Dating to the early 1960s, this episode of the TRUE ADVENTURE TV show (originally called “Sunken Millions” but later re-title “Corregidor”) has host Bill Burrud recounting his personal adventure at Corregidor in the Philippines. He is supposedly searching for a lost treasure of silver coins that had been dumped into the ocean under the orders of General Douglas MacArthur, in order to keep the coins from falling into Japanese hands. This does have a basis in fact — MacArthur’s forces dumped millions of pesos into the deep crater south of Corregidor before surrendering.
The film is a re-enactment of Burrud’s experience and features many vignettes of the Corregidoran landscape and diving shots of Burrud and his companion as they search the ocean bottom of Manila Bay.
At time code 11:00 we tour through the fortress where the history of the lost coins began.
At time code 19:29, after numerous shots of the divers searching to no avail, two coins are found.
The rest of the film involves verifying that the silver is indeed part of the lost treasure and diving and filling buckets up with over two hundred of the precious coins.
William James “Bill” Burrud (January 12, 1925 – June 12, 1990) was a former child star and a television host and producer best known for his travel programs.
Born in Hollywood, California, Burrud was a son of Leland Burrud, who had produced one of the earliest known travel films in 1913. Burrud made his first film appearance at the age of 7 in Music in the Air. He also appeared in Captains Courageous with Spencer Tracy and in several films starring John Wayne. Burrud served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, then graduated from Harvard University.
In 1950 Burrud turned his attention to television. He coined the word “traventure” to describe the programs he intended to produce. The following year station KTTV in Los Angeles purchased his series The Open Road. In 1954 he founded Bill Burrud Productions, which would produce programs that included True Adventure, Vagabond, Wanderlust (the theme song for which was “The Happy Wanderer”), Animal World, Islands in the Sun, Wonderful World of Women, Safari to Adventure, Treasure, and Natural Wonders. His company also produced numerous television specials.
Burrud died from a heart attack in Sunset Beach, California in 1990 at the age of 65. He was buried at Riverside National Cemetery in Riverside, California. His son John Burrud now heads the company.
For his many contributions to television entertainment, Burrud received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1977. Burrud’s star is next to Elvis Presley’s.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
