Haven't finished watching yet, but WOW! Clean-cut truckers in uniforms and hats and no FLIP FLOPS! And they speak English too! My how times have changed.
I got in back in 1980 yes things have gone downhill but the living drivers made in the 50’s still left a lot to be desired and things didn’t start getting good until the late 60’s when jimmy Hoffa sr got the master freight agreement, my family has been in trucking since there were horses pulling wagons and this is just pure Hollywood
Same here I’m now mechanic on them but like my dad I did it for years too shure not same as use to be I was proud to be one as was my dad and all his brothers Few years back I delivered a load to pharmaceuticals company walked in guy looked at me said you got to be trucker I said yes how’d he know he replied you look like one not like newer ones who running the hiway now
I watched this show every week as a kid. I would draw countless pictures of their GMC cab-over, as well as Sky King's Songbird. What a time to be young.
The late 1950s and early 1960s had some of the best television. Thanks for finding and sharing this one. I remember sitting on the edge of an oval braided rug watching the RCA. I can even hear my mom saying, "Stop setting so close."
I was 7 years old when I first saw this episode...I absolutely LOVED this show, and watched faithfully every week! Have had a life long love of cabover trucks, and the GMC Cannonball is still my favorite. I'll be 74 in a couple months, and I consider this to be a GREAT birthday present...THANKS!!!
I was 6 years old when this was made and obviously can't remember the episode(s) but I did watch the show religiously. As an aside, I made my career driving a truck for many years until I retired a little over ten years ago.
Same here, 73 years old and I can’t believe I just found this. I remember watching this and Highway Patrol with my dad..he loved these shows, mid to late 50’s when the National Highway system wasn’t even built yet..
I don't remember this show but I always wanted to be a truckdriver. Graduateed in 71. Could've went to college on a free ride but I was on the road by 1975. Saw most of this beautiful country before having to hang it up in my early 50s due to health reasons. I sure do miss it.
Hey Trucker! I was on the road at that same time only I was a 12 year old kid running with my Dad. He bought his first truck in 73. Some of the best times of my life! We might have crossed paths out there! God Bless!
Sounds like I took the same path as you, thank goodness I had my Teamsters’s pension to fall back on when I had to turn in my keys, I miss the driving but am glad to be out of the industry
👎🐒 You would not have lasted in college for more than 1 semester. You don't know elementary school level English grammar. Example : " Could've WENT to college..." CORRECT : Could've GONE to... Being a truck driver was the best thing you could have done, for yourself & the country.
Got my first REAL TRUCK DRIVING JOB in 1983. Started helping my dad and older brother drive when I was 16yo (1975). This August it will be 41 years. Not what it once was but I still enjoy it.
LOVED this show when I was a kid in the 50's, I wanted so bad to become a pro driver, to the dismay of my middle-class university-track parents. Finally realized my dream age 52, but bus not trucks...
@@arkangelnorthman Haha, that's interesting, summer of 1955, a new bread man came on route, stopped to ask 9-year old me did I know where 'some other' street was, guess I gave him good instruction because he went right up to the house and asked my Mom if I could accompany him until he got familiar with the route. Mom said OK and we had had free bread, pies, and pastries for a week or so... I remember it was "Pride Of Montreal" Bakery. We had milk deliveries, too, still with horse and wagon. Mom would die of embarrassment when Dad would run out with a spade to collect the horse droppings and spread on his rose bushes.
I loved this show as a kid when it was in first runs, we had a truck terminal, about 10 doors that was a 1/4 mile down the road from where I lived on a residential street, they used the GMC cabovers, I would stand in the yard as they drove by and pump my arm to beat the band to get them to blow their horn....and it always worked, amazing what a 7 year old kid can get a trucker to do....the terminal is still there all these 65 years later, but now is just some sort of storage area for used appliances.....but we sure have a ton of terminals in the Orlando, Florida area....thanks for sharing....Paul
Spring brakes were originally designed in 1956 but didn't get installed on all trucks until well into the 60's. This film made the most of that with Jerry cutting the airbrake hose.
I was thinking the same thing. I wasn't born till 61. These old Detroit diesels lasted for ever. Till our government started regulating the trucking industries. @@threynolds2
I'm a Brit. Watched this in the UK when we first got a TV in 1960. Never forgotten that powerful opening sequence, that great truck powering straight out of the screen and that wonderful song. Loved the show. Blew my little 7 year old mind.
That's what I was thinking when they were in the diner. The cook was wearing a chefs hat because he took his job seriously and the pay he received was enough to get a house and support his family because prices were not so high.
Good old times when you could choose out of 10 jobs after applying just once. Today: Applications: 1000s Replies: less than 10 Invitations: What's that? Can I eat it?
Loved this show when I was a kid my grand father drove trucks and taught me how to drive them,and "cannonball was one of his favorite TV shows and was also his CB handle. I retired last year after 42 years of driving.
I'm 73 years old Born and raised in Portland Oregon Period I have never heard of this program before I happen to have a VPN that's turned on to Canada this the only reason that I caught this I thoroughly enjoyed it The old GMC with barely enough room for a sleeper and to listen to The Sound of that Detroit Diesel Human was a Real treat I Hope to Find this again Thank You very much Yes I enjoyed it More than I can say C](:>)-[❤#=]
I'm 70 now and would you believe we got this programme in England, remember it well especially the theme tune and the GMC truck. I would guess it was shown in the early sixties. Cannonball.....
It must of been early 60's over here yes. I watched it when a kid still remember the song and truck which I think Matchbox made a model of but I never got one.
I watched the British film "Hell Drivers" with Stanley Baker and Sean Connery a few years back. I think it was from the same year as this one. It sure had some great action sequences!
@@johncantwell8216 Love that film. I found it on here not long ago and the posts had some interesting comments about where it was made and whose company the lorries came from.
As a professional truck driver in 2024 I think it is awesome to see that old GMC. But it's also very cool to see a time when the drivers actually cared about the job they did. This show was very amazing to watch.
Love the closing theme as the road sign says Ventura Blvd and Topanga Canyon Blvd. Ooopsssss! Great show enjoyed it as a kid. 75 years old and still fun to watch.
This series was shown in my country, GB, back when I was a kid ....I'm now 71. As soon as the title song came on I started singing along with it, word perfect. An old but indelible memory. Great stuff!
Can remember the theme song and watching the show but don't remember the episodes. I was born in '54, my dad was a trucker all of his life before and after WWII. Can remember spending Christmas eve in a motel in Mansfield OH one year. Mom and I followed dad in the car on a relay run from Chicago. Dad was a driver for Eastern Motor Express for a while. Dad went on to be an owner/operator after and my older brother and I followed the family tradition. I'm retired now after 43 years of it. Of course dad and brother are gone. This movie takes me back. I think when I was born they stuck a truck steering wheel in my mouth. These days I sit at the table building truck model kits. Something to do!
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Four Stars, man. What a beautiful piece of old time nostalgia - I mostly watched it because it featured a period truck that makes a terrific hotrod in the modern day. ~ an early GMC Cab Over Engine (COE) To see one running on the road in even a movie is a rare treat, thanks a lot brother! To me the truck itself was pure eye candy
@@MoviecraftInc Hey BOSS? For the love of Grease and Trucking - look for more about driving across America. I always loved rolling through the Desert at night
I used to love this show as a kid in the 1950s. My brother and I would lie on our backs on the living room floor with our feet under the TV during the opening sequence so we could let the truck drive over us.
The quiet conversation while running down the road is a stretch. I'm sure that 4-71 bellowing in that echo-chamber cab was epic. I drove a 54 fat cab dump with a 6-71 one afternoon and my head was still buzzing 2 days later...m
That was a great movie C l i p. My grandpa had a truck similar to that one back in the early 50's until he sold it to move his family to TAMPA BAY FLORIDA USA in 57. There a few short years later mom met my dad and the rest was a new chapter for a start for a new family life in Tampa Town USA 🇺🇲 thanks for sharing this classic cannon ball trucker movie. I honor all truckers this week as memorial weekend has come and gone. I honor each trucker for bringing everything to our homes and businesses as you the truckers are the lifeline and strong backbone to any nation for without the trucker we would be in such wicked poverty . 💪🚛🚚🛻🇺🇲👍
I was born in "44 and played with my toy trucks under the house, nice dry place even if it was raining. I Watched this show and when I was in high school, I would watch the trucks go by and dream of driving. Finally realized my dream when I was 45 years old and loved it. I drove all over the states and part of Canada, but had to retire in '04, I still miss most of it.
This was one of favorite shows when I was a kid. Watched in Phoenix in the late 50s. My Dad drove for Texaco for 35 years there in Phoenix till he retired.
Well caught! I'm old enough to have seen these shows as a child in glorious black-and-white. Heck, I'm old enough to remember watching Kukla, Fran and Ollie on the tiny round screen of the only television in the neighborhood. The set belonged to a neighbor who was kind enough to let a dozen or so of us kids come in and sit on the living room floor to watch the show.
Love it. I rode with a trucker when i was a kid helped him unload at different stop for Caffeets mini market. Then in the 80s I drove in Texas and Ga. Tennessee Alabama. Across Monteagle that was fun. 25 miles down one side and as fast as the truck would go down the other.
I never thought I would see this again. No one except for my older brother ever heard of it. I was about 7 or 8 years old when it aired in New York around 1957 or 1958.
I'm 60 years old, I've been in trucking for 31 years & this is the first I've ever heard of this show. Apparently this is how the GMC cannonball got its moniker👍🏾
I'm old enough to remember "Cannonball". I must have been perhaps 2-years old. This was a favorite of mine at that age. When you hear that show tune it sort of sticks with you for many decades. This was quality television in the late 1950's. I watched it from Southern California.
My first time seeing this show, what a nice show to watch, and boy .. !! .. have things changed! Thanks for sharing this and I'll look for more in the future. :^)
I watched this when I was a kid but I was bitten by the truck bug long before that. But I ended up making a diversion in my goals; I ended up fixing trucks more than driving them. I actually get a kick out of the lines in this series. I remember on one where Mike was asked where he was from and he responded with, "Tor-on-To." To anyone familiar with Toronto the first reaction was: "No you're not; a real Torontonian is from "Torranna." Interesting that I'm not from that area but instead from a cattle ranch west of Sweetgrass, MT, but I met a lot of people from Torranna...
That's how the Kings band said 'Toronto', so I'd always wondered about that. I'm referring to the song, "Switching To Glide", by the Kings, a Canadian group. Huge song circa 1980. Then of course, Dan Ackroyd's "Elwood" character in Blues Brothers, pronounced "Tarantino", 'Toronto"! Listen to the song, you won't sleep for quite awhile!:)
Watched this show in '58. I was ten years old, at the time. Noticed at end of this program, truck was approaching Topanga Canyon Blvd and Ventura Blvd. West San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles, Ca. Ann Doran plays the wife in this series. She was a North Hollywood resident and fine and lovely actress.
Many episodes I don't remember as I was born 1953, but the episode when they transported a person in an iron lung and the helper had to manually pump the lung to help the patient breathe. Great show along with others like Sky King and Rescue 8. Ah, the great years!
I love the corny & sentimental violin. I wonder if I would have liked this then. Paul Birch scared the crap out of me when I saw him in "Not of This Earth".
Back then they didn't have a spring brakes on everything yet. So he might have actually just cut the line coming out of the treadle valve. It would still build Air but stomping the foot brake would do nothing.
Canadian here. I remember this like it was yesterday - one of the few shows the Dad and the kids watched together on our crappy little black and white TV. It was nice hearing Canadian references, too.
@@MoviecraftInc Thank you! "Cannonball" didn't air in the US until after it finished it's run in Canada. This episode is the one that stands out to me.
Had one of those rigs as a toy as a kid. The local combined 'Spotless' branded Rx and hardware store on Chamberlayne Ave., Richmond VA had a hand -rotating, hang-up toy display with the toys in plastic cellophane packages marketed as buses, truck rigs, etc. 1961-64 range of time. The toys were very desirable, because they were authentic replicas too I remember the logo on the stapled top placards but the actual brand escapes me right now. It was a widely circulated brand too.This one (post) definitely jogged my memories exactly. Thanks!
Notice in the closing credits of "Cannonball" you can see California road signs at 25:34 such as US 101 and Ventura Blvd (left and right of the trailer).
They all were back then. The Lone Ranger never shot anyone. But there was always a moral of some kind. Hard to find one today. The Rifleman shot everyone. But there always was a moral between he and Mark at the end.
That's interesting, thanks for posting! I'm a William Campbell fan and its nice to watch him in his own series. I'm surprised this didn't come back in re-runs on American TV in the 70s during the CB-Truckers craze! I guess because there was no money in it for American television execs. BTW, when I hear the word "cannonball" I think of Bill Murrey in Caddyshack, lol.
Sadly, some TV shows from the 1950s, the physical film stock for those shows disappeared due to: - Film copies got worn out. - Deteriorated from improper storage. - Or being selfishly hoarded. One documented case of a short-lived TV series nearly fading away was the 1964 show "My Living Doll," starring Julie Newmar and Bob Cummings. The film master prints of all 26 episodes were destroyed in the 1994 Northridge Earthquake. Fortunately, according to some online sources, 12 episodes were salvaged from various sources and were released for sale on DVDs.
I felt every moment of it. As a trucker OTR. For 35 years. The disrespect we getting in 2024. Underpaid miserable. Life. Politicians doing nothing for us
Thanks for the compliment. We work with original film masters for all our releases. As our wizard opening says, "Images from Film". Unfortunately here is too much early material on TH-cam ripped from VHS, DVD, and low rez downloads in poor quality. You won't find that here.
As a kid, I had a scale toy truck similar to this rig. The tractor was exactly the same; GMC Cannonball single screw painted red but with McClean Trucking markings. The trailer was tandem axle, and had a metal floor part painted black with a gray plastic exterior post van body also with McClean Trucking markings. I believe it was approximately 1/43rd scale and looked very realistic. I seem to remember it was make by Dinky, which I think was an English company that made very nice scale die cast cars and trucks. I wish I still had it.
Great story. It probably looked like this toy truck here: www.trains.com/mrr/how-to/build-model-railroad/materials-list-for-ho-scale-sylvan-gmc-cannonball-detailing-project/
@@MoviecraftInc It looked very similar to the one in your link, but that is an HO scale (1/87th) whereas mine was 1/43rd (about twice the size). Also, mine had disc type wheels like the one in the TV show, whereas the truck in your link has spoke wheels.
Loved this Show. Two American Actors in an American Canadian Show. The "Cannonball" was a Nickname for the 1954 GMC Cab, built in Cleveland with a Cummins Diesel - Great Show--
@@chesterproudfoot9864 It was produced by an American company, a British company and a Canadian company, and the Canadian company was owned by the American company, the main stars were American and a significant portion of the exterior scenes were filmed in the U.S. So, it was more non-Canadian than Canadian. But, of course, feel free to call it whatever you want.
I thought that most of the episodes of Cannonball had been lost or destroyed by accident. Great to see they've found some of them. 1950s trucking, when a man made a decent living doing it. Industry has long since been ruined.
I remember watching that I was a young kid. Made Me Love trucks. Northern Cal. Lake 80s I became a truck driver. At the age of 8 I was driving trucks on a farm. Yes I became a truck driver. 2024 still have a CDL. Cannonball Cannonball adley. Jimmy with a 218 Detroit.. great show.👍🏼🤙🏽🤟🏽😊😎🌉🚛 I hauled Lumber. Walking floors from Mills flatbed doubles transfer trucks dump trucks end dumps mixers Ed powder Matic trailers yes even a reefer once. Big wheels Rollin Movin On sound familiar BJ and the bear sound familiar. The good old days😢😊😎✌🏽🙋🏽♂️🙏🏽
Loved watching this when I was a joung kid. Yup, I turned into a gear jamming road pounding over the road driver. Would never trade that time for something else. I loved the open road. Here today gone tomorrow.
Haven't finished watching yet, but WOW! Clean-cut truckers in uniforms and hats and no FLIP FLOPS! And they speak English too! My how times have changed.
Yeah how the times have changed since I got into this rackett in 1995
😅 you’re funny. Clean cuts 😅 almost every men has a beard now.
I got in back in 1980 yes things have gone downhill but the living drivers made in the 50’s still left a lot to be desired and things didn’t start getting good until the late 60’s when jimmy Hoffa sr got the master freight agreement, my family has been in trucking since there were horses pulling wagons and this is just pure Hollywood
Yes they have and NOT for the better.
And they drink milk afterwards😅
Incredible how after 65 years I remember the theme song.
Last time I saw an episode of this I was seven! I'm 71 now.
me too.
Never heard of this show until tonight. I was a trucker for over 25 years, and my dad was one too. Glad to have found this gem of a show.
Glad you enjoyed it
Same here I’m now mechanic on them but like my dad I did it for years too shure not same as use to be
I was proud to be one as was my dad and all his brothers
Few years back I delivered a load to pharmaceuticals company walked in guy looked at me said you got to be trucker I said yes how’d he know he replied you look like one not like newer ones who running the hiway now
I watched this show every week as a kid. I would draw countless pictures of their GMC cab-over, as well as Sky King's Songbird. What a time to be young.
The late 1950s and early 1960s had some of the best television.
Thanks for finding and sharing this one.
I remember sitting on the edge of an oval braided rug watching the RCA.
I can even hear my mom saying, "Stop setting so close."
LOL!
Those were awesome times.
I was 7 years old when I first saw this episode...I absolutely LOVED this show, and watched faithfully every week!
Have had a life long love of cabover trucks, and the GMC Cannonball is still my favorite. I'll be 74 in a couple months,
and I consider this to be a GREAT birthday present...THANKS!!!
I was 6 years old when this was made and obviously can't remember the episode(s) but I did watch the show religiously. As an aside, I made my career driving a truck for many years until I retired a little over ten years ago.
Same here, 73 years old and I can’t believe I just found this. I remember watching this and Highway Patrol with my dad..he loved these shows, mid to late 50’s when the National Highway system wasn’t even built yet..
I was 14 (a year from getting a DL)in '58. I never missed a weekly episode!
@@TerryM-eu5ou I did the math and that makes us the same age. Congrats!
@@Blasthoff Yes, I was born in 1951, Waterbury Connecticut…
I don't remember this show but I always wanted to be a truckdriver. Graduateed in 71. Could've went to college on a free ride but I was on the road by 1975. Saw most of this beautiful country before having to hang it up in my early 50s due to health reasons. I sure do miss it.
Hey Trucker! I was on the road at that same time only I was a 12 year old kid running with my Dad. He bought his first truck in 73. Some of the best times of my life! We might have crossed paths out there! God Bless!
@@blueskymut 70s and 80s were some good times on the road. I took my kids along once in a while too! I'm glad you got to experience that!
Sounds like I took the same path as you, thank goodness I had my Teamsters’s pension to fall back on when I had to turn in my keys, I miss the driving but am glad to be out of the industry
👎🐒 You would not have lasted in college for more than 1 semester. You don't know elementary school level English grammar. Example : " Could've WENT to college..." CORRECT : Could've GONE to... Being a truck driver was the best thing you could have done, for yourself & the country.
Got my first REAL TRUCK DRIVING JOB in 1983. Started helping my dad and older brother drive when I was 16yo (1975). This August it will be 41 years. Not what it once was but I still enjoy it.
LOVED this show when I was a kid in the 50's, I wanted so bad to become a pro driver, to the dismay of my middle-class university-track parents. Finally realized my dream age 52, but bus not trucks...
I watched this show too. Got my ACZ licence at 62 and out in the road. Should have done it sooner.
i was hooked in the early 60s by riding from one house to the next with the milk man...then walked back.....over 30 yrs now...tractor trailer.
@@arkangelnorthman Haha, that's interesting, summer of 1955, a new bread man came on route, stopped to ask 9-year old me did I know where 'some other' street was, guess I gave him good instruction because he went right up to the house and asked my Mom if I could accompany him until he got familiar with the route. Mom said OK and we had had free bread, pies, and pastries for a week or so... I remember it was "Pride Of Montreal" Bakery. We had milk deliveries, too, still with horse and wagon. Mom would die of embarrassment when Dad would run out with a spade to collect the horse droppings and spread on his rose bushes.
@@brunobandiera2062 love it man!!!
wow. beautiful experiences.
Very good. Post some more. Thanks.
I believe this is the only episode we have, but we will keep looking for more.
I loved this show as a kid when it was in first runs, we had
a truck terminal, about 10 doors that was a 1/4 mile down the road
from where I lived on a residential street, they used the GMC cabovers,
I would stand in the yard as they drove by and pump my arm to
beat the band to get them to blow their horn....and it always worked,
amazing what a 7 year old kid can get a trucker to do....the terminal is
still there all these 65 years later, but now is just some sort of storage
area for used appliances.....but we sure have a ton of terminals in
the Orlando, Florida area....thanks for sharing....Paul
And back at ya...Thanks for sharing too!
Spring brakes were originally designed in 1956 but didn't get installed on all trucks until well into the 60's. This film made the most of that with Jerry cutting the airbrake hose.
Thanks for clarifying this.
Did these trucks have electric horns and no air horns?
I was thinking the same thing. I wasn't born till 61. These old Detroit diesels lasted for ever. Till our government started regulating the trucking industries. @@threynolds2
@@threynolds2 That one did! Sounded like a car horn!
I'm a Brit. Watched this in the UK when we first got a TV in 1960. Never forgotten that powerful opening sequence, that great truck powering straight out of the screen and that wonderful song. Loved the show. Blew my little 7 year old mind.
Remember when every man who did a job and took it seriously was worthy of respect?
I do. Barely.
And could support a family with minimum wage
That's what I was thinking when they were in the diner. The cook was wearing a chefs hat because he took his job seriously and the pay he received was enough to get a house and support his family because prices were not so high.
Good old times when you could choose out of 10 jobs after applying just once.
Today:
Applications: 1000s
Replies: less than 10
Invitations: What's that? Can I eat it?
AND, a man's "word" was his bond!
Loved this show when I was a kid my grand father drove trucks and taught me how to drive them,and "cannonball was one of his favorite TV shows and was also his CB handle. I retired last year after 42 years of driving.
Lol.. Im glad I'm not the only one out there, who watched this as a kid!
I'm 73 years old Born and raised in Portland Oregon Period I have never heard of this program before I happen to have a VPN that's turned on to Canada this the only reason that I caught this I thoroughly enjoyed it The old GMC with barely enough room for a sleeper and to listen to The Sound of that Detroit Diesel Human was a Real treat I Hope to Find this again Thank You very much Yes I enjoyed it More than I can say
C](:>)-[❤#=]
This is available on TH-cam no matter where you are. I'm watching in Tennessee without a VPN.
I'm 70 now and would you believe we got this programme in England, remember it well especially the theme tune and the GMC truck. I would guess it was shown in the early sixties. Cannonball.....
It must of been early 60's over here yes. I watched it when a kid still remember the song and truck which I think Matchbox made a model of but I never got one.
Just read another post it was Dinky who made it
I watched the British film "Hell Drivers" with Stanley Baker and Sean Connery a few years back. I think it was from the same year as this one. It sure had some great action sequences!
@@johncantwell8216 Love that film. I found it on here not long ago and the posts had some interesting comments about where it was made and whose company the lorries came from.
@@cedarcam Matchbox made the mid-60s GMC cab forward with two bottom dump trailers.
The sound of the 2 stroke Detroit Diesel brings back fond memories of my trucking days.
This must have been Canada exclusive! Nice show back in the real old days! 46 years plus for me...
Jeeeeeeeez used to watch this in England UK as a kid…..68 now ! 👍🏻🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I well remember the scream those old Jimmy's made. Started driving in the late '60s & my hearing suffered for it. Don't miss it either!
Yes, and the "ride", because of the cab-over design, must have been "fun" too!
Say! The seated guy at 2:09 is actor Stafford Repp, better known for his portrayal of Police Chief O'Hara on the 1960s "Batman" TV series.
Sure is!
O.K., I'm watching this going "who the hell is that guy?" Great actor that Mr. Repp
Why, yes it is!
"Me men are clever, goodness knows, but where the human brain is concerned, they're just not equipped" -- Chief O'Hara
Then why didn't he say "saints be praised!"
As a professional truck driver in 2024 I think it is awesome to see that old GMC. But it's also very cool to see a time when the drivers actually cared about the job they did. This show was very amazing to watch.
Those were great time s when trucker were truckers ❤❤❤❤
You got that right
Absolutely 💯 right ✅
This is the sharpest print of this show I've ever seen
Love the closing theme as the road sign says Ventura Blvd and Topanga Canyon Blvd. Ooopsssss! Great show enjoyed it as a kid. 75 years old and still fun to watch.
Classic
All Canadian. We are still like this.
This series was shown in my country, GB, back when I was a kid ....I'm now 71. As soon as the title song came on I started singing along with it, word perfect. An old but indelible memory. Great stuff!
I am from Australia and this takes me back to my kid days My family loved this show watched it every week. Thanks
Our pleasure!
fantastic.....me too
Ditto!
I remember watching this as a child.
Before he was The Squire of Gothos, before he was Commander Koloth, he was a truck driver. RIP William Campbell
I did not know that. Thanks for the info.
I think he was in Cape Canaveral Monsters too.
Before he was a truck driver he was pilot for 'TOPAC" trans-pacific airlines in the "High and the Mighty". l
Can remember the theme song and watching the show but don't remember the episodes. I was born in '54, my dad was a trucker all of his life before and after WWII. Can remember spending Christmas eve in a motel in Mansfield OH one year. Mom and I followed dad in the car on a relay run from Chicago. Dad was a driver for Eastern Motor Express for a while. Dad went on to be an owner/operator after and my older brother and I followed the family tradition. I'm retired now after 43 years of it. Of course dad and brother are gone. This movie takes me back. I think when I was born they stuck a truck steering wheel in my mouth.
These days I sit at the table building truck model kits. Something to do!
Great story. Thanks for sharing.
Great old show, a forerunner to the 70's Movin' On...thanks for posting!
My thoughts exactly,
@@1957rickster Thanks rickster...I was afraid I was sticking my neck out too far on that, thanks for having my "6"
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Four Stars, man. What a beautiful piece of old time nostalgia - I mostly watched it because it featured a period truck that makes a terrific hotrod in the modern day.
~ an early GMC Cab Over Engine (COE)
To see one running on the road in even a movie is a rare treat, thanks a lot brother! To me the truck itself was pure eye candy
Drove a GMC (COE) straight job back in the day delivering furniture. I know what you mean. Love their "look".
@@MoviecraftInc Hey BOSS? For the love of Grease and Trucking - look for more about driving across America. I always loved rolling through the Desert at night
We'll do our best!
@@MoviecraftInc CHEARS!
I used to love this show as a kid in the 1950s. My brother and I would lie on our backs on the living room floor with our feet under the TV during the opening sequence so we could let the truck drive over us.
like the in cab shots how smooth the ride is them old trucks would be beating the hell out of them
That cab-over design didn't exactly provide a "Cadillac" ride. LOL
The quiet conversation while running down the road is a stretch. I'm sure that 4-71 bellowing in that echo-chamber cab was epic. I drove a 54 fat cab dump with a 6-71 one afternoon and my head was still buzzing 2 days later...m
Oh my gosh. My brother and I were going to be truckers after watching this. One of our favorite shows.
One of my favorite shows when I was a kid.
I REMEMBER THIS SHOW WHEN I WAS A KID !
Wish i was a teen in the fifties born in 62 but still had a great childhood
No you don't. It was all an illusion.
The very best tv show ever from Toronto ,Ontario, Canada. Keep on trucking Eh!🥓🥚🍵🥠
That was a great movie C l i p. My grandpa had a truck similar to that one back in the early 50's until he sold it to move his family to TAMPA BAY FLORIDA USA in 57. There a few short years later mom met my dad and the rest was a new chapter for a start for a new family life in Tampa Town USA 🇺🇲 thanks for sharing this classic cannon ball trucker movie. I honor all truckers this week as memorial weekend has come and gone. I honor each trucker for bringing everything to our homes and businesses as you the truckers are the lifeline and strong backbone to any nation for without the trucker we would be in such wicked poverty . 💪🚛🚚🛻🇺🇲👍
I was born in "44 and played with my toy trucks under the house, nice dry place even if it was raining. I Watched this show and when I was in high school, I would watch the trucks go by and dream of driving.
Finally realized my dream when I was 45 years old and loved it. I drove all over the states and part of Canada, but had to retire in '04, I still miss most of it.
Thanks for sharing...
This was one of favorite shows when I was a kid. Watched in Phoenix in the late 50s. My Dad drove for Texaco for 35 years there in Phoenix till he retired.
Well caught! I'm old enough to have seen these shows as a child in glorious black-and-white. Heck, I'm old enough to remember watching Kukla, Fran and Ollie on the tiny round screen of the only television in the neighborhood. The set belonged to a neighbor who was kind enough to let a dozen or so of us kids come in and sit on the living room floor to watch the show.
Yeah, the '50s was the "Golden Age of Television" . Was "live" TV no video tape, YET!
Love it. I rode with a trucker when i was a kid helped him unload at different stop for Caffeets mini market. Then in the 80s I drove in Texas and Ga. Tennessee Alabama. Across Monteagle that was fun. 25 miles down one side and as fast as the truck would go down the other.
I never thought I would see this again. No one except for my older brother ever heard of it. I was about 7 or 8 years old when it aired in New York around 1957 or 1958.
Glad to bring back the memories!
I'm 60 years old, I've been in trucking for 31 years & this is the first I've ever heard of this show. Apparently this is how the GMC cannonball got its moniker👍🏾
G'day to you! I am now 74 used to watch it as a Kid back in England in the 50s,thanks for the great memories ! Perth Western Aust!
Glad you enjoyed it
I was 9 years old in 1958 and this was my favorite show on t v. I am a retired truck mechanic I drove truck also I guess I was born a truck nut.
I'm old enough to remember "Cannonball". I must have been perhaps 2-years old. This was a favorite of mine at that age. When you hear that show tune it sort of sticks with you for many decades. This was quality television in the late 1950's. I watched it from Southern California.
Remember the show fondly. Never missed an episode.
My first time seeing this show, what a nice show to watch, and boy .. !! .. have things changed! Thanks for sharing this and I'll look for more in the future. :^)
I watched this when I was a kid but I was bitten by the truck bug long before that. But I ended up making a diversion in my goals; I ended up fixing trucks more than driving them. I actually get a kick out of the lines in this series. I remember on one where Mike was asked where he was from and he responded with, "Tor-on-To." To anyone familiar with Toronto the first reaction was: "No you're not; a real Torontonian is from "Torranna." Interesting that I'm not from that area but instead from a cattle ranch west of Sweetgrass, MT, but I met a lot of people from Torranna...
That's how the Kings band said 'Toronto', so I'd always wondered about that. I'm referring to the song, "Switching To Glide", by the Kings, a Canadian group. Huge song circa 1980. Then of course, Dan Ackroyd's "Elwood" character in Blues Brothers, pronounced "Tarantino", 'Toronto"! Listen to the song, you won't sleep for quite awhile!:)
Watched this show in '58. I was ten years old, at the time.
Noticed at end of this program, truck was approaching Topanga Canyon Blvd and Ventura Blvd. West San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles, Ca.
Ann Doran plays the wife in this series.
She was a North Hollywood resident and fine and lovely actress.
Watched weekly as a kid
me too
Many episodes I don't remember as I was born 1953, but the episode when they transported a person in an iron lung and the helper had to manually pump the lung to help the patient breathe. Great show along with others like Sky King and Rescue 8. Ah, the great years!
I am your age as well, and I've been waiting to see that same episode. It was a nail-biter.
I used to watch Cannonball when I was a kid. It was a popular show and the theme song was catchy. I remember it well. Thanks for posting
You're welcome.
I love the corny & sentimental violin. I wonder if I would have liked this then. Paul Birch scared the crap out of me when I saw him in "Not of This Earth".
Seventy this year, but i still remember the show & that theme music,❤
Thanks for the memories. I remember watching this show with my friends on their little black and white 12” TV. I didn’t realize it was Canadian!
Its a darn good trick pulling off an airline by hand, and it didnt even leak
Back then they didn't have a spring brakes on everything yet. So he might have actually just cut the line coming out of the treadle valve. It would still build Air but stomping the foot brake would do nothing.
Canadian here. I remember this like it was yesterday - one of the few shows the Dad and the kids watched together on our crappy little black and white TV. It was nice hearing Canadian references, too.
Used to love thos show when I was a kid growing up. Still a great show.
I remember this show from many years back and this is the first time I have seen in decades. I even sang along with the theme song.
Love the old GMC cabover truck tractor
I used to love this show when I was 6 years old.
I've never seen this. I love it. I drove in the 80s Texas and Ga.
Hear that 6-71 detiot. Brings back memories!
Watched this show on Channel 5 in New York. First time I'd seen "Cannonball" since around 1960. I remember this episode vividly.
You have a great memory!
@@MoviecraftInc Thank you! "Cannonball" didn't air in the US until after it finished it's run in Canada. This episode is the one that stands out to me.
Had one of those rigs as a toy as a kid. The local combined 'Spotless' branded Rx and hardware store on Chamberlayne Ave., Richmond VA had a hand -rotating, hang-up toy display with the toys in plastic cellophane packages marketed as buses, truck rigs, etc. 1961-64 range of time. The toys were very desirable, because they were authentic replicas too I remember the logo on the stapled top placards but the actual brand escapes me right now. It was a widely circulated brand too.This one (post) definitely jogged my memories exactly. Thanks!
My Grandfather was a TEAMSTER back in the 50s. He drove for White Motors in NJ.
Notice in the closing credits of "Cannonball" you can see California road signs at 25:34 such as US 101 and Ventura Blvd (left and right of the trailer).
And notice how empty the California freeway was back then; absolute heaven @
The cop said go have coffee & we'll watch the rig. We'll do a level 3 inspection while we're at it.
And plant some evidence, too.
Watched this show each afternoon in Australia in the sixties. Great show. A bit different today having 2 in the cab then.
Good god I forgot about this show ! Bloody wonderful . Thanks 🇬🇧
I loved this show as a kid. Can't believe how corny it was.
They all were back then. The Lone Ranger never shot anyone. But there was always a moral of some kind. Hard to find one today. The Rifleman shot everyone. But there always was a moral between he and Mark at the end.
Well, well , well , never ever i thought that i would see this again. Great in its day. Now i can reminisce . Nice one thank you. 😊
Glad you enjoyed it
That's interesting, thanks for posting! I'm a William Campbell fan and its nice to watch him in his own series. I'm surprised this didn't come back in re-runs on American TV in the 70s during the CB-Truckers craze! I guess because there was no money in it for American television execs. BTW, when I hear the word "cannonball" I think of Bill Murrey in Caddyshack, lol.
Glad you enjoyed it!
I watched this show as a kid
was just thinking of this show the other day and why its never on other channels....watched it every week as a kid......thanks for posting
You're welcome!
Sadly, some TV shows from the 1950s, the physical film stock for those shows disappeared due to:
- Film copies got worn out.
- Deteriorated from improper storage.
- Or being selfishly hoarded.
One documented case of a short-lived TV series nearly fading away was the 1964 show "My Living Doll," starring Julie Newmar and Bob Cummings. The film master prints of all 26 episodes were destroyed in the 1994 Northridge Earthquake. Fortunately, according to some online sources, 12 episodes were salvaged from various sources and were released for sale on DVDs.
Never see that before.
Good ol´ Detroit diesel sound.
Thanks from Montréal 😊
Our pleasure!
I felt every moment of it. As a trucker OTR. For 35 years. The disrespect we getting in 2024. Underpaid miserable. Life. Politicians doing nothing for us
I dont know how you guys do it but you clean these old shows up beautifully. Thank-you so much I am happy to subscribe. :)
Thanks for the compliment. We work with original film masters for all our releases. As our wizard opening says, "Images from Film". Unfortunately here is too much early material on TH-cam ripped from VHS, DVD, and low rez downloads in poor quality. You won't find that here.
William Campbell also appeared twice on Star Trek. Quite a character.
Yeah buddy! It's like Highway Patrol meets Movin'On!
The area around Toronto looks surprisingly like Southern California! lol 😉
As a kid, I had a scale toy truck similar to this rig. The tractor was exactly the same; GMC Cannonball single screw painted red but with McClean Trucking markings. The trailer was tandem axle, and had a metal floor part painted black with a gray plastic exterior post van body also with McClean Trucking markings. I believe it was approximately 1/43rd scale and looked very realistic. I seem to remember it was make by Dinky, which I think was an English company that made very nice scale die cast cars and trucks. I wish I still had it.
Great story. It probably looked like this toy truck here:
www.trains.com/mrr/how-to/build-model-railroad/materials-list-for-ho-scale-sylvan-gmc-cannonball-detailing-project/
@@MoviecraftInc It looked very similar to the one in your link, but that is an HO scale (1/87th) whereas mine was 1/43rd (about twice the size). Also, mine had disc type wheels like the one in the TV show, whereas the truck in your link has spoke wheels.
And...even found a TH-cam on a GMC Cannonball restoration!
th-cam.com/video/F4kzyKIXxsk/w-d-xo.html
@@MoviecraftInc Yes! That's it, exactly. Thanks!
…. still got mine .. Dinky Supertoy …
Loved this Show. Two American Actors in an American Canadian Show. The "Cannonball" was a Nickname for the 1954 GMC Cab, built in Cleveland with a Cummins Diesel - Great Show--
Canadian programming in those days was great. Same era as The Forest Rangers, Terry LaFronde, and Rainbow Country
Tugboat annie was on tv too. and last of the mohicans
Love the sound of that 2 stroke Detroit
Old time Canadian show, nice!
It was not a Canadian show.
@@scudfarcus4343 Yes it was. Google is your friend. 🙄
@@chesterproudfoot9864 It was produced by an American company, a British company and a Canadian company, and the Canadian company was owned by the American company, the main stars were American and a significant portion of the exterior scenes were filmed in the U.S. So, it was more non-Canadian than Canadian. But, of course, feel free to call it whatever you want.
The same thing happened to me last month !! 😂
I thought that most of the episodes of Cannonball had been lost or destroyed by accident. Great to see they've found some of them. 1950s trucking, when a man made a decent living doing it. Industry has long since been ruined.
I remember watching that I was a young kid. Made Me Love trucks. Northern Cal. Lake 80s I became a truck driver.
At the age of 8 I was driving trucks on a farm.
Yes I became a truck driver.
2024 still have a CDL.
Cannonball Cannonball adley. Jimmy with a 218 Detroit.. great show.👍🏼🤙🏽🤟🏽😊😎🌉🚛 I hauled Lumber.
Walking floors from Mills flatbed doubles transfer trucks dump trucks end dumps mixers Ed powder Matic trailers yes even a reefer once.
Big wheels Rollin Movin On sound familiar BJ and the bear sound familiar. The good old days😢😊😎✌🏽🙋🏽♂️🙏🏽
Thanks for sharing!
I remember the younger trucker on a episode of Star Trek!
Loved watching this when I was a joung kid. Yup, I turned into a gear jamming road pounding over the road driver. Would never trade that time for something else. I loved the open road. Here today gone tomorrow.
That's funny.....I don't recall them being Canadian. But then again I wasn't aware of much back then.
This played in Britain, early 70's.. I've been a driver 30 odd years now ! 😂
Early sixties.
This is a show I have no memory of!