Our Old Television


- Eric Huffstutler (Bethel HS - '75) of VA - 06/17/06 Thanks, Eric!				- Carol Buckley Harty ('65) of NC - 06/17/06		- Eric Huffstutler (Bethel HS - '75) of VA - 06/18/06 Thanks, Eric!
			Our Old Television CBS - Channel 3 - WTAR: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WTKR NBC - Channel 10 - WAVY: http://www.wavy.com/Global/story. asp?S=83424&nav=menu45_14 ABC - Channel 13 - WVEC: http://www.wvec.com/tv/history3.html
RCA wooden console, small compact size		RCA Deluxe mahogany console with brass trim			Setchell Carlson unusually designed console	Magnavox 1960s wooden console.

	I have expanded on the Drive-In section but we often overlook the Television as part of our daily life and culture growing up. Especially during a simpler era when local television stations did their own programming and had hosts of the shows. Of particular interest to me are the horror shows such as "Shock Theater", "Chiller Theater" and "Creature Feature". In the 1950s stations were mostly independent and even into the 1960s some continued that way, separate from syndicated network programming. Even those who were part of the big three networks (ABC, NBC, CBS) still had pre and post primetime programming and their hosts became local icons of the day. The invention of home video tapes and cable TV was the demise of these institutions. Even though "Shock Theater" and others were hot shows across the country, the movies shown were usually anything but... mostly forgettable black and white fare made between 1930-1950 (but not always) by poverty row studios on shoestring budgets. Made during the days when the Hays Office still dictated what studios could produce and the NAB Code of Ethics governed broadcasters pre 1974. It was these clowns in macabre makeup giving their own brand of commentary that made the show and what people remember today, not the movies. In Richmond, I can not find a reference for early horror hosted shows until 1970 when William "Bill" Bowman (aka The Bowman Body) hit the airwaves until 1979 on WXEX (now WRIC-TV). Bill went on to excel in broadcasting and production to a point that the VA General Assembly passed a bill in 2005 recognizing him for his contributions. I grew up in Newport News which is the Norfolk market and we had a couple of horror hosts. Most multitasked such as station manager of WVEC-TV Jerry Sandford (now living in Hampton). He did Ronald for Shock Theater, Bungles the Clown during the afternoon kids show, and out of makeup hosted various local game shows such as Bingo for Be-Lo's super markets. Unfortunately the pressures must have gotten to him as these shows were "live" and he would occasionally show up on the set after having a drink or two. Though funny at the time, he quickly disappeared from the screen. I remember it and again, it was the "hosts" and not the show that people do remember. Jerry Harrell (aka Dr. Madblood on WAVY-TV) was another local horror host and Bill's cohort and even switched places once on their shows. As far as I know Harrell is still doing the character on public broadcast stations and does some work at ODU. He is also a professional magician and former Bozo the clown. I was surprised to see that when Vampira was hitting the airwaves in Los Angeles 1954, Richmond only had 1 (one) television station at the time - WTVR (channel 6) which went off the air at 12:10am. There was another station received but it was WTAR (channel 3) from Norfolk. It wasn't until the mid 50s that the area had 3 network stations and the movies that showed horror was the Million Dollar Movie (channel 8) and The Big Picture (channel 6) but did not see the usual hosted shows? The newspaper also had a full page of ads for walk in and drive-in movies. I think there were at least a half dozen Drive-Ins here at that time. As a kid in Newport News I remember as late as the 60s television stations going off the air at sundown with the old RCA Indian Head Test Pattern burned into the tube while others continued after midnight. It depended on the day of the week when the station went off the air which made alternate means of entertainment popular. I currently have about 1,000 DVDs which is heavy on the classic horror and sci-fi genre including many of the movies shown by these horror hosts. What are your memories? I will be glad to elaborate on my memories and offer any information about movies from this era. - Eric Huffstutler (Bethel HS - '75) of VA - 06/11/06 Thanks, Eric!

	I thought surely you were forgetting Richmond's ABC Channel 12 - WRVA, but according to Wikipedia: WRVA-TV signed on for the first time on April 29, 1956. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWBT-TV - Carol Buckley Harty ('65) of NC - 06/13/06			DAILY PRESS, Newport News, VA, Monday, June 10, 1963

	The input I read tonight from Eric Huffstutler (Bethel HS - '75 - of VA) brought back some old memories: In 1968 before I reported for active duty with the Navy I worked as a program engineer at WVEC TV. My duties were varied, but mainly consisted of technical support for the live local news and sports. The station had recently became affiliated with ABC and switched from public service (CH 15, UHF) to ABC formatting (CH 13, VHF) and at the Hampton studio on Pembroke Avenue. We still were using black and white cameras in Hampton while the weather was broadcast from the Norfolk studio in color starring Joe Foulkes. Both studios microwaved to the transmitter in Driver, Va. Isn't all this wonderful to Know? Anyhow, I also provided support for " Shock!, Shock!, Shock Theater" and "The Bungles Show". This was a big deal for a 20 year old to be exposed to, and very educational indeed. I had grown up with these programs and was somewhat saddened to now find out that the characters weren't real after all. Such is life I guess but those were indeed the "good old days". This story could go further but before I get carried away as with the story of " West Point" (I did not say I actually wet my pants!) or the picture of Buckroe amusement park (I did not say that was my car in the photo) I would like to give a big " Bungles Wave" to Eric Huffstutler and all the NNHS Typhoons out there. - Bill Hobbs ('66) of Northern VA - 06/13/06 Thanks, Bill!

	Since Bungles has been mentioned so much lately, I thought I would send you a picture of Bungles for the website. - Edna Whitcomb Harrison ('65) of VA - 06/14/06 WOWZERONI!!! Thanks, Edna!

				Sailor Bob Griggs and his friend, Gilley Gull WRVA - TV Channel 12, Richmond, VA Courtesy of http://richmondthenandnow.com/ Famous-People-Richmond-16.html - 06/15/06

	And .... since memories are floating in about our old TV personalities, permit me to add a few: Joe Foulkes: 1950s (and later) weather man, retired Naval Reserve Chief Aerographer's Mate. He could draw a perfect isobar and pressure front freehand with a Magic Marker, and I will never forget his military brandishing of it before stowing it in his jacket breast pocket or his salute at sign-off. I once "heard" him in the Norfolk Navy Exchange ... long before I saw him. There was no voice like that anywhere else. Joe passed away in August 1993 Jeff Dane: "Let's get nostalgic - When WTKR executives announced they were refurbishing the station's theater to use as a studio for a new locally produced morning show starting Sept. 9, that brought to mind Jeff Dane. Dane, who for 17 years hosted an outdoorsy show called ``Tackle Box'' on Channel 3, told me from his home in Naples, Fla., that he originated many music and variety shows from that theater in the 1950s. ``It has great acoustics,'' said Dane, who's had heart problems of late and had to undergo a triple bypass. Dane says he's recovered nicely. " (Source: http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/VA-Pilot/issues/1996/vp960820/08200059.htm ) "Where are they now (update) - Judging by my mail and phone calls, you like the idea of devoting some space in this column to catching up with the people who used to be on TV in this market. Marian Kennedy of Virginia Beach asks if I know what's become of Jeff Dane, who worked at Channel 3 in a number of on-camera jobs when it was WTAR-TV. Dane is perhaps best remembered for doing a show that covered the local fishing and boating scene. Dane, who retired early from WTAR-TV about 17 years ago, is living in Naples, Fla. (1994)" (Source: http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/VA-Pilot/issues/1994/vp940803/08030043.htm ) Mac MacManus, a.k.a. Poopdeck Pappy, who hosted a kids cartoon show in the afternoon after school: "Two spots per month appear on WAVY-TV 10, "Tidewater Today," hosted by Mac McManus. Shows are also scheduled for WTKR-TV 3 "News at Noon" and WVEC-TV 13 "Good Morning Hampton Roads." According to Gammisch, "The programs keep the public informed about research at VIMS, local Sea Grant projects, and help to educate the public about the importance of Virginia's marine resources." (Source: http://www.vims.edu/GreyLit/SeaGrant/vmrb19-1.pdf) Regarding Bungles The Clown: If memory serves, he had a special wave for the kids. He raised his right hand, palm facing the camera, and flexed his pinky finger. - Dave Spriggs ('64) of VA - 06/15/06 WOWZERONI-RINI-ROONI!!! I spent two hours trying to find something about Poopdeck Pappy to no avail. I used to watch him with my daddy as we drank our lime "Real Cool" which Poopdeck hawked. Thanks so much, Dave!

	TYPHOON Thanks to Edna Whitcomb Harrison ('645- of VA) and Dave Spriggs ('64 - of VA). My wife (Eva Ellis Madagan - '61 - of FL), who is still a kid at heart, has the "Bungles Wave" down pat. In fact, she still uses it when our kids visit and then depart, and has been seen trying to teach our grandchildren this distinctive wave. Dave almost got it right in his description of the wave as the show closed out on WVEC-TV. He addressed the camera, both palms facing the camera, and while flexing both "pinkies" he would cross his forearms and then flex them outwards and repeat the arm movement and pinkie movements until the sign off. The good Captain did spell Joe Foulkes' name correctly, so he gets "three atta boys" for his attention to detail. - Joe Madagan ('57) of FL - 06/15/06 Thanks, Joe! For a picture of Bob Saget doing the Bungles Wave, see: http://www.wvec.com/tv/history3.html And for an image of Joe Foulkes, try here: http://www.wvec.com/tv/history5.html

	Re: Poopdeck Pappy (WAVY-TV) - also seen as "Poop Deck Pappy" Like you said, there seems to be very little to find on this character. Possibly the station's library/archives may have something? Here is what little I did find: WAVY-TV, Channel 10, signed on the air September 1, 1957, as the NBC affiliate in Hampton Roads, Virginia. Hail, Poopdeck Pappy - NBC affiliate WAVY, which called itself "Wonderful WAVY" when it signed on 40 years ago, celebrates four decades on Channel 10 with a looking-back special Wednesday at 8 p.m. Names from the past include Lloyd Dobyns, Lee Leonard, Dick Lamb, John Wilson, Len Hathaway, Mark Thomas, Kurt Webster and Horace McManus as Poopdeck. Around 1980 or so Norfolk's WAVY-TV 10 actually burned tapes of their old shows/newscasts including the kiddie show "Poopdeck Pappy" and "WAVY Eyewitness News". - Eric Huffstutler (Bethel HS - '75) of VA - 06/16/06 Thanks, Eric!

	THERE WAS TALK IN THIS LAST NEWSLETTER ABOUT DIFFERENT PERSONS ON TV AND RADIO. I ALWAYS LOVED TO HEAR DICK LAMB ON WGH RADIO. BACK A FEW YEARS AGO WHEN JIM BAKKER GOT OUT OF PRISON, I WAS IN A BOOK STORE HERE IN TEXAS AND IT SO HAPPENED HE WAS THERE SIGNING HIS BOOK THAT HE WROTE TITLED, "I WAS WRONG". WELL, I REMEMBER WHEN HE AND TAMMY HAD A PUPPET SHOW ON PAT ROBERTSON'S PROGRAM IN PORTSMOUTH, VA. I WAS SINGING WITH A TRIO AND WE SANG ON A TV SHOW THERE AT THE TV STATION. THIS WAS LIKE IN THE MIDDLE 60'S, BUT I TOLD JIM ABOUT THAT WHEN HE WAS SIGNING MY BOOK, AND HE COULD NOT BELIEVE HE WOULD SEE SOMEONE FROM THAT FAR BACK THAT WOULD REMEMBER THAT TIME. HE AND TAMMY WERE IN THEIR EARLY 20'S. Glenn Dye ('60) of TX - 06/16/06 Thanks, Glenn!

	I will try to find a station logo for WVEC-TV from the 1965 era. I am sure we can come up with one if nothing else, from the newspaper microfilms at the library. Will this (see above, far right) do for now from '68 time frame? OOOOOH - that will be absolutely lovely, Eric! Thanks!
				The CBS eye you marked as 1950s actually was used for a long time up into the late 60s. The color version had a blue background and the CBS letters in the middle were yellow.
	An alternate "bloodshot eye" version was rarely seen between 1954-1965 that looked to be more 70s than 50s as seen (here):
	There was a CBS color program logo which was different but wasn't used until 1966 where the letters popped up in black and white and then the eye would come in from the left crossing over the letters which turned into primary colors with the eye to the right in yellow.:-) A LOT of people still were watching shows on black and white sets in 1965, name brands long passed such as DuMont, Admiral, Philco, Magnavox, Zenith, and others Our very first color television was a Philco console which had a round picture tube bought in 1965. It was also when UHF was becoming popular. For history buffs... the very first televisions were built in 1928 and had only a 4" round screen in a huge cabinet actually mechanical called "scanning disc". The first true broadcast receiver television was made in 1938 with RCA mass producing the TRK-12 in 1939 for $600 ($7,000 in today's money). NBC was the first television broadcast company which was owned by RCA. The first commercial was broadcast on July 1, 1941 and was 10 second a Bulova watch ad on NBC. The first color commercial was in March 1954 for Pall Mall cigarettes. The first color television for home use was made in 1953 for the 1954 model year by RCA (model CT-100) and cost $1,000 (over $6,000 by today's standards). Less that 5,000 units were sold in the first year. Very expensive during a time when radio shows were still going strong and a good tabletop could be had for around $1 The first commercial television program on color film was an episode of Dragnet called "The Big Little Jesus" that aired on December 24, 1953 and the series' only color episode (Season 3, Episode 17). A live telecast of the Tournament of Roses parade was broadcast the following month.
				1954 and 1956 NBC "In Living Color" peacock both looked the same once the feathers were up but had different theme music and ways the feathers materialized. They were used until 1970.
	- Eric Huffstutler (Bethel HS - '75) of VA - 06/18/06 WOWZERS! Thanks, Eric!

	Here is a list of (I believe) of all of the popular network shows on TV during 1965:
	Meet the Press Candid Camera The Ed Sullivan Show Bozo the Clown Truth or Consequences What's My Line Love of Live Search for Tomorrow Hallmark Hall of Fame American Bandstand The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet The Guiding Light The Honeymooners The Today Show Face the Nation The Milton Berle Show The Secret Storm The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson Captain Kangaroo Gunsmoke The Lawrence Welk Show As the World Turns The Edge of Night The Donna Reed Show Bonanza Juke Box Jury The Bell Telephone Hour My Three Sons The Andy Griffith Show The Flintstones Ben Casey It's Academic Mister Ed The Dick Van Dyke Show The Fulton Sheen Program The Mike Douglas Show Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color			Match Game The Beverly Hillbillies The Lucy Show General Hospital Petticoat Junction Ready Steady Go The Doctors Another World Bewitched Daniel Boone Gilligan's Island Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. Jeopardy! Peyton Place Shindig! The Addams Family The Munsters This Hour Has Seven Days Tom and Jerry Shows ended in 1965: The Jack Benny Show (CBS 1950-1964 NBC 1964-1965) The Price Is Right (original version NBC 1956-1963 ABC 1963-1965) Outer Limits (ABC 1963-1965) Shows debuts in 1965: Hullabaloo (NBC 1965-1966) Green Acres (CBS 1965-1971) Days of Our Lives (NBC 1965-present) Hogan's Heroes (CBS 1965-1971) I Dream of Jeannie (NBC 1965-1970) Get Smart (NBC 1965-1969 CBS 1969-1970) Lost in Space (CBS 1965-1968) The Dean Martin Show (NBC 1965-1974)
	- Eric Huffstutler (Bethel HS - '75) of VA - 06/18/06 WOW - I think I watched them all! Thanks, Eric!

	... I have a copy of the book "Television Horror Movie Hosts" by Elena M. Watson (1958-1994). She was from Norfolk and succumbed to Muscular Dystrophy but was an avid horror television enthusiast. Inside the first leaf is a picture of Ronald (aka Jerry Sandford who was also Bungles the Clown) from WVEC-TV 13 Shock Theater...
	- Eric Huffstutler (Bethel HS - '75) of VA - 06/21/06 OHHH - I loved Ronald and his Shock Theater! Thanks so much, Eric!

	I found this little snippet from a forum and thought it would stir up some memories for others. The Mildred Alexander Show… that is one I use to watch and had completely forgotten about! Joe Foulkes doing the weather on channel 13! - and ads for Tysinger Dodge (Joseph J. Foulkes - 1919-1993) Connie's magic playhouse on channel 3! The Mildred Alexander show on WTAR-TV 3! Pat Robertson with only one station channel 27! - Eric Huffstutler (Bethel HS - '75) of VA - 06/22/06 Thanks, Eric!

	Remembering the old, old TV shows........do you remember Romper Room with Miss _____?? This from the internet: Each program would consist of the hostess and her group of children embarking on an hour of games, songs and moral lessons. The Romper Room tried to teach its young charges to be polite. For instance, the hostess was always addressed as "Miss." Many of the hostesses had prior experience in dealing with small children; in fact, a good deal of them were former kindergarten teachers. A recurring character was Mr. Do Bee, an oversized bumblebee who came to teach the children how to be well-behaved; he was noted for always starting his sentence with "Do Bee," as in the imperative "Do be"; for example, "Do Bee good boys and girls for your parents!" At the end of each broadcast, the hostess would look through a "magic mirror" (in reality, just a small transparent mirror with a handle) and name the children she saw in "televisionland." She would begin with the rhyme: "Romper, bomper, stomper boo. Tell me, tell me, tell me, do. Magic mirror, tell me today. Have all my friends been good at play?" She would then lead into "I can see Scotty and Kimberly and Julie and Jimmy and Marcie and all of you boys and girls out there!" To give the children the impression that they might be the next one called, the names were changed every day. And I remember watching a very scary show where at the end, the host (maybe Frank Gallop ?) would blow out a candle and say "lights out" real scary! This was right before my bedtime.......needless to say, I didn't want to go. No wonder I had bad dreams as a kid. :) - Gloria Woolard Price (Hampton HS - '65) of FL - 06/26/06 GIGGLES!!! Thanks, Gloria!

	Hi Carol! Remember Sky King? The series and adventures of pilot Sky King and his niece, Penny? Well, I do, vaguely. I thought it was funny that my husband, who loves to fly & was raised in Hawaii, never saw it and he came across some free stream links, no download needed, of all the episodes, so am sending them to the web page! http://www.americanflyers.net/entertainment/skyking.asp - Gail Kiger Bonsey (Ferguson HS - '73) of OR - 11/19/07 WOWZERONI! Thanks, Gail!

(This page was created on 06/14/06.)

The incredible vintage sound file was assembled by our Wizard of Wonderment, Dave Spriggs ('64) of VA - 06/15/06
WOWZERONI-RINI-ROONI!!! Thank you so much, Dave!

Four Images of Vintage Televisions courtesy of http://www.harryposter.com/vintagetelevision.htm - 06/14/06

Return to NNHS Class of 1965

Sailor Bob Griggs and his friend, Gilley Gull