Hogan's Heroes 56 Year Old "Tunnel Secret" FINALLY Revealed! 

As someone who used to build sets for film and TV, not 56 years ago though, your idea is possible but there are other methods as well. There is also stuff that is like really thick tin foil that could have been used. It could have also been done by putting muslin over a "rocky" looking surface and and painting it with a mixture of glue and paint. That method makes a very stiff surface. The paper seems kind of flimsy, but it is possible it was done like that.

I still love that one scene when they were in a big hurry to enact their latest plan and right in front of Schultz someone goes over and hits the bunk bed device that opens up to the "tunnel" entrance to his shocked face!! Priceless!

Crumpled paper is just one of the techniques we've used to represent rock on model railroads. It's good for lining a tunnel. Many theater and movie methods are used in making scenery on our layouts.

I loved Hogan's Hero's growing up and always wanted a TUNNEL system just like they had.

The tunnel sets were probably a standing set and probably years old. Much like on Star Trek TNG on their "Hell Planet" which was a standing set that was re-dressed to look like different planets. My Uncle worked as a lighting technician during this time for the studios but I don't think he worked on HH. He did work on Star Trek TOS and did tell me how changing the lights at a different angle would make you think it was a different set all together. Great video Rick, enjoy them all!

Rick, I would say you are right. Also, the re-usage of explosions, parachute drops and guard scenes were quite obvious. The acting and writing was superb and I still love this show today!

Your TUNNEL idea is spot on! I've seen these techniques used in theatre.

Wow that was so cool to find out. Thanks for the info on their tunnel. Love your channel!!!

This makes complete sense as you never saw anyone touching or leaning against those tunnel walls. Good catch!

Love the tunnel video. All of your subjects on the TV shows are very insightful

I enjoyed your video about the tunnels on Hogan’s Heroes.

Tunnel commentary was very good. Many years ago we made a Halloween float. We used wooden frame with chicken wire stapled to the wooden frame. We then took newspaper and dipped them in glue and wrapped the chicken wire. After the glue dried we painted the paper and the float looked like a mountain side. It was very effective. I enjoy your channel. I too love Hogan's Heroes. I get to see two episodes ever week night on a local tv channel.

Good ol' butcher paper! Great for protecting floors while having home interior worked on! Nice video!

Basic theatrical design: Plywood back covered with chicken wire or screen in a rough form sometimes over a skeleton, then covered with a mache, painted as needed. The use of cinefoil and plaster helps reduce fires.

With HO and N gauge model trains we made hills and mountains out of aluminum foil, and paper mache and model paints. Looked great, used it for "tunnels also"

The best part of the ‘tunnel’ was the ‘hollowed out tree stump ‘ outside the fence for entry and exit. As a kid I thought that the coolest thing ever.

I remember back in middle school when craft stores sold some sort of paper product when crumpled up it could look like mountain ranges or a volcano (remember those experiments to get the volcano to erupt using vinegar and baking soda?).

That would be cool to have a tunnel like that

Rick, I really enjoyed this video about the HH's Tunnel with your own DIY instructions. That was a fun and unique twist! As always, be hopeful! Paul

I think your idea makes sense especially considering Hogan's heroes was shot at desilu studios and they were notoriously frugal

Hey Rick, thanks for the time you take to give us this great information! Tunnel

I always chuckle when I watch the episodes when you can see the power lines in behind row of trees. Thanks for tunnel episode

Fascinating! I'll never look at butcher paper the same way again! Thanks Rick!

thats just cool to know how the tunnel sets were made. thank you for showing us

I love Hogans Heros and I've always wondered how they made the 'TUNNELS' and what it mas made of! Its so interesting how they are able to do stuff like this and we don't even realize!

Yes Sir that's definitely butcher's paper being used for the tunnels. A very cost affective and versatile way of creating sets that involve a rocky background. I very much enjoy these videos. Thank you so much for this insight. I love Hogan's Heros.

The use of the paper is a fantastic way to illustrate how the tunnel was constructed. I always wanted to see blueprints of the working sets on Hogan’s Heroes.

The tunnel walls I first thought would be foam. But your paper idea makes a lot more sense. Looks great and would be much cheaper.

Excellent video, Rick. Yes, I think you are correct about them using paper, or some similar material, to make the cave walls. One thing is for sure: They definitely did not carve these walls out of solid rock.

Nice tunnel, makes me want to do this to my basement.

I had been trying to figure out what they really did to create their underground passage ways, it is so obvious that it was done using a mix of brown and gray butcher paper. Thank you very much Rick.

Have never thought too much about how the tunnels were made but I love this video and the information you shared!

I wonder if they dusted the butcher paper to give it even more of an authentic look? Great video! As always, I learned a lot! 👍🏻

Nice. I believe you are correct. I watched a video that showed that if you drove out of Stalag 13 and took a right and drove just a little way, you would be in Mayberry where they filmed the Andy Griffith show. They had old aerial shots of the lots and it was cool to see. Also, somewhere in that very same area was Gomer Pyle's Camp Henderson. It was interesting as I grew up watching these shows in the 60's.

I absolutely love your videos !! This type of set design and location stuff is my favorite.

I really like your tunnel theory. God bless and stay safe.

Your explanation of the how the special effect of how they made a tunnel scenes is very accurate. I too have been to Universal studios in Orlando and asked those same questions of employees who have worked on the construction of new sets. My brother in law some 20 years ago had a company that construction fake walls for Ripley’s believe it or not attraction and other entertainment venues within the universal Studio lot.

Tunnel, I always thought that it was really cool how they made those tunnel sets to make it look like real rock.

Funny thing is I’m actually driving through the Lehigh tunnel in Pennsylvania. Lol!

It seems that the shopping bag usage in the tunnels is correct my friend , ty !!!

I like the tunnel they where a great backdrop to the show

Awesome facts about the tunnels in H.H. never considered that paper was used.

Another way to make the tunnel sides would be painted foam, like styrofoam or even foam rubber. Kind of like they do for rocks and boulders.

The technical name for the tunnel paper is Kraft paper. The sheen is caused by the clay content. I worked in a Kraft mill for many years. TY for the videos.

When making a HO gauge train set tunnel you can lay down plaster-impregnated gauze (formerly paper-mache) to give the texture of smooth rock.

Having worked in the roller coaster industry and a Summer on a TV lot, I can tell you that there are two methods for "rocks." And it really depends of how much action your set will see. In Hogan's Heroes, if they pulled back just a few feet, you would see just how cheaply the sets were made- you would be shocked. Butcher paper was common as well as foils. If pained with a "sticky" paint, they became resistant to bending. In some of your pics, I know where the set lines are, but only because this was part of my Summer job. The "rock" walls of the tunnels could be rolled away in less than a minute and the next scene setup just as quickly. If the camera had looked down, your would have seen the "walls" stop at a half foot off the floor. The whole wall was attached to dollies attached to 2X4s with wheels and they would have been visible. The Director would say "cut!" and then review the video copy of the footage. If it turned our ok, the grips and hands would strike the set and roll away the "tunnels." Indoor roller coasters are a different story. Here you want something that stands the test of time. I helped mount the cameras that take souvenir pics for the Scooby Doo ride in Warner's Gold Coast park in Australia. These were "stone walls" too, but not from painted butcher paper. Instead, they would spray a layer of foam onto wallboard and then hot carve out the shape of the "rocks." The foam is exactly the same stuff you get from the hardware store for filling cracks in walls, etc- just much bigger. The carving device was simply a piece of nichrome wire held between two posts. Looked a bit like a small slingshot. The foam melts at a low temp and leaves a really jagged shape to it- looks just like stone. If you screwed up, you could simply pick up the foam you just cut, stick some stiff wire into it and press it back on the rock- then carve again. Cover it with various shades of paint and you have a really long lasting effect that looks totally real- until you touch it. Being Australia and along the coast, it was tropical there and high humidity. Foam is naturally bacterially resistant, so it never gets musty. The Scooby Doo ride was essentially just like the broken roller coaster ride in the first movie. (Penelope somehow gets caught on the front of this abandoned coaster and is almost killed running into the wall.) It was a "wild mouse" type of coaster that looked like stylized "goblins." It really is an awesome ride, complete with an elevator, smoke and lasers and all around good fun. And it is really comfortable ride- won't knock you around. Hollywood uses foam too. In Aliens, much of the secretions by the aliens were actually foam "appliances" carved from foam and pinned on the walls. The set called for the hive to be really wet, tropical and steamy. This meant the set had to be hosed down just before each scene. The effect made it look tropical, but the whole stage was freezing! The scenes were shot at Pinewood, (I think) and it was the middle of Winter. England is not known for its dry, warm Winters so everybody froze- including the Director. Only foam could stand up to being wet everyday and not mold up and make the set impossible to be on. So it really depends on the level of detail and how much abuse your set must take. Aliens had shot after shot after shot that had to done multiple times. Foam really made that movie possible! Fun fact that nearly killed William Shatner: In the first Star Trek movie with "Vger," he was practicing his lines and walking along what looks likes a solid path down to Vger. But only a few of the squares he was walking on had plywood underneath. The rest were very thin, very light plastic- not able to hold any weight. bill was walking along, saying his lines and noting his emotions. Shatner put his foot on one of these fake squares- and half of his body fell through to the floor. Fortunately, he was not injured, but he did pay closer attention! After that, he was most careful to follow the crews blocking instructions.

Hogan's Heroes was one of my favorite shows growing up. The TUNNELS always fascinated me. Enjoyed your video.

Hey Rick, thanks for the information on how they created the tunnel. Today you can create anything you want by computer but back in the day the illusions that were created were true Hollywood magic!! Thanks for sharing this fun video!! 👍👍🙂

Tunnel... I still enjoy Hogan's Heroes today. Was watching episodes when they originally aired.

Always loved this show, and always wanted a "tunnel" like this under my house when I was a kid, especially the tree stump entrance.

My sin got me the HH DVD set a few years ago. I've watchedthem through a few times. Lots of time in the dead cold winter here in the north northeast USA.

I think that the beams were made of Styrofoam and painted to look like real wood ! also when there was an "explosion " the set crew would sift dust or dirt on the tunnel set, and the camera man would jostle the camera slightly to give a more realistic effect !! Thanks for the great video !

In a similar way, the Indpls Zoo made the concrete rocks for the habitats by crumpling aluminum foil and pressing it on the almost dry concrete. Very realistic.

I watch HH all the time and never gave the tunnel walls much thought, so thanks for the info.

Neat tunnel creation schools could use this in plays

In my younger years, I worked in college and community theater, and helped build (and participate in) the Columbia Jaycees Haunted House for Halloween. The "rock" in the Hogan's Heroes tunnel is a little darker than any butcher paper I've ever seen. It looks as if it has been lightly spray painted, probably with a little brown and black to give it more depth and the illusion of solidity.

I wonder if the tunnel walls were replaced between seasons ? Even thick brown paper doesn't hold it's shape if it gets damp or damaged.

I always thought it looked like a crumpled paper bag too. I wonder if any of the crew who worked on the show are still alive who might shed some light on this. Robert Clary is still alive as is Nina Talbot. I don't know if they might remember the sets?

Those "tunnels" were also very clean. No loose dirt unless it played into the plot. No thought to the "geological" impossibility of that much hollowed out "solid rock" just below ground level. I was always interested in how the bunk bed entrance worked as it seemed to change over time. The TV technicians of the day used the low-resolution of the 1960s to their advantage. Probably my all-time favorite 30-minute show. I can remember around 1977 or 78 you could daily watch three episodes at different times on two of the stations our cable system offered. I usually caught at least one of them, sometimes all three if it was raining out. I will have to admit the high-resolution DVDs took some of the "magic" away, especially when the barracks door was opened and you can see a hanging painting of the prison yard and guard tower outside or California palm trees in the background!

Fascinating how they likely made these sets. Thank you for this.

I loved watching this show when i was a kid in the 70s. It was coming on saturday mornings and lasting all day recently on the sundance channel 239 on direct tv but they took it off.

You ever notice it was always winter at Stalag 13. There is always snow on the windows and Colonel Klink and Sgt Schultz are always wearing their winter coats outside.

at 6:54 in your video you can see a tunnel scene where the edge of the "rock" is clearly seen and you can tell it is butcher paper attached to a plain wall.

The episode where Crittendon (Bernard Fox) tunnels to break out of stalag 13 and mistakenly “tunnels” into the “Heroes” tunnel. Fox broke through the paper mache tunnel facade. He (Fox) was just sitting behind the fake tunnel set and trying to make it look like he broke through rock…

If you've done school plays you learn tricks of the trade. Castle walls, caves mountains. Paint and butcher paper is the mainstay of high school stage craft. Enjoyed the video on Tunnels.

Always love your insight Nick. This makes sense for the tunnel construction. Thanks!!!

It's fascinating how they can turn something so plain like paper and make us believe they're in actual tunnels.

There are still living main characters (Robert Clary / Kenneth Washington), and those that made guest appearances, and the "extras" that were in many episodes, and the film crew and set designers, etc. Is there anyone that can ask, any person that was there, about the tunnels? Rather than examining scenes, and people throwing around various theories, why is no one able to ask one of the living people that were there? Even the children of those who passed on might know the answer. I doubt that any of the people, that would have the answer, will be surrounded by private security. We are not talking about high profile celebrities that have fans constantly chasing them, requiring 24/7/365 security personnel. Does no one have access to them? Or do those with access simply not care? This should not be complicated.

Tunnel. I watched this for many years. All the actors were great.

Right you are Rick! I used this extensively for church musicals & productions. Also at movie theaters I worked at. Sheet plastic was used and painted to portray a "waterfall" for Disney's Pocahontas in a lobby display. We didn't have a tunnel in the church production, but we DID have a cave.

Very cool video. Always fun to learn something new from you Rick.

I had no idea making a tunnel on TV was this simple!! Thank you!

What a great video i never really thought about how the tunnel was even made after many years of watching the show didn't even think it was something so simple as butcher papers that's very cost effective i enjoy all your video's you upload thank you for all the time it took to make them 👍

Love hogans heroes. Makes sense to me how they created the tunnel

usually when Hollywood does tunnel system they also use plaster to hold it together, butcher paper on its own doesn't work long term

I love Hogan's Heroes and the tunnel system totally awesome

Great artistically interesting hollywood tunneling underground ..Hollywood Memorable memories recalling thee under GROUND.. thank you..

I like the paper tunnel thought but I’m worried how it would tear. I like the foam theory more. Seams more feasible

I would never have thought that tunnel would be made out of butcher paper.

Hi Rick! Very interesting video. I think I would have to agree with you about the tunnels. It makes a lot of sense. Thank you for sharing this Rick. Have a great day. Blessings - Judith 🎵🎭

I always figured that they used brown butcher paper for their Tunnel sets. I used to make custom paint for Hollywood and the theme parks. They can be very imaginative with what they want.

I love the TUNNEL and have caught myself at times going how could they have dug these out?? Lol. Great video!

I love Hogans Heros. I have been watching it since I was a kid and never knew what they made the tunnel out of. Thanks for the info.

Already knew that was how it was done. The same process was used in Star Trek. Though they often went a step further spray-textured it before painting it.

Wow! Thanks Rick.

Good thinking on how they made the tunnel. I enjoy your vlogs about those great old TV shows. They were fun entertainment!

Rick, I gotta say that your videos are just awesome. I have learned tons from watching your channel. You must spend hours on research. Love your videos so much.

Tunnel. Tunnels everywhere! Tune in to Rick's tunnels! I winder if the stage hands had paper crumbling contests? 😂

As soon as you mention Hollywood and keeping cost down while looking at the scene from the show. I knew this is where you where going with it. Makes total sense.

I never thought the tunnels were through rock. How on Earth would they break through solid rock?! How to dispose of the debris? I seem to remember an episode where the Heroes had taken up gardening, painstakingly would bring up dirt in their pockets, release onto the freshly tilled garden soil, blend in, spread it out. Pretty much the same as was done in the film "The Great Escape". As a kid growing up it was always my impression that the walls were hacked out of tight clay soil. I realize that "Hogan's Heroes" is most certainly NOT a documentary, but I thought I'd throw in a (very) small measure of plausibility!

rick i noticed alot of times when they leave the barracks you see the camp in the back ground. was that filmed at the camp set? i would love to know. thank you for a look @ the past

I was fortunate enough to have a father with connections in Hollywood and was able to see a closed set taping of the show. I met the entire cast and got to see all the sets. The tunnels were a single large wall of what looked to me to be cardboard crumple to look like rock and painted dark charcoal gray. The back side was unpainted and was light brown, like cardboard. Otherwise it was a big wall on wheels like any other wall on a set.

Plus, the lighting in the "tunnel" was always kind of low, helping the effect. And it didn't have to be perfect - just good enough to make you forget they're in a fake tunnel and instead worry if Sgt. Carter will blow the place up making explosives or not.... ;)

That is amazing, how they used something as simple as paper to create those formations to create there tunnels.

Wow cool!! I'm going to go build my own life size Hogan's Heroes tunnel set right now!

I loved this show so much. great vid bud.

tunnel...i love hogan's heroes since the 60's

I always figured it was just a sound stage especially the tunnel scenes, but never thought about paper.

You nailed it 👍🏻 the tunnels are my favorite part

Tin foil, foam, paper, flour paste mounted on plywood and moved and reused and some were fiberglass in rough traffic areas in the tunnels, I have taken styrofoam to several studios and they carve literally anything they want from them and finish it. The simplest things seem to work the best and it's all pure magic when you see it on screen and generally terrible looking in person. The star trek the next generation sets were so cool on screen and in person were a bit of a let down I've seen Battlestar sets and Stargate in Canada there again delivering foam and they were a bit plain but looked so awesome on screen and yes I sat in the vipers the raptor was being repainted and I couldn't go near it. And I went to Desilu in the early 70s and saw it and it disillusioned me on my favorite shows but the older I got the more I appreciate them. I love your channel it brings back memories and you may have seen me in a few tv shows in the 70s I got to be on as an extra.