Virginia Creepers: The Horror Host Tradition of the Old Dominion

From February 1962 to February 1965, C. J. "Tiny" Thompson hosted the Saturday afternoon horror and sci-fi movie show known as "Saturday Theater" on WSLS 10 in Roanoke, Virginia. The show aired in the late afternoon, starting at 6:00 pm for the first year and then switching over to a 5:30 start time to accommodate new programming before switching back to a more "family" oriented movie.

Thompson (who will be interviewed for this film in July of 2009) says he remembers little from the show besides his co-host, a Mynah bird named "Midnight" and the fact that his white jacket was a professional necessity as Midnight spent a lot of time on his shoulder.

The show itself was apparently bare bones, with Thompson making introductions, a few interior comments during the bumpers, and a close. The content was largely from the AIP packages, featuring titles like ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN, THE BAT, and THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS.

According to Mark Claytor, who was a 10 year old fan of the show at the time, the movies were a rite of passage among local kids. He recalls that they were routinely frightened by the B movies:

"Even at 10 years old the B movies the show carried on Saturday evenings scared me mightily. A group of us guys were all afraid of the subject-matter, but since the shows would be the major topic of discussion on Monday mornings at school, we had to watch or be left out.

I remember specifically ATTACK OF THE CRAB MONSTERS . . . a man having his head "lopped off" by the claw of a huge, radiation-mutated, land crab was the cause of nightmares many nights thereafter."

Strangely enough, in August, the show would change programming to dramas for one month, then go back to the horror and sci-f films. No one seems to know why . . . .

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Feed your Need . . .

Why should you have to go one more weekend without your favorite ghoul? You don't live in Communist China! (And if you do, then all the more reason to get the film!)

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