Engineer Bill Cartoon Express: Behind-The-Scenes
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- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
- This film is a behind-the-scenes look at the Engineer Bill Show with Bill Stulla. The year was 1961. This is what live TV looked like back in the day, especially for independent stations like KHJ-TV 9 in Los Angeles. Enjoy!
Note: please view the updated video at this link: • Engineer Bill: Behind ...
WOW! This brought back some wonderful memories. Engineer Bill played a very big part in my Life. In 1973 I hired out with the Southern Pacific Railroad as a Brakeman. In 1977 I was promoted to Conductor. I spent over 41 years working on the Railroad and retired in 2014. The Best Job Ever. I always wanted to be on Cartoon Express or at least meet Bill Stulla, sadly those never happened. But Engineer Bill was always in my Heart and still is today! Thank's for these memories!!!
I'm glad it brought back some good memories for you. Sounds like you had an exciting life in the railroad industry. I was always a model train buff. But my real interest was in the broadcast TV industry which is one reason why I went on TV shows like Engineer Bill. I later went into that industry and even managed a TV station for a while.
A significant historical document for those of us who were children back then in the Los Angeles area.
Thanks, Larry. According to Bill Stulla's daughter it's the only behind-the-scenes footage of the show from that era in existence. She gave me one of Bill's Emmy Awards which you can see on the re-edited version. BTW, Bill Stulla was Hungarian.
Wow! I do not remember the set looking this way. I can see the Gilbert American Flyer trains and auto-rama slot cars. The earlier layouts were more detailed.
Loved the Cartoon Express show and was fortunate to meet Bill Stulla in the 90s and attend his memorial service. Thank you for this upload and the wonderful memories.
Happy highball'in engineers! We will meet again at the end of track!
Ken; Glad you enjoyed the video and I'm glad I rediscovered it. I had forgotten all about this footage.
I enjoyed this very much...thank so much for sharing
Thank you. A good time to be young.
Yes, the early 60's with its live TV was a great time to be alive.
Wayne Thomas a.k.a "Freight Train Wayne" also the announcer on KHJ's Strange Tales of Science Fiction where he was known a "Weird Wayne".
Rich Eaton - Did they show Science Fiction " B " movies on that show?
KHJ-TV had the "Million Dollar Movie" which aired the RKO library of films multiple times during the week.
Thanks for the memories of this show.
God bless your dad for capturing this memory for you. I knew darn well before the end that this footage was shot by someone with motion picture camera experience. In 1961 I was in 11 years old so it's possible I could have seen this episode being that it was on everynight in Los Angeles CH9 6-7 PM.
Joe, thank you very much for your kind words. I know if my dad was still living he would get a kick out of your observation.
This is Golden. Thanks for posting this
Thanks. I forgot I had this footage until last year when I started cataloging and scanning my old home movies.
Your family had the presence of mind to film this and keep it! Thanks for posting!
Edit: I’ll give you $50 for that hat!
My dad took his 8mm camera everywhere and filmed everything. It was a cheap way to record family history. I could never part with my Engineer Bill hat, I still wear it (only kidding).
@@zebraradio1610 Filming was cheap? That's not what I recall. Very very expensive making moving pictures. Even with an 8mm camera. Otherwise my dad would have recorded a San Diego Chargers game off the tv for me because Lance Alworth was my idol.
As for your dad filming everywhere he went... did he ever visit Sheriff John's Lunch Brigade? Or Hobo Kelly? Do you remember the Mr. Wishbone Show? Would love to see footage of those kids shows I grew up watching. Alas it's rare stuff. What WAS in great quantity were episodes of Paul Winchell's Jerry Mahoney Club. But Metro Media owned them and wouldn't give them to Mr. Winchell when he tried negotiating. Instead they were destroyed over a dispute. He sued and won. But his treasure lost forever wasn't worth the financial compensation. One of the saddest things to happen in recorded television history.
Back in the 60's a 25' roll of 8mm film was about $6.50 with processing.
@@zebraradio1610 So how much would it cost to film over three hours of a football game? Thanks for the reply.
Oh... and to me $6.50 in the 60s was a lot of money. My mom used to say confidently she could take $5 and make it last a month. With three kids! A little hyperbolic a thing to brag about but she was that good at managing money. Always had great Christmases too of the gifts I asked for. Then and birthdays were the only times I could get a Beatles album. They cost brand new a whopping $2.97.
The slot cars were probably from the A.C. Gilbert Company like the American Flyer trains were.
The other shows have a much larger train layout & some of the kids build a model train freight car from a kit & they show the finished car to Engineer Bill. Your film preserves what it took for everyone involved to produce a live " kids show " !
Haven't heard the A.C. Gilbert Company name in a long time. Brings back memories. From watching an interview of Bill Stulla, I know he first tried to interest Lionel into partnering with Cartoon Express but they were lukewarm to the idea so he went to American Flyer who were enthusiastic about it. They frequently gave the show new models of their trains.
@@zebraradio1610 - Several years ago, Classic Toy Trains magazine did an article on Engineer Bill. Bill said he brought in some of his HO scale trains when he started the show, but felt that HO scale trains were too small to show up good on TV at that time. As you said, Bill did approach Lionel about furnishing O gauge trains - but Lionel was lukewarm to the idea. It sounds like Bill was able to get an American Flyer S gauge layout from a department store. The set previously had murals with streamlined diesel locomotives. Ken Kemzura said the slot cars were Auto - Rama; A.C. Gilbert did have a slot car line in the 1960s ( Lionel too! ). The blue toy above the boys at :40 to :45, and on the left at 3:23 to 3:45 appears to be a Caravelle radio transmitter - it allowed you to talk over your AM radio. The Caravelle transmitter also came with a telegraph key for sending Morse Code over your AM radio.
@@Petemonster62 Pete, thanks for the added details. I was recently at a meeting of Engineer Bill fans discussing the film my dad shot and I was amazed at how many of them were model train enthusiasts then and are still model railroaders now.
Thank you for sharing that!
I was on the show with my brother. Is there a way to find episodes to watch and maybe even find the one we were on?
The only place I'm seeing any episodes of the show is here on RUclips. If KHJ-TV even recorded those shows on videotape (doubtful), that tape would have long since been bulk erased and reused. That was the common practice back then given the high cost of tape.
I was so lucky to have been on his show on September 20, 1957 when the program originated from 1313 North Vine Street. Beautiful studios with an impressive front lobby. (Master Control was behind glass so that you could watch the operation!) I was also lucky enough to have won an American Flyer train set from him during one of his personal appearances! (You can see the Frontiersman still running to this day at: ruclips.net/video/QhGoJd-tMnk/видео.html. Engineer Bill turned out to become a friend of our family and was exactly what you saw on television: a good man. He even gave me one of the original Art Clokey Gumby's - since he used to air Gumby cartoons on his show.. I was honored to speak at his memorial and want to thank him for giving me encouragement to enter the world of broadcasting; luckily following in his footsteps at KFI and several other stations right here in L.A. God bless you, Bill!