"Billy
Johnson"
Billy
Johnson on Channel 9, c. 1954 or 1955
with
Wally (l.) and Ginty (r.)
(Donated
by Jack Maier)
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Broadcast
live from local studios in "Black & White".
Various
Show Names, Airtimes, and Channels;
From
March 1953 to February 28, 1958 as shown:
Aired
on WTOP-TV 9:
"Billy
Johnson's Cartoon Club"
(March
1953)
6:30
to 7:00AM Monday-Friday |
(April
1953 - May 1953)
9:00
to 9:55AM Monday-Saturday |
(June
1953 - September 1953)
9:00
to 10:00AM Monday-Saturday
5:30
to 6:00PM Monday-Friday |
(September
12, 1953 - October 1953)
9:00
to 10:00AM Monday-Saturday
2:00
to 3:00PM Saturday Only |
(November
1953- December 1953)
9:00
to 10:00AM Monday-Saturday
2:00
to 2:30PM Saturday Only |
|
"The
Billy Johnson Show"
(Early
1954)
9:00
to 10:00AM Monday-Saturday |
(Fall
1954)
9:00
to 9:50AM Monday-Friday
9:00
to 10:30AM Saturday Only |
(Early
1955)
8:30
to 9:30AM Monday-Saturday |
(Fall
1955)
7:00
to 8:00AM Monday-Friday
8:00
to 9:00AM Saturday Only |
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Aired
on WTTG-TV 5:
"The
Fun House"
(10/1/56
- February 28, 1958)
6:30
to 7:00PM Monday - Friday |
|
"The
Billy Johnson Show"
(Early
1957)
6:00
to 6:30PM Monday - Friday
5:30
to 6:00PM Sunday Only |
(Fall
1957)
4:00
to 4:30PM Monday - Friday |
|
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Host:
Billy
Johnson
as Himself
with
his puppets
"Wally"
(sort
of a frog), "Ginty" (a mouse),
and
(only
at WTTG)
"Reggie"
(a bird).
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Photo:Billy
Johnson
on Channel
5 - 1957
(Donated
by Jack Maier)
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.
He
Shows Moppets How to Brush Their Teeth,
Offers
Advice, and They Love It
|
Excerpt and Photo from
"On The Beam"
TV
Life, October
1953, Vol 1, No.1
(Courtesy:
Jack Maier)
If someone
were to ask you who is the most looked-at person in the nation’s
capital,
odds are roughly 157 to 1 that you would answer incorrectly. Most of
the
157 million Americans would prob- ably say President Eisenhower. But
there
are about one million persons in the Washington, D. C. area who know
that
it is 28-year-old, Kentucky-born Billy Johnson.
While
President Eisenhower is rarely seen in public, or even on television,
Billy
Johnson appears on the TV screens eight and a half hours a week over
WTOP
- TV. His program for
small-fry
began in March, 1953. Within three weeks the Pulse Survey showed he was
the most popular of all local programs at any time of day or night.
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Billy
Johnson shows cartoons. sings, plays guitar, brings puppets Wally and
Ginty
before the camera, and makes his advice to the moppets a highly
entertaining
affair.
Billy‘s
fan mail, from the kids and their parents alike, is overwhelming in
quantity
and unrestrained in its praise. “My son, Chris,” wrote one
Maryland
mother, “who is 4½ years old, thinks his whole day is ruined if
he misses your wonderful program ... You are doing a good job with your
casual instructions to the young fry (i.e., about how to squeeze paste
from a toothpaste tube). For some unknown reason. Chris listens to you
much more willingly than he does his parents and I admit it!”
No performer
could ask for a finer tribute.
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| Billy
Johnson left WTOP-TV 9 in
1956
when the Captain Kangaroo daily national broadcast displaced his
locally-produced
program. The next year, Billy turned-up at competitor WTTG-TV
5 as host both of "The Fun House" and "The Billy
Johnson
Show". However, by March of 1958, Billy would be handed his walking
papers
once again when the long-running DC kid star Pick Temple moved his
program downtown from Channel-9 to Channel-5. |
 |
.
| Milt
Wishard points-out, Billy Johnson in the trademark checkered shirt was
not the same man as Bill
Johnson who wore fine mens' suits, hosted
Three
Stooges comedies and announced for the "Ten O'Clock News".
"...
I
worked with both men during my time in TV broadcasting. My very
first
show as a TV cameraman was with Billy Johnson in the summer of 1949 at
WLW-D
in Dayton, Ohio and then I worked with the other Bill
Johnson during my time (1950-1993) with
Channel
7 in DC."
|
The
easy way to remember the difference in the Johnsons is; 'Billy' was the
smaller of the two and almost always holding a guitar. 'Bill',
as
I remember, had no musical expertise.
Bill
Johnson would have been with WMAL-TV in the
late
'60s or early '70s as a staff announcer and always in the announce
booth.
This was in the days before cartridge tapes and all the commercial
stuff
that came from the ad agencies was on a 16-inch acetate disk. The
tags were from a live announcer in the booth."
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WTOP-TV
9 "The Billy Johnson Show"
(Donated
by Tom Buckley, WUSA-TV)
|
.
During
his TV-9 days, Billy featured songs, cartoons, and his puppets, "Wally"
and "Ginty", (sometimes spelled "Genty"). Later at WTTG-5,
he added
a bird puppet; "Reggie".
Billy's
puppets never spoke, but rather lip-synched songs from phono records
that
were either sped-up or slowed-down for the desired effect. |
. |
Gary
Hayworth wrote: "Wally was the darker
one.
Ginty was the lighter one with the big ears. Wally's voice
sounded
like a 45 rpm record played at 33 1/3, while Ginty's sounded like a 45
rpm record played at 78."
"When
I recall the show, three things stand out: Billy; the two
puppets;
and most of all his theme song - 'Up
a Lazy River'. I remember Billy singing it at the beginning
and
end of each show. I was about 5 or 6 when I used to watch it."
|
Philip Terzian
of Oakton fills-in a few more facts: "The
theme song was Hoagy Carmichael's 'Up the Lazy River' (not 'Up a Lazy
River').
I do recall the setting being altered to a country store at some point
in the show's tenure, featuring an enormous coffee grinder in the
vicinity
of Billy Johnson and his guitar. " |
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Hear
Billy Sing A Verse of Lazy River at Kidshow
Klips!
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| John
Dowling notes; "When I was very young, I
was
a stone Billy Johnson fan. I even tried to make a bed for
Ginty.
I think I made one saw cut before I got tired and gave up. Hey, I was 5!" |
.
Skip
McCloskey
met
Billy;
"I
remember my
dad
taking me
to the
High's
in Hyattsville
(we
lived around
the
corner)
to see
Billy.
He
was set up
in the
back
storage
room
signing
these
books and
talking
to kids."
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.
 |
"'The
Story of
Ice
Cream'
comic
book was
handed-out
by the
High's
Dairy chain.
The
back
cover
lists
some of the
other
kids shows
on at
that time.
The
writing
under
the word
'Story'
on the
front
cover is
Billy
Johnson's
autograph."
|
High's
was also the place to get a collection of Billy Johnson's songs:
"Billy
(WTOP-TV) Johnson's recordings are now being sold in ice cream stores
as
well as the disc shops." (Source: Lawrence
Laurent's
column in the 8/2/53 Washington Post)
. |
?>
This live performance (filmed
using a kinescope camera) at 6:00pm
on Monday, May 27th, 1957 from the Raleigh Hotel studios of WTTG-5 may
be the only surviving footage of Billy Johnson's DC kid shows.
The show is available to buy on DVD from Ira Gallen's tvdays.com web site. | ?>
Part
2 of the kinescope of Billy Johnson's WTTG show, contains some
surprises in the appearance of "Milt Grant" of the "Record Hop". | ?>
Part 3 of the kinescope of Billy Johnson's WTTG show features two appearances by special guest Lee
Reynolds of Grandpa's
Place. |
Billy Johnson, seriously ill from heart problems,
passed away on Christmas Day 2006
at age 81 in the presence of his loving family.
JOHNSON, William R.
Beloved husband of Ursula M. Johnson (nee
Bamber), Loving father of William Roger Johnson III, Robert Victor
Johnson, Teresa Schmid (Martin) and Jude Anne Willcher, dear
grandfather of Thomas Johnson, William Roger Johnson IV, James B.
Johnson and Alexis Willcher, great-grandfather of Noah D. Johnson and
brother of Mary Lou Stiver. December 25, 2006, Age 81. Funeral service
was Thursday, December 28th 1 P.M. at the Thomas-Justin Memorial, 7500 Montgomery Rd..
Burial was at Dayton National Cemetery. |
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Sources:
"TV Life" Article/photo and TV Station Publicity Cards courtesy Jack
Maier;
Billy on WTOP-TV-9 photo courtesy Tom Buckley, WUSA-TV; Thanks to
Philip
Terzian, Gary Hayworth, John Dowling & Skip McCloskey for his story
and the autographed High's comic, Thanks to Milt Wishard for
identifying
the two different Johnsons.
Ads
and Airtimes from the Evening Star & Washington Post. Thanks to Ira Gallen's tvdays.com for the videos.
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All
Shows Originated From Metropolitan Washington, D.C. Studios
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Kaptain
Kidshow
Saluting
Vintage TV Kid Shows
Produced
In Washington, DC
|
Page
Revised: 7/30/07
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