(A thousand pardons if the concept of this thread previously existed).
Since Bozo went off the air in Chicago years ago, I wonder, do any local tv stations in the US still produce their own in-studio kiddie shows? I gotta think the local tv kiddie show was a staple that is quietly vanishing (vanished?); the only one I can think of now is the fictional Krusty the Clown on “The Simpsons.”
What local tv kiddie shows were on in the town you grew up in? Were you ever on a such a show? Positive or negative experience?
Growing in Memphis in the '70s, I remember “Magicland” airing on Sunday mornings. It was hosted by the tv station’s weatherman (Dick Williams?) and his usual line while performing a trick was, “Any five year-old can do this trick … with ten years of practice” (or something like that). Every year, he’d do his “big trick” which was putting his assistant in the tri-seperated vertical box and seperating the middle section. Mind you, this assistant was a woman who looked like she was in her 60s and in a leotard (that itself, a creepy image; let alone the trick). McDonald’s was always a sponsor, and they showed Cub Scouts and Brownies eating hamburgers in audience before they went to break. I don’t know the name of music/theme to the show, but it was the same one used in the '70s “Jeopardy 1999” Saturday Night Live sketch when Steve Martin hosted
Another station had Capt. Bill and Snoopy. I wanna say this guy was more of a fixture years prior though, because he was up there in age when I saw him. I did see Capt. Bill in the crowd at a Liberty Bowl game once, and he was drinking, which kinda wrecked my perception of him.
When I moved to Eau Claire, WI in the late '70s, there was Sheriff Bob, but from talking to kids my age, his tv show had just then recently gone off the air, though he was still doing local commercials and appearances.
I remember being three or four years old and visiting relatives in New York with my Mom. I was totally perplexed that Bozo was a different guy and that the show was completely different than the one back home.
In Los Angeles in the late 60’s we had Hobo Kelly. She was this clown that performed skits and interviewed guests between showing cartoons. One character was an evil guy who was out to throw a pie at the face of everyone in the world, in order, from a list that he had. Hobo Kelly was the first name on the list and she would foil him everytime, keeping the world safe from shaving cream pies.
Buffalo, NY is famous for two kiddies’ programs: Rocketship 7 in the morning, and Commander Tom in the afternoons. Just ask anybody in their 40s, from WNY or Southern Ontario who Promo The Robot was!
There was also a local Romper Room show from channel 13 in Kitchener, ON, and at noon, Big Al would run cartoons and misread kids’ names as he showed their birthday pictures. Hey, it was really somethin’ to be on Big Al on your birthday!
Growing up in NoVA I watched Captain 20 and Count Gore DeVol on Channel 20, but before that was Sir Graves Ghastley, who came on at 11:30 on Sat. nights.
Besides Romper Room, there was also Professor Kool’s Fun School, also on Channel 2 out of Baltimore (WBAL).
There’s a terrific song about this whole genre called “Kansas City Star,” but I’m not sure who did the original version. The version I’m familiar with is by Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers.
The two most memorable ones from my childhood were:
“Miss Patsy’s Playhouse” WTVM Columbus, GA
“The Popeye Club with Officer Don” WSB Atlanta
I was on both when I was a cub scout. “Miss Patsy’s Playhouse” was as lame as it sounds. “The Popeye Club” was way cooler with better games. I threw up on tv when my cub scout troop went to see “The Popeye Club.” Well, that was the end of my acting career. I made up for it though. I got picked as one of the players for the “Ooey Gooey” game. The game was set up on this round robin table thing with like 5 goody bags and one bag of ooey gooey which was stuff like eggs and flour and molasses and stuff. The players were blindfolded, the table spun and when the player said stop the table was stopped and the player stuck his/her hand in the bag in front of him/her. It was either a goody bag (Hostess cupcakes and Lay’s potato chips and othe goodies) or the ooey gooey bag. I won a goody bag!
By the way, an over excited seven year old plus chili dog and greasy french fries from The Varsity, don’t mix very well.
Another Los Angeles area show was Sheriff John’s Lunch Brigade. He had a cool birthday song which every 40 to 50 something person from that area can still sing:
Put another candle on my birthday cake
My birthday cake
My birthday caaaaaake
Put another candle on my birthday cake
I’m another year old today!
My dad was a deputy sheriff of Los Angeles County, and he looked a little like Sheriff John, so all the neighborhood kids thought the show was about my dad. That was cool!
Dusty’s Treehouse
A portly fellow and his woodland friends teach us about…stuff.
**The Popeye Show with Tom Hatten **
Who can forget the opening as a virile Hatten leaps out of a sailboat and jogs up a plank to the tune of the “Popeye” theme? Remember the Squiggles? Kids would send in their scribbles (literally) and Hatten would turn them into actual drawings!
Mario’s Magical Movie Machine of Magic and Movies (or something like that)
Poor schlub works all day as a janitor then is doomed to spend his free time in his building’s basement playing films on some sort of gargantuan film projector.
That’s all I remember, locally anyway. Here’s a nice site about local L.A. kids shows from years past:
My grandparents used to live in Hawaii and we would spend every other Christmas out there. So was it the sandy beaches, the warm weather, my relatives that I looked forward to every time?
No, it was the Checkers and Pogo show. They were two cartoon hosts that showed things like George of the Jungle and Beany and Cecil.
“Here comes Checkers, here comes Checkers, Checkers! and Pogo Pogue!”
Once they filmed a short scene on the street in front of my grandparents’ house!
I made up for it though. I got picked as one of the players for the “Ooey Gooey” game. The game was set up on this round robin table thing with like 5 goody bags and one bag of ooey gooey which was stuff like eggs and flour and molasses and stuff. The players were blindfolded, the table spun and when the player said stop the table was stopped and the player stuck his/her hand in the bag in front of him/her. It was either a goody bag (Hostess cupcakes and Lay’s potato chips and othe goodies) or the ooey gooey bag. I won a goody bag!