I remember "Time for Science". I was a student at R.E. Lee Elementary School in Alexandria, and we were allowed to watch the show on a special TV. The theme for the show was either Pomp and Circumstance or Clark's Trumpet Voluntary. (Whichever, it is the one the play at graduation ceremonies.) The instructor was Prof. Darrel Drummond. He was a nerdy science sort with horn rimmed glasses and a high pitched voice, nothing like Mr. Wizard.

Anyway, I loved the show. Part of it was the novelty of watching TV in school, but Prof Drummond knew his stuff. If I remember correctly, it was mostly physical science. I remember to this day though, why you can drive a nail with a hammer but not your fist, and that a whole stalk of celery contains very little bulk, once the water is removed. Darrel showed this by actually chewing up a bunch of celery and spitting out the remains into a spoon. That's the kind of lesson you remember. I also learned about mnemonics and how "Roy G. Biv" lets you remember the colors in the visible spectrum. ...

I noticed in the Hoppity Skippity site there was no mention made of the rabbit talking to the cartoon king on his special elongated telephone. Also, Hoppity had a kid's art gallery where he would display pictures sent in by his (so-called) "fans". I question "fans", as a great deal of the drawings would show a crudely rendered bunny with a knife cutting or a machine-gun gunning him followed by the words: "You are not a real live rabbit!!" Of course, the game bunny would assure us that he was, in fact, that very thing indeed. 

He lied. I saw him live at a trade show held at the roller rink and you could see his zipper big time. It was a great rabbit suit though and it has allowed me to watch that "Harvey" film with J. Stewart lots of times because I am sure Harvey looks just that way.

My older sister claims that Hoppity Skippity was in her bedroom one night and when she saw him he put his finger to his lips and said "Shush." I think she was having a dream, but she still sticks to the tale and she is almost 60 years of age. Go figure.

Tom Mechling

I was searching the Internet for "Ranger Hal" and I found your site. On page 2 of the Ranger Hal section, you have a photo of my father, Henry Baranek (aka Henry Baran), who was Ranger Hal in Jacksonville!

We knew about the original RH up here, and saw him on TV when we visited relatives who lived here.  My Dad's show was on WJXT, Channel 4, from 1958-1969.  He had no competition for the morning children's market: the other station in town (there were only 2 commercial stations most of those years) had an afternoon kids' show. 

WJXT started in 1949, and when they had a 50th anniversary special in 1999 they had a few seconds of "Ranger Hal" clips.  We were pretty happy.  On the one hand he was big in Jacksonville -- but on the other hand his show ran only 11 years out of the 50.  (WJXT recently became a CNN affiliate station, and the brief "history" page on their Web site doesn't mention Ranger Hal. It's easy to understand.  But it seems like everyone who was a teenager in North Florida for those years remembers him.)

My Dad really enjoyed doing the show, as well as all of the other things that go with being a local celebrity, such as visiting new shopping malls and hospitals, and "exploring" the many attractions around Florida, which he filmed and showed during his show.  He was very professional in his role.  I remember that he told me his philosophy was to treat his audience like they were young adults instead of little children.  Needless to say, we were proud of him.

He died in Jacksonville in 1979 of a health problem (inoperable tumor on his heart).

David Baranek

(See Dave's web site dedicated to his Dad at: http://members.cox.net/rangerhaljax)

I was totally blown away by your Web site. I have vivid memories of weekday afternoons absorbed in watching Cap'n Tugg, Bozo, Miss Connie, Pick Temple, Ranger Hal, and Cousin Cupcake.

I didn't realize how much history my family shared with Cousin Cupcake. My parents and Bob Porter knew each other from community theater back in the late 50s and early 60s (the Fairfax Players). I'm sure that is how my mother got the tickets for my sister and I to appear on his show, as well as on Bozo. I have bragging rights to sitting on Willard Scott's lap!  I was somewhere between the ages of 5 and 7 when I was on both shows. I use to stare into the camera, then glance  at the TV monitor and see myself. Amazing stuff. 

I was also on Pick Temple's Giant Ranch. ... I remember receiving the Giant Food goodie bag after the show and standing in line to meet Pick. I told him that I got a haircut, which was probably two weeks before the show, but it was news anyway. He replied that he also got his hair cut. For that brief moment, me and the Pick bonded and I was absolutely thrilled by it all.

However, what may have been the biggest influence in my childhood was "The Adventures of Pow Wow" cartoons, shown on Countdown Carnival and I think Cap'n Tugg, too. My fixation on Native Americans was so intense that I drove my family absolutely nuts. Maybe because growing up in white bread suburban Northern Virginia, Pow Wow was so exotic to me. I wanted black hair and brown eyes so I can look like an Indian though I had light brown (now gray) hair and blue eyes. I thought the feathers and fringes were so cool and I wanted to learn to play a drum. I've been a drummer for almost a decade now, and I owe most of it to Pow Wow.

Thanks for bringing back all those memories for me.

Roberta 

Great web page!  Maybe you should put Mike Fury in the list along with Wonderama....they were kid shows in the 70s and 60s too.

I remember the "Beth and Bower" show (I always thought Beth was a babe with great looks like Grace Kelly).  I remember her last name being Arnold and always wondered whether she was related to Benedict. :-)

If you should ever one day meet her, tell her that one of her fans thought she was one hot babe and ask if she was ever related to Benedict Arnold--I always wanted to know!  :-)

 B

I was fortunate enough to have been on the Pick Temple show and really enjoy reading all these memories. 

I was very excited the day I got dressed in my cowboy clothes and Dad took me to the show.  I was so excited that when the elevator door opened to take us up to the studio I charged in before the people could get off. The elevator operator snatched me up and gave me a stern lecture that I should always let people get OFF the elevator before I get on. A lesson many folks have yet to learn, I try to teach this fine point of etiquette today to those who might listen. 

Thus chastened, I went up to the studio.  I remember being sternly told before the show that if anyone sang "My favorite bread's Bond" instead of "My favorite bread's Heidi", they would be kicked off the show.  Convinced me to be good!

One of the games played on the show was 'Pass the Spinach'; a version of  'Hot Potato' with a tie-in to the Popeye cartoons.  I was chosen to get in the circle and Pass the Spinach, (A can of Giant Spinach, I'm sure!)  One by one, the other kids were eliminated from the game and it was just me and another kid.  Luck was with me that day and I won! Boy was I proud!  TWO free cartons of Heidi ice cream!  I remember going to the Giant on South Capitol Street, across from Eastover Shopping Center, and getting two cartons of orange sherbert with my coupons.

Pick Temple sure had a great show. It really made me feel special to be on it.  It's nice to relive these memories. Now, if only Giant would have some of those delicious hard chocolate chip cookies in the yellow bag the next time I visit DC...

Thanks for this great site, 

Tom Wolfe
Summerville, SC

Congrats. I looked up your web site via my Yahoo search for Pick Temple... a result of seeing the buttons featured on the cover of the Post's 125th Anniversary Section.

My father owned the Bethesda Pet Foods and Supplies shop across the Street from the Zephyr restaurant, in a space that is now Tempo Books, just down the hill from Channel 9.  (Count's Western Wear eventually moved in next door and finally took over my dad's space when he went out of business.)

My understanding is that Pick Temple bought Lady from my dad and that for years afterwards Pick would have my father's mynah birds, parrots,  and other exotic animals on the show to help promote the pet shop. 

My sister landed in the Peanut Gallery, but every year I filled out the card and every year I remained unlucky. Part of me regrets not being one of "Pick's Giant Rangers" to this day.  ...

Cheers,
Richard Peabody

My mother was on the Pick Temple show in the '50s. She had always talked about it because she was able to stand upfront and whistle for the camera.

Thank you for putting this together so now I know what the show looked like.

Jstolle70

I thought of another DC area kids' show this morning that I haven't yet seen mentioned on your site. It was called "The Black Phantom" and featured a guy in a dark Batman-like outfit who stood in one spot (there was no set that I can recall; it looked like the show was being broadcast from an alley) and introduced two episodes of a cliffhanger serial that ran during the program. 

The first serial he showed was THE BLACK WIDOW and featured this sinister Vampirella-type woman who disposed of her enemies by siccing her black widow spider on them. There was another serial he showed after THE BLACK WIDOW ran its course, but I don't recall the title. When that second serial was over, they showed THE BLACK WIDOW again.

My sisters and I totally freaked on THE BLACK WIDOW, so seeing the same chapter play again didn't faze us one bit. 

The only departure from this format came when The Black Phantom welcomed a bunch of guys who did martial arts to the show. There was some sort of "judo" demonstration that day; I was convinced that The Black Phantom must have been these guys' teacher. He seemed to be ordering them around like he knew them.

That's about all I remember about the show. I looked up THE BLACK WIDOW in film collectors' magazines, (I'm a 16mm film collector), and the general consensus is that it's one of the cheesiest serials ever made. Still, I wouldn't mind one more look at that huge black spider crawling out of the little hinged box on the back of the chair that the Black Widow sat her victims in and witnessing the instantaneous, horrible death that ensued. My sisters and I LOVED that.

I'd be interested in knowing if anyone else out there in TV land remembers this show.

Best,
Will Ravenel

What a trip down memory lane!  It was a real jolt to find your page, especially the info on "Sam & Friends."

Really good stuff!

Larry McClemons