Every major city had them. The folks that hosted a kiddie show before and right after school every day. I grew up in Houston and I remember cadet Don and his sidekick Seymour (who incidently lived in a flying saucer). Then after school it was Kitirik! Good gosh I LOVED Kitirik… I actually got to meet her once at a grand opening of a shopping center in pasadena… A day I will NEVER forget!
Any memories of those type for you guys and gals??
Ray Raynor, Chicago.
Used to wear an umbrella hat and ran the old Flash Gordon serials.
An earlier thread on this subject:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=33095
In Atlanta eons ago it was Officer Don and the Popeye Club. 5,4,3,2,1 - ZERO!
Did anyone ever watch Ramblin’ Rod in Portland, OR? I watched that show every morning!
Sir Graves Ghastly.
He used to show scary movies Saturday Afternoon in the Detroit area.
Captain Chesapeake and his sidekick, Moandy (sp?) the Sea Monster on channel 45 in Baltimore. They hosted the afternoon cartoons and reruns.
Hmmphh…did they just not have anything like this in NY in the 80’s?? The only things I can remember, though not really what you’re saying, are:
Captain Kangaroo
Romper Room
Carol & Paula (that may have been called the Magic Garden, actually…)
I forget the name but it was a guy in a cheesy spacesuit standing next to a giant cardboard “console” that would fill with the cartoon logo and zoom in for the cartoon.
That was his entire act- never moved around.
But he sent me an “Atomic Ring” that was a mgnifying glass over a bit of fluorescent paint. You’d take it into the closet and stare really close and see shooting stars.
I thought x-rays were piercing my eyes, but I just had to watch.
WHO, channel 13 in Des Moines (NBC affiliate) had Duane Ellott and Floppy, at 12:15 and 3:00.
Bozo and The Mickey Mouse Club
Cap’n. Earnie’s Cartoon Showboat on WOC-TV out of Des Moines Iowa.
I went to Brownies for one meeting and quit because it meant missing the showboat. Great cartoons. Popeye, Lippy the Lion and Hardee Har Har, Wally Gator, Touche Turtle. I loved that show.
Davenport, not Des Moines.
In the L.A. area:
Engineer Bill
Hobo Kelly
And my favorite, because my dad was a sheriff, and he looked like this guy:
Sheriff John
“Put another candle on my birthday cake
my birthday cake
my birthday caaaaake,
put another candle on my birthday cake
I’m another year old today!”
In New York in the '60s, the immortal Soupy Sales.
Two characters I loved were Philo Kvetch, detective, and his
nemesis Onions Oregano.
Chicago–ditto Ray Raynor, sports, weather, traffic AND cartoons all in one show–not to mention do-ti -yourself projects and annual jelly bean contests.
Frasier Thomas on Garfield Goose. I don’t know why, but whenever that goose handpuppet whacked him on the head, I’d fall down in fits. It was also interesting to see him go from a gaudy blue"admirals" uniform on GG to a calm distinguished “Alisair Cooke” type guy on Family Classics on Sunday afternoons
Columbus, Ohio in the mid to late 70’s had a show on channel 10. It ran before school and was called, appropriately enough, the Schoolies. I can remember a brunette hostess with a Dorothy Hamill type haircut and possibly Popeye cartoons.
Southern Illinois had Uncle Briggs in the 80’s.