I was over at Pfitz’s blog reading about the bygone era of UHF shows. For those whippersnippers in the audience, that’s a kind of TV station we had before cable. Back in the day when TV had a dial instead of a remote and the channels only went up to 13. It’s when TV programming actually ended, signed off. They would literally turn off the station. Usually, they would announce all sorts of boring stuff like the transmitter tower location, wattage and broadcasting tech stuff. Then a lovely picture of the American flag waving would come on while the national anthem played, then a funky test pattern with all sorts of shapes that looked like a geometry test, and then the color bars like you see above. Then static. Wierd, huh?

Well, it got me thinking about my own UHF show that I grew up with. Technically, it wasn’t on a UHF channel but it certainly was of that ilk. Very ahead of it’s time, actually, in a “Dinner and a Movie” sort of way. It was on our nearest local channel in New Bern, about 45 minutes up the road from where I lived.

Every Saturday night starting at 11:30 Will C. would host his Red Eye Cinema. Will C’s show was awesome. He had silly mini-sketches between movie sections because that late no one advertised. He would sometimes show one movie, but usually would do two or three. He’d do a theme and create goofy skits around the theme. Or sometimes just have totally bad props to tie into the theme. I loved all the bad jokes and silliness.

I know that Will C didn’t create my interest in sci-fi and fright flicks but his show certainly fed it. At one time, I was determined to become the next Lon Chaney or Boris Karloff – scary movie make-up pioneers. Both created their own makeup effects and I wanted to do the same thing. Lon is most famous for the Phantom of the Opera (silent version), and Boris is most famous for the Frankenstein monster. One interesting note is that Lon’s son, Lon Jr. played the Wolfman, the Frankenstein monster, the Mummy and Dracula. I think he’s the only actor who’s done that.

Will’s show nurtured my interest in old horror and sci-fi movies. It was the Golden Age of film in my opinion. Such excellent black and white flicks like “The Frankenstien Meets the Wolf Man” and “The Island of Lost Souls”. I watched “The Creature from the Black Lagoon” for the first time on his show. I remember it so distinctly because the glow-in-the-dark water scenes were super cool and errie. OK, maybe I was skeered. Odd life note – years later when talking to the employer of my best pal’s mom, he told me that “Creature” was his first movie score. I about fell over. It was uncredited he said, but some of it was his. Can you guess who I was talking to?

So I did a little Googling to find out if anyone else remembered Will C’s show. There are a fair number of local bulletin boards that talk about the show. I’m happy to learn I wasn’t the only appreciative fan.

Then I found another article on Will – an obituary. He recently passed away at the age of 76 in Chapel Hill. I feel like I should have sent flowers or something. I don’t think he knew how many kids he was entertaining all those years.

All the best Will and thanks.