George Pierrot / George Sprott

[Gingellgirl]

I tripped across a large format graphic novel titled "George Sprott: 1894-1971" by Canadian artist Seth. In his interview with popmatters.com, he sites his inspiration for the title character:

“There was a particular host [on Detroit television] of a travel show named George Pierrot that was the direct inspiration for George Sprott,� Seth says. “Some of his surface characteristics are similar – though none of the personal ones are. George Pierrot was famous for falling asleep on the air.�

The New York Times serialized the novella at http://www.nytimes.com/ref/magazine/...gesSprott.html

I credit a portion of my eternal wanderlust to numerous viewings of George Pierott's program. Does anyone else have memories of his show?

[the rock]

When we bought our first 10" black and white tv set in the late 40's, George's "World Adventure Series" was one of the first shows we watched. And it was a very good travel show. He lived in Indian Village, maintained an office in the Farwell Building and could recite notorious limericks that would make you blush.

[FlyingJ]

...and my father grumbles despite driving a new Chrysler Imperial he'd stiff the grocery delivery boys on the tip

[gnome]

There once was a George named Pierrot
Who traveled the World on his show
And when Rock was a Pebble
He'd watch on a bevel
And play with his verticle Hold.

[Buy American]

I watched George Pierrot as a child and into my teens. His son, Bob went to Southeastern High School where I graduated from. I remember that on many occasions, George seemed to fall asleep and was so sluggish that I almost went to sleep as well.

[vetalalumni]

The George Pierrot show helped inspire my interest in the world around us. It was not flashy and did not show a lot of cheap thrills for ratings [[imo). I think it was shown around dinner time. A fond memory for me.

[eriedearie]

Oh yeah, I used love watching his travel show. For me, that show instilled the love of geography. I always have to know the layout of the land before we go somewhere.

Mr. Erie remembers him too. He says that when he returned from his stint with the Canadian Army overseas, he watched the George Pierrot show to see where he had been. [[Think copious amounts of German beer consumed during time off from duty.)

[Jimaz]

I do recall watching it but as a child I thought it was one of the most boring shows on TV. Yet it was oddly spellbinding.

The travelogues were interesting and educational but always of very poor picture quality. They must have been made by the tourist movie cameras of the day.

When they cut back to George it was like watching a train wreck in slo-mo. You couldn't take your eyes off of him. Was he going to die on camera today? He was a bit like Larry "Bud" Melman in some ways. I always wondered what the background story was about how someone like that got that job. Does anyone know the story?

If it were on today it would probably become a runaway cult hit.

[EMG]

I do recall watching it but as a child I thought it was one of the most boring shows on TV.

Yes, that's about how I felt about it too. It was what my grandparents had on television in the rare moments when they weren't watching or listening to the news. He ranked right up there in my book with Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom and the CBS Evening News With Walter Cronkite.

I went to YouTube hoping to find an old video of his show, but didn't have any luck. However, I did Google Pierrot and found this thread which discusses - and contains pictures - of George as well as some other Detroit celebrities.

http://apps.detnews.com/apps/history/index.php?id=25

[Jimaz]

Well, I didn't intend to disparage dear old George quite that much but it is the truth. He was underappreciated by the younger generation at that time.

What was endearing was his unpolished, amateurish, proletarian approach to the newest media of that time.

He is now a legend. There's no doubt of that.

[EastsideAl]

I spent a large part of my childhood in Indian Village, and George Pierrot was our local celebrity. Anytime you would mention that you lived in Indian Village it seemed like someone would pipe up with "Hey, doesn't George Pierrot live there?"

He lived on Burns just south of Vernor, which was right down the street from my best friend in the neighborhood. Another friend used to mow his lawn, and we helped him a few times, but quit. The man was too grumpy and demanding for us. That was the extent of my interactions with him, but he had a well-won reputation around the area for being a bit of a grouch.

My Dad remembered being dragged off as a kid by his mother and aunt during the depression to go see the World Adventure Series lectures at the DIA. He credits some of his interest in travel to those lectures. My grandmother always enjoyed his TV shows, and my sister and I would watch them with her when she would be off work and watching us. She would always say that she'd been around the world because of George Pierrot. I remember the movies being really low quality and unclear a lot of the time, and the show often bored me to tears, but more than once my sister and I spotted him napping, to our great amusement.

Here is more background on George from the really neat TV Land Detroit book from a couple of years ago. If you grew up here and watched TV as a kid I do recommend that you pick it up.

[barnesfoto]

I remember being a tike and observing my grandfather and his siblings watching that show as if it featured a live feed of Jesus raising the dead. [[It seemed unbearably boring, I just remember lots of grainy footage of George sitting in cafes and in fishing boats)
Ironically, my grandfather barely left his own neighborhood during the last 20 years of his life, and I ended up becoming a travel junkie..
You gotta hand it to George for figuring out a way to make a living from being a professional traveler, too bad that he never learned how to tip people.

[xD_Brklyn]

Yes, Seth grew up north of Windsor and spent a lot of time watching Canadian and local Detroit television. It's amazing how little happened on those old shows. The only thing that killed his show was demographics. His support from his audience and his sponsor, First Federal Savings, remained strong, but no one wanted his age group because it kept the younger and more desirable viewers away from the television shows that followed his program. Too bad I was one of those young viewers who couldn't help but change the channel after a few minutes of ol'George. Didn't know I was one of those helping to take his show off the air.

If you ever get around to it his books and short stories still make an entertaining read. His description of Hawaii before it became all asphalt, of pre-war Japan [[he was convinced Japan would not go to war with us--wrong!) and of pre-war China [[he thought the Chinese worked so hard they would one day dominate the world--true!) was interesting. Also there's a short story he wrote about some ego-tripping basketball players that had some good psychological twists and turns for a teenage sports story.

[Patrick]

An older man I worked with at Sears years ago told me some stories about Pierrot. He used to get drunk at the Roostertail and had to have the valets drive him home to Indian Village on a number of occasions.

[Ray1936]

Besides his show, he hosted a live travelogue show every Sunday at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Took it in many a time.

[Ed Golick]

Pierrot is the only Detroit TV personality that had shows airing on two channels during the same time period. He had a weekday show on WWJ and a weekend show on WXYZ.

I've got a WWJ gag reel with ol' George reciting the dirtiest limericks I've ever heard.

[Buy American]

Anyone remember Stan Midgley?

[Eastburn]

Anyone remember Stan Midgley?

Loved that guy! The man on the bicycle who took amusing shots of himself. Funny guy.

[Ray1936]

From the Social Security Death Index [[SSDI):

Stanley MIDGLEY Birth Date:1 Nov 1913 Death Date:10 Aug 2000 Social Security Number: 361-03-8842 State or Territory Where Number Was Issued: Illinois Death Residence Localities ZIP Code:91011 Localities: Flintridge, Los Angeles, California

[the rock]

gnome---George would be very proud of you.

[Gingellgirl]

Ah! Stan Midgley! How could I forget? I loved his camera tricks. Check this out from the railroadforums.com thread:

[DetroitFats]

The thing I loved about Pierrot was that, no matter where he traveled, he seemed to love the local food. Fried ants? "Fabulous!" Grasshopper salad? "We loved it!" I credit George Pierrot with being one of the first people [[outside of my dad) to tell great travel stories that made me want to travel the world.

[FlyingJ]

That Midgley guy was out here? There was an Adventurer from up there in La Canada[[rhymes with pinata, our latest wildfires did a number up there) named John Goddard who would work the high school assembly circuit every year, with his famous "Life List" from Reader's Digest[[he wound up in one of the "Chicken Soup" books, too). They'd bring us all down & show us his[[silent) exotic travel movies while he'd narrate them with trivia, jokes & asides. I'd get a hhuuuggeee Pierrot vibe off him-his stuff shot on 16mm, every year's presentation would be dedicated to his late-& last traveling companion, it was like Pa Cartwright's wife, they all died on these adventures... drowned in an African river, or bitten by snakes in the swamp, or fell prey to headhunters in Papa New Guinea, or taken out by some exotic wasting tropical disease in South America. The idea was if you stay in school, study hard & don't do drugs[[unless it's anti-biotics that may or may not work on the tropical diseases) you won't have these wonderful adventures...or you could merely end up as vulture bait like John Goddard's traveling companions. It reminded me of "Charles Muntz" from "Up!"[[whose name is probably a "Madman Muntz" homage-google him).
http://travel.latimes.com/articles/la-trw-goddard4jan04
http://www.johngoddard.info/bio.htm

But we are forgetting here, the most important takeaway about George Pierrot is he lived in Indian Village & drove a new Chrysler, yet stiffed delivery boys from the grocery store on their tip. In a working class town that oughtta make you vulture bait.

[punky1]

Ed Golick, anyway you can get that gag reel up on youtube, legally? Would love to see it.

[lpg]

Wasn't Dennis Glen Cooper another frequent guest ?