Bob Wilkins movie at the Crest, Thursday Oct 30
Posted on October 29, 2008 – 11:29 AM | by OldManFoster
Bob Wilkins RULED my Saturday nights when I was a kid. Creature Features was the dominant item on my weekend social schedule until I was 15 years old. I watched pretty much every crappy (and I mean crappy) horror/sci fi movie that Wilkins ran starting as soon as I moved to Sac in ’73. I lived for the movies and for the interviews with stars and local movie nerds. It was on Wilkins’ show that I first encountered Hardware Wars, which blew my pre-teen mind.
Wilkins himself was fascinating. Nerdy, with plaid sports coat, horn rim glasses and big ass cigar, he was the antithesis of cool. Somehow that made him even cooler. At least to me and my comic nerd pals. It all ended one night in 1981 when Bob announced that he was going off the air. My phone rang 30 seconds later with my friend Dane calling in shock. My parents wanted to know who the hell was calling at 11 O’Clock at night. They just didn’t understand.
Local sci fi /horror aficionado Scott Moon located Wilkins (in Reno of all places) about ten years ago and informed him that his fan base still existed. Wilkins dug up reels of old shows and Moon helped him organize and go through it all- making the best moments available to fans. Wilkins even did a few live shows, recreating his TV show format in nightclubs with guests and films. At one of these events I gave him a copy of a record my band had made, complete with a forged Bob Wilkins endorsement on the back of the sleeve. Thankfully, he laughed about it.
Watch Horror Films, Keep America Strong is a new documentary about Wilkins and John Stanley, the other well-known norcal Horror Show host. The film will play at the Crest this Thursday, October 30 at 7:30. Proceeds will benefit Bob Wilkins who is sadly in the later stages of Alzheimers disease. Mr. Lobo will host, and Ernie Fosselius, the director of Hardware Wars will be on hand as well.
Check it out!