Gilbert, Dave

WXYZ: Deceased.  TV news reporter.

• Always the Hardworking Crew at WXYZ

  And, yes, having fun at the same time.

  

• Passing Time While on Remote

  

• WXYZ “Makes” News

  TV Crew Gets News First Hand

  Todd Seibt writes,

  A Detroit-area television crew made news in Flint Thursday night when their equipment truck was stolen 10 minutes before they went live for an 11 p.m. newscast.

  Reporter Dave Gilbert and cameraman-engineer Kevin Hawley were discussing final shots for a satellite broadcast to their station.  Channel 7 in Southfield, when a drunken man jumped into the station’s Chevrolet Suburban and drove away, they said.

  The broadcasters were in Flint to cover General Motors announcements of layoffs and plant closings.

  The fleeing Suburban, painted with the Channel 7 logo, dragged camera and sound cables nearly a block before snapping them off, Hawley said.

  

  Hawley had earlier seen the man come “staggering down the street” and leaned up against a park sign to watch the pre-broadcast procedures along Saginaw Street near Riverbank Park.  The man was apparently drunk, Hawley said.

  “We’re used to people being awed by our toys,” Hawley said, “nothing a gawker or two is not unusual when the satellite is being set up.  The trucks and equipment are valued at nearly $750,000, he said.

  Moments before air time, the man jumped in the Suburban and drop off, Hawley said.

  The next thing I know, there go the cables – DAM! – up the street.”

  Hawley said he jumped in a friend’s nearby car and pursued the stolen Suburban on a looping chase around the downtown area, along I-475, down several side streets, and back to I-475.

  Hawley said he attempted to stop the driver once at a stoplight by jerking open the Suburban’s door and trying to pull the keys from the ignition, but the man floored the accelerator and took off.

  I was to the point of being dragged,” Hawley said, before he let go and returned to his friend’s car.

  Finally, near Saginaw and Second Street, the man jumped out of the truck and ran, leaving the Suburban’s engine idling.

  Hawley, close behind in the car, said he pursued the man on foot, but then saw the Suburban had only stopped because it had hit the back of another car.  When that car pulled away, the Suburban, still in gear, started rolling.

  Hawley managed to get in the truck and hit the brakes.  Several people on the street, alerted by Hawley about the theft, held the suspect until police arrive.

  Flint police arrested and jailed the 32-year-old man, who lives at a downtown motel, on suspicion of auto theft.

  With only a minute or two to spare, Hawley returned the truck to its original location, and as Flint police stood by, Gilbert made his 11 p.m. deadline. [1]

  References:

  1. The Flint Journal

Recommended Reading

Soupy Sales and the Detroit Experience: Manufacturing a Television Personality

When Soupy Sales left Detroit in 1960 after seven years on WXYZ TV, he was the highest-paid local television personality and one of the most well-known and loved celebrities in town. His daytime television programs in the early morning and noontime had an enormous and devoted following. The latter, Lunch with Soupy Sales, was nationally syndicated on ABC on Saturday, starting in the fall of 1959. His late evening program, Soupy’s On, featured everything from renowned jazz artists to pop singers to satirical skits. While he would achieve more celebrity status in Los Angeles and New York during the 1960s, the template for the puppet characters, comedy routines, and zany sketches had been set in Detroit.

This study of the content and context of Soupy’s time on WXYZ TV provides important insights into key threads of popular culture in the 1950s, including the role of television and its impact on the family and children, the influence of Cold War and consumerist ideology, Jewish-inflected humor, and jazz, especially as a component of the Detroit socio-cultural history in this period. All of these seemingly disparate topics, however, lead back to identifying the manufacturing of a television personality at a particular moment in time and in a specific location.

Beyond the network of Soupy fans, anyone interested in how a television personality achieves local and national prominence should consider reading this book. Also, those who want to understand the role of the media and popular culture in the 1950s will be enlightened, and even entertained, by this exploration of Soupy Sales’ Detroit experience.