October 29, 1966 Schedule

On Saturday Night, October 29, 1966 at 11:45pm on KCRA Channel 3, Bob Wilkins showed a double feature of "Black Sunday" and "Night Of The Blood Beast". "Black Sunday"(1961) was an excellent scary movie directed by Mario Bava and starring Barbara Steele. "Black Sunday' was also known as "La Maschera Del Demonio" which translates into The Mask Of The Demon". It was released in the U.S. by AIP. "Princess Asa Vajda(Barbara Steele) is executed as a witch. 200 years later she is revived and plots to take over the body of Katia(also Steele)." The second movie, also by AIP but produced by Roger Corman. "Night Of The Blood Beast"(1958) is about "an astronaut returning from space dead. The base that recovered him is the cut off from the outside world by an alien. The revival of the dead astronaut, the death of a scientist and the discovery of alien embryos inside the resurrected astronaut's body bodes ill for the survival of those trapped at the base and the rest of humanity.

October 22, 1966 Schedule

On Saturday Night, October 22, 1966 on KCRA Channel 3 at 11:30PM, Bob Wilkins showed the AIP Double Feature of "X-The Man With The X Ray Eyes" (1963) and "I Was A Teenage Werewolf" (1957). The first movie was directed by Roger Corman and starred Ray Milland and Don Rickles. "A world renowned scientist named Dr, Xavier experiments with X-ray vision and things go horribly wrong." The second movie was produced and written by Herman Cohn and starred Michael Landon and Whit Bissell. "Landon plays a angry young man who undergoes hypnosis for his problem but the practitioner he seeks out is a very disturbed man who successfully regresses his patient into a werewolf with tragic results."

Former KCRA Reporter, Mike Boyd, Passes Away

Mike Boyd, A former reporter for KCRA Channel 3, passed away at the age of 74 on Saturday, October 14 at Sutter Hospital. Mike Boyd joined KCRA, the same time as Bob Wilkins, in 1963. Mike Boyd was at the Ambassodor Hotel in Los Angeles when Democratic Presidential hopeful, Robert Kennedy was assassinated in 1968. Mike Boyd also interviewed Charles Manson several times plus he escorted and interviewed killer, Dorthea Puente in 1988 from Southern California to Sacramento on a KCRA Airplane. Mike Boyd was born the same year as Bob. Mike Boyd retired from KCRA in 2001.

October 15, 1966 Schedule

On Saturday Night, October 15, 1966 at 11:30PM on KCRA Channel 3, Bob Wilkins showed a "Herman Cohen" Double Feature from "AIP". 1.) "Horrors Of The Black Museum" (1959) A frustrated thriller writer wants accurate crimes for his next book, so he hypnotizes his assistant to make him commit the required crimes. 2.) "I Was A Teenage Frankenstein" (1957) stars Whit Bissell, Phyllis Coates and Gary Conway. Professor Frankenstein, a University Lecturer, steals Body Parts of Dead Athletes from a wreakage of a crashed airplane. He builds a Hunky Male Monster with a Hideously Disfigured Face, which goes on a campus wide killing spree.

In Loving Memory Of Brian Edward Lowes July 1, 1961- October 13, 2002

This post is dedicated to my Best Friend, Brian Lowes. I had known Brian since I was in Junior High School in 1975.He and I was the best in buddies. When we were teenagers, we went to the local movie theaters to view such scary movies like "Squirm" (1976), "Phantasm" (1979), and "Friday The 13TH" (1980), not to mention the Star Wars Movies. In later years, we took trips to Canada, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Oregon, Washington as well as to Los Angeles and San Diego. We even took a trip to the Famous Ackermuseum of Former Famous Monsters Editor, Forrest J. Ackerman in 1995. We also took numerous trips to the Tower Records/Books/Video Stores in Sacramento, Campbell, Mountain View as well as in Stockton. We also went to Tower Classics in San Francisco plus Amoeba Music stores in SF and Berkely. We also enjoyed Clarkes Charcoal Burgers in Mountain View. Not only did we share the interests in Horror Movies, but also Classical Music. He also loved the Rails especially AMTRAK. He lived in Tracy and commuted to the Bay Area using the Altamont Commuter Express Train also known as "ACE. In 2002, at the age of 41, Brian passed away of a heart attack. The coronor thinks Brian passed away in the early hours on Wednesday Morning, October 9, 2002, however we didn't find Brian until Sunday October 13, 2002. He is buried in Saratoga, CA. The photo on the top of the page was taken on May 3, 2002 during a Rally at the ACE Train Station in Tracy when Congressman Richard Pombo visited. Brian is to the left holding the sign with the words : "I went from a crowded lane to a comfortable train. Thanks, ACE!" He maybe gone but I still remember him! I miss you Brian!!!!

October 8, 1966 Schedule

On Saturday Night, October 8, 1966 on KCRA Channel 3 at 11:45pm, Bob Wilkins showed the double feature of "Circus Of Horrors"(1960) and "Ghost Of Dragstrip Hollow"(1959). "Circus Of Horrors" is about a plastic surgeon wanted by the police who flees to a circus and befriends the owner. It stars Anton Diffring and Donald Pleasance. The Second Feature,"Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow" is an AIP Horror/Comedy about Hiram Stokly who dies and must do one good deed to get into heaven. Both films are available on DVD. "Circus Of Horrors" is available from Anchor Bay while "Ghost Of Hollow Dragstrip" is available from MGM as part of a "Midnite Movies Double Feature" with "Ghost In A Invisible Bikini"(1967).

RIP: TOWER RECORDS 1960-2006

Yesterday, I heard some very sad news. Tower Records was sold to "Great American Group" and will be liquidated. Essentially, "Tower Records/Books/Video" is going out of business. I know that this news has nothing to do with Bob Wilkins, but I think it does. I am sure that at least 90% if not more, of Bob Wiulkins fans have patronize Tower Records. I was 12 years old when Tower Records first opened up their first store here in Stockton, California in 1974. It was Tower's 13TH Store in their chain. They opened up at "Lincoln Center South" Shopping Center. They went through 3 locations, expanding each time: 1.) 1974 @ 6557 Pacific Ave. 2.) 1980 @ 6475 Pacific Ave. 3.) 1989 @ 6623 Pacific Ave. All of these locations were in the same shopping center. There was also a "Tower Posters/Plants/Books" in the same shopping center from 1974-1977. Back in the 1970's, Tower was the only place, a valley boy like me to go to. The original hours were 9:AM-Midnight, 7 Days A Week, 365 days A Year! Tower is also the store where I first discovered Scott Moon's fine Fanzine "Planet X Magazine". An End Of An Era!!!!!!!!

The Big Mystery: Bob Wilkins First Show On KTXL-TV 40 Sacramento

Most of my blog posts have so far dealt only with Bob Wilkins tenures on both KCRA Channel 3 Sacramento and KTVU Channel 2 Oakland. Now, I believe it is time to mention his KTXL TV 40 tenure, Most of what I saw when I was younger was when Bob was on KTXL. But I have yet to crack a mystery, When did Bob first start at KTXL? Bob Wilkins can't recall, Tom Breen is sure Bob continued for a little while longer at KCRA Channel 3 at the same time he started at KTVU Channel 2 with "Creature Features" in 1971. Jack Matranga (Owner/GM KTXL)claims that KCRA had cancelled Bob's show as retaliation of him starting a similar show on KTVU and Jack offered Bob at KTXL to host Horror/SciFi Movies. Bob Shaw (Bob's Friend/Protege/Coworker/Man behind the scenes at Creature Features/Movie Critic) claims that Bob initially hosted a mix of movies at KTXL (Comedies/Musicals/Dramas) before he settled to the back to the usual Horror/SciFi Genre. However When I was looking at the TV Guide Microfilm and I found that on Late Saturday Nights at 11:30PM ((at least from 1969 onward), KTXL aired European Art Films of the 50's and 60's (i.e. "The Red Lips", "The Truth", "Anatomy Of A Marraige" and Roman Polanski's "Repulsion"). Now I am not saying that Bob Shaw is wrong, maybe Bob Wilkins hosted these movies on a different evening other than Saturday Nights? Maybe it was Bob who hosted those European Art Films? Apparently he must have left KCRA on very good terms in order to do an appearance on Geoff Wong's First Charlie Chan Show on October 2, 1971. Anyway according to the TV Guide microfilm, the first Horror Movie shown was on September 18, 1971 with "The Black Room (1935) starring "Boris Karloff" and with the exception of a month long stretch of "Mr. Moto" films in February of 1972, All Films were of the Horror/SciFi Genre.So I decided just to trace the history of KTXL's "The Bob Wilkins HORROR Show" which I now believe started on September 18, 1971 and it ended on February 14, 1981. I will write later on the amount of movies, the movie titles as well as which title was shown the most on KTXL-TV 40.

Geoff Wong's Charlie Chan Theatre debut on KCRA 3 on October 2, 1971

On Late Saturday Night October 2, 1971 (or early Sunday Morning?) at 12:30AM following the British TV Series "The Avengers" on KCRA Channel 3, debuted a "Charlie Chan Theatre" which was hosted by Geoff Wong. On this very night, Bob Wilkins (the previous Late Saturday Night Host) appeared on the show as Geoff's Caucasian Houseboy. A reverse of the so-called stereotypical Chinese Houseboys of the movies of the 30's and 40's. Essentially, Bob passes the baton to Geoff as his successor (Bob moved to crosstown KTXL Channel 40) on KCRA Channel 3. There is a bit of controversy on the name of this show. I have heard it was called "Charlie Chan Theatre", but others point out that it was called "Geoff Wong Adventure Theatre" or "GWAT" for short. I tend to believe both. Geoff hosted on KCRA from 1971 until NBC's "Saturday Night Live" debuted in 1975. At first he showed "Charlie Chan Movies" (the 20TH Century Fox ones) until the summer of 1972, then he showed the TV Series "Dick Powell Theatre", then assorted Adventure/Action Movies, which makes me think that it was renamed "GWAT" when he showed the Adventure/Action Movies. KCRA tried not to schedule Horror/SciFi Movies on Geoff Wong's show though Geoff did show "Corridors Of Blood" starring Boris Karloff and Christopher Lee in 1974. The very first movie Geoff showed on October 2, 1971 was "Charlie Chan In London" (1935) starring Warner Oland as Charlie Chan. "Charlie has 3 days to prevent the execution of a convicted person he believes to be innocent."

October 1, 1966 Schedule

On Saturday Night, October 1, 1966, on KCRA Channel 3 at 11:30PM, Bob Wilkins showed 2 AIP Movies directed by Roger Corman. The first movie shown was "The Terror" (1963) and starring Boris Karloff and Jack Nicholson. "A young officer in Napolean's army pursues a mysterious woman to the castle of an elderly baron where he discovers that she is the pawn of an old witch bent on driving the baron to suicide." The second movie was the black horror/comedy "A Bucket Of Blood" (1959) starring Dick Miller and Antony Carbone. "Dick Miller is Walter Paisley, a busboy who is an aspiring artist. One day, he accidently kills a cat, covers it in plaster and presents it as a piece of art but one masterpiece is not enough, but where is the next masterpiece going to come from.................?" Both movies are available on DVD, unfortunately both are in the public domain so there are plenty of crappy versions of both titles. I have yet to see a quality DVD of "The Terror", however the best DVD version of "A Bucket Of Blood" is from MGM Home Entertainment. It is currently Out Of Print, however you can pick up a used one from Amazon or ebay.

September 24, 1966 Schedule

On Saturday, September 24, 1966 on KCRA Channel 3 at 11:30PM, Bob Wilkins showed a double feature of "Dementia 13"(1963) and "The Brain Eaters"(1958). The first movie was directed by Famed Filmmaker "Francis Ford Coppola"(one of his first films). It is a very spooky movie released by AIP in 1963 and starring William Campbell , Patrik Magee and Luana Anders. The synopsis is: "John Haloran has a fatal heart attack but his wife, Louise won't get any of the inheritence when Lady Haloran dies, if John is dead. Louise forges a letter from John to covince the rest of the family he's been called to New York on important business and goes to his Irish ancestral home, Castle Haloran to meet the family and look for a way to ensure a cut of the loot." Very good movie unfortunately due to the movies public domain status, nearly all of the DVD's of "Dementia 13" have lousy film transfers. The second movie "The Brain Eaters" is a SciFi movie also from AIP and loosely based on Robert A. Heinlein's "The Puppetmasters". "Strange things are happening in Riverdale, Illinois. Alien Parasites attach to the back of the head to control humans (shades of "Invasion Of The Body Snatchers"). This was released about 10 years ago on VHS but currently is not on DVD.

"The Bob Wilkins Compact Disc" plus additional DVD Info.

I like to add to the Bob Wilkins DVD Reviews, that all of the DVD's offered from Scott Moon site comes in DVD Keepcases. Also Tom Wrysch also sells a Bob Wilkins CD which has Bob's original theme song "The Gotham City Municipal Swing Band" as well as The Poppers "Creature Features" Theme Song plus the "Friday Night Theme Song", some "Captain Cosmic" theme songs plus an interview with Bob Wilkins conducted by Sonny Joe Fox for his "Sinister Cinema" show for the now defunct "Classic Movie Channel" in the Bay Area. This is the audio only. To buy "The Bob Wilkins Compact Disc", check out Scott Moon's Bob Wilkins site at http://www.bobwilkins.net

Bob Wilkins DVD Reviews

For fans of Bob Wilkins, there are a number of DVD's available to whet your appetite. There is some duplication of certain Bob Wilkins footage on most of them, BUT ALL ARE MUST OWNS!!! Scott Moon's most excellent Bob Wilkins website offers: "Bob Wilkins Interviews Hollywood", "The Best Of Bob Wilkins", "The Bob Wilkins Super Horror Show" and "The Bob Wilkins 3 DVD Set". Scott Moon produced "Bob Wilkins Interviews Hollywood". This DVD is unique as none of the interviews on this disc are available on any of the other DVD's. It is exclusive only to this DVD. It is mastered from the original 16mm film elements from Bob's personal collection. Tom Wrysch, author of the excellent out of print "The Bob Wilkins Scrapbook" sells both "The Best Of Bob Wilkins" and a 6 Hour "The Bob Wilkins 3 DVD Set. Bob Johnson sells a remastered version of "The Bob Wilkins Super Horror Show", a KTXL Channel 40 Special from about 26 years ago. Speaking of Tom Wrysch, his "Bob Wilkins 3 DVD Set" are DVD-R's of his 3 VHS set. Tom's DVD-R's are mastered from VHS tapes recorded in higher quality SP mode. "The Bob Wilkins 3 DVD Set" also offers the only known segment from Bob's KCRA Show from 1968 and the Bob's All Star Promos, also from his KCRA years. Tom's DVD's offers one of the "Star Trek Specials" (The KTXL one from 1977). As for Tom's other DVD he sells "The Best Of Bob Wilkins", has far less but is practically the best, quality wise plus it has a Professional Fully Authored Menu. It also has a Behind The Scenes Slideshow as well as a Bumper Slideshow (Bumpers are photos with Balloon Captions written by Bob). Both Slideshows has a music background of Bob's theme songs of both his Friday and Saturday Night Shows. Now onto Bob Johnson's Excellent DVD of the KTXL TV 40 Special from 1980: "The Bob Wilkins Super Horror Show", though it is deceptively advertised as "A Creature Features Special Event", even though this special was only shown on KTXL TV 40 (Which had "The Bob Wilkins Horror Show") and Not KTVU Channel 2 (Which was the TV Station that had "Creature Features"). This is probably the best DVD of them all,Quality Wise! Now I know what you're saying, "Well this show is also on Tom Wrysch's 3 DVD Set, Why should I get this one too?" Well here is the ANSWER!!!: On the "3 DVD Set", it is much better but there are still some minor flaws, But Bob Johnson's DVD of this show is remastered from the original elements and looks and sounds as good as it did more than 25 years ago. This DVD also includes two extras: a ho-hum interview with Ben Johnson and a much better Contemporary Interview with both Bob Wilkins and his "Creature Features" replacement, John Stanley from a recent convention. Too bad that Interview is too short. And last but not least, is Scott Moon's "Bob Wilkins Interviews Hollywood". This is just that, Interviews with the Stars, but not all from the Horror and SciFi Genre, but from ALL GENRES!: William Shatner, Werner Klemperer, Esquivel?, Richard Pryor, Nichelle Nichols and George Takei, Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Gahan Wilson, Gene Roddenberry, Leonard Nimoy, A Captain Cosmic Promo with George Takei and a Ronald Reagan outtake from when he was governor that is well worth the price of the disc. "Bob Wilkins Interviews Hollywood", "The Best Of Bob Wilkins" and "The Bob Wilkins Super Horror Show" sells for $17.00 each ($15.00 plus $2.00 Shipping and Handling), "The Bob Wilkins 3 DVD Set" sells for $34.00 ($30.00 plus $4.00 Shipping and Handling) while You can buy "Bob Wilkins Interviews Hollywood", "The Best Of Bob Wilkins", "The Bob Wilkins Super Horror Show" and "The Bob Wilkins 3 DVD Set" at http://www.bobwilkins.net

September 17, 1966 Schedule

On Saturday Night, September 17, 1966, Bob Wilkins showed "Curse Of The Demon"(1957) and "Blood Of Dracula"(1957) on KCRA Channel 3. On this date, KCRA moved Bob's show from 11:00PM to 11:30PM. "Curse Of The Demon" is actually a good spooky movie, directed by Jacques Tourneur about a skeptical american scientest named John Holden(Dana Andrews) who arrives in England to take part in a conference on the supernatural and to investigate the activities of Devil-Cult leader, Julian Karswell(Niall MacGinnis). Julian Karswell conjures up a pretty scary Demon Monster. The second movie is just alright. "Blood Of Dracula"(1957) is directed by schlock movie director, Herbert Strock. Under hypnosis, a young woman is turned into a vampire. Pretty cheap effects, this was released by AIP. Both movies are available on DVD. "Curse Of The Demon" is paired up with its longer British version,"Night Of The Demon" courtesy of Sony Home Entertainment while "Blood Of Dracula" is paired up with "How To Make A Monster"(1958) as part of "The Sam Arkoff Collection" courtesy of Lionsgate Home Video.

"Attack Of The Giant Leeches" (1959)

Bob's second movie of his double feature on his first night of September 10, 1966 was the low budget horror movie from AIP called "Attack Of The Giant Leeches" (1959). A brief synopsis of this movie: "In the Florida Everglades, A colony of larger-than-human size intelligent leeches is living in an underwater cave. They begin dragging local people down to their cave where they hold them prisoner and slowly drain them of blood." In my opinion, this movie is far worst than the one before it: "Attack Of The Mushroom People" (1964). Men in rubber suits are what the leeches look like. This movie was featured on Comedy Central's "Mystery Science Theatre 3000" in 1992. This movie is also in the public domain which results in dozens of budget DVD's in awful condition. The best one around that I recommend was released by Elite Entertainment as a Drive In Special complete with Distorto-Sound. It also had Distorto-Picture:)

"Attack Of The Mushroom People" AKA "Matango"(1964)

Bob's very first movie shown on that fateful Saturday Evening of September 10, 1966 was "Attack Of The Mushroom People"(1964). Directed by Ishiro Honda, this movie was about a group of friends on a yacht who get stranded on a deserted island, where they find a fungus covered wreck. Hunger forces them to eat the fungus with disasterous effects. It was released to theatres in Japan in 1964 but was never released theatrically in the U.S. but was released direct to television by American International. In addition to September 10, 1966, "Attack Of The Mushroom People" was also shown on Bob's show on KCRA on July 26, 1969 and August 29, 1970, A total 3 times on KCRA! "Attack Of The Mushroom People" was also shown on Bob's shows on both KTVU Channel 2 and KTXL Channel 40 in the 1970's. It was also shown on Bob's Reunion Show On KCRA during the station's 50TH Anniversary Celebration on September 9, 1995, just a day before the show's 29TH Anniversary. On this particular show, Bob had both Geoff Wong (Bob's KCRA Late Night Successor) and Gary Tomsic (A friend of Bob's who also filmed 8mm amateur films and got a job at KCRA through Bob) were the guests. KCRA utilized "Kellyvision" for this show, which sped up the movie during the slow parts. Actually ,contrary to what Bob thought about "Attack Of The Mushroom People", I actually thought it was a bit spooky and not that bad.

Bob's 40TH Anniversary Photos

Photos Courtesy Of Scott Moon. http://www.bobwilkins.net