Creature Feature - Bob Wilkins

Image from http://www.bobwilkins.net/

Did you grow up in the Bay Area? If you did you probably remember 'Creature Feature' and stayed up late every Saturday Night glued to the TV. Bob Wilkins hosted the show and is the father of our 5th grade teacher, Mr Rob Wilkins. The show was a huge success and I know there are parents at the school who got to visit the studio and go on the show!

"Don't stay up late, it's not worth it," Bob Wilkins warned as he leaned back in his yellow rocking chair, smoke wafting from his big cigar. But monster movie fans in Northern California stayed up with him, every Saturday Night . Creature Features made it's debut on Channel 2 (KTVU) in 1971, and was an immediate success with it's grade- Z horror films and Bob's dry sense of humor.

Many of the films were pretty good, and his guests were even better: Ray Harryhausen, Christopher Lee, William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, John Landis, William Marshall, Forest J Ackerman and . . . well, too many to list. You never knew who (or what) you'd see next on Creature Features. There was an endless parade of the weird: People who claimed to be witches and martians, inventors who built robots, a woman who knitted a sweater for King Kong, local filmmakers who showed bizzare TV commercial take-offs. Once, Bob received a phone call from a man claiming to be a vampire. When he asked if he could be a guest, Bob said "Sure, can you come down to the studio at two o'clock tomorrow afternoon?" When the caller said yes, he could, Bob replied, "If you're a vampire, how is it you can be there at 2 p.m.?" There was a pause, then 'click'. The vampire hung up.

These quotes and more can be found at: http://www.bobwilkins.net/
CCW