Romper Room

[Stanislav]

Most of us here of a certain age spent some of our “wee tyke” years watching a local franchise of Romper Room. Saw a few references on the Net and was thinking about the show.....

-- Did you ever secretly think that “Don’t Bee” probably had a lot more fun than “Do Bee?”

-- Were you disappointed when you learned that most real-life teachers weren’t as pretty, patient and kind as “Miss Sally” or “Miss Maryann” or “Miss Debra?” (And that they did not want to be called by their first names!)

-- And did the “Magic Mirror” bit mesmerize you, and have you waiting with baited breath to hear her say your name? Or did it appall you and freak you out that this bitch could see right into your living room?!?

Thoughts, memories, reflections?

 

[radioman148]

Most of us here of a certain age spent some of our “wee tyke” years watching a local franchise of Romper Room. Saw a few references on the Net and was thinking about the show.....

-- Did you ever secretly think that “Don’t Bee” probably had a lot more fun than “Do Bee?”

-- Were you disappointed when you learned that most real-life teachers weren’t as pretty, patient and kind as “Miss Sally” or “Miss Maryann” or “Miss Debra?” (And that they did not want to be called by their first names!)

-- And did the “Magic Mirror” bit mesmerize you, and have you waiting with baited breath to hear her say your name? Or did it appall you and freak you out that this bitch could see right into your living room?!?

Thoughts, memories, reflections?

I was always more of a "don't Bee".
BTW: does anyone know what year this show first started?

 

[Cincinnati Kid]

"Romper Room" seemed to be seen in a couple of generations. I first knew of it sometime in the 1950's in Cincinnati when Paul Jane (Paula Jane Schultz, then later Waters) of WCPO-TV, Channel 9, had that show. By 1969-70, WXIX, Channel 19, had "Romper Room" with "Miss Myrna" (Myrna Pederson) who it was later noted went to high school with Hillary Clinton. They were also in a youth group for Barry Goldwater together (called, I think, "Gold-Gold Girls").

 

[Stanislav]

Most of us here of a certain age spent some of our “wee tyke” years watching a local franchise of Romper Room. Saw a few references on the Net and was thinking about the show.....

-- Did you ever secretly think that “Don’t Bee” probably had a lot more fun than “Do Bee?”

-- Were you disappointed when you learned that most real-life teachers weren’t as pretty, patient and kind as “Miss Sally” or “Miss Maryann” or “Miss Debra?” (And that they did not want to be called by their first names!)

-- And did the “Magic Mirror” bit mesmerize you, and have you waiting with baited breath to hear her say your name? Or did it appall you and freak you out that this bitch could see right into your living room?!?

Thoughts, memories, reflections?

I was always more of a "don't Bee".
BTW: does anyone know what year this show first started?

The original dates way back to 1953 in Baltimore with "Miss Nancy" (Nancy Caster). She and her husband soon started licensing local franchises of the show around the country. I think in some markets, Romper Room survived well into the 80's.

 

[Silkie]

Well, at least I know there are a few people who would know what I am talking about when people talk about how they follow all the rules and regulations, and I sarcastically reply, "Aren't you just the little do-bee?".

But why would anyone want to look into the Magic Mirror and see Miss Sally? Yet that's who we saw in the mirror every episode. So my next question is this: How many of us turned out to look like Miss Sally?

 

[wbhist]

By 1969-70, WXIX, Channel 19, had "Romper Room" with "Miss Myrna" (Myrna Pederson) who it was later noted went to high school with Hillary Clinton.

Would you know if she was one and the same as Mary Ann Pederson who was "Miss Mary Ann" on WOR-TV New York's Romper Room from c.1975 to 1981 and who, afterwards, contributed to WOR's News at Noon as a contributor on matters pertaining to children and families?

 

[harrisburgpatv]

I enjoyed RR as a child too. I know the host was dependent on whatever city it aired in, but I have no recollections of the RR that aired in my area. I've seen it listed in old TV listings in the late '70s. WTPA-27 (now WHTM) aired it for an hour weekday mornings, but I don't know if they had their own host or not or used Baltimore's.

I do know that sometime between 1969 and 1971 my older brother was on Baltimore's version, although I don't know what channel it aired on (I want to say WMAR-2).

 

[Silkie]

I do know that sometime between 1969 and 1971 my older brother was on Baltimore's version, although I don't know what channel it aired on (I want to say WMAR-2).

I believe it was WMAR, and it was usually on right before Professor Cool's (Stu Kerr) Fun School.

 

[LKellerIII]

I do know that sometime between 1969 and 1971 my older brother was on Baltimore's version, although I don't know what channel it aired on (I want to say WMAR-2).

I believe it was WMAR, and it was usually on right before Professor Cool's (Stu Kerr) Fun School.

Romper Room began in 1953 and ran in some markets until the early 1990s. Among my group of social friends in the late 70s and 80s was the woman who played "Miss Nancy" on the SF Bay Area version of Romper Room from 1981 to 1987.

The link is to a 2003 article about her career in general. Toward the bottom of the article is some information about how she got the job. Once she was hired, they sent her to Baltimore for "Romper Room School" training.

The producers thought her real name (Ruby) was too provocative, and she decided on "Miss Nancy" because you have to smile when you say it.


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/06/13/NB151448.DTL

 

[therealjm12]

I worked at two stations that ran Romper Room. WKTV in Utica ran the syndicated version. WOKR Rochester(now WHAM-TV) had local talent.
The show was owned by the same company that syndicated Bowling For Dollars which WOKR, also, ran

 

[radioman148]

Most of us here of a certain age spent some of our “wee tyke” years watching a local franchise of Romper Room. Saw a few references on the Net and was thinking about the show.....

-- Did you ever secretly think that “Don’t Bee” probably had a lot more fun than “Do Bee?”

-- Were you disappointed when you learned that most real-life teachers weren’t as pretty, patient and kind as “Miss Sally” or “Miss Maryann” or “Miss Debra?” (And that they did not want to be called by their first names!)

-- And did the “Magic Mirror” bit mesmerize you, and have you waiting with baited breath to hear her say your name? Or did it appall you and freak you out that this bitch could see right into your living room?!?

Thoughts, memories, reflections?

I was always more of a "don't Bee".
BTW: does anyone know what year this show first started?

The original dates way back to 1953 in Baltimore with "Miss Nancy" (Nancy Caster). She and her husband soon started licensing local franchises of the show around the country. I think in some markets, Romper Room survived well into the 80's.

The first and last Romper Room I ever watched was in the 50s in Chicago.

 

[bk77]

The original dates way back to 1953 in Baltimore with "Miss Nancy" (Nancy Caster). She and her husband soon started licensing local franchises of the show around the country. I think in some markets, Romper Room survived well into the 80's.

Romper Room DID get its start in Baltimore. Though it began first on WBAL but would make a name for itself when it moved over to WMAR a short time later. I would like to say RR was at WMAR when the "franchise" idea got started but I am not sure about that fact but I do know the 2nd market/station to get Romper Room was Norfolk's WVEC-TV.

 

[Cincinnati Kid]

By 1969-70, WXIX, Channel 19, had "Romper Room" with "Miss Myrna" (Myrna Pederson) who it was later noted went to high school with Hillary Clinton.

Would you know if she was one and the same as Mary Ann Pederson who was "Miss Mary Ann" on WOR-TV New York's Romper Room from c.1975 to 1981 and who, afterwards, contributed to WOR's News at Noon as a contributor on matters pertaining to children and families?

She may be the same person. Starting about 1981, the local TV cable here had WOR on it for several years. I seem to recall that same girl being on that station as a feature reporter. I never saw Romper Room on WOR.

 

[MarcB]

I remember Romper Room on WWOR Channel 9. I remember it airing at 6AM. WWOR was carried on cable up here in Central CT in the 80s. (Straying from the topic I remember WWOR was the first station I saw the Public Service Announcement where the woman says to the man "That's Sexual Harassment and I don't Have to take it anymore.").

Anyway I remember for a few years in the 1990s FOX 61 in Hartford Ran it 6AM-7AM on Saturdays and Sundays.

 

[Tim L]

In Cleveland, Romper Room ran from 1955-57 on WXEL/WJW-8 with Miss Pat Ryan Dopp, who had also been "Play Lady" for Kids' Hosts King Jack and Mr. Banjo..

Miss Barbara Plummer was the longest running Romper Room teacher in Cleveland, holding forth on WEWS-Channel 5 from 1957-1971. She also was a weather forecaster on occasion..

Romper Room was aired in the Syndicated version on WUAB-43 for many years in the 1980's

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

From 1980-83, while growing up basically on the boundary of the Peoria and Davenport/Rock Island/Moline markets, I was a daily devotee of "Romper Room"--that is, the version produced by WQAD-8 (ABC) in Moline with "Miss Peggy" as the teacher. Some clips of early '80s RR WQAD-style have surfaced online recently:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zt9pUlUD_L0 (from Nov. 1983--Miss Peggy showing the kids how to make Christmas trees)

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1171770433032140253 (opening 10 minutes of a 1984 episode)

Other photos and information on the WQAD years of "Romper Room" are included in the unofficial history page for WQAD on the "Captain Ernie's Showboat" website (a tribute page to this legendary Quad Cities children's host, and other aspects of Quad City television history in general):

http://captainerniesshowboat.com/wqad.html

WQAD was not the first outlet for RR--it originally appeared on WOC-TV (now KWQC-6) from about 1953-63 as this portion of Captain Ernie's page attests:

http://www.captainerniesshowboat.com/romperroom

As for Peoria, the only recollection I have of RR appearing on any of their stations was repeats of the national segments of the 1981 "Romper Room and Friends" shows (without local segments/teachers) on WMBD-31 Peoria in about 1991 (airing IIRC at 6:30 AM Saturday mornings before the CBS Saturday morning cartoon schedule began). But a good friend of mine (who also grew up near Peoria) told me once that she recalled watching RR on a Peoria station (this may have been in the mid-to-late '70s), which I don't have any recollection of at all (the only "live" version of RR I watched, while growing up between both markets, was the WQAD version).

 

[azumanga]

As for Peoria, the only recollection I have of RR appearing on any of their stations was repeats of the national segments of the 1981 "Romper Room and Friends" shows (without local segments/teachers) on WMBD-31 Peoria in about 1991 (airing IIRC at 6:30 AM Saturday mornings before the CBS Saturday morning cartoon schedule began).

In the Tampa Bay area, WTOG also carried the 1981 national version around this time as well -- first daily in the late-morning hours, then weekly on Saturdays. Apparently, Claster put the old shows back into syndication to gauge any new interest in the series -- apparently, there was none, as it was off local TV by mid-1992. It was weird, however, seeing a Christmas-themed episode of Romper Room in April.

Earlier, WFLA carried Romper Room weekdays at 10AM, bumping off whatever NBC had on at that time (including David Letterman) -- it was locally hosted by a "Miss June" (I think), until she left the show around 1981, when WFLA began airing the national version for about a year, before dropping it altogether.

I read that WLCY-TV (now WTSP) also carried Romper Room in most of the 1970s, but I didn't move to Florida until 1979.

 

[onairb]

I vaguely remember the Bay Area(KTVU) 'Romper Room' from the late '70s-early '80s(I'd outgrown it by the time it became 'and Friends'.)
KTVU's version moved to early Saturday mornings in the mid-80s, and lasted at least til 1992 or so, perhaps til the end of the entire franchise in '94.

 

[MHB]

I remember when I was little watching Romper Room the kids would play with Romper Room-brand toys, and at one point on the show the "teacher" would do a plug for the toys and tell the home audience where they could buy them.

Then sometime in the early '70s the local show changed format and no longer advertised the toys (and if I remember right started running with no commercials). I vaguely remember a newspaper article about that time about it, and it might have said that stations could choose a format with or without the promos for the toys.

 

[donnyg]

O.K. everybody, say it with me, "ROMPER BOMPER STOMPER BOO, TELL ME TELL ME TELL ME DO MAGIC MIRROR TELL ME TODAY, DID ALL MY FRIENDS HAVE FUN AT PLAY?" It's sad what we remember from our childhood, but we can't remember what someone told us an hour ago.

Donny G ;D