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Engineer Bill Stulla Passes

C

Carmine5

This just in from the LA Times:

"William "Engineer Bill" Stulla, an early Los Angeles children's television show host who inspired a generation of Southern California baby boomers to drink their milk with his signature "Red Light, Green Light" game, has died. He was 97.

Stulla died in his sleep Tuesday evening at his longtime home in Westlake Village, his daughter, Kathryn Stulla Mackensen, said Thursday.

As the genial host of "Cartoon Express," which ran weekdays at 6:30 p.m. on Channel 9 (then KHJ-TV) in Los Angeles, Stulla was a television fixture from 1954 to 1966."

I still have my Engineer Bill's cap ("Channel 9 Cartoon Express") from when I was on that show back in 1962. I also have some great 8mm footage my dad shot when we were doing the show, including a brief shot of Wayne Thomas doing the "red light/green light" calls.

This was television at its best--live and local. Bill's passing is a sad day for those of us who enjoyed and remember all those great local kid's shows from that era.

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-stulla15-2008aug15,0,7686210.story

C5
 
Thanks C5, for posting Bill's passing, it is very sad news. I too, use to enjoy as a kid back your 1962-63 until we moved to Thousand Oaks, and getting channel 9 was no easy task! Funny thing is I was just telling my wife about Engineer Bill, a couple of days ago. I said it would be nice to have kids shows like that again, over what's called children's programming now!

Bill, enjoyed a nice life living to the ripe old age of 97, and what a way to go; but in your sleep.

Steve
KNJO
 
XRQKFM said:
Funny thing is I was just telling my wife about Engineer Bill, a couple of days ago. I said it would be nice to have kids shows like that again, over what's called children's programming now!
Click to expand...

It certainly would be nice for today's kids. I think it would be a real thrill for them as it was for us in those days.

Did you notice this quote from the LA Times Obit:

"Between cartoons, he would chat with his in-studio guests -- a boy and a girl from local schools -- read from a get-well list of young viewers who were sick, and talk to his audience about breaking bad habits such as not eating everything on their plates."

What pre-packaged, freeze-dried children's programming today could offer the kind of intimacy and accessibility those local shows had? Imagine sending in a card to your favorite TV personality and having him/her read your name over the air?

I remember when I was selected to be on the show, Bill Stulla called my mom personally and asked if she could bring me and a friend to the studio the following week.

Such was the beauty of live and local TV. Today's kids just don't know what they're missing.

C5
 
I agree with all of the postings above. It wouldn't have occurred to me that Engineer Bill was still alive 45 years after I watched his program on KHJ-TV 9. He seemed "to be one of the older kids' show hosts to me then...but it makes sense that a 52 year old man would seem ancient to a 10 year old.

Not to be morbid - but I thought of the LA kid's show hosts of that era that are still with us. I guess that would be Tom Hatten and "Sherrif" John Rovick.

RIP Bill, and congratulations on a good long life.
 
I watched his show everynight after school. Engineer Bill also had a Sunday morning radio show on KHJ radio prior to Bill Drakes' arrival there.
 
Never missed a one from whenever I found out he was on (probably '58 or '59) until we left LA in '65. RIP, Engineer Bill!

---Michael Hagerty
 
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