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By Rainbow Rowell
Read this article on Rainbow’s Blog
SEP 5, 2010
My column today was about Dr. San Guinary, a local horror show host back in the ’70s. The show started before I was born, and by the time I was old enough to watch it, 4 or 5 or 6, I wasn’t allowed to. (My mom was very anti-monster. The only monstery thing I was ever allowed to watch was “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.”)

But my dad used to stay up late to watch Dr. San Guinary, and he always kind of reminded me of Dr. Sanguinary. They both had scratchy voices and gravelly laughs … (That was part of the act for Dr. Sanguinary, but it was how my dad actually sounded.) I think for a while I actually imagined that my dad was Dr. Sanguinary.

I also used to pretend that he was an Indian (because he had long hair), that he was from Mexico (because he had dark skin) and that one of the characters from the comic strip “Doonesbury” was based on him (I have no idea why I thought this, but it lingered in my brain long enough that I didn’t consciously realize that it wasn’t true until college).

Working on the San Guinary story, I realized how much I must have watched the show, despite my mom’s monster ban. If my dad was home on Saturday night, I’d lie awake in bed until my mom was asleep, then sneak back into the living room and watch TV from behind the couch, where my dad was sitting. He had to know I was there; in my experience, 6-year-olds aren’t very sneaky. But I don’t remember him telling me to go back to bed.

First he’d watch the news, then “Saturday Night Live.” I remember watching that show from hiding, too, and not getting any of the jokes. (I also remember thinking that my dad was John Belushi.) And then we’d watch the beginning of “Creature Feature” with Dr. San Guinary.

Jason Jones — who’s dad, John, played Dr. San Guinary — said something during our interview that I couldn’t fit into the story, but that I keep thinking about. He said that he wished his dad had lived long enough for Jason to know him as an adult, because John was a funny guy. But as a kid, Jason couldn’t appreciate his sense of humor.

Jason was 18 when his dad died. I was older when my dad died, in my late 20s. But I know what Jason means. I can remember my dad’s laugh more clearly than his face — loud, rough, easy — but I never really knew him well enough, as an adult, to laugh with him.

4 Comments »
Tammy Queen said:
I remember the show very well, i had a mother that would let us stay up to watch. Every week i couldn’t wait to see the following week. I remember on Dr San Guinary did a telethon remote for Fun Plex and i just had to go and see him, but of course i was much older then. If they brought all of the shows back on TV i would be HAPPY to be a fan again. Then my children and grandchildren can get the experience i had as a child.Love the story in today newspaper, Thank You for more childhood memories.

5 September 2010 at 1:43 pm
kelly vasquez said:
I really miss Doctor San Guinary, he represents and holds very dear memories of a time long gone but sorely missed by a lot of us. god bless him!!. kelly

5 September 2010 at 10:36 pm
Sarah said:
Funny! You were watching from behind the couch. You know your dad knew you were there, but he let you stay anyway. This reminds me of Friday nights when I was a kid. We watched some show (can’t remember what it was) together as a family, but then Dallas and Knot’s Landing came on. When the first show came on, that was like our bell to go to bed. We would go to bed, but then we’d come back downstairs to watch from around the side of a wall that went into the kitchen and overlooked the living room. I’m pretty sure we had NO idea what the shows were about, but it was more about the sneakiness of being up when we weren’t supposed to be.

6 September 2010 at 8:21 pm
DeEtte Moore said:
I loved Dr. San Guinary. My mom loved scary movies. She let me stay up late on Friday nights and we would watch them together. Sometimes I hid my face, sometimes not, but it was always fun. When I was about 5 or so, I got to meet the Doc. I was looking at something in a department store and he came up behind me and scared me silly. When I recovered, he shook my hand and gave me stuff for his cause. I will never forget that and I still miss those Friday nights snuggled up close to my mom watching them movies. Thanks for the memories.

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