George Pierrot / George Sprott

[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.

[Sludgedaddy]

For all those who got stiffed by George Pierrot in regards to tips....My brother once worked for a landscaping crew and did some work for Mr. Pierrot. My brother's claim to fame was that he always bragged that he took a leak in George Pierrot's back yard.

[LouHat]

One day we went to the DIA, and this grandpa-guy showed a film on stage, and my parents said "Look, that's George Pierrot!" And it was true. My uncle went to school with Sonny Elliot, my dad went to school with Robin Seymour, and I went to school with Madonna Ciccone, but that afternoon, stage lights dimmed, the silhouetted icon just off to the side, it just doesn't get any better than that.

[EastsideAl]

George!!

[douglasm]

I guess it's time to renew my www.railroadforums.com question about Stan Midgley. Are there tapes available of his films, and if not, do the films themselves even exist? I've been looking off and on for a couple of years and have had no luck.

Stan's trapsing around southwest Colorado chasing the Rio Grande Southern fueled my love of Colorado narrow gauge railroading, and may have had something to do with my moving to Colorado in 1972 after graduating from EMU.

Some of Don Cooper's films are available on DVD and/or VHS, including "Lumberjack In Alaska", one of my favorites. The link to Cooper Films website....

http://www.doncooperfilms.com/

[vetalalumni]

I guess it's time to renew my www.railroadforums.com question about Stan Midgley. Are there tapes available of his films, and if not, do the films themselves even exist? I've been looking off and on for a couple of years and have had no luck.

Stan's trapsing around southwest Colorado chasing the Rio Grande Southern fueled my love of Colorado narrow gauge railroading, and may have had something to do with my moving to Colorado in 1972 after graduating from EMU.

Some of Don Cooper's films are available on DVD and/or VHS, including "Lumberjack In Alaska", one of my favorites. The link to Cooper Films website....

http://www.doncooperfilms.com/

Have you toyed with any of the railroad software? Do you have small gauge rail in rec room/garage?

I have an aqauintance who did and was really into everything railroads. He tried to convince me to author tailored railroad software in RealBasic. I begged off [[graphics are not my forte).

[douglasm]

No, I don't. model 12" to 1' is the scale I'm interested in. And with the BNSF's Columbia River Subdivision running just outside my front door, I'm very happy. Besides, when it comes to modeling skills, I have 12 thumbs......

[ptero]

Stan Midgley was the BEST. We went to see Ol' George sleep away many Sunday afternoons while Stan and others did their thing at the DIA. Yes it sure did help foster my love for travel.