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Chicago Television of Yesteryear
Posted by:
querencia
(---.lightspeed.cicril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: February 09, 2014 01:29AM
How about some Chicago TV nostalgia? Does anyone remember the shows sponsored by Polk Brothers (furniture, appliances) that used to offer turkeys as premiums? How about local childen's shows like Ding Dong School, Lunchtime Little Theater, and one hosted by a girl named Susan ("Take me home, Flying Friend, take me home"). Also there was a flamboyant TV host called Marty Fay (some people transposed the initial consonants in his name). One he was demonstrating the vacuum cleaner he was selling and accidentally had it on blow rather than suction and it blew a pile of soot all over the studio.
Re: Chicago Television of Yesteryear
Posted by:
b.a.hoarder
(---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: February 09, 2014 03:21AM
How about Morrie Stark doing his own TV commercials for Stark's Warehouse Stores, or Lynn Burton doing commercials for Burt Weinman Ford. Clint Youle was the earliest weatherman I remember on Ch. 5, and who could forget Len O'Conner on 5, or Fahey Flynn with the news on 7, or P.J. Hoff drawing cartoons for his weather forecast on Ch. 2. In those early days, (early '50's) seems to me the 10PM news was 10 minutes, then it expanded to 15, 30, and lastly 35.
Re: Chicago Television of Yesteryear
Posted by:
trainutlen
(---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: February 09, 2014 11:30AM
How about Two Ton Baker who had a lunch time show and dressed as a pirate. Elmer the Elephant and of course, Garfield Goose, King!
Re: Chicago Television of Yesteryear
Posted by:
b.a.hoarder
(---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: February 09, 2014 11:54AM
Two Ton also did commercials for Riverview with the tagline "Laugh your troubles away", as he rode a roller coaster. Well he didn't ride, it just sat there. Then there was Jim Moran, your Courtesy Ford man, Jim hosted movies on Saturdays. Wrestling and Roller Derby were also popular, both of which were produced locally and even stock car racing was telecast from Soldier Field.
Lee Marvin was the star of M Squad, wasn't that set in Chicago? I don't recall if any scenes were filmed here. How about Jim Lounsbury (sp?) with Bandstand? I knew a guy that won the dance contest on Bandstand, first prize was a case of Pepsi Cola! Then there was Vince Lloyd broadcasting for the Cubs. I remember Vince mispronouncing the sponsors name on a commercial, the sponsor being Schlitz beer. I'll leave the misnomer to your imagination, of course everybody in the booth cracked up.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/09/2014 11:56AM by b.a.hoarder.
Lee Marvin was the star of M Squad, wasn't that set in Chicago? I don't recall if any scenes were filmed here. How about Jim Lounsbury (sp?) with Bandstand? I knew a guy that won the dance contest on Bandstand, first prize was a case of Pepsi Cola! Then there was Vince Lloyd broadcasting for the Cubs. I remember Vince mispronouncing the sponsors name on a commercial, the sponsor being Schlitz beer. I'll leave the misnomer to your imagination, of course everybody in the booth cracked up.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/09/2014 11:56AM by b.a.hoarder.
Re: Chicago Television of Yesteryear
Posted by:
trainutlen
(---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: February 09, 2014 12:14PM
M Squad, I believe, filmed some outdoor scene. Marvin drove a 1957 Ford unmarked squad car. Aren't we also forgetting Frazier Thomas. I remember watching Commander Cody on Sunday mornings and Lynn Burton "for certain" hawked the used cars brought into the studio. One more-Andy Starr (aka Bob Bell) hosting the 3 Stooges in the afternoons-he was the janitor/proprietor of a movie theater and the Stooges' shorts would be shown.Once in a while they slipped in an Andy Clyde short. Speaking of PJ Hoff, I once got one of his weather maps. Anyone remember Warren Culbertson on Channel 7 with that new fangled weather radar?
Re: Chicago Television of Yesteryear
Posted by:
WayOutWardell
(---.dsl.chcgil.sbcglobal.net)
Date: February 09, 2014 12:30PM
Have you guys seen the Museum Of Classic Chicago Television website? It's an incredible time-burner of the best kind:
[url=http://www.fuzzymemories.tv/]Museum Of Classic Chicago Television[/url]
[url=http://www.fuzzymemories.tv/]Museum Of Classic Chicago Television[/url]
Re: Chicago Television of Yesteryear
Posted by:
Richard Stachowski
(---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: February 10, 2014 12:42AM
[b]I remember all of them. I fixed TV sets on the south side since 1957 and saw them all. [/b]
Re: Chicago Television of Yesteryear
Posted by:
Wyoming Ed
(---.direcway.com)
Date: February 10, 2014 12:48PM
If you can get a reasonably priced copy, a great memory refresher is "The Golden Age of Chicago Children's Television." This book got me to thinking about those great local kid shows I grew up with. Remember Jim Stewart and his giraffe Geraldine? I can still remember some of the "Be Kind to your Parents" song.
Of course who could ever forget Garfield Goose, along with Mama Goose and Christmas Goose, Beauregard the bloodhound and Romberg Rabbit. The "little theater screen" that was a window into all sorts of humor and adventure stories. I loved the serial where the kids go rowing and wind up in the age of the dinosaurs. And jolly Frazier Thomas presiding over it all. One Christmas he sang "Jingle Bells" in Latin and you could write in for the lyrics. I did and took it to school where the teacher promptly had the whole class singing it too. I've long since lost that lyric sheet, but after more than 50 years still can sing it thanks to Frazier.
On the adult side,how about Madman Muntz hawking TV sets or the Hamm's Beer "From the Land of Sky Blue Waters" commercials between innings with the lovable Hamm's bear.
Of course who could ever forget Garfield Goose, along with Mama Goose and Christmas Goose, Beauregard the bloodhound and Romberg Rabbit. The "little theater screen" that was a window into all sorts of humor and adventure stories. I loved the serial where the kids go rowing and wind up in the age of the dinosaurs. And jolly Frazier Thomas presiding over it all. One Christmas he sang "Jingle Bells" in Latin and you could write in for the lyrics. I did and took it to school where the teacher promptly had the whole class singing it too. I've long since lost that lyric sheet, but after more than 50 years still can sing it thanks to Frazier.
On the adult side,how about Madman Muntz hawking TV sets or the Hamm's Beer "From the Land of Sky Blue Waters" commercials between innings with the lovable Hamm's bear.
Re: Chicago Television of Yesteryear
Posted by:
b.a.hoarder
(---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: February 10, 2014 03:05PM
Some here must remember Kukla, Fran and Ollie, with Fran Allison hosting and interacting with the puppets. Ollie was a large dragon and to me was the most endearing of the three. Whoever did Ollie's puppet handling had the most effective way of showing emotion.
Another lady I remember from Chicago broadcasting is Lee Phillip. Mom always watched her show, it was a talk show with a slant toward female interests.
Here's an obscure one-"How Does Your Garden Grow" with John Ott. This guy was a gifted photographer who used time lapse photography and unique lighting methods to show plant life in rapid progression. Sounds odd, especially for a half hour show, but his methods left a lasting impression on me.
I was born in March of '49 and dad bought a television the month before I was born. I guess you might say it left a mark on me, or maybe it's just the sign of a misspent youth!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/10/2014 05:50PM by b.a.hoarder.
Another lady I remember from Chicago broadcasting is Lee Phillip. Mom always watched her show, it was a talk show with a slant toward female interests.
Here's an obscure one-"How Does Your Garden Grow" with John Ott. This guy was a gifted photographer who used time lapse photography and unique lighting methods to show plant life in rapid progression. Sounds odd, especially for a half hour show, but his methods left a lasting impression on me.
I was born in March of '49 and dad bought a television the month before I was born. I guess you might say it left a mark on me, or maybe it's just the sign of a misspent youth!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/10/2014 05:50PM by b.a.hoarder.
Re: Chicago Television of Yesteryear
Posted by:
Mikey
(---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: February 11, 2014 01:01AM
Kukla, Fran and Ollie provided me with my earliest memories of television in Chicago. Burr Tillstrom was the puppeteer. I stumbled across a bust statue of him in a park in, of all places, Saugatuck, Michigan! I guess he was born there.
The children's show mentioned by querencia ("take me home...) was called "Susan's Show". The girl was Susan Heinkel, and I had a huge crush on her. The flying table he referred to was called "Mr. Pegasus". Very cute show, and the props were so simple that you needed a very vivid imagination to figure out what was going on.
Mikey
The children's show mentioned by querencia ("take me home...) was called "Susan's Show". The girl was Susan Heinkel, and I had a huge crush on her. The flying table he referred to was called "Mr. Pegasus". Very cute show, and the props were so simple that you needed a very vivid imagination to figure out what was going on.
Mikey
Re: Chicago Television of Yesteryear
Posted by:
wags300
(---.203-93-216-nokia-dsl.dynamic.surewest.net)
Date: February 11, 2014 10:19AM
What a memory you all have..I do remember the shows and names once written
but the total recall ain't there...like the blond gal wearing the Majorette
outfit on a circus show and the zoo emcees name..help.What show had all the old
serials with a guy in a kilt selling ice cream? Early on there weren't many
kids shows and we were outside playing ball, etc
but the total recall ain't there...like the blond gal wearing the Majorette
outfit on a circus show and the zoo emcees name..help.What show had all the old
serials with a guy in a kilt selling ice cream? Early on there weren't many
kids shows and we were outside playing ball, etc
Re: Chicago Television of Yesteryear
Posted by:
Mikey
(---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: February 11, 2014 03:22PM
Yeah, we were pretty busy playing 16" Chicago-style softball and tag, etc. But in our younger days there were so many great kid's shows... Romper Room, Susan's Show, Elmer the Elepahnt, Super Circus (with Claude Kirschner, and that majorette, I think was Mary Hartline). The zoo show was "Zoo Parade", with Marlin Perkins, who, at the time, ran the Lincoln Park Zoo. Then came Bozo, which really turned the world upside-down for us kids.
But what I really lived for in the 50s were the evening comedy and variety shows, like Your Show of Shows (Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca), Ernie Kovacs, Red Skelton, and (showing my age here) the Tonight show, first with Steve Allen, then Jack Paar, and then the King, Johnny Carson. Television will NEVER again be as good as it was in the 1950s and 60s. It isn't referred to as "The Golden Age of TV" for nothing.
Mikey
But what I really lived for in the 50s were the evening comedy and variety shows, like Your Show of Shows (Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca), Ernie Kovacs, Red Skelton, and (showing my age here) the Tonight show, first with Steve Allen, then Jack Paar, and then the King, Johnny Carson. Television will NEVER again be as good as it was in the 1950s and 60s. It isn't referred to as "The Golden Age of TV" for nothing.
Mikey
Re: Chicago Television of Yesteryear
Posted by:
Mikey
(---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: February 11, 2014 03:33PM
Regarding Wyoming Ed's mention of "Garfield Goose": a couple of things come to mind. The first is that along with Garfield and Christmas Goose, Romberg Rabbit, and Beauregard Burnside the Third, there was a very important little mouse named McIntosh, whose name would go down in history as the world's first pointing device for a computer. So, Apple was NOT the first to have a McIntosh Mouse. ;-)
Also, a bit of trivia: there was a well-known woman by the name of Ethel Smith who was known for playing the Hammond Organ. She had a long recording career, her biggest hit being "Tico Tico" during WWII. In 1954, she did an album of childrens' songs, one of which was called "Monkey on a String". It became the theme song for "Garfield Goose". The LP is called "Bright and Breezy" and is quite difficult to find.
Mikey
Also, a bit of trivia: there was a well-known woman by the name of Ethel Smith who was known for playing the Hammond Organ. She had a long recording career, her biggest hit being "Tico Tico" during WWII. In 1954, she did an album of childrens' songs, one of which was called "Monkey on a String". It became the theme song for "Garfield Goose". The LP is called "Bright and Breezy" and is quite difficult to find.
Mikey
Re: Chicago Television of Yesteryear
Posted by:
trainutlen
(---.lais.com)
Date: February 11, 2014 07:30PM
If we are bringin up evening shows-why not one of the best-"Superman" with the best Superman, George Reeves. As an aside, wasn't there also a Chicago TV character, I seem to remember at noon, with the now policitcally incorrect name of "Uncle Johnny Coons"? 16" softball or how about pinners with a "pinkie"
Re: Chicago Television of Yesteryear
Posted by:
Mikey
(---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: February 11, 2014 09:19PM
I almost never missed Superman on TV. Aside, when I saw the first Superman movie, I was excited to see Noel Neill (Lois Lane) on the train near the beginning of the film.
Never watched Uncle Johnny. I've only seen pictures of him wearing a pith helmet.
Your mention of Andy Starr also brings back warm fuzzy memories. Couldn't wait to get home from school to watch that show, with the Stooges and Andy Clyde short films. "From the back of the old Odeon Theater", as he used to say.
Mikey
Never watched Uncle Johnny. I've only seen pictures of him wearing a pith helmet.
Your mention of Andy Starr also brings back warm fuzzy memories. Couldn't wait to get home from school to watch that show, with the Stooges and Andy Clyde short films. "From the back of the old Odeon Theater", as he used to say.
Mikey
Re: Chicago Television of Yesteryear
Posted by:
Diogenes9561
(---.res.bhn.net)
Date: February 11, 2014 11:30PM
The good old days of the mid-'50s. At noon on weekdays, a kid had 3 choices: Lunchtime Little Theater on WGN with Uncle Ned (Ned Locke), Uncle Bucky (Ted Ziegler), and Aunt Dodie whose real name escapes me. Aunt Dodie played piano and they sang,"It's lunchtime now, we'll show you how, your lunch can be lots of fun. For all the girls and boys there, a good time for everyone."
On WBKB, Two Ton Baker hosted The Happy Pirates with his second banana Moby and a parrot. Two Ton played the piano and sang memorable songs like "One Meatball."
WNBQ, the NBC outlet, had Uncle Johnny Coons, my favorite, who would caution kids to move back and not sit close to the TV. His second banana was George, The Dummy who would assist Uncle Johnny in the silliness.
The shows were fun, entertaining, and devoid of anything vulgar. They were gentle, funny, and nice for little kids. Nothing like this anymore, just fond memories.
On WBKB, Two Ton Baker hosted The Happy Pirates with his second banana Moby and a parrot. Two Ton played the piano and sang memorable songs like "One Meatball."
WNBQ, the NBC outlet, had Uncle Johnny Coons, my favorite, who would caution kids to move back and not sit close to the TV. His second banana was George, The Dummy who would assist Uncle Johnny in the silliness.
The shows were fun, entertaining, and devoid of anything vulgar. They were gentle, funny, and nice for little kids. Nothing like this anymore, just fond memories.
Re: Chicago Television of Yesteryear
Posted by:
Mikey
(---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: February 11, 2014 11:44PM
Have to mention the craziest one of all: Soupy Sales, in the late 50s. I give my vote to Soupy for being the zaniest guy on kids' TV. His puppets White Fang, Black Tooth, Hippy and Pookie were wonderful. He'd have Pookie and Hippy "lip-synching" to popular tunes, and many of them were jazz, as Sales was a HUGE jazz lover. They would also "mouth" the words to Stan Freberg parody records like St. George and the Dragonet and Banana Boat Day-o, one of Freberg's best. Then there were the pies. I wish I'd bought stock in the bakery that made those pies for his show. ;-) The funniest thing he ever did was tell all the kids to "send him the little green papars from their parents' wallets, with the presidents' pictures on them. He caught hell for it, but gave the money to charity, which probably saved his career. ;-)
Mikey
Mikey
Re: Chicago Television of Yesteryear
Posted by:
b.a.hoarder
(---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: February 12, 2014 01:49AM
The Soupy Sales Show was televised out of LA and dad and I watched together on Saturdays more often than not. Much of the humor was a bit "over the head" of younger kids and I suppose the puppets were the draw for them. Soupy often had great, big time celebrity guests, crazy skits, and most of all pies like Mikey said. I'm laughing now just thinking about his facial expressions, the puppets and the double entendres. I think he was a regular on Hollywood Squares in later years; Soupy was one funny man.
Re: Chicago Television of Yesteryear
Posted by:
HOLTANEK
(---.hsd1.in.comcast.net)
Date: February 13, 2014 05:55PM
I was trying to remember a show from my childhood but no one seems to remember it. This would have been in the late 50s, and I remember a woman sitting in a chair that started to hover then fly. That's all that I remember.
Re: Chicago Television of Yesteryear
Posted by:
nordsider
(---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: February 13, 2014 06:53PM
Started in 1949, on WMAQ-TV, "Walt's Workshop". Walter E. Durbahn, a Highland Park high school manual training teacher and the star of television's first "how to do it program". Always fun to watch.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/14/2014 10:23AM by nordsider.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/14/2014 10:23AM by nordsider.
