Somewhere I have a picture of a 14 year-old Joe Ortiz standing next to that 58 MM Futura Ambulance. He answered the phones at Miller's. One day the crew woke up and all the cars had been repossessed. Miller's accountant was an actor named Rand Brooks. Brooks bought the phone numbers from Miller's and paid the finance company to get the cars back. Joe Ortiz became the first employee of Brooks' new company, Professional Ambulance.
We've talked about Brooks before. At the time of his death, he was the oldest surviving principal cast member of "Gone With the Wind". His first wife was Stan Laurel's daughter.
BTW, the California steady burning red light law (now known as 25252 CVC) dates back to 1929 but was not adequately defined until 1957. Prior to that a Mars FL or Federal PropelloRay sufficed. Beginning January 1st, 1958 that changed with the new California Administrative Code Title 13 which laid out exact requirements, including minimum lumens and beam spread. This is why Superior bullet lights were hard to find in California- they weren't bright enough and didn't have the required beam spread. I don't remember any of Miller's cars being consistent, not even from one week to the next. Some times, one or both of the tunnel lights would burn steady, sometimes there would be a red spotlight.
