I can remember Soupy Sales on WXYZ-TV, 7 Detroit, but he was not there a very long time.
The staple, for years, was Toby David (I think) doing Captain Jolly from “Up Dock” at CKLW-TV, 9 Windsor, Ontario. The stage was an old “dock” with a shack at the end and there was an (offstage) fish (pelican?) that used to hurl water at the Captain, periodically. On weekends, Captain Jolly’s substitute was Poopdeck Paul. I don’t remember whether Poopdeck Paul was played by Jerry Booth, but Jerry Booth developed the lead character for the next kids show, Jingles the Clown in Boofland*, with a couple of puppet buddies, one of which was a dragon that ended most sentences “cha, cha, cha!” (Detroiters of a certain age can still be incited with enough alcoholic lubrication to sing the lyrics to Boofland, My Boofland.)
While Jingles the Clown was still running, UHF came to Detroit and channel 50 (no memory of the call letters) brought in a licensed Ghoul clone from Cleveland. By then I wasn’t watching those shows, so much.
I grew up in Phoenix. We had Wallace and Ladmo. Just a couple of guys, maybe slightly modeled on Laurel and Hardy. They also had another guy who played at least two characters I can remember on the show, Gerald, who was a sort of poncy Li’l Lord Fautleroy type come to taunt them in a red velvet scchoolboy outfit, and Boffo the Clown, who was really dry, sarcastic, grim, and definately a child hater, never smiled. I was afraid of him. I still don’t like clowns.
The thing I wanted most in the whole world when I was five was a Ladmo Bag. He would give audience members a brown sack with twinkies, and a t-shirt, and other nifty cool cool things that I was sure couldn’t be obtained anywhere else.
I also got Soupy Sales from a Detroit affiliate that we received in northern Michigan at the time. I don’t remember it, but Sales apparently got reprimanded one time when he encouraged all the little kiddies to go into their parent’s dresser drawers and send him the pieces of paper with the funny looking old men on them. (He was talking about money.)
JoeyHemlock: I live in the TC area, too! You still up here? Check out my reference to Count Zappula in the “Scary Movie Host” thread. He and Deputy Don were the same guy, and the little dog (“Igor” on the horror movies) was also the same.
On Channel 5, WRAL, Raleigh, North Carolina, we also had a Bozo the Clown. It was a 30 minute kid’s show. Later it turned into Time for Uncle Paul, I think that Uncle Paul played Bozo but got tired of the costume so he just went with the Circus Master type outfit. Top hat and split tail coat like a ring master wears. The show lasted many years, it ended when Uncle Paul took ill. He passed away several years later. Never had anyone to take the spot.
No, Milo, I live in the north Chicago burbs now, but I was born and raised in Mid-Michigan. A little town called Evart that’s kind of in the middle of Cadillac, Clare, and Big Rapids. But Traverse City is a beautiful city, at least it was in the late 80’s. I’ve heard that it’s grown a bit too much since…
Bozo was franchised by Larry Harmon, and a lot of citis had him. We had a Bozo on one of the independent stations in NYC. There were special Bozo cartoons.
There was an interesting story about Bozo on the ABC News site, I think. Larry Harmon did NOT invent the character, nor was he the first to play him on TV. Bozo was invented by Capitol Records as a kids record. I have a few of these at home, myself. He was first voiced by Pinto Colvig, a former circus clown himself (not to mention the original voice of Disney’s Goofy, and other cartoon characters). There’s a picture of a clown in the first Bozo album that is, I suspect, Colvig himself, in makeup that looks sort of proto-Bozo. If true, that means Colvig is the original source for Bozo’s appearance.
"One man in each century is given the power to control time. The man chosen to receive this power must be carefully selected. He must be kind. He must be fair. He. Must. Be. BRAVE! You have fulfilled these requirements and we the outer galaxy designate to you the Wisdom of Solomon and the Strength of Atlas.
“You! are Captain 11!”
KELO-TV. Channel 11. Sioux Falls, SD.
For more info, read "It Ain’t All Cartoons, by Dave Dedrick.
I saw an article or a news short about Uncle Paul in the spring. He is (hopefully, as I type this) still alive, but he is blind. I remember staying at my Granddaddy’s (NC word) when I was a lot younger and watching Uncle Paul. I go to WRAL-TV about once a week – I’ll have to see if anyone knows how he’s doing now. Thanks for mentioning him, and the show.