As a child, did your area of the US have a Romper Room, or any other local shows with a live

[debm55]

children's audience sitting in bleachers.Where you in the audience for a live show? In Pittsburgh, we had Romper Room with the magic mirror, Paul Shannon with the Three Stooges hour, Ricky and Copper (an Irish Setter) for birthday kids. On Saturdays, we had Jungle Jim who would show Tarzan movies, I didn't like it, but my cousins did. Were we the only area that had these shows?And did go on one?

[FalloutShelter]

1. OMG... on Sundays in NYC tru-state...

WONDERAMA with Sonny Fox.
Thirty kids doing Simon Says...man Im old.

[debm55]

3. Did you go on WONDERAMA?

[FalloutShelter]

12. NO...

never got into NY much as a kid.

[mopinko]

2. yeah, bozo.

originated on wgn.

[debm55]

4. Clowns scare me.

[GoCubsGo]

18. Bob Bell was THE best Bozo.

It wasn't until I got into high school that I realized how much adult-level humor he and the rest of the cast provided. I really wish MeTV would show re-runs of it.

[mopinko]

28. he wasnt kid friendly off camera.

i've heard a few stories. and ray rayner was a raging drunk, on camera and off.

[whathehell]

5. We had Romper Room in Philadelphia

back in the day

[debm55]

6. Did she do the magic mirror at the end?

[whathehell]

23. I don't remember that, but I remember

her holding up two pictures of bees, one while saying "Do be a Do Bee", and the other with "Don't be a Don't Bee".

[debm55]

26. I remember that! Wasn't there a song that went to the bee pictures.?

[whathehell]

30. Yes, I always remembered that bit of wit, lol

but I'm afraid I don't recall the song.

[Conjuay]

63. I believe

The Doobie Brothers took their name from that routine, not the more obvious herbal version of the same name.

[debm55]

64. No they they got their name from a doobie being another name for a joint.

[whathehell]

73. Really?

Never though of that..

[debm55]

91. Saw an interview with them on 20/20 when they were in their prime. They hung out with bikers and

used the word doobie for their name.

[MuseRider]

7. Not in my town, Romper room was from another

city but in Florida (a long way from here) my mothers cousin was a Miss Barbara in Orlando and they had live shows. She was also somewhere else but I think she had live shows in Orlando and I remember her telling me about all the children and how much she loved it.

[Glorfindel]

8. Yes. WSB-TV in Atlanta had the Woody Willow show right after Howdy Doody

It was also a puppet show with a live audience of kids. I never went on it, but enjoyed watching it.
Later (1956-1970) there was the Popeye Club featuring "Officer Don," also with an audience of children. Officer Don made a guest appearance at the local elementary school auditorium. I did get to attend that one. I was probably about 12 years old at the time.

[Different Drummer]

66. I remember The Popeye Club.

They had, among other cartoons, The Funny Company. The Super Chief always scared me because I knew ir wasn't normal from someone to have a foghorn for a voice.

Don't know if you remember either Mr. Pix or Tubby and Lester. The former was local TV news anchor Dave Michaels. He was named Mr. Pix because he drew pictures. One of the things he did was to make pictures from letters of the alphabet. He said on one program. "What letter of the alphabet do you want me to use for this picture?". I'm yelling just as loud as I can at the TV set, "Z!" "Z!". I didn't know he couldn't hear the kids at home shouting out letters so you can imagine my shock when he said, "Okay, Z!". I don't remember what the cartoons were on his show.

We also had Tubby and Lester, a couple of Laurel and Hardy imitators (you can guess who was whom). They ran Laurel and Hardy cartoons, as well as Abbot and Costello,

[Glorfindel]

68. Sadly, I don't remember either Mr. Pix or Tubby & Lester

I lived in the north Georgia mountains at the time (still do) and reception was far from ideal. We couldn't get any of the ABC stations.

[deRien]

9. Yes- WundaWunda -

a local personality… and JP Patches, another local personality...

[Ferryboat]

44. JP Patches!!!

And his cross dressing side kick
Ketchikan the Animal Man/ Gertrude.

[OnionPatch]

10. I grew up south of Youngstown in Ohio and we got the Pittsburgh stations.

I had a friend who was on Romper Room once. His claim to fame. I wasn't a huge fan of that show but I totally loved Ricky and Copper!

[debm55]

16. I loved Ricky and Copper and when would march over the bridge at the end we would march around the l

Last edited Wed Nov 30, 2022, 09:54 PM - Edit history (2)

living room. Kids used to have to blow out their own candles, until a kid got burned blowing out the candle on his cupcake. Remember when Copper died and was replaced by Copper Penny. It wasn't the same.

[True Blue American]

34. We had Uncle Orrie

My Son rounded up kids to sing his commercial.BHA MEANS BETTER HOME APPLIANCES.

Uncle Orrie was not friendly. The kids were happy but not with him.

[Chainfire]

11. We had the "Circle 6 Ranch" out of the Tallahassee CBS station.

I was in it for the cartoons

[debm55]

97. Chain, what type of cartoons? Bugs Bunny,? Deputy Dawg?

[Chainfire]

102. I can not remember for sure, but Deputy Dawg maybe, possibly Pop-eye.

I don't thing we got my favorites until Saturday mornings, which was a binge-fest from around 7:00 AM until noon.

[Diamond_Dog]

13. In Youngstown Ohio

The Barney Bean show was on local TV after school. He had a live kid audience and a ventriloquist dummy named Sherwood. Barney wore a goofy hat with a big safety pin in the brim. The cool thing about his show was that if you set him a postcard with your name and your birthday on it and if he picked your card on your birthday he would draw your initials on a big piece of paper and then draw around the letters somehow making them into a face or an animal. It was never the same drawing twice! Then he would send it to you. I never had mine chosen, but I was fascinated with his drawing.

[2naSalit]

14. I think the only...

Stations that had those live were in Boston, most of our teevee and radio came from another state. We were in rural Maine, I know there was one teevee station in Portland but I don't recall more than one.

[debm55]

98. We had 4 stations here in Pittsburgh--KDKA. WTAE.WPXI. and WQED. We had alot to pick from.

[debm55]

99. We had 4 stations here in Pittsburgh--KDKA. WTAE.WPXI. and WQED. We had alot to pick from.

[redstatebluegirl]

15. Yes.

Captain Jinx and Salty Sam, Bozo and Captain Kangaroo of course.

[Wicked Blue]

17. Romper Room, Wonderama, Bozo the Clown and Howdy Doody

Hey kids, what time is it?

IT'S HOWDY DOODY TIME!

with Buffalo Bob



NJ-NY suburbs

[lucca18]

80. Yes! Happy Memories 😍💕

[MicaelS]

19. Channel 13 Houston - KiTiRiK

Bunny Orsak

https://abc13.com/who-is-kitirik-abc13-history-ktrk-tv-childrens-television/7459732/

[ironflange]

20. Canada here, we had a local Romper Room that went out live

That's where I was in '63 when Kennedy was shot, doing a stint on Romper Room.

[50 Shades Of Blue]

21. My area (DC) had Romper Room, Bozo the Clown, & Pick Temple w/audiences

Never was in one, though. Over the years there were a bunch of other morning/afternoon kiddie shows w/hosts but I don't remember them also having audiences.

[DBoon]

22. Captain Kangaroo and Mr. GreenJeans

Romper Room was also on

[GentryDixon]

24. We had Miss Julie in Romper Room. ❤️

[yorkster]

25. Yup. Ding Dong School. I kid you not.

We got it on WBZ Boston. It was out of Chicago.

There was also Big Brother Bob Emery. It was local, all right. Didn't like it because there was a toast to the President and he was a Republican. Eisenhower looks pretty damn decent compared to the current crop..but my mum and dad loved Adlai Stevenson. I saw him when he came to Boston. We were on the tarmac at Logan Airport.
I was high atop my father's shoulders. Pretty big crowd. Stevenson waved his hat and descended the stairway. We had to beat feet, since Mass. State Troopers commenced to form what I learned years later was a Flying Wedge. I think it was the first time he ran in 1952. I was six and never forgot it.

[Solly Mack]

27. Romper, stomper, bomper boo.

Tell me, tell me, tell me do. Magic Mirror, tell me today, did all my friends have fun at play?

Never once said my name.

Not once.

[debm55]

33. Sorry about that. Mine was never said either. A couple of years into the show Miss Janny killed

Last edited Wed Nov 30, 2022, 10:17 PM - Edit history (1)

herself with a gun and was replaced, but it niever was the same.

[Solly Mack]

52. No biggie, really. Still watched.

Yikes! That was sad.

[intheflow]

50. Never said mine, either.

I was pretty bitter about it because they called out my sister's names seemingly every other week. (Sisters had very common Boomer names, I have a name that was popular in the Victorian age.)

[Solly Mack]

51. My name was already out of style when I was born and French to boot.

None of the items with names on them you can buy ever carries it either.

Even in France, people remarked on how out of fashion my name is. lol

[CommonHumanity]

29. Romper room-YES! + was on Wonderama

Northern NJ, Begen County to be exact. We had Romper Room and I loved it especially "bend and stretch reach for the stars, there goes Jupiter, here comes Mars".

My bro and I were on Wonderama and my bro won a pair of rabbits. My parent's forgot to pick them up after the show so they had to secretely buy him another pair. Once installed in our backyard one of the rabbits killed the other one, but I digress.

When I had my tonsils out at Lenox Hill Hospital in NYC, my glamourous NYC secretary aunt brought me a toy turtle that, according to her, was gifted to me by Soupy Sales. Who knows, but I did love Wonderama.

A few other favorites from our region included Diver Dan, Mr. Ed, Davy and Goliath (I love the dog's voice) and my first true crush -- Astro Boy!

[debm55]

31. I loved Davy and Goliath. It was funded by the Lutheran Church. Hey DAVEY! in voice of Goliath. And

Davey's sister Sally.

[rsdsharp]

36. I did, too. Stop animation with a moral!

[debm55]

38. Yes, especially loved their Christmas special. I forgot to mention the stop animation.

[dweller]

32. Yeah, it was on WRAL in Raleigh

I think it was hosted by a very young Jesse Helms with his sidekick Cousin Chubb, and they had a clown in a white sheet with a pointy head … lots of kids cried a lot …

Ok I made that up … that was really the editorial staff that was on the local evening news … yep Jesse Helms and Cousin Chubb

The clown probably was the producer



✌🏻

[rsdsharp]

35. We got Romper Room, but it wasn't local. I lived between two TV markets.

WMT-TV channel 2 in Cedar Rapids originally had Marshal Jay in the late 50s, until he left to take the same gig in San Francisco. The show had a cowboy theme. He was also the first Marlboro Man. He was replaced by a local printer named Max Hahn. They billed him as Dr. Max. Within a few years he brought in a sidekick — a clown named Mambo.

KGLO-FM channel 3 in Mason City had Bart’s Clubhouse. It was hosted by a kind of station utility guy named Bart Curren. You’d watch him in the afternoon, and then sometimes at 6 PM he’d be doing weather or sports. None of these shows had a live audience, but they were very popular late afternoon kids shows.

[debm55]

37. I think all the live shows in Pittsburgh were from one station--WTAE( an ABC branch) The other

Last edited Wed Nov 30, 2022, 04:25 PM - Edit history (1)

stations KDKA CBS) had recorded shows--Sherry and Lampchops, Captain Kangeroo, etc. WPXI (NBC) didn't have any kids shows. However, on Saturday nights they had Chilly Billy show horror movies.

[Srkdqltr]

39. We In Detroit had lunch with Soupy Sales. WXYZ. Before he went network.

[MichMan]

41. Bozo on Channel 9 from Windsor

He was played by Art Cervi whom I got to know late in his life as a vintage car enthusiast. Super nice guy

[Srkdqltr]

42. Yes I was trying to remember his name. There was a Counr Scary??

That was 70+ years ago. And I don't remember what I had for dinner last night. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[MichMan]

43. Well there were also the Detroit movie hosts

Bill Kennedy, Sir Graves Ghastly, and while he was from Cleveland, the one and only Ghoul.

And of course the commercials with Ollie Fretter appliances and Mr Belvedere from Belvedere remodeling co.

[VGNonly]

59. I remember Bill Kennedy.

Do you recall George Perriot or Sonny Elliot?

[MichMan]

61. Of course.

Sonny Elliot would always take a little piece off of the weather map, squeak it and put it back.

[madamesilverspurs]

40. In Denver

we had "Fred and Fay" and "Sheriff Scotty". Both of my younger siblings took their turns in the bleachers.


.

[marked50]

45. For sure. We had Whizzo

'Whizzo the Clown’ was a Kansas City icon and you had to have a Whizzo button.

[Ohiya]

46. Flippo the clown in Columbus Ohio

Flippo was also a jazz saxophonist. There is a local all-star jazz band named after him.

[LuvLoogie]

47. In Chicago, I crushed on Miss Elizabeth.

https://images.app.goo.gl/QywQKyCudS9ABg39A

We had Garfield Goose, Ray Rayner, Bozo, Captain Kangaroo.

[debm55]

48. How could I have forgotten --we had Mr. Rodgers filmed in Pittsburgh for WQED.

But it wasn't filmed before a live audience.

[debm55]

54. What he did do was go out into the Pittsburgh area and interact with the kids. He visited Children's

Hospital, school,etc.

[FirstLight]

53. We had Romper Room in the Bay Area, 1975-ish

I remember the magic mirror and the do-be-do mentioned above.

But I don't think it was filmed live in front of an audience...

[debm55]

57. Sorry, I should have said that Romper Room had real kids playing the parts of real kids. The other

shows had a peanut gallery sitting in the bleachers.

[CentralMass]

56. Boston had The Major Mudd Show.

IMDb: : The Major Mudd Show

Ed T. McDonnell played an astronaut. The show aired from 1961-1975 on channel 7 in Boston. He showed cartoons and 3-Stooges shorts and was a likeable guy who was good with the kid audiences.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5523330/

[VGNonly]

58. Patches & Pockets

in the NW Ohio area.

[Doc_Technical]

60. In the Bay Area in N California

there was Romper Room with Miss Nancy, Marshall Jay.
Local shows Mayor Art and Jack's Place with Jack Hanson.

[ChazII]

62. Wallace and Ladmo

for the Phooenix area.

[Mosby]

75. Remember the Ladmo bags?

I never went to the studio but did see them at various fairs.

[ChazII]

76. Yes, I do remember those. As a child the were big

Last edited Thu Dec 1, 2022, 02:26 PM - Edit history (1)

but they shrunk as I grew from a child to a teen. I was in kindergarten when Pres. Kennedy was killed. Coverage of his death interrupted their show for the next few days. As a 5 year I was more upset by not being able to them.

A statue of Wallace, Ladmo and Gerald is by a pond at the Phoenix Zoo.

[Mosby]

77. That's right! They shrunk them down to lunch bags over the years.

I met Pat McMahan and was on his radio show for a company I worked for. Really nice guy.

Don't ask how I know this, but they used to call the sack lunches in Madison Street jail ladmo bags.

[debm55]

65. We did have some other live shows. One was josie in the kitchen, She would cook a recipe everyday.

Bill Cardell aka, Chilly Billy, would mc the local live wrestling matches, My grandmother would always cheer for Bruno Samartino, also live. and last but not least was the infamous Nick Perry who would do Bowling for Dollars and the Power Ball drawing for PA. He and his group injected the balls so the balls numbered 666 were the winners .Looking back the only shows that were not live were the soaps.

[ArnoldLayne]

70. I remember all those shows as a Child in the Pittsburgh Pa area.

[LudwigPastorius]

67. The Happy Hal Show

https://memphismagazine.com/ask-vance/remembering-happy-hal-miller/

Better than just being in the audience, I got to be on camera to pull a toy out of the "magic wishing well".

[debm55]

69. OMG, you're famous!

Last edited Thu Dec 1, 2022, 09:40 AM - Edit history (1)

[ArnoldLayne]

71. I remember Paul Shannon in the Pittsburgh Pa.

Last edited Thu Dec 1, 2022, 05:31 PM - Edit history (1)

area in the early to mid 1960's when the Three Stooges were on. And wrestling Bill Cardille, Bruno Sammartino was my favorite Wrestler too.

[sakabatou]

72. Not to my knowledge.

Then again, we're talking about the 90s.

[Rhiannon12866]

74. Yes, we had Romper Room, Miss Diane was the teacher/host

But don't ask me where it came from, I watched it when I wasn't in school yet! But I did have an official Romper Room Bronc - mine was red. I used to gallop around with the kids on TV - and when my Nana (grandmother) was with me, she'd join me with the dustmop!

And we also had a local kids' show which my brother and I attended when we were slightly older. It was sponsored by Freihofer's, a local (Albany, N.Y.) baking company. It featured Uncle Jim Fisk who told the story of Freddie Freihofer who was a cartoon bunny - and his friends. Uncle Jim illustrated the story with drawings in front of the kids in the audience and on TV. They also had "birthday-cakers" who were kids celebrating their birthdays on the show - with a Freihofer's cake, of course. My cousin did it every year, when I went it was my brother's birthday and I got a "squiggle," one of Uncle Jim's drawings made for me, and Freihofer's cupcakes to bring home!

[LoveMyCali]

92. I remember

the Freddie Freihofer show. I never went to it but watched it on TV.

[LoveMyCali]

93. I remember

the Freddie Freihofer show. I never went to it but watched it on TV.

[debm55]

78. Just took a shower and it hit me, Hank Stoll was the puppeteer for Rodney and Knish.

Last edited Thu Dec 1, 2022, 02:01 PM - Edit history (2)

For those who do not live in the Pittsburgh area, Knish was a legend. He was made of a mop with a large bowling pin nose. Sort of like cousin IT. You can it was a type of Punch and Judy act. They still had the kids in the bleacher and showed Stooges and cartoons. This was in the afternoon after school was done. Alot of kids made their own Knish puppet by using a mop and bowling pin.

[Aristus]

79. In San Antonio, we had Captain Gus.

He dressed up like a tugboat captain, and the audience bleachers were mocked up to look like a tugboat. Captain Gus would have live segments in which he chatted with the kids, and then played cartoons.

I was on the Captain Gus show when I was five or so.

[debm55]

81. Question for you, did you get a bag of goodies when you went home. Or was being on the show the

prize?

[Aristus]

84. After half a century, memory fails.

The only thing I really remember about the whole thing is that when Captain Gus would talk with each kid, he would say "Gimme five" and then gently shake the child's hand. When he got to me and said "Gimme five", I gave him a slap-five instead of a handshake. My mother was furious with me when I got home. I'm still not entirely sure why. It's not like I hurt him or anything.

[debm55]

90. Believe me, I understand.

[Paladin]

82. Uncle Jay's Show, in Austin!

On KTBC Channel 7 (the one channel that LBJ allowed Austin to have, back then). I never attended the show; can't remember being particularly interested in doing so.

[malthaussen]

83. I was a child in Pittsburgh, same as you.

My brother and I grew up on the Stooges. Well, for a given value of "grew up." And Captain Kangaroo.

-- Mal

[debm55]

87. Did you ever go to Kennywood and see Paul Shannon with the Stooges, live and in person? We went a

couple of times.

[malthaussen]

88. Never saw them live...

... went to Kennywood a lot.

-- Mal

[debm55]

89. Supposedly, the Stooges gave credit to Paul Shannon bringing back their career. The theater was

where the Ragging Rapids are today.

[Sogo]

85. I grew up in western Iowa, where the TV stations came out of Omaha, NE. We got Ding Dong School

with Miss Frances, and I remember a more local guy dressed all in black called The Hawk. He had a Lone Ranger type mask and hat and a black cape. At the end of the show, we would do the "secret Hawk sign" by pressing our hands together sideways so the fingers grasped around the palm of the other hand, then release, then press again, then release. You'd have to go up to the TV screen to do it, so The Hawk could "see" you....LOL! I don't remember anything else about his show; probably played cartoons. Of course the best show was the Mickey Mouse Club!

No live shows with kid audiences, though....


Edited to add link: I found a link to The Hawk on FB!

https://sw-ke.facebook.com/HistoryNebraska/posts/evildoers-beware-its-omahas-own-masked-superhero-the-hawk-this-photo-is-from-the/10156841885623549/

[CottonBear]

86. WTVC's Miss Marcia in the 1970s.

She was a local children’s TV show host.

[ArnoldLayne]

94. Anyone in the Pittsburgh Pa. area remember Paul Shannon

On WTAE Channel 4 in Pittsburgh helped with the resurgence in the Three Stooges careers in the 1960s episodes for Television? Also he had the Kids Backyard Carnivals for raising money. I can't remember the cause it was for but a Boy or Girl would hold Backyard Carnivals sponsored by Paul Shannon and a certain percentage went to a cause like Easter Seals or UNICEF. Does anyone remember what is was?

[debm55]

95. See my post above, I said the stooges gave Paul credit for their comeback. Do you remember when they

would live with Paul at Kennywood Park? I remember my cousin had one, but don't remember what the cause was for. Tons of kids had them,

[debm55]

96. I'm thinking it might have to do with the Jerry Lewis telethon. But I could be wrong. Maybe they had

these in other parts of the US?

[ArnoldLayne]

100. A good friend of mine had a Backyard Carnival

I believe around 1967 when we were 10 years old that I attended. I'm going to give him a call to get the details about it. He lives in Florida now I will find out I'm curious after all these years.

[nolabear]

101. I was in the audience for one in my tiny MS town.

I wasn’t more than six but I recall my class being shown the control room and how it all worked.

That teacher, my first, was a wonder. We did field trips all over. She scattered dandelion fluff on the playground and let us dance in it. We went to a pig farm and I held a tiny pig. We even visited the orphanage one of our classmates lived in. It was matter of fact and I remember her being made to feel appreciated rather than ostracized.

Mrs McWright. She did good.

[debm55]

103. She does sound like a wonderful teacher. Nola