He may be remembered best in bandanna and vest, but Carl “Zeb” Bartholomew had a brilliant creative mind behind the camera, too.

Bartholomew, the star of “Uncle Zeb’s Cartoon Camp” on KTUL, channel 8, from 1969 to 1979, died Tuesday of complications from myelodysplasia. He was 77.

Born and raised a Tulsan, Bartholomew graduated from Rogers High School and later settled into a house in Brookside with his wife, Marilyn Bartholomew. The couple had one son, Blake.

Bartholomew began working his way through the ranks at KTUL in 1968, bouncing from cameraman to crew chief, from announcer to promotions manager. He created the curmudgeonly Uncle Zeb when another local kiddie show favorite, Mr. Zing, needed someone to fill in for him on occasion.

At the time, he’d been aiming for a weekend weatherman gig. Instead, Bartholomew was offered his own show, and “Uncle Zeb’s Cartoon Camp” replaced the “Mr. Zing and Tuffy Show.”

It was tough work. Bartholomew wrangled 30-odd children between the ages of 4 and 12 before he’d even had a child of his own. “They do what they want to do,” he once said of the kids on his show. “Once I learned I had no control, it was easier to deal with.” “I ran a very loose camp,” he said in 1987.

During each show, Uncle Zeb played games with the children

Uncle Zeb signed off each day with a deep, resounding, “I’ll be lookin’ for ya!”

The show was phased out in 1979, but Bartholomew continued to push the envelope with his unorthodox, personality-centered promotional spots.

“He believed in showcasing talent so that viewers were interested in our lives and in us as people,” said Becky Dixon, a former sports reporter for KTUL.

Bartholomew called his television spots “micro-mini-movies,” which he presided over as director, scouting locations and shouting directions with a big megaphone.

Bartholomew left KTUL in 1983 and became creative director for Tulsa Cable Television.

In 1989, he directed the independent movie “Cole Justice,” a western revenge tale he wrote with Doug Crain, his former KTUL promotions assistant and founder of Flying Colors Media.

In the 1990s, he brought Uncle Zeb and his camp of kids back for TCI Cablevision of Tulsa. More recently, he wrote children’s books and read to elementary-school students.

He is survived by his wife, Marilyn Bartholomew; a son, Blake Bartholomew; and one grandchild.

Services are pending with Ninde Brookside Funeral Home.

Friends and family are making memorial contributions to the Uncle Zeb Foundation in care of the Bank of Oklahoma.