William Stulla (May 24, 1911 – August 12, 2008), also known as Engineer Bill, (1955-1966) was an American

children's television Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television show, television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during ...

host. He was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

.Bill Stulla's obituary at the Los Angeles Times
/ref> From 1951 to 1954, he hosted "Bill Stulla's Parlor Party." Later, he hosted Cartoon Express on Los Angeles's KHJ-TV 9 (Ind) from 1954 to 1966; in this position, he won two

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

s. In addition to the usual cartoons (early era ''

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated comedy short film series produced by Warner Bros. starting from 1930 to 1969, concurrently with its partner series ''Merrie Melodies'', during the golden age of American animation.

'', ''

Spunky and Tadpole ''The Adventures of Spunky and Tadpole'' is an animated television series produced by Beverly Hills Productions and syndicated beginning on September 6, 1958. The show's characters were a boy and a bear who hunted down bad guys. The show was made ...

'', and ''

Colonel Bleep ''Colonel Bleep'' is a 1957 American animated TV series, which was the first color cartoon series made for television. It was created and written by Robert D. Buchanan and Jack Schleh in June 8, 1956, and was animated by Soundac, Inc. of Miami. ...

''), the show included a game called "Red Light, Green Light" where children were given glasses of milk which they would drink when the announcer said "green light" and stop drinking when he said "red light". If they finished their glass before the game was over, they lost and were referred to as "gulpers". Also featured on the show was "Little Mo, the bad habit buster," in which a small model electric train engine attempted to push a model boxcar containing the "bad habit" of the week into a bin, located at the top of an incline. A new bad habit was named on Monday, and the effort concluded, usually successfully, on Friday. Also featured was a "Get Well Wall," in which well-wishes were sent to children who were ill, who were listed as a "Get Well Bell" rung. Bill Stulla closed his show with his signature message to his young audience, "Happy highball, engineers!" In 1966, he retired from broadcasting and became a

stockbroker A stockbroker is a regulated broker, broker-dealer, or registered investment adviser (in the United States) who may provide financial advisory and investment management services and execute transactions such as the purchase or sale of stocks an ...

. He died in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

in 2008, aged 97. Stulla is credited as an inspiration in the

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are desce ...

for the 1966

Mothers of Invention The Mothers of Invention (also known as The Mothers) was an American rock band from California. Formed in 1964, their work is marked by the use of sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Originally an R&B band c ...

album, '' Freak Out''.

References

External links

* 1911 births 2008 deaths Emmy Award winners Stockbrokers {{US-tv-bio-stub