Spending Saturday nights with
”
Creatures
”
A long, long time ago
– before satellites, VCRs, DVD players, video iPods, the
Internet and even basic cable – there was a handy little invention
called the television antenna.
Spending Saturday nights with “Creatures”
A long, long time ago – before satellites, VCRs, DVD players, video iPods, the Internet and even basic cable – there was a handy little invention called the television antenna.
Families lucky enough to have an antenna mounted on the roof of their homes (making the house look like it was ready to receive messages from outer space) were able to watch anywhere from three to 12 regular broadcast channels, a variety of three networks – ABC, CBS and NBC – and local affiliates. I grew up in one of those homes, and among all the shows I was fortunate to see, my favorite was a little television show called “Creature Features.”
“Creature Features” was broadcast Saturday nights at 11 p.m. from KTVU Channel 2 in Oakland. The programming was devoted to horror and science fiction movies. The original host was a bespectacled cigar-smoking weatherman named Bob Wilkins.
It had its own funky theme song. The set was cheap. Wilkins sat in a yellow rocking chair. On a nightstand next to him there was a skull candle that he would light at the beginning of each show.
This was my favorite television show while growing up. What the younger generation doesn’t realize is that back in the 1970s, you couldn’t walk into a rental store and pick out any movie you wanted. Video stores didn’t exist back then. Movies were watched in the theater, not on a computer screen.
Movie buffs such as me were at the mercy of the television stations. And for the types of movies I wanted to see, I was also at the mercy of Wilkins’ whims. I would wait anxiously all week to see what Wilkins would be showing on Saturday.
“Creature Features” debuted in 1971 with the 1964 low-budget film “The Horror of Party Beach,” and after the show aired a few times it began showing double features. The great thing about Wilkins is that he would tell you to turn the channel if he thought the movie was bad. He said that often, because “Creature Features” showed a lot of bad movies. But I loved them.
He showed cheesy movies like “Billy the Kid versus Dracula” (1966), “Robot Monster” (1953), “The Mole People” (1956), but he also showed a lot of classic horror films as well. He showed all of the old Universal monster movies such as “Dracula” (1931), “Frankenstein” (1931), “The Wolf Man” (1941) and “The Mummy” (1932).
I don’t remember exactly when I started watching “Creature Features” regularly, but for my eighth birthday I received a watch for a present. I wanted to stay up past midnight and watch the date change and I remember watching Wilkins’ showing of the “The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad.”
Wilkins has said that he was not a fan of horror movies, but his favorite slogan was “Watch Horror Films – Keep America Strong.” Wilkins had a low deadpan delivery and a dry sense of humor. He constantly puffed away on his cigar while introducing each movie. He would take phone calls and show amateur films that viewers sent in. During intermission he would have celebrity guests, who were often the best part of the show.
He interviewed Christopher Lee (who played Dracula in countless Hammer films), the cast of Star Trek and Larry “Buster” Crabbe, who had played Flash Gordon in the 1930s and ’40s serials. He also interviewed special effects master Ray Harryhausen. I remember a young George Lucas – before he became the most powerful man in Hollywood with the Star Wars franchise – discussing his first film, 1971’s “THX-1138.”
I watched hundreds of horror films growing up thanks to Creature Features, but the one that scared me the most was a 1964 Spanish film called “Pyro.” Barry Sullivan starred as Vance, a married man who dumps his mistress to reunite with his wife and children. His mistress, played by Martha Hyer, tries to kill his family by setting their house on fire. Vance tries to save them, but becomes burned and his face is horribly scarred. The mistress goes on the run and for the rest of the film, Vance is tracking her down seeking revenge.
Throughout much of the movie Vance wears a mask to cover his face. He finally tracks down his mistress and attempts to kill her. He rips his mask off to show her his horribly scarred face – a minute of film that scared me so badly I’ve remembered it for the rest of my life. I also remember having to sleep with my mom that night. I was probably 10 years old. I bought the movie on DVD about eight years ago and still haven’t had the courage to watch it. It sits safely on my shelf, still wrapped in plastic where I know it won’t hurt me.
In 1978 Wilkins retired and was replaced by John Stanley, a film critic for the San Francisco Chronicle. Stanley was a horror fan and knew a great deal about movies, but the charm of Wilkins was a hard act to follow. The show was finally cancelled in 1984 – low ratings due to competition from cable, which showed movies uncut and commercial free, killed “Creature Features.”
This past March, the Speakeasy Theater in El Cerrito held a tribute to Wilkins and “Creature Features.” John Stanley was there and they showed “Attack of The Mushroom People,” the first movie that Wilkins showed when he hosted a show in Sacramento.
Sadly, Wilkins, who is 75, is suffering from Alzheimer’s, which has robbed him of his short-term memory. But to many fans in the Bay Area he will always be remembered. On Saturday nights I host my own Creature Features show at home and watch a horror film – except for that safely wrapped version of “Pyro.”
More information about “Creature Features” and Bob Wilkins is available at www.BobWilkins.net, which features biographical information about Wilkins and John Stanely as well as DVDs for purchase. Clips of Wilkins, including the “Creature Features” theme song, can be watched on www.youtube.com. There is even a Myspace page dedicated to “Creature Features” at www.myspace.com/creaturefeaturesbob.
