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Children's television Hosts 1950's and 1960's

V

vibe

We had 2 shows directed at/for children during the after school period (round 4pm) in Connecticut during the 1950's and 1960's. On Channel 3 Hartford we had "Ranger Andy" and on Channel 8 New Haven (near the seashore) we had "Captain C Whiskers."
I was never on any of those shows. My older sister was on one of them and said that the host was completely different off camera than on.
I remember watching Laugh In in the 1970's where Alan Seuss did a parody of a child's program "Uncle Al." (this is uncle Al, the kiddies pal) (oh Uncle Al had a really bad night, too much medicine) . It was a scream!. Any others have any daytime children's hosts they care to remember and share.
 
KGUN-TV Tucson: Marshal Kgun.
Live, studio audience (kids), cartoons 'n' stuff, trade-out prizes.

KPHO-TV Phoenix: Wallace And Ladmo (originally: It's Wallace).
Live (way back), on tape later, studio audience (kids), cartoons 'n' stuff,
local guests and bands, Ladmo Bags (prizes, probably also trade-outs).
Only drawback--Pat McMahon. (Just kidding, this was his prime.)
(Phoenix board regulars will get the joke.)
 
In Detroit:

Various Stations:
Milky The Twin Pines Magic Clown
WXYZ-TV
Soupy Sales (1952-1959)
CKLW-TV
Jingles in Boofland
Captain Jolly and Poopdeck Paul (Popeye Theater)
Bill Kennedy Showtime (a movie host but I watched when I was kid and got to love old movie; also the narrator of The Adventures of Superman).
WWJ-TV
Sonny Elliot (later they made him the weather man)

Philadelphia

WFIL-TV
Sally Starr (showed Popeye cartoons in hot cowgirl outfit, rumor was she'd been a burlesque stripper, a sexy blonde with major league hooters).
 
Cleveland:

Barnaby, an elf-like Character (Linn Sheldon) held forth at KYW/WKYC Channel 3 and WUAB-43 from about 1956-1990 (not continuously)..Sheldon had been on Cleveland TV from the beginning (1947) when he began at WEWS-TV 5

Woodrow Woodsman (Clay Conroy) began in the early 1960's as a companion to Barnaby..but eventually got his own show set in a magic forest..He moved to Detroit TV for a few years then returned in the early-mid 1990's for a Saturday morning show on WJW Fox 8 Cleveland.

Franz The Toymaker-WJW-TV 8's main kid host from about 1964-70..don't know much about him except he had been in Columbus before coming to Cleveland.

Captain Penny(Ron Penfound) 1957-72 on TV 5..On his Noon Show he dressed up in a train engineers outfit while hosting about 50 minutes of cartoons (12:10-1PM) daily. His afternoon show he dressed up in a suit and tie..his show in the afternoon was usually 60-90 minutes long and had The Three Stooges, (Dont Try this at home kids..he would admonish) Some Hanna Barbera Shows, Terrytoons, Batfink, Little Rascals, etc. He also had "Jungle Larry" From Cedar Point to do animal demonstrations..

Mr. Jingeling-WEWS 5...Appeared from about 1957 into the 1980's on most of the Cleveland Stations at one time or another but is most associated with channel 5. He would tell stories about the North Pole between Thanksgiving and Christmas..He was "Keeper of the Keys" to Santa's workshop though he was stationed on Department Store Halle's "seventh floor" douring November/December..The second Mr. Jingeling appropriately named Earl Keyes, Played the part from 1964 on and made it his own even after Jingeling stopped appearing on TV..He continued to play Mr. Jingeling at various places till he passed away just a few years ago.


Other Hosts included Uncle Leslie (Gene Carroll) from WEWS, Mr. Banjo WXEL-9 Texas Jim from WEWS..These were all in the 1950's.
 
I lived in the Philly metro area from June, 1964 to August, 1965, I remember Sally Starr(not the major league hooters, as I was only 9) And I also remember two others- Happy the Clown and Uncle Rex.
 
Columbus,Ohio

From 1960 to 1972, WBNS-TV 10 had an hour long local morning children's television show called Luci's Toyshop. Luci's Toyshop was hosted by Luci Van Leeuwen that was on weekday mornings after Captain Kangaroo.

When Luci's Toyshop went off the air in 1972, WBNS replaced it with another hour long local morning children's show called Friendly Junction that was hosted by Leslie Polkin. Friendly Junction came on after Captain Kangaroo and it was on WBNS for a few years.


Huntington, West Virginia

As a kid growing up during the late 1960's and early 1970's, when I visited my grandmother in Kentucky, I recall that WSAZ-TV 3 had a hour long local children's show show called Mr. Cartoon that came on the air at 4:00 p.m. weekday afternoons. It aired cartoons. Mr. Cartoon was hosted by Jule Huffman, who was also the weather man at WSAZ. Mr. Cartoon was on the air weekday afternoons until 1988 when it moved to Saturday mornings. Mr. Cartoon was on WSAZ until 1995 when Jule Huffman retired.
 
ohdxer said:
Huntington, West Virginia

As a kid growing up during the late 1960's and early 1970's, when I visited my grandmother in Kentucky, I recall that WSAZ-TV 3 had a hour long local children's show show called Mr. Cartoon that came on the air at 4:00 p.m. weekday afternoons. It aired cartoons. Mr. Cartoon was hosted by Jule Huffman, who was also the weather man at WSAZ. Mr. Cartoon was on the air weekday afternoons until 1988 when it moved to Saturday mornings. Mr. Cartoon was on WSAZ until 1995 when Jule Huffman retired.
Click to expand...

Before Huffman, Mr. Cartoon was George Lewis. He would late end up at Baltimore's WBFF-TV 45 where he became Captian Chesapeake. I have been told his show was more/less the same in Baltimore as it was in Huntington.

fred flintstone said:
Philadelphia

WFIL-TV
Sally Starr (showed Popeye cartoons in hot cowgirl outfit, rumor was she'd been a burlesque stripper, a sexy blonde with major league hooters).
Click to expand...

I believe Sally is still on the air today. Last I heard she was doing radio isomewhere in New Jersey. Interesting thing about Starr, a few months back someone uploaded a small clip of her WFIL show on You Tube only to have it removed at the request of...DICK CLARK PRODUCTIONS !!

Figure that one out.
 
New York.

The one I remember best is Officer Joe Bolton who used to show 3 Stooges shorts in the afternoon. It was a thrill the few times he had Moe Howard on his show to tell us kids not to do the things they do on screen. He even showed us how to do the eye poke without hurting your "victim". Makes me wonder, were the 3 Stooges the beginning of Jackass? Nah, the Stooges were smarter and funnier.
 
Boston-area folks will remember "Big Brother" Bob Emery on both WBZ TV and radio along with Rex Trailer and "Boomtown"...Cap'n Bob on channel five..."Major Mudd" on channel 7 and then "Captain Boston" on channel 56 and Willie Whistle too.

Boston viewers could also watch a fuzzy channel 12 from Providence for Salty Brine on "Salty's Shack".

A fuzzy channel nine from New Hampshire would bring "Uncle Gus" to our sets.
 
North Alabama was awash in 'em. Birmingham had three longtime "kiddie show" personalities: "Cousin" Cliff Holman, Benny Carle, and Sgt. Jack (Neal Miller). The latter was named after a local fast-food chain who sponsored the show. His 'costume' was a sheriff's deputy uniform, complete with regulation Jefferson County insignia. Miller was actually sworn in as a deputy so he could legally wear the uniform. (He got a kick out of the fact that he could've performed arrests while doing the show ... never did, though)

I came of age in Huntsville, watching Johnny Evans on WAAY-TV 31 and Benny Carle ... by the late '60s, he'd moved to Huntsville and was hosting a competing show on then WMSL-TV 48 (now WAFF). Benny is still kicking around today -- put him in a studio with kids right now, and he'd make magic.

Over in Florence, Ala., there was a quirky woman named Earline who hosted a program called Storyland, where she donned little girls' clothes and read stories. All and good, but Earline was said to have *lived* the image, emulating the dress and mannerisms of a little girl in her everyday life.

Moving around a lot while growing up exposed me to a number of different markets, and I got to experience some very colorful TV personalities.

WCBI-TV 4 in Columbus, Miss. had the inimitable Uncle Bunky, who did an afternoon show called Funtime, complete with Bullwinkle and Sinbad, Jr. toons. His schtick was something called "crazy animals" - drawing creatures consisting of body parts from different animals, on a huge tablet.

Arkansas had Gary Weir, who held the rights to Bozo for the entire state. He hosted it both in Little Rock and in Jonesboro. "Where are you from, young lady?" "Heber Springs." "Is that anywhere near Heber Springs?"

In Memphis, Dick Williams hosted what I believe to be the longest-running magic-oriented kiddie show, Magicland. I can still hear that crazy theme music in my head today. Make it stop......

Most bizarre host: Briggs Gordon, who assumed the role of Uncle Briggs on WSIL-TV 3 in Harrisburg, Ill. Outlandish schtick, double-entendre bits ... a cult favorite in the SE Mo./S. Ill./W. Ky. area; further description would only befuddle; you had to have been there.

Shameless plug for my good friend Tim Hollis -- several years he wrote a book about the old childrens' TV hosts. Info can be found here:
http://www.upress.state.ms.us/catalog/fall2001/hi_there_boys_and_girls!.html

If you're interested in the old kiddie-shows, I highly recommend it.

More on Birmingham's hosts:
http://www.birminghamrewound.com/features/kidvid_main.htm

--Russell
 
Just a thought (probably dangerous); why doesn't one of the cable tv networks pick up and show some of these old kiddie shows/ Demographically there are a LOT of us in that age category. And it would be a real education to folks under 45 or so. My theory is that it takes a very creative person to have been one of those children's TV hosts. And patient. And without medication (if one doesn't count Jim Beam).
 
The odds of there being a decent amount of tape of any local host are slim - most stations dumped local kids programming in the 70s, and before that video tape was reused again and again. (Even the networks are missing a lot of stuff that should have been recorded for posterity, such as the first two Super Bowls.)

Obligatory local: Growing up in Green Bay with Col. Caboose, a local music instructor, and his puppets Tristan (a large dog) and Grizzelda (a large dodo bird). Russ Widoe, who played the colonel, went on to found Green Bay's educational TV service.
 
The Los Angeles market had 4 independent stations as far back as the early 50s, so I grew up with an overabundance of these local kid shows. In the late 50s and 60s, there were "Skipper Frank" and Tom Hatten on KTLA. Hatten wore a sailor hat like Popeye (he showed Popeye cartoons), and would have kids on the showfor drawing contests. He was also (not surprisingly) an actor who got steady work doing small parts on the network sitcoms and dramas of that era. Tom is now an entertainment reporter on KNX Newsradio1070 in LA. KHJ-TV 9 had "Engineer Bill" who had a whole set worth of model trains, - probably awesome if you were into that. KTTV Channel 11 had "Sheriff John" (Rovick) who ran the "Lunch Brigade" at Noon for many years...when most kids were in school, oddly enough. He was one of KTTV's staff announcers, so his voice could be heard for many years after the show was cancelled. He seemed like a genuinely nice man, and continued to do public appearances into the 1970s. In those pre-cable days, Channel 13 (KCOP) didn't come in clearly in my neighborhood, so I couldn't watch "Hobo Kelly," played by an attractive young woman who many of my friends (in better reception areas) had a crush on. "Chucko the Clown" was on in the mornings on KABC-TV. More than once, he got short-tempered with kids who were not on their best behavior. I'm sure I'm leaving some out. There are websites devoted to some of these LA hosts of yesteryear.
 
For those in Connecticut in the 60's, there was "The Ranger Station" on Channel 3 (then called WTIC-TV, owned by Traveler's). I don't recall the host's name other than "Ranger Andy".

On Channel 8 (then called WNHC-TV) there was "Mr. Goober" with newsman Mike Warren playing the part of the friendly janitor.

Picture of Mike Warren as Mr. Goober: http://www2.flickr.com/photos/changoblanco/155800930/


Ah, the memories!

Bill
 
Several come to mind in the Dayton market:
Joe Rockhold "Uncle Orrie" and Ken Hardin "Ferdy Fussbudget"(with Jack Jacobson as "Nosey The Clown" "Whittlin' Jake" and "Ignatz Hammerslob" early-on) on WHIO-TV in Dayton in the 1950s to around 1967 when replaced by "Ken and Don" then later "Charlie Goodtime"(Dave Eaton) in 1970.
Over at WKEF-TV the local incarnation of "Romper Room" was hosted by Jo Corey as "Miss Jo" Also "Toody Too" The Clown (pun intended to promote Channel 22) and best of all "Malcolm" McLeaud with Duffy The Dog and Stan the Man on the ever poular "Clubhouse 22" which ran in the early to mid 1970s.

http://www.marmotgraphics.com/jim/journal/2004/02/journal_021004.html

Up in Lima WIMA-TV(now WLIO) had Chuck Osburn as host of "Charlie's Cartoon Clubhouse" in early 1960s and later "IN-SIDE" with Ron Blazer and Bob(last name forgotten..later replaced by Chuck Osburn as "Charlie Chunk")which had a brief run in 1966 and replaced in 1967 by Barry Lillis as "Barry Patch." Adrian Cronauer was also one of the announcers on WIMA-TV in 1966(later portrayed by Robin Williams in "Good Morning Vietnam.")

http://www.wlio.org
 
Some of the ones I remember from the Charlotte, NC area....

WBTV-3
---------------
Big Bill Ward
Col. Captain Phil the Magician - Phil Morris
Fred Kirby
Bozo the Clown, Uncle Jim Mahaffey - Both played by Jim Patterson


WSOC-9
----------------
Joey the Clown - Brooks Lindsey
Toothy the Clown - Don't remember who played him
Sailor Jack - Jack Callaghan


WCCB-18
-----------------
Cowboy Bob - Don't remember who played him
Joey the Clown - Yes, again - Brooks Lindsey
Sgt. Mills - Denny Millsapps
Sonic Man - Tony Alexi


WCTU-36
------------------
The Pied Piper - Tom King
The Old Prospector - Bob Chessen (I think)

Later....
Matt Smith
WGSR-TV
 
Buddy Hayes said:
Houston had Kitirik and Cadet Don:

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=stationinfo&id=3300775#

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=stationinfo&id=3300525
Click to expand...

Houston also had Don Mahoney and Jeanna Clair, a cowboy couple a la Roy and Dale, and their Kiddie Troopers. It originated from KGUL, Galveston and later KPRC and also from a station in Beaumont. It was a kiddie talent show. Mahoney lost his sight but the show went on with him on it.

According to a discussion on a local forum, Jeanna Clair is still alive and has reels of film of the earliest shows which were rerun years later, apparently, and more recently on access TV.
 
Re: Children's television Hosts 1950's and 1960's- Central New York

Central New York: WSYR - Ch 3 now WSTM, had Denny Sullivan on Popeye's Funhouse weekedays at 5PM and Salty Sam (Bill Elliot) on the weekends. Both
were both announcers at the TV station and co-owned WSYR radio. Both could be seen elesewhere on TV doing comercials, the weather, and movie openings/closings.
WHEN Ch 5, now WTVH had Cartoon Clubhouse with Uncle Skip weeknights at 6PM . He was an announcer at co-owned WHEN radio. The Clubhouse would show mostly pre 1949 Warner Bros. cartoons and the Little Rascals. WHEN/WTVH, also had a local children's on after Captain Kangaroo in the morning called The Magic Toy Shop. It had a variety of characters mostly made up of actors from local colleges. It was aimed at small children and did not show many cartoons.

WNYS Ch. 9, now WSYR-TV had my favorite. The Baron & His Buddies weekdays at 4PM. The Baron was a vampire that had been hosting late night horror flicks. He was very funny. He showed the best stuff. The Stooges, Bugs Bunny, and Bullwinkle. Baron Daemon -Mike Price still works at WSYR-TV and does feature stories on the news. He makes occasional appearances as the Baron.

WKTV Ch 2 in Utica had the worst but campiest kiddie show. Bozo the Clown.
Ed Whitaker was Bozo. Ed was an old song & dance man. The problem was he was also old and fat. So he was a very heavy Bozo that couldn't see, so he had to wear glasses. He, also yelled when he talked and scared the children, which was ok because he didn't like children much anyway. It was so awful it was great. The show got huge ratings and was very successful because no one in Utica had a job so everyone sat around and got high or drunk and watched Bozo in the afternoon.

A side story to Bozo. One day he was taping a Bozo show. There was a local news cut in and whoever was supposed to do it wasn't there. So they grabbed Ed to do it. There wasn't any time so he just took off the top of the Bozo suit and the wig and the nose and jumped behind the news desk. He was still Bozo from the waist down (including the big shoes). With seconds to spare he's on the air and starts to read the news script. Unfortunatly, he didn't have time to get out of character and starts reading the news in his Bozo voice. So the first couple of seconds of the news was him yelling the news in his Bozo voice!
 
...Chicago had some truly great ones. Those I recall were mainly on WGN-TV/9, and the rest of the country got late tastes of them on cable. The classic triad was Ray Rayner showing Warner Brothers cartoons and playing around with a duck named Chelveston in the mornings; Ringmaster Ned Locke and clowns Bob Bell (Bozo), Roy Brown (Cooky) and Marshall Brodien (Wizzo) in between circus act guests and the "Grand Prize Game" (why "Bucket Number Six" still means the best of the best to native Chicagoans) on "Bozo's Circus"; and Frazier Thomas amongst the puppetry on "Garfield Goose & Friends." For a while, first on WBBM-TV/2 and later on WFLD/32, they were challenged by the hardest working of them all, artist/puppet designer/sculptor ("The Blob")/bad joke writer Bill Jackson. "B.J. & Dirty Dragon" was so popular on 32 that 9 brought it back for a while after cancellation in the early '70s; after a falling-out with 9, Jackson went over to WLS-TV/7 to use the same characters on the syndicated "Gigglesnort Hotel"...

...and north of Chicago, in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, KFIZ-TV/34 had "Uncle Doug's Cartoon Club," usually running the cheapest of cheap TV cartoons...
 
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