Forum:Belated mourning period for Bob Wilkins
I only just found out this morning that a piece of my childhood (one of the few happy pieces) passed away in January. He was a funky looking, meek salesman that became a legend in monster movie entertainment in the SF Bay area. I could blah blah but I shall let the videos (mostly) speak for themselves.
Top left-to-right
1) The most easily recognizable Creature Feature intro.
2) The official HQ tribute posted from his youtube account after his death
3) Some clips that feature Bob Wilkins personal theme song in the background - Neil Hefti's "Gotham City Municipal Swing Band". I later adopted the theme and always finished my radio shows with the tune. You only get half of the song but that's the section he formed a continuous loop with for the show.
4) Some fat guy who is pleading for people to send money to Bob because he's dying (at the time). Fatso does a great job of explaining what made Bob so incredibly cool and why I worship the man's memory myself. Long before everybody went nutso over Japanese monsters and anime, this guy was feeding it to me when I was a little kid back in the 70's.
5) Bob Wilkins next project after "Creature Features", called "Captain Cosmic" - One of the most low budget and lame characters I've ever seen in my life. Faster than a speeding BART train?!?! You're killing me! Here's where Bob introduced us to Johnny Sokko, The Space Giants, Ultraman..........my brain is poisoned for life.
6) HQ fan-made tribute featuring the Alice Cooper theme song and the same monster-movie segments used by "Creature Features" in the multiple versions of the intro used over the years.
7) Bob in action, interviewing Anthony Daniels (C3PO) in the 70's.
8) The fat guy posted this memorial after Bob's death.
9) The obit that ran on Channel 2, has some more interesting facts.
| <youtube width="300" height="300">6MrQYSNYLVc</youtube> | File:Bob Wilkins 1932 - 2009 | File:BobWilkins.Net - Trailer for Creature Features Documentary |
| File:Please Help Bob Wilkins, Former Host of "Creature Features" | <youtube width="300" height="300">ZwMQt9LUP5I</youtube> | <youtube width="300" height="300">oChr2E5h4UY</youtube> |
| File:Anthony Daniels STAR WARS interview | File:Bob Wilkins In Memoriam | File:KTVU's Bob Wilkins Obituary |
When I worked at the radio station I actually hunted down Bob during the "dry years" (before the resurgence of his nostalgic popularity in the 00's) and he was working as a salesman (his first profession) at the Reno Sands. At the time he couldn't understand why anybody cared and he seemed a little annoyed that I tracked him down. I backed off and left him alone. A few years later, more people started tracking him down and by the late nineties he'd finally given in to his unintentional celebrity status. It's nice to see that he finally realized just how much he meant to a lot of us before he died. *sniff* -- 13:25, 21 April 2009 (UTC)
- Sorry, I didn't grow up in San Francisco. Seems like a cool guy, although I can't understand why he's interviewing Richard Dawkins in that bottom left video. That's just weird. Sir Modusoperandi Boinc! 15:16, 21 April 2009 (UTC)