"Cowboy
Joe
Campbell"
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(Photos
©2004,
Estate of Joseph Pendleton Campbell. All rights reserved.)
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Following
service with the Navy in WW II, young Joseph Pendleton Campbell tried
his
hand at acting, songwriting, and nightclub singing before returning to
his hometown of Staunton, Virginia. |
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Joe's
long broadcasting career began by simply walking into local radio
station
WTON-AM in search of a job.
A quick
visit to DC in 1951, only hoping to sell one of the songs he had
written,
led Joe to a chance tour of the WMAL Radio/TV studios and an unexpected
job offer of staff announcer and DJ.
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After
Joe did a spot on WMAL's Miss Ruth Anne's Kindergarten, (a
Romper
Room type show), for Sunbeam Bread, account executive Paul Menzer asked
if he sang and played guitar. Joe said that he sang a bit and had
learned
to play guitar as a kid. So, Menzer spoke to WMAL station manager
Charles
Kelly, and the next day Joe donned a cowboy hat and brought his guitar
to work. |
Sunbeam
Bread faithfully sponsored “Cowboy Joe” on television for several
years.
Their first TV program together, "Joe's
Ranch", debuted on the evening of March 18, 1953 as a
fifteen-minute
Wednesday-only show positioned right before the 6:45pm news wrap-up. In a snap,
the
popular show was extended to six-nights-a-week with a 45-minute
Saturday
presentation. at 6:00pm.
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In time,
Paul Menzer, who had become Joe's personal manager, thought it might
work
to Joe's advantage to take his act to NBC's WNBW, Channel-4 (soon to be
re-christened WRC-TV), so Joe obtained a release from station manager
Charles
Kelly and moved over. |
Upon arriving at
Channel-4, Joe was first assigned in his
cowboy role to a long-running favorite of DC area
kids, Circle
4 Ranch. The Saturday production
eventually
added a second airing every Sunday morning opposite Pick Temple on Channel-9 and, as Campbell writes in
his autobiography, he
regularly
beat out the competition.
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On Monday
morning June 14, 1954, Channel-4's top brass endeavored to extend Joe's
weekend success with a brand-new fifteen-minute-a-weekday program. The
new Cowboy
Joe offering preceded the NBC network show "Ding Dong School"
with Miss Frances, (airing
from Chicago). |
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4 Ranch full-hour format allowed Joe
to perform elaborate skits featuring his "picking and singing". By late
autumn 1954, many of these skits involved hand-puppets, "Longhorn",
"Shorthorn", (and
later, "Penelope"). Few folks know those puppets were the brainchild of
Joe,
and built by a soon to be rising star on Channel-4's staff. |
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Joe's
director, Bob Porter, (who
would step into the spotlight as Cousin Cupcake from
1959 to '66) introduced him to a newly hired University of MD freshman Jim
Henson who worked off-camera in set design/construction.
Joe personally designed "Shorthorn", "Longhorn",
and eventually "Penelope". Jim Henson then crafted the puppets
according to Joe Campbell's exact specifications.
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When picking a name for these cloth
characters, Bob Porter first suggested "Moppet Puppets." However, it
was Joe Campbell who coined the term "Muppet" during that conversation,
and the name stuck. On December 18, 1954, James Maury
Henson signed a handwritten contract (shown on right)
giving Joe Campbell 51% ownership
of the muppets known as "Longhorn" and "Shorthorn." |
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Although
Joe would perform his own singing and dialogue "live" during each
broadcast, he provided
the voices for Longhorn,
Shorthorn and Penelope through the magic of pre-recording. In that era,
such recordings were made on large 33rpm acetate transcription disks;
several of which have survived for 50 years, and are cherished by the
whole Campbell clan. (Hear a
sample MP3.) |
Watch For More
Photos From
Joe Campbell's Scrapbook
Soon!
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to
be continued...
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(©2004,
Estate of Joseph Pendleton Campbell. All rights reserved.)
Joe
Campbell passed-away on November 10, 2003 at age 79,
but
not before he was able to complete, and see, his auto-
biography,
"On The Edge of Greatness (But No Cigar)", in print.
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Photos
and articles ©2004, Estate of Joseph Pendleton Campbell. All
rights
reserved.
Data
provided courtesy of Sharen Campbell Dowdy with Mark and Phil Campbell.
Some
data provided by TV listings in The Evening Star and The Washington
Post.
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All
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