Stan Midgley.....again

You may remember.....or may not if you're smart......a couple 3 years ago I inquired if anyone knew if the travelogues of Stan Midgley were still around somewhere. If you don't remember Stan, ask your dad.

Well, after much searching I finally came up with........nothing.

Until today. I googled his name, and found that Trisha Lendo of the UCLA Television and Film Archive gave a presentation on Midgley at the 14th Annual Northeast Historic Film Summer Symposium in Maine last July. I've e-mailed her to continue my quest for copies of his films.

I mention this because a lot of people chimed in with fond memories of Stan, George and the World Adventure Series. when I first mentioned that I was looking for evidence of the travelogues.

Doug, go to Youtube.com and type "Midgley" in the search box. A couple of his early family films pops up, along with a couple audio replays of George Perrot and him in The World Adventure Series. Don't go to sleep when George is talking, though.

I hadn't thought of Midgley for 50 years until this thread. He was a regular on the George Perrot show on WWJ-TV in the fifties. The show was on from 5 to 6 PM as I recall. His travel shows usually had him riding his bicycle through the mountains of Colorado or some other exotic place to my teenage mind. The Perrot show really made me want to travel, which I have to the tune of 141 countries. Thanks Stan n George

I have fond memories of Pierrot's shows in general, but especially of Stan. My family went to a lot of Pierrot's shows at the DIA theatre[[I think!). We saw Mr. Midgley live a number of times, plus many others, but Stan was the best - to a kid. Great stuff.

And agreed, river rat, about planting the travel bug. Same here.

Ray, I'm amazed that there isn't more on YouTube with Midgley. George Pierott had him on his show many times, and like river rat, I got the wanderlust from watching his shows. I went to high school with George Pierott's son, Bob.

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Originally Posted by river rat

I hadn't thought of Midgley for 50 years until this thread. He was a regular on the George Perrot show on WWJ-TV in the fifties. The show was on from 5 to 6 PM as I recall. His travel shows usually had him riding his bicycle through the mountains of Colorado or some other exotic place to my teenage mind. The Perrot show really made me want to travel, which I have to the tune of 141 countries. Thanks Stan n George

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Is he the guy that would turn his camera 90 degrees, then show him biking straight up, talking about how steep the grade was?

Yup. Chucklelogues were what the type of film making he and people like Don Cooper would do.

And I did find at least some of his films. Some films are housed at the UCLA Television and Film Archives in Los Angeles, and at least one is available for viewing there. Near as I can tell, some of Midgley's late 40's/early 50's films shot in Colorado are the last major filming of the Rio Grande Southern Railroad in southwestern Colorado, and have great historical signifigance.

Stan Midgley did chronicle the end of the narrow gauge railroad empires of Colorado in his films as well as many historical sites that have not been preserved. I certainly hope his films can be found and made available.