Another carry-over from 7 ARTS THEATER was Bob's sponsor: Jimboy's Tacos -- a local fast food restaurant. I remember that Jimboy's even distributed a flyer containing Wilkins' schedule for the first month or two.

Wilkins once hyped Jimboy's product by conducting a comparison test; assisting him was guest Hank Renner, the host of KXTL's Big-Time Wrestling. Bob asked Hank to take bites of two tacos -- one from Jimboy's and another from a competing restaurant -- then breath into a phony-looking device that supposedly measured their respective halitosis factors. Not surprisingly, Jimboy's won.

On a whim, I Googled Jimboy's Tacos, and found that they are still in business, in fact doing quite well, judging from the Jimboy's Tacos web site. Perry goes on:

Renner was a frequent guest on the show, as was Bob Shaw -- a local horror film buff who provided Bob with background info on the movies he played. Occasionally, Bob would interview celebrities passing through the Sacramento area. He once chatted with actor Cliff Robertson, who was promoting his new movie, J.W. COOP. I also remember that Adrienne Corri once visited to publicize A CLOCKWORK ORANGE and VAMPIRE CIRCUS.

I grew-up in Yuba City, a small town north of Sacramento and watched Wilkins every weekend without fail. I often wrote to him, providing trivia on his upcoming films, and occasionally he read my letters on the air. In 1971, I received a call from KTXL, inviting me to appear on Bob's show. A few days later, my mother pulled me out of school and drove me to the studio. I remember waiting in the lobby, and seeing Bob park outside in a wood-paneled station wagon. He entered, introduced himself and, I felt at the time, quickly concluded he'd made a mistake -- I was pretty nervous. But he put me on the air anyway and it went okay. We chatted about monster movies and why I liked them. The film that night was SOUL OF A MONSTER -- a 40s obscurity that I've never seen play anywhere since. Bob also showed a trailer for WILLARD, which was about to open in theaters, and announced some kind of promotional contest. For a short time after the show aired, I was a schoolyard celebrity.

Wilkins was one of the hardest working guys on Northern California television. Initially The Bob Wilkins Horror Show played one movie per Saturday, then expanded to double features. For a brief period, the show also ran at 11:30pm Fridays and 9:30pm Sundays. (I remember seeing THE MUMMY, KONGA and CIRCUS OF HORRORS on the Sunday night show.) This was also the same time Bob was hosting Creature Features at KTVU and, if I'm not mistaken, serving as that station's weatherman on their evening news.

This grueling schedule took its toll on Bob, who walked through his last few seasons with little of the energy, commitment or enthusiasm so abundant in his early shows. You could tell that his days on-air were numbered. It was sad, but I watched anyway out of loyalty and affection. In 1979, I moved out of the area to go to college and missed his final KTXL shows.

THE DEMON PLANET is an alternate title for Mario Bava's PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES, graciously issued in a fine transfer by MGM. There was also a French edition of this, but it is long OOP.