Jim Erickson, a Wichita professor, film expert, eccentric and ‘coolest cat,’ dies at 88
One of Wichita’s most colorful and well-known characters — a local professor, film buff, and longtime life of the party — has died.
Jim Erickson, whose nickname was “Ol ‘Flick,” spent part of his career teaching in the English department at Wichita State and the other part reviewing and hosting films for local media outlets. He died on Wednesday morning after several months of declining health, his friends say.
He was 88.
News of Erickson’s death began spreading late on Wednesday, and since then, social media has been filled with tributes from former students, old friends and fans of his famous local television commercials and epic Halloween parties.
“We’ve lost a very unique and extremely important part of Wichita, someone hard if not impossible to replace” said Bill Little, a longtime friend who was by Erickson’s side during his last days. “I feel sorry for the people who never got to know him.”
Erickson was an activist who was passionate about civil rights, and a staunch feminist who friends say once burned a jockstrap at a women’s rights rally.
He wore a big mustache, suspenders and clothes that didn’t match, and there was always a toothpick hanging out of his mouth.
He believed poetry wasn’t poetry if it didn’t rhyme, and he sometimes fell asleep while attending the movies he was reviewing.
He was a lifelong bachelor who met up with a group of buddies every Monday at Harry’s Uptown, a bar on East Douglas, where he’d lead the conversations about politics and movies as he ate his favorite chopped steak dinner.
“Everybody agrees that the level of conversation took a serious dive with the passing of Jim Erickson,” said Chris Brooks, a former WSU colleague and member of the Monday-night Harry’s group. “People are probably going to sit down now and look at each other and say, ‘What are we going to talk about?’ You never that problem when Jim was there. He always had something to say.”
Erickson was born in Minnesota on December 14, 1931. He served in Korea as part of the Marine Corps Reserve, and he earned a doctorate’s degree from the University of Minnesota.
He started work at Wichita State University in 1964 and for years taught 18th Century British Literature. But by 1986, said his longtime colleague Brooks, he tired of it and told the university he wanted to teach about his passion: film.
Erickson, a film buff who loved old movies — especially “Citizen Kane” — developed a course for the university called Narrative Literature in Film. Students would read books like “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “The Red Badge of Courage” then watch the film versions and compare them, Brooks said.
Erickson also was an actor who appeared in community theater, at Renaissance Fairs and in several lively television commercials in the 1980s for places like The Yard.
But perhaps none of his roles was as iconic as his appearance in the 1976 Wichita-made B-movie “King Kung Fu,” about a martial arts-trained gorilla who stops in Wichita on his way to New York, and people would still stop Erickson at Harry’s to ask about it.
He retired from WSU in 1996 but continued his career as a movie expert. In the late 1980s, he introduced films that aired on KPTS, offering his rich knowledge to audiences. He also hosted movies that aired on KAKE-TV, where he earned his “Ol’ Flick” moniker. Younger audiences might recognize his voice from the movie reviews he did for KMUW, Wichita’s NPR station, until 2016.
Erickson also was famous for the Halloween parties he would throw at his maze of a house across from Fairmount Park near WSU.
They started in the 1970s, and he threw them every year until about 2003. Brooks said Erickson would buy five kegs of beer and invite people into his home, which was “like ‘The Addams Family,’ a museum of pictures and movies and books.” The party would often last until 5 a.m.
In more recent years, Erickson continued socializing with his friends, who would fret over his worsening driving ability and the multiplying dents in his car.
The coronavirus pandemic affected Erickson, a social creature who was suddenly stuck at home. Brooks said he’d pick up food from one of Erickson’s favorite eateries — the cafe inside the Dillons at Central and Rock — and they’d eat in the park.
Erickson’s last Monday night at Harry’s was two weeks ago, Brooks said. He’d been having fainting spells triggered by an erratic heartbeat. Friends took him to the hospital on Sunday, Brooks said, and he died there on Wednesday morning.
Teri Mott, a local and actress and art lover, said she was one of Erickson’s students in the 1980s. She first saw the movie “Citizen Kane” in his class, she said, and he taught her how to view movies critically.
It opened her eyes to art, she said, and the two stayed friends. For years and years, Erickson would always attend her local theater performances.
Erickson was a fascinating, compassionate and eccentric person, she said.
“He was one of Wichita’s coolest cats ever.”
Memorial donations can be made to the Jim Erickson Memorial in care of WSU Foundation to benefit the school’s English Department.
This story was originally published June 11, 2020 at 2:42 PM.
.jpg)