Did someone call? Oh, there you are! When I was 12 years old, I couldnt wait for Saturday night. At 10:30 p.m., WSM-TV in Nashville would air CREATURE FEATURE. The program always started with the sound of water dripping inside an old dungeon, which I later discovered was the basement at the TV station. An announcer would come on and say, Each of us carries upon his shoulders this bony sarcophagus, the grinning face of death. Within it resides the human brain, encompassing within its pulsating grey mass the totality of the cosmic consciousness. What a delicate instrument; capable of thoughts of inexpressible beauty, but often enslaved in mindless terrors by monstrous horrors that the mind cannot fathom, and indeed, horrors that may not exist except within the bony confines of the human brain box. This is Creature Feature... exploring the realms of the unknown. And now, from deep within the catacombs beneath our studios, here is your master of terrormonies, Sir Cecil Creape. All the while the announcer was speaking, you could hear and then see Sir Cecil (pronounced sess-ul) descending from a stone staircase. When he reached the floor of his dungeon, in an unmistakable droll, Sir Cecil would say, Did someone call? Then he would look into the camera and say, Oh, there you are! The dungeon had rock walls and a large bookshelf, on which rested a few books, a skull, and, strangely, a framed picture of Floyd Kephart, who was a political analyst in Nashville during the seventies. For some reason, WSM film editor, Russ McCowan, who portrayed Sir Cecil, thought it was funny to have a picture of Floyd on the mantle, and would refer to him from time to time with such jokes as Suffering Kepharts, or That is almost as frightening as Floyd Kephart! Sir Cecil was a short, round little fellow, bald on top with just a bit of hair on the sides. He wore a dark blue cape with a huge purple collar and a chain mail tunic. He had a hump back and walked in a slow, lurching style. He had a large scar across his forehead and wore a monocle in one eye. He wore a set of deformed teeth and always carried a strange looking lamp in one hand. Some people thought Sir Cecil was Wheel of Fortune star, Pat Sajak, who at the time was an announcer and weatherman for channel four. Sir Cecil would present an opening skit before introducing some scary movie, like The Blob. He would reappear for a short bit after each commercial break. youtu.be/Tn1NfcFQ1n4
Posted on: Sun, 26 Oct 2014 14:07:51 +0000
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