Had my first day of video production class today. My teacher, Tom Peterson, explained that his experience in the field of television is quite extensive, going all the way back to 1974...when he was a production assistant on "Winning Streak" with Bill Cullen. Needless to say, he was quite surprised when he saw that I knew what he was talking about!
We stayed for an hour after class and he told me everything he remembered about his work on that show. He told me that among his other duties (bringing the contestants here and there, etc.) he was put in charge of Mr. Cullen for a week of tapings, during which he was responsible for walking him on and off stage, arm-in-arm as if they were having a conversation--to hide from the audience the fact that Cullen had a prosthetic leg due to polio in his youth. (Can we confirm this? I had no idea one leg was fake.)
He also said Bill was a genuinely nice guy who always told him to "call me Bill", and who also had a thing for playfully picking on crew members he liked. Apparently he liked looking at pretty girls in the audience too--once, while my teacher was prepping things on Bill's podium, Bill mumbled to him, "Look at the girl in the third row left. Don't look now, don't look now!" And while they were both trying not to look, they were in hysterics. He says things like this happened all the time on the set.
Re: Bob Stewart...apparently he wasn't too friendly. He disliked talking to many crew members unless he absolutely had to, and even then, he made it clear he didn't like it. When Winning Streak got its walking papers, Tom was moved to Jackpot with Geoff Edwards.
I'll post more little tidbits here as I remember them/as we talk more.
