T.V. HOSTS WHEN YOU WERE A KID

[The Burgomaster]

There have been a couple of recent posts about horror TV hosts.  What about OTHER hosts (such as for childrens shows) who were popular when you were a kid?  Here are the ones I remember (from the Boston area):

* Miss Jean (replaced by Miss Louise) from ROMPER ROOM
* Bozo the Clown
* Major Mudd (he was dressed like an astronaut and had a childrens morning show - - he died from complications related to diabetes)
* Dickory Dock (kids show host)
* The Ghoul (nighttime horror host)
* Cecil (nighttime horror host)
* Elvira (of course)
* Willie Whistle (a clown with a squeaky voice who hosted kids shows)
* Captain Kangaroo (one of the all-time greats) and his companion Mr. Greenjeans
* Mr. Rogers (naturally)
* Rex Trailer (a singing cowboy who had a kids morning show - - he now runs a local production company and teaches classes at Emerson College) and his sidekicks Pablo (who died many, many years ago) and Sgt. Billy (who wore an F-Troop style cavalry uniform)

And I'm sure I'll remember a few more and add them later . . .

[AndyC]

As far as kids' show hosts go, every Canadian who was a kid between the 60s and the 80s remembers Mister Dressup. This was a CBC show started with the help of Fred "Mister" Rogers. Basically, a guy who lives with a couple puppets (their relationship is never quite clear), and makes crafts, sings songs and dresses up in costumes from his "Tickle Trunk" to act out little skits with the other characters. The host, the late Ernie Coombs, was beloved by Canadian kids, although I only found out in the 90s that he was American by birth, and did not become a Canadian citizen until after his wife's death in the early 90s.

There was also the local kiddie host, at CKCO in Kitchener -- Big Al. This guy hosted a sort of wrap-around for the Flintstones at noon, with a small studio audience. He wore a western-styled suit and a cowboy hat, and the opening of the show had him arriving on a train with a sack of mail over his shoulder. Mostly, all he did was announce birthdays, read letters and show pictures that kids sent in. Many years later, I found out that my dad knew Big Al professionally in those days. You see, my dad was a police detective and Big Al was a kleptomaniac. And a guy I worked with at the paper, who had worked at CKCO years before, suggested that the local kiddie host might also have had some restrictions on his contact with the kiddies, due to some past unpleasantness.

[Scott]

Saw BOZO THE CLOWN and CAPTAIN KANGAROO shows many times as a kid. We also had a show called WONDERAMA which was something like a pre-Nickolodean style Saturday (or Sunday) morning kids game show where the kids participate. The Name ROMPER ROOM is very familiar to me, but can't recall haven't watched it or not. On PBS we had a show called ZOOM on weekday afternoons.

As for Elvira I've only seen here first movie and that's about it. Never had a chance to watch her show. Don't forget PEE WEE'S PLAYHOUSE.

Not to change the subject, but we had re-run Cartoons that where common in the 70's where different than the REN AND STIMPY type craziness which we all love. We had in the 70's these as regular cartoons after school or on Saturday Mornings.



Tom and Jerry
Looney Tunes (Bugs, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Road Runner, Yosemite Sam, Foghorn Leghorn)
Pink Panther
Magilla Gorilla
Felix the Cat
Yogi Bear
Underdog
Casper the Friendly Ghost
Scooby Doo
Speed Racer
Popeye the Sailor
All the Hanna Barbara Toons

Other Saturday Mornings stuff.



H.R. Puffinstuff
Sidmund and the Sea Monsters
The Buggaloos
Land of the Lost
Shazam
Isis

[raj]

I saw Romper Room many times as a kid even though I didn't really like it.  This was back in the days when we had to use dials to change the channel and there were only 6-7 channels anyway (and no VHS).  Years later I wondered why the hostess kept admonishing everyone not to be a Don't Be, but be a Do Be -- doobie.

[trekgeezer]

Captain Kangaroo in the morning with his friends Mr. Moose, Bunny Rabbit,  and Mr. GreenJeans.

When I was real small in the B&W days we had a local guy in the afternoon that showed cartoons named Captain Kark (the call letters of the station). He just wore a cowboy hat and a badge, I don't remember if there was an audience in the studio.

We had our own Bozo (who was also the weather man on the same station).

[BeyondTheGrave]

The only T.V. host I remember wacthing as a kid was Pee-Wee Playhouse.

Other than that cartoon wise Aeon Flux and Beavis and Butt-Head......That might explain alot....

[LH-C]

The one local host I remember from when I was a kid was Captain Mitch. He retired around the time I was in 7th grade or so.

Then when I was in HS, a local morning radio personality, Whitey Gleason, hosted a horror/sci-fi/bad movie show on late night Saturdays. He would just host it as himself and not as a character.

[Ed, Ego and Superego]

We didn't watch much TV when I was wee, just Capt. Kangaroo.
-Ed

[Ozzymandias]

In the Ozarks we had Aunt Norma and Children's Hour. She is now a state rep. I also watched Dr. Dead's Nightmare Theater. When my nephew was little, Dr. Dead had become Sammy B. Good, a clown who hosted cartoons.

Nationally, there was a Filmation produced parody of local kid's shows with Charles Nelson Riley and Jonathan Harris called "UNCLE CROC'S BLOCK." I would love to see these shows again. Supposedly ABC pulled the plug on the show because they thought it was too adult for kids.

Also, the local PBS affiliate ran "The Song Bag" with Tony Salatan. Paul Shaffer did a great immitation of him in a skitt once.

[Scott]

The guy who played EPAL on the MONSTER MOVIE MATINEE mentioned earlier also played SALTY SAM on THE SALTY SAM SHOW on Saturday mornings. There was a kids contest where they had to bonce a ping pong ball into a glass bowl while playing Herb Apert Trumpet music. This was the highlight of the show. : ) He played some kind of sea Captain in the morning and patch eyed assistant to Dr. Nick E. Witty on Monster Movie Matinee. What a gig !

[AndyC]

Just remembered another childhood favourite -- Commander Tom. He wasn't local, however. In southern Ontario in the 70s, those of us with cable (all 20 or so channels of cable) got all of our American network TV from Buffalo. Commander Tom was the Sunday-morning kiddie host for WKBW, Buffalo's ABC affiliate. He wore kind of a fancy spaceman uniform that looks a lot like it was made from a Mountie uniform (and it actually looks a lot like the Starfleet uniforms of a decade later).  I recall his show originally opened with stock footage of a Saturn V taking off. Of course, during the week, Tom Jolls was the station's weatherman.

Check him out at http://www.commandertomjolls.com

[The Burgomaster]

I also remember another one (and this one goes WAAAAAY back . . . I was probably 4 or 5 years old at the time . . . around 1968/1969).  There was a live actor dressed as Captain America who used to host the old, Marvel Comics CAPTAIN AMERICA cartoons (with the great theme song "When Captain Amertica throws his mighty shield, all those who chose to oppose his shield must yield . . . "

[trekgeezer]

Hey those old Marvel Cartoons used to be featured on our local Bozo show. They had Cap and the Hulk.

"Doc Bruce Banner belted by Gamma rays, turns into the Hulk, ain't he unglamorous' "  or something like that. I think they also had a Submariner cartoon. The funny thing about them was there was hardly any animation in them, mostly a lot of still frames.  

[flacorocks]

Here in AZ we had Wallace and Ladmo.  I would still kill to this day for a Ladmo bag.  (Had nothing but junk food from local distributors) That show was great.  Ladmo is long gone RIP.