Before there was WNN, there was "Creature Features:" http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/09/DDQS15665F.DTL
Bob Wilkins, the cigar-wielding host of "Creature Features," the late-night movie show that aired on KTVU's Channel 2 through the 1970s, died Wednesday in Reno from complications of Alzheimer's disease, his family said. He was 76. For a generation of science fiction and B-movie enthusiasts, Mr. Wilkins was the bespectacled TV host who drolly introduced underground flicks with titles such as "Attack of the Mushroom People." "Don't stay up tonight," Mr. Wilkins sometimes told viewers. "It's not worth it." For the same generation of Bay Area children, Mr. Wilkins was also the host of the after-school KTVU program "Captain Cosmic," donning a silver motorcycle helmet and crimson cape to introduce Japanese cult shows such as "Ultra Man." "I wouldn't be the movie fan I am today without Bob Wilkins," said Don Hicks, 45, a rare-film collector and projectionist who grew up in Napa and maintains a tribute to Mr. Wilkins' career on his Web site. "At school, we'd all talk all week long about the movies he was going to show; he instructed you on how to appreciate these films, without talking down to you as a kid." Hicks recalled the watershed moment when Mr. Wilkins showed "Night of the Living Dead," which became a late-night staple in an era with limited channel-surfing choices, and long before cable ushered in movies on demand. Mr. Wilkins' selections (he previewed the films before airing them) suggested an aficionado's taste for genre cinema, but he held no special attachment to the movies, said his longtime friend and sometime co-host John Stanley. "Bob had no passion for horror," laughed Stanley, who described the Indiana native as bemused by the subject. "I'm sure he enjoyed it, but he didn't take it seriously." Robert Gene Wilkins was born the only boy among seven children in Hammond, Ind. The son of a steelworker, Mr. Wilkins served in the Korean War (beating a bout with tuberculosis along the way), and later graduated from Indiana University with a degree in marketing. Mr. Wilkins worked his way up from the mailroom at a Chicago advertising agency to become a copywriter, then headed to California in 1963, where he landed a job as an ad salesman at television station KCRA in Sacramento. In those days, ad salesmen helped hold the camera equipment when shooting commercials, even serving as the on-camera talent in a pinch, Stanley said. After watching Mr. Wilkins entertain as a master of ceremonies for a retirement party, a station manager suggested Mr. Wilkins host a late-night movie show designed to run through the station's library of old films. The show was meant to compete with local stations that played the national anthem and went off the air after the 11 p.m. newscasts. Tom Wyrsch, author of "The Bob Wilkins Scrapbook," said Mr. Wilkins' understated demeanor became a hit with viewers. During breaks, Mr. Wilkins interviewed amateur filmmakers and local eccentrics who tended to believe in flying saucers, Stanley said. To calm his on-air nerves, Mr. Wilkins purchased a Windsor cigar, the cheapest and largest of the lot, and rocked slowly in a yellow rocking chair. After the Sacramento show brought in high ratings for its time slot, in 1970, Oakland's KTVU offered Wilkins a 9 p.m. weekend slot for "Creature Features," a show he hosted until 1979. Sally Wilkins said that during the "Creature Features" run, and even after, her husband continued his work as an ad man, with clients such as Macy's and Chuck E. Cheese. He was particularly proud of a television campaign that helped Macy's turn profitable in three weeks, Sally Wilkins said. In the 1990s, Wyrsch and Stanley helped usher a resurgence of Mr. Wilkins' fame by attending conventions such as WonderCon, and producing "Watch Horror Films, Keep America Strong," a documentary about the horror show genre. Sally Wilkins said her husband, in his retirement years, remained passionate about his family and helping others; while she attended church, Mr. Wilkins used the time to paint over graffiti in Reno, she said. "I don't think he ever realized how many young people he influenced," Sally Wilkins said. "Every once in a while, a person would recognize him on the street and say, 'Hey, you're the guy I would watch from my bedroom late at night.' " In addition to his wife, Mr. Wilkins is survived by two children, Rob and Nancy. Sally Wilkins said the family is planning a memorial for fans in the coming weeks. Mr. Wilkins' Web site is at www.bobwilkins.net. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "World News Now Discussion List" group. To post to this group, send email to wnndl@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to wnndl+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/wnndl?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
