The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
NO REPLACING HIM
Pop culture paragon and collector of the unusual and fantastical who even chummed around with the mob dies at 70
His nostalgia shop features a vast assortment of posters, records, toys and collectibles
MIDDLETOWN >> William “Wild Bill” Ziegler, a pop culture icon in the city, whose nostalgia shop on Newfield Street brought joy to people across the country died Tuesday at his home in Middlefield. He was 70. Ziegler’s Wild Bill Nostalgia shop features an encyclopedic collection of show-print posters, vinyl records, toys, collectibles, books, antiques, gag props, incense, vintage clothing, cartoon and carnival characters and “whacky wobblers” — 12 of which bear his likeness.
Ziegler was a self-proclaimed “conservative hippie” who worked in Air Force intelligence during the Vietnam War. He opened his store on Main Street in Middletown 33 years ago and relocated to Newfield Street in 1996. In its March issue, Connecticut Magazine named Wild Bill’s one of Connecticut’s 30 Hidden Gems.
His family released a statement on the nostalgia shop’s Facebook page Thursday afternoon saying they are sad to announce his passing.
“Though we are devastated by this fact, we are happy to say he passed sometime Tuesday evening after having a wonderful day at his second home, Wild Bills Nostalgia, with most of his immediate family, including his youngest grandkids,” the statement said. “Joyful till the end, he fed the cows with them and played with his talking tree.”
His last official Facebook post was of an updated picture of the four youngest grandkids, which
"Though we are devastated by this fact, we are happy to say he passed sometime Tuesday evening after having a wonderful day at his second home, Wild Bills Nostalgia, with most of his immediate family, including his youngest grandkids. Joyful till the end, he fed the cows with them and played with his talking tree." — Family statement on the nostalgia shop’s Facebook page Thursday afternoon announcing the death of William “Wild Bill” Ziegler
he took just before he said what would be his final goodbye to them, the statement said.
“Wild Bill was a loving father, grandfather and friend to all. Our loss is a shared loss. There was no one quite like Wild Bill, nor will there ever be another,” the post concludes.
David Gere, an actor and producer who works on films locally and in Hollywood, was close friends with Ziegler and often used Wild Bill’s property to shoot his movies. He last saw Ziegler a couple of weeks ago while working on a small video project, he said.
“For me, it was the closest thing I had here that had the scope of a Hollywood lot, but it was even better,” Gere said.
The Cromwell resident said many feature films were shot on location at Wild Bill’s: “Blue Line,” “Chilling Visions: The 5 Senses of Fear,” “Sensory Perception” and “Pinwheel.” Ziegler acted in the two latter, which will soon be premiered locally, Gere said. He had a significant role as a murderous carney clown in “Pinwheel.”
Gere said he is indebted to Ziegler for their deep friendship.
“Bill, early on in my producing career, did so much by giving me access to his property and the store and later on the funhouse,” Gere said. “It was just an incredible location. He’d always say, ‘you can use my location but try and get me and my grandson and my family in the film,’ and we always did.”
Artist Joe McCarthy of Middletown, whose witty trio of Yugos sculptures (“I’d Go where Yugo Stanley Marsh 3”) “balance” nose down on beach balls in a field at Wild Bill’s close to Route 3, worked in his screen-printing office on the lot Thursday.
The Middletown resident and filmmaker has known Ziegler for seven years.
McCarthy first met Ziegler for a job.
“He wanted me to come document the funhouse,” the filmmaker said, adding he thought he could make a bigger project out of it at the time.
McCarthy echoed what many local artists have said about Ziegler.
“I never met a bigger supporter of the arts,” he said. “He really got behind it with money, too. When he wanted something done, there wasn’t any question.”
McCarthy recently created a massive “Concreticus” sculpture on the property, in which a blue Volkswagen Beetle is buried in concrete, “presided over” by a four-legged, bony creature with a clown’s face and horns.
“They put two cement trucks — 60,000 pounds of cement — into that last one and (Ziegler) didn’t even blink,” McCarthy said. “I’m not sure I thought he was ever going to die.”
Ziegler mentored artists like McCarthy, Gere said.
“Bill represented that fundamental place, that hub, where all the artists and artisans, filmmakers and musicians, people that were involved in the culture of the Middletown arts, would all kind of congregate and meet up for events,” he said. “Bill really was the person that was the central point for a lot of the arts and exciting things that were happening in Middletown for decades.”
Musician Mike Beaulieu said he met Ziegler in 2012. “He was a friend and fan of my singer Kris Keyes. Bill was a very happy and giving person. He supported artists, actors and musicians in the area.
“He was also a very visual and artistic person. He had a funhouse — which was a work in progress — and we shot many video shoots there,” said the guitarist, producer and composer for the band Empire.
Ziegler had fun on the set of one of Beaulieu’s music videos, “Red Sparrow.”
“I remember Bill handed us the ball and chains and shackles for the video shoot and was very excited and smiling. I am grateful to have met Bill, and Kris and I will miss him very much.”
Zieler’s renown spread far and wide, Gere said.
“Nationally, he achieved a cult-level status as a collector and businessman and a personality that crossed over into the entertainment world in terms of the state’s perception of his business and all the accolades for the store and the property being on the list of mustsee attractions in Connecticut (in Roadside America magazine),” Gere said. “He was very proud of that. He worked so hard to build all that up.”
Gere said that while he is going to miss Ziegler a lot, the most special way to honor him is his presence in the films.
“He’s a big part of those projects and his legacy carries into these productions,” the producer said.
Ziegler easily made chums of stars in the film industry, said 30-year friend Lisa Schinelli Caserta, the late mobster Henry Hill’s widow. Hill, the notorious gangster whose life was portrayed in the Martin Scorsese film, “Goodfellas,” also got to know Ziegler well.
“He was a rebel,” Caserta said of Ziegler. “Henry used to take him around to all the mob hideouts. He loved the mob: He was intrigued with the mafia stuff, so I used to ... introduce him to all the mafia guys. He loved it.”
Ziegler also counted Johnny Jimenez Jr. of “Pawn Stars” fame as a friend, as well as pro wrestler and Connecticut resident Bob Backlund.
“He frequently traveled to Las Vegas on business and hung out with Tony Montana and Frank Cullotta from the movie ‘Casino,’” Caserta said.
The musician, filmmaker, screenwriter and founding member of the heavy metal band White Zombie also knew Ziegler.
“Rob Zombie and his wife, Sherry Moon Zombie, privately shopped for vintage movie posters (at Wild Bill’s) to be used in scenes in Rob’s films,” said Gere, who added that the Rob Zombie version of “Halloween” (released in 2007) used one of Ziegler’s film posters as a prop.
“He just loved to share (the nostalgia shop) and show off all the eclectic interesting, unique and special things that he collected — but the true story of Wild Bill is that he was the most special thing at that place,” Gere said. “It will be impossible to replace him.”
Both Caserta and Gere said Ziegler wouldn’t want people mourning his death.
“It’s not a sad time for him,” she said. “He would want people to be happy.”
Generosity was just one of Ziegler’s character traits, Gere said.
“I would imagine on some level Bill would want us to celebrate his life and the legacy he left with his store and the property and what the entire scope of what Wild Bill meant to the city and even nationally,” Gere said. “There’s not another store or location like it in the country and it takes a heck of a guy to be able to build that.”