights on Green Bay, Wisconsin’s WLRE from October 29th, 1982 – September 9th, 1983. For the most part, this show started at Midnight but was moved up to 10:30pm start times on nights when Misty presented double or even triple features.

Wanting to hop on America’s renewed Movie Host mania prompted by Elvira’s Movie Macabre, WLRE launched their Bad Movie Show Creature Feature. Auditions were held and the winner was Faye Fisher, who was in her senior year at the University of Wisconsin at Green Bay, majoring in Visual Arts. She had hoped to name her hostess character Natasha, but the station manager had already finalized the name Misty Brew. 

Faye Fisher stated she was not a horror fan but her friends in UW-Green Bay’s Theater Department encouraged her to try out for the hostess role. Ironically, though WLRE was riding the Elvira train, they did not want Misty Brew to show a lot of skin. She wore vintage formal gowns which she selected each week from a Green Bay clothing store called Glad Rags.

When Misty presented The Bride of Frankenstein, she wore a wedding gown from Glad Rags and wore the same gown for her wedding in 1984. The Movie Hostess’s hair and makeup were done by Bananas in Green Bay.

Fisher recalled “I had ‘cat’s eyes,’ and long, dark, defined eyebrows. I used red lipstick, and rouge on the cheekbones. They just highlighted what I already had. Once I saw myself, it helped me get into character. Here I was dressed exquisitely, with the make-up. There was a sexual edge to my character, but it wasn’t overt … I was just this classy, sophisticated, spooky person.” 

Misty Brew would rise from her coffin at the start of each show and at the end would lie back down in that coffin and pull the lid closed. After a few episodes Misty got a sidekick who played spooky organ music. He was played by a WLRE cameraman named Jim (no last name known) while wearing a suit.

The character was called Klystron, after a vacuum tube used in broadcasting back in the 1980s and earlier. Klystron merely grunted, never truly spoke.

Faye graduated in May 1983 but continued hosting Creature Feature through September 9th. She and her boyfriend at the time then moved to Chicago, where they married the following year. Faye Fisher went on to become an artist and designer.

Misty Brew had at least 3 fan clubs in Wisconsin and was so well remembered that she supposedly inspired the Movie H0stess character Ivana Viktimm in Paul McComas’s novel (and later stage show) Unplugged.   

Here are some of the Psychotronic movies presented by Misty:

RITUALS (1977) – Aired Oct 29th, 1982. This still-neglected horror movie was made in Canada and depicted five MDs on an excursion into the wilds where they fell victim to a proto-slasher figure who lives in a creepy cabin. Hal Holbrook starred.

SON OF FRANKENSTEIN (1939) – Aired Nov 5th. The son of Dr. Frankenstein (Basil Rathbone) discovers the remains of the Monster (Boris Karloff) in his father’s castle. With the help of Ygor (Bela Lugosi), he rebuilds the creature.

THE MUMMY (1932) – Aired Nov 12th. An archeological expedition unearths the mummy of ancient Egyptian Imhotep (Boris Karloff), who was put to death for trying to resurrect his lover. The mummy comes back to life and searches for his reincarnated lady love.

TARANTULA (1955) – Aired Nov 19th. A scientist’s nutrition experiments result in a 100-foot tall tarantula, which goes on a rampage. Starred John Agar, Mara Corday and Leo G. Carroll.

CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON (1954) – Aired Nov 26th. An expedition into the Amazon jungle encounters a deadly humanoid amphibian beast which is the last of its line.

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