I don't know if any of you East coast kids got a taste of this West coast kid's TV icon, Engineer Bill. He passed away last Sept at 97, and many of us who just found out are in a tad bit of mourning. Anyone have any Engineer Bill memories?
I have to say that I haven't heard of Engineer Bill. I'm sorry to hear of his passing. Was his show a variety show like Cap'n Kangaroo, or something different?
I never heard of Bill but remember watching Fraggle Rock and the "dozers" or whatever the construction dudes were called. Was Engineer Bill like Fraggle Rock, or was he more like "Mr. Wizard"?
Engineer Bill was a TV host dressed in railroad clothes, and he had a big old miniature railroad for his set. He was kind of like Capt Kangaroo, I guess, but I liked Bill much better. He would introduce cartoons, but he also had some things he'd do every day. He would play "red light, green light" with a glass of milk, and the kids at home would drink their milk along with him. Pretty sharp, eh? He also had a re-creation of the "little engine that could", slowly going up and over a "hill", and saying "I think I can, I think I can". Every week he would pick some kind of good behavior, such as saying please and thank you. Every day the engine would get a little farther up the hill, magically getting his energy from all the boys and girls and home that were persevering at the behavior. Every Friday, of course, the train got over the hill, because the kids had learned their behavior for the week. Sounds a bit Victorian, doesn't it? But, he was a kid's programming favourite at the time of the early 60s.
Actually it sounds like a wonderful show for kids! The milk drinking thing was brilliant, yes. And the train for good behavior... what kid doesn't love trains? Very clever indeed! We need a contemporary Engineer Bill, don't we?!
I agree we need more Engineer Bills for the kids, but there was a part of his show that couldn't be done now. My husband showed me a clip he found online, and Engineer Bill was talking to two kids that were guests, and he was asking them what their name was, their address, where they went to school. He stopped short of asking their phone number! Nobody thought it odd back then. Nobody would never do that now!
Ah yes, very true. A few months ago I found a cheap copy of Kids Say the Darndest Things with Art Linkletter from the... 60s I guess? And while it was fun to see, there were quite a few things said and done that would have never hit the airwaves today.
You're right. One thing that changed, due to the assassination of JFK, was that sportscasters toned down their verbs and adverbs when announcing winning scores. The sportscasters used to say things like "The Dodgers slaughtered the Yankees", words of that nature. It sounds a little silly now, perhaps a bit, but it shows how very traumatised the nation was at that time..
Oooops, totally forgot what else I was going to say, "on a lighter note", was that the Flintstones was first sponsored by Winston Cigarettes. There was the sponsor's cartoon sequence where Fred was watching TV, and lit up, smoked, and smiled. That's what you call different from today!!!
No kidding! I know that magazines used to advertise that stuff heavily, too. Fred Flintstone with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth... now there's a visual!
