Month: May 2012

I fondly remember one year when Bill called me up and told me that he had put a book in the mail for me to read. I first met Bill in the ’70s when he had a company called Showtime Scenery, building sets for “Soul Train” (I know that dates me).

Many people know Bill and think of him now as a “turntable and confetti guy.” But few know that he ran away to join the circus in 1971 when he was 19. On a Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus poster, he saw that they were performing in Sarasota, Florida. He jumped in his car and drove south, only to find out that the circus had already left for St. Louis. He set off for St. Louis, missing the circus by a day, so he headed for Dayton, Ohio, arriving at 2:00 a.m. and learned that the carnies hadn’t arrived yet. When he finally found someone to ask about a job, they gave him a couple of scrappy jobs to do, but what they really needed was someone who could type (a skill he had).

So, Bill was hired on as the paymaster, and off he went touring with “The Greatest Show on Earth.” Bill later went back to finish college in Technical Theater with a business major, but he headed out on the road touring with “Holiday on Ice” as an electrician. He then moved on to bigger road shows like “The Wiz” as a lighting designer and ended up in Hollywood starting a scenery company and building sets.

Today, you’ll find the Bill Ferrell Co. in its new building in Sun Valley, which provides more space for portable stages, turntables, lifts, and mechanical and confetti effects that Bill and his crew provide clients for commercials, TV, film, theatrical productions and large corporate events with the same flair he had under the big tent.