Bruce Williams

Years ago I used to love staying up late and listening to radio. In the late 60s and early 70s I followed the Atlanta Braves over the radio. There was no local station that carried them so I picked them up on stations out of Bainbridge, Ga or, on rare occasion, the originating station out of Atlanta, WSB-AM on a skip. Of course the signal in both cases was staticky (is that a word?) at times and went in and out. Luckily baseball did the same so you rarely missed much. My favorite time was when they played on the west coast and the games didn't start until 10:05 pm so I listened way into the night even when I had to get up early for school the next morning.

By 1973 I was working at a radio station in Tallahassee that aired the Braves games and could listen while at work most of the time, even the late games. If this happened I had to work late to get the whole game in as well as the CBS Radio Mystery Theater that had a large listenership. Believe me people would call if it didn't start at 10:06 pm as it was supposed to.

Later on I was working a lot at night and there were a few programs I really enjoyed listening to. These were talk shows that aired anywhere from 7 pm to 5am and the hosts were excellent. NBC had a series of programs grouped under the Talknet banner. Bruce Williams and Sally Jesse Raphael aired back to back as best as I can recall. Larry King was on Mutual overnights from 12 or 1 am to 5 am. I actually preferred Larry King and Sally Jesse Raphael on the radio as opposed to the TV broadcasts when they did more of an advice oriented program.

Sally Jesse Raphael

Larry King

Bruce Williams (finally got around to the topic of my blog) was the absolute king of the talk shows. He dispensed financial advice in a folksy, down home manner and made even the most boring of topics enjoyable to listen to. He would listen to what the caller had going on and tell them where they were wrong or what to do to correct their situation. He didn't mind telling someone they were crazy to get involved in a a get rich quick scheme.

Bruce Williams

Bruce shared the airwaves for 35 years dispensing advice. Before Rush. Before Sean. Before practically anybody of note on the radio there was Bruce Williams. As recently as 1999 he was heard on about 400 radio stations from coast to coast and in later years still had 80 or so stations that carried him five nights a week. Some stations even rebroadcast his programs overnight...he was that popular.

Originally broadcasting out of New Jersey he moved full time to Florida some years back and continued broadcasting his program from a converted upstairs bedroom in his home in New Port Richey with his wife and pets close by.

Although he is no longer on the air live his web site, brucewilliams.com, is still active today and you can listen to archived shows from January 1st, 2010 to the final show on March 5th, 2010.

Captain Kangaroo

Captain Kangaroo was a popular children's show that ran from October 3, 1955 – December 8, 1984, excluding a 1964-1965 break.The show was built around life in the "Treasure House". The Treasure House was where Captain Kangaroo would tell many stories, meet many new people, and do silly things with other characters of the show. The Captain had large pockets in his coat, which was where he got his name.

Three principles on Captain Kangaroo
L-R: Cosmo Allegretti, Bob Keeshan, Hugh Brannum



Bob Keeshan was a page at NBC and eventually worked on Howdy Doody where he was the first Clarabelle the Clown. Keeshan was born to play Captain Kangaroo and originally had to wear heavy makeup to make him appear older as he was 29 when the show started and grew into the role. Keeshan was easy going and had high standards for what the role should be. He envisioned the show as a bridge between kids and their grandparents.  Captain Kangaroo taught us good manners, respect and fair play.

During World War II Hugh (Lumpy) Brannum enlisted in the US Marine Corps and joined a Marine band led by Bob Crosby. After the war, he joined the Four Squires, later moving to Fred Waring and His Pennsylvanians. Before his time on Captain Kangaroo, he hosted a local children's TV series called Uncle Lumpy's Cabin, seen weekday mornings on WABC-TV in New York City during the 1951 season. On Captain Kangaroo he played Mr Green Jeans because of his usual attire, green jeans, green plaid shirt, and straw hat.  Mr. Green Jeans taught us to be nice to animals.

Cosmo (Gus) Alegretti began his tv career as one of the assistant puppeteers on the ABC show Rootie Kazootie from 1952 -54. He created many memorable characters for Captain Kangaroo including Mr Moose and Bunny Rabbit. Mr Moose would tell riddles and knock-knock jokes that would result in hundreds of ping pong balls falling from above, and hitting the Captain on the head. Bunny Rabbit spent all his time trying to get carrots from the Captain. Other characters played by Allegretti included Dancing Bear, Grandfather Clock, Dennis the Apprentice, and Fred from Channel One, the Aniforms man.

The Captain with Mr Moose

Bunny Rabbit

Dancing Bear

The Captain, Fred, and Mr Green Jeans

Grandfather Clock

Captain Kangaroo had a couple of cartoons on the show. Tom Teriffic and Lariat Sam were both produced by Terrytoons, owned by CBS, and Bob Keeshan Productions and alternated weekly. Tom Terrific was a kid who lived in a tree house and obtained magical powers by his funnel hat. His sidekick was his faithful dog, Mighty Manfred. The villains included Crabby Appleton and Isotope Feeny. Lariat Sam was a cowboy whose sidekick was his horse, Tippy Toes. There was also a cartoon from the BBC about Crystal Tipps and her dog, Alistair.

Tom Terrific and Mighty Manfred

Lariat Sam and Tippy Toes

Crystal Tipps and Alistair

One of my favorite parts of the show growing up were the read-alongs where he read story books to us: Mike Mulligan's Steam Shovel, Hats for Sale, Stone Soup, Curious George, Make Way for Ducklings, and more.

Bob Keeshan died in 2004. Hugh Brannum died in 1987. Cosmo Allegretti is still alive and is 84 years of age.



Trivia:  

Cosmo Allegretti was once married to Broadway star Carol Lawrence from 1956-59 but it was annulled.

The Captain Kangaroo theme actually had a real name. It was "Puffin Billy".

The show premiered on CBS the same day Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse Club premiered on ABC.

The Captain's original jacket and Mr Moose now reside in the Smithsonian Institute.

The Archies

I mentioned on a previous post that one of my favorite cartoons from the 60s on Saturday mornings was The Archie Show. This was about Archie and his friends from Riverdale and the situations they get into in and around high school. To add to the mix they also had their own group, The Archies, who sang and played instruments in the show and somehow managed to end up on the music charts across the nation for real.

The gang was comprised of Archie Andrews, Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, Reginald (Reggie) Mantle, Jughead Jones, and Jughead's dog Hot Dog. They attended Riverdale High School with Mr  Weatherbee as the principal and their teacher was Miss Grundy. Episodes also centered around their favorite hangout Pop's Chok'lit Shoppe. The Archie Show was the number one cartoon show of 1968-69 and under this title lasted only two seasons, as did The Archies singing group. (No explanation was given for the demise of the group but they had made their impact in a big way.)

Further incarnations of the show were entitled Archies Funhouse in 1970-71, Archies TV Funnies from 1971-73, then Everything's Archie in 1973-74 which repeated the first two seasons of shows. The series finished after the 1974-75 season on CBS when the popularity decreased as it became The U.S. of Archie. This season was a mix of history and entertainment with the Archies (the friends not the group) going back in time and inserting themselves into various historically significant events.

The voices for the Archies speaking parts were as follows:

Archie Andrews

Dallas McKennon
(Yes, for real!)

       
                                                                       

Reggie Mantle

John Ervin

Jughead Jones

Howard Morris 

   
 

L-R, Veronica Lodge, Archie, Betty Cooper

Jane Webb (both Betty
and Veronica)

Archie began with the comic book characters created by John Goldwater, written by Vic Bloom and drawn by Bob Montana in 1941. In addition to the comic books and the later TV cartoon shows there was a radio comedy titled Archie Andrews on Mutual from 1943-44 and NBC from 1946-53.

Archie Comics #1

The Archies released their first song, Bang-Shang-A-Lang in 1969 and it went to #22 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts (remember this is a cartoon group). The follow-up hit was the real monster of the group, Sugar, Sugar. It was #1 in 1969 not only in America but in many other countries and sold 6 million copies world-wide! Another Archies song, Jingle Jangle, went to #10 nationally.

There were around 30 songs released by The Archies. Several appeared on the show's first two seasons which consisted of two cartoons, a new dance of the week, then a song performed with the dance.



The Archies singing group was comprised of The Cufflinks (a studio band) lead singer Ron Dante and Toni Wine, who did both female singing parts. Occasionally they were joined by Andy Kim and Jeff Barry, who wrote most of the songs, as well as other session singers who contributed to the background vocals. Session musicians played the instruments on the songs.

Ron Dante

Toni Wine

For this past Christmas my wife gave me the first two seasons of The Archies on DVD. It is widely available. The first time in probably 30 years or more since I had seen these episodes. Here is the cover art:

And here's Sugar, Sugar for you

Happy Birthday, Oreos

Here's a birthday I didn't want to slip by without a little mention. Oreo cookies turn 100 years old today, March 6th!

Oreo is the trademarked name of the cookie sandwich made by Nabisco. It was first made on March 6, 1912 in New York City.  The traditional cookie consists of two chocolate or golden cookies with a sweet white, creme filling.

In the last 100 years it is estimated that almost 500 billion Oreos have been sold. This certainly has to make them the best selling cookie of all time. And that's not just the typical Oreo cookie you see above. Oreo, or rather it's parent Nabisco, a unit of Kraft Foods, makes about every type of Oreo imaginable.

There's Double Stuf Oreos, Triple Double Oreos, Cakesters Oreos (soft cake instead of the hard cookie outsides), Mini Oreos, Peanut Butter Oreos, Banana Split Creme Oreos, White Fudge Oreos, Peppermint Oreos, Cool Mint Oreos, Spring Oreos, Oreo O's (cereal) and on and on. Not only that, different times of the year the creme color changes such as orange, red, green, pink, yellow, and more.

You can also find Oreo Ice Cream cake as well as Oreo Ice Cream sandwiches!

 

             

There is some debate as to how is the best way to eat an Oreo cookie.....Pop it in your mouth whole, take it in small bites, twist the cookie halves apart and scrape the creme filling off with your teeth, dunk it in milk and eat, etc. However you eat your Oreo cookie or whatever type suits you, it is a sweet treat no doubt!

And just in case you want to know how they make the Oreo cookies, here's a little video that you might just find interesting.

Happy 100th birthday, Oreo cookies!