Next to Christmas Day itself and the annual birthday celebration, the most coveted day for young Boomers was Saturday. To be specific, Saturday morning. For Boomers in the 50’s, television was still a novelty. We’d watch anything – Queen for a Day, for example. In perhaps what was to become the first “Reality Show” on TV, host Jack Bailey interviewed an assortment of ladies, they shared their stories with the audience and the one receiving the most applause at the end of the show was selected “Queen for a Day.” As a rule the winner received a hair-do by someone other than her sister, a make-up kit, a new dress from Montgomery Ward and a toaster. Like I said, we’d watch anything.
But Saturday morning was different. We had cartoons and action shows and we sat spellbound from the time the test pattern appeared till noon.
Today’s kids have entertainment galore. They have their own cartoon channels – 24/7. They have video games and computers. They have X-Boxes and Play Stations. We had one morning a week to absorb our insatiable thirst for entertainment and we watched shows like Gumby (“He was once a little green slab of clay…”), Quick Draw McGraw, Huckleberry Hound, Bozo the Clown, Woody Woodpecker, Winky Dink, Casper the Friendly Ghost and countless other half-hour animated shows.
Another popular Saturday morning show was Kukla, Fran and Ollie. It wasn’t animated. It was a puppet show, but it was on Saturday mornings and we watched it. Fran Allison was the human star and spoke with Kukla and Fran as if they were real. To Boomer kids, they were.
Kukla was a totally bald puppet with a big nose and a high, pipsqueak voice. Oliver J. Dragon – aka Ollie – was a dragon with one tooth, and not a very fierce dragon at that. Fran and the puppets talked about anything and everything and nothing. It was an early prototype of The Seinfeld Show. But we watched in force and if Ollie was pitching M & M’s because they melt in your mouth, not in your hand, we bought them. Kukla, Fran and Ollie earned an Emmy in 1953.
Another highlight on Saturday mornings – mixed in among the cartoons – were the action shows like The Adventures of Kit Carson, the number one series among children in 1954 with an estimated 3 million viewers. Christopher “Kit” Carson was a scout and along with his sidekick, El Toro, cleaned up the Wild West with his trusty side-shooter and a good left hook. Boomers will also recall My Friend Flicka, Fury, Captain Midnight, Sky King, Rin Tin Tin and Captain Gallant of the Foreign Legion
Here’s a few other shows that may bring back Boomer memories: Ding Dong School, Deputy Dawg, Yogi Bear (who really was smarter than the average bear), Buster Brown, Felix the Cat, Mighty Mouse, Crusader Rabbit and Tom Terrific with Mighty Manfred the Wonder Dog.
I wonder what’s coming on this Saturday morning?