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

Jockeyboy35 said:
From 1967- 78 there was Bob Mcalster hosting a Sunday Morning Children Show called "Wonder Ramma" on
Channel 5 WNEW TV in New York.
Click to expand...

McAllister's Wonderama was actually a syndicated show but only on stations that were owned by Metromedia such as WNEW, DC's WTTG and LA's KTTV.

I am pretty sure it aired in Chicago but not sure about Cincinatti or Kansas City where Metromedia also had stations back then.
 
Wonderama was originally hosted (as I remember it) by Sonny Fox. No not that one. If memory serves, he is the one that had the quote "that should keep the little bastards quiet for a while".

Also in New York, I barely remember a show hosted by Sandy Becker. Cartoons and little skits.

Does anyone remember these or am I having another flashback?
 
sack said:
Wonderama was originally hosted (as I remember it) by Sonny Fox. No not that one. If memory serves, he is the one that had the quote "that should keep the little bastards quiet for a while".
Click to expand...

...Snopes.com has a page explaining that *nobody* ever uttered that line on a major kiddie show. I started using it at the end of my radio shows as a joke about five years ago, but that was on a rock oldies show as a running gag...
 
Wonderama started around 1957 with Sandy Becker as host, then he was replaced by Herb Sheldon around 1959. After about a year, Sonny Fox took over until he left in 1968 with Bob McAllister hosting until the show ended its run in 1977.

In its heyday in the mid 60s, the waiting list for kids to get on the show was over a year long. When I first started watching the show back then it was four hours long (usually 9 AM-1 PM in NYC) and at its end was just two hours.
 
To my knowledge, (growing uy there) Wonderama never ran in Chicago.
 
tjthedj said:
To my knowledge, (growing uy there) Wonderama never ran in Chicago.
Click to expand...

I don't think Wonderama aired in Chicago either since Metromedia didn't own WFLD 32 quite yet. However it DID air in Minneapolis as Metromedia owned their channel 11 back then plus I seem to remember reading a bio on Bob McAllister around the time of his death back in 1998 stating he made some public appearances in Minnesota back in the 70s.

Speaking of Wonderama, someone once told me that the rock band ABBA made their American TV debut on Wonderama. Not sure if THAT is true but for a kids show that was seen in a handful of markets, they had almost as many stars on it as Ed Sullivan.
 
Indianapolis Update:

WFBM-TV 6
Hoosier Hank was the host for the Three Stooges in the late 50s and early 60s. He was a shop keeper. I was pretty young and don't remember if there was a studio audience of kids or not.

Harlow Hickenlooper, Curly Meyers and Captain Starr worked together on a weekday show called, "All Hands on Deck" opposite channel 4's Popeye show in the mid 60s. (my research had Captain Starr performed by Jerry Vance.) There was also a first mate character, but I don't remember the name or who played him. Harlow (Hal Fryar) also worked middays on WFBM radio and he and Curly hosted Three Stooges Saturday mornings.

WTTV 4
There were several hosts for Popeye in the afternoon. I remember a ship's captain in the late 50s,I don't remember the name, succeeded by a character named Whistles, who lived in a magic castle. Happy Herb came in the early 60s. Herb also did play by play on channel 4's telecasts of Indiana University Basketball. Janie came in the late 60s followed by Sally Jo in the early 70s (I remember short skirts and black go-go boots, with a studio audience of kids.) Janie returned later in the decade. Cowboy Bob did the Chuckwagon Theatre and directed several of the locally produced shows and commercials at the Bluff Road studios. Ruffles the clown was a host for "The Little Rascals."
I remember a weeklong Ruffles Clubhouse guest shot in the early 60s by a man named Bob Carter who would become Sammy Terry on weekends.

WLW-I 13
Bill Jackson hosted local segments in an hourlong telecast of the Mickey Mouse Club weekdays in the mid 60s. There was a studio audience of kids and several puppets, including "Martians" Fergy and Morty.
I saw Jackson at a personal appearance show in the mid 60s. He was very entertaining.

WISH-TV 8
I don't remember any local children's shows on channel 8 other than the previously mentioned Santa show. Santa was portrayed by Joe Lemon, a staff announcer.
 
ten_four said:
Indianapolis Update:

WTTV 4
Happy Herb came in the early 60s. Herb also did play by play on channel 4's telecasts of Indiana University Basketball.
Click to expand...

You sure "Happy Herb" (I forget his last name and a Google search doesn't turn up anything, but IIRC his first name really was Herb) did IU hoops back then? I remember Chuck Marlowe doing the games through the '60s, with Hilliard Gates taking over sometime in the '70s. If he did the games before Marlowe, I don't remember it.
 
Cincinnati:

To the Wonderama question, yes, it aired on Metromedia 19 (WXIX) on Sunday mornings, 10:30 to Noon (wackadoo, wackadoo!)

Various videos of Cincinnati programming exists at Union Terminal, at the Cincinnati Historical Society. A lot of programming has been donated over the years, being kept in a humidity controlled vault.

WLWT: No kids shows. AVCO/Multimedia produced "Young People's Specials". Also, Steve Douglas and then Claire Slemmer hosted "It's Academic". WLWT was the home of Paul Dixon, Bob Braun, Ruth Lyons, etc.

WCPO: Uncle Al Show. The longest running local kids show until the mid 80's. Followed Captain Kangaroo and had a LONG wait for tickets. WCPO also did "Play It Safe" with a Cincinnati Policeman as host, Juvenile Court (with a University of Cincinnati law professor acting as Judge Paul Trevor).

Uncle Al owns the last two years of Uncle Al Town, which aired briefly on WarnerAmex in the early 90's.

WCPO kept a library of programming. Some still exists.

WKRC: Skipper Ryle. Glenn Ryle did wrap arounds for Mighty Mouse and Bullwinkle. Had skill games, like Beat The Clock, etc. His last show was live from Kings Island and had a huge audience.

WKRC lost a lot of their library in the early 70's

WXIX: The Cool Ghoul (Dick Von Hoene) and Larry Smith Puppets. They kept the station going.

Bits and pieces of their library exists. Some Cool Ghoul material pops up on YouTube every now and then.

WCET: Early years: Skipper Ryle and Larry Smith Puppets

Not much exists prior to 1977, due to a waterline burst on Mt. Olympus years ago.

WBTI/WIII/WSTR: No kids shows that I am aware of.

Storer Cable revived The Magic Forest, which Larry Smith Puppets did on WCET.
 
In Dallas Ft. Worth, we had "Mr. Peppermint" in the mornings on WFAA ch. 8 ( can't find a good link yet). He was young (mid 30's) when the show first started, but always had a kind of grandfatherly way of speaking and making kids feel comfortable.

On the flip side on KTVT ch. 11, we had "Slam Bang Theater" starring Icky Twerp. Always something crazy going on. Showing a mix of cartoons and The Three Stooges.
http://www.patioculture.net/slam_bang.html

This one also has a few pics of ch.11 stuff: http://www.ickytwerp.net/
 
Toddy-0 said:
Cincinnati:


Various videos of Cincinnati programming exists at Union Terminal, at the Cincinnati Historical Society. A lot of programming has been donated over the years, being kept in a humidity controlled vault.

WCPO: Uncle Al Show. The longest running local kids show until the mid 80's. Followed Captain Kangaroo and had a LONG wait for tickets. WCPO also did "Play It Safe" with a Cincinnati Policeman as host, Juvenile Court (with a University of Cincinnati law professor acting as Judge Paul Trevor).

Uncle Al owns the last two years of Uncle Al Town, which aired briefly on WarnerAmex in the early 90's.

WCPO kept a library of programming. Some still exists.
Click to expand...

WEWS In Cleveland also kept some programming..Not as much as I'd like but more than most Cleveland Stations..Uncle Al was seen on WEWS-5 in Cleveland at various times..
 
In Pittsburgh, There were, among others, Paul Shannon on "Adventure Time", Hank Stohl on "Popeye and Knish", and Joe Negri and Sandy Mason on "Popeye and Friends" on WTAE-4 [ABC] in the 1960s. Also Captain Jim on WIIC-11 [NBC] in the '60s and '70s.
 
Most unlikely kids' show host?

Possibly, the guy I'm about to mention.

Back in 1960 in Rochester, NY, I remember the daily 5 PM Popeye cartoons on WROC-TV being hosted by a fellow in a captain's hat and a pretty good fake beard who called himself, IIRC, the Skipper...he'd gravel up his voice and tell stories in between the cartoons, and even to a 7 year old (which I was at the time), a few of the stories seemd to be a little adult, more like the material I heard sneaking a look at Jack Paar late at night.

No surprise he'd get into a little adult humor. That host was none other than Foster Brooks, who later became a national standup comedy star (with a lot of network TV guest shots, cable specials and regular showroom gigs in Las Vegas) based on a routine built around a totally inebriated character. He later said while he was doing the kids' show in Rochester he was in fact well 'lubricated' on more than one occasion.
 
In San Diego, when I was young, I came across several local kid show hosts in the 60s and 70s. Uncle Russ and Johnny Downs were on KOGO (now KGTV) 10. Shane in Wonderland was on KFMB 8. KCST 39 (now KNSD) had Suzy Saturn and another kid show that was called 39 Kids Corral, whose host name I forget. KUSI had Shotgun Tom Kelly in the 80s and 90s doing kid-aimed segments during the syndicated half hour cartoon shows. Kelly was also a famous disc jockey in San Diego on a few stations, and now an evening jock on K-Earth 101 in Los Angeles. I know Downs passed on in 1994. I guess there was someone called Uncle Murph on XETV, but I can't recall if he ever had a kids show on the station. I just heard his voice during the local commercials during the Smurfs reruns. In the 70s, KFMB pre-empted an hour of Saturday Morning cartoons to put on Chester the Jester, which showed Yogi Bear and Huckleberry Hound cartoons in the mid 70s. That's all I can recall.
 
Tim L said:
Toddy-0 said:
Cincinnati:


Various videos of Cincinnati programming exists at Union Terminal, at the Cincinnati Historical Society. A lot of programming has been donated over the years, being kept in a humidity controlled vault.

WCPO: Uncle Al Show. The longest running local kids show until the mid 80's. Followed Captain Kangaroo and had a LONG wait for tickets. WCPO also did "Play It Safe" with a Cincinnati Policeman as host, Juvenile Court (with a University of Cincinnati law professor acting as Judge Paul Trevor).

Uncle Al owns the last two years of Uncle Al Town, which aired briefly on WarnerAmex in the early 90's.

WCPO kept a library of programming. Some still exists.
Click to expand...

WEWS In Cleveland also kept some programming..Not as much as I'd like but more than most Cleveland Stations..Uncle Al was seen on WEWS-5 in Cleveland at various times..
Click to expand...

Makes perfect sense, since WCPO and WEWS were, and still are, co-owned by Scripps-Howard Broadcasting. WEWS likely got an edited version of the original WCPO broadcast. I doubt that Uncle Al got much currency elsewhere, since the next closest S-H station was in Memphis, far removed geographically and culturally from Ohio.
 
In Louisville, we had "T-Bar-V Ranch," beginning the day after WHAS-TV signed on March 27, 1950 and lasting until March, 1971 with hosts Randy Atcher and "Cactus Tom" Brooks, the brother of comedian/actor Foster Brooks. (Primary cartoon packages: Warner Bros., Popeye/AAP)

From about 1952 until 1973, sportscaster "Uncle Ed" Kallay doubles as host of "The Magic Forest" on WAVE-TV. (Harveytoons/Paramount; Universal Woody Woodpecker; later early Hanna-Barbera local packages)

From 1961-1967, "Bob Terry and his Pirates" held court on WLKY-TV. (Terrytoons, w/some UPA)

And, from March 1971 until early 1980, Bill Dopp was "Presto, The Magic Clown' on WDRB-TV. (Various packages, incl. some H-B secondaries, e.g Wally Gator, Hokey Wolf, etc.)
 
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.

In the 50's WMUR channel 9 in Manchester would feature Santa Claus (probably Uncle Gus in disguise) during the month of December. Living in Southeastern Mass. at the time, Channel 9's signsl was a weak Grade B, at best. As a kid, I thought I had the DX of the Century! Direct from the North Pole!
 
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