 .
|
"The
Romper Room"
|
Logo
Donated By Jack Maier
Aired
on Various DC Stations,
Mondays
through Fridays
at Various
Airtimes,
From
1954 to 1973 and again from 1975 to 1986
Aired
on WTTG-TV 5:
With
"Miss Lynn"
(4/5/54
to November 1954):
10:00
to 11:00AM
|
(November
1954 to 3/4/55):
5:30
to 6:00PM
|
|
Aired
on WRC-TV 4:
With
"Miss Jan" at first,
and
later "Miss Barbara" (Harris)
(3/7/55
to June 1955):
9:15
to 9:45AM
|
(June
1955 to 8/29/57):
9:30
to 10:00AM
|
When
the show got a new host and moved to Channel-7, Barbara Harris moved over
to WTTG-5 as their weekday weather person.
|
Aired
on WMAL-TV 7:
With
"Miss Sally" (Finkbine)
(9/16/57-9/19/58):
11:00AM-12:00
Noon
|
|
Aired
on WTTG-TV 5 again:
With
"Miss Connie" (Bohlin)
(9/22/58-1959):
12:30
to 1:00PM
|
. |
(Fall
1964):
9:00AM-9:30AM
|
Visit
the
"Miss
Connie"
Web
Page
|
(Fall
1959-1960):
12:00
to 1:00PM
|
. |
(Early
1965-1966):
9:00AM-9:55AM
|
(Fall
1960-1964):
11:30AM-12:25PM
|
. |
(Fall
1966-January 1967):
8:00AM-9:00AM
|
|
Aired
on WDCA-TV 20:
Initially
With "Miss Anne" (Shadbolt)
(Fall
1967-1968):
10:30
to 11:30AM
|
|
Visit
the
"Miss
Anne"
Web
Page
|
(Fall
1968):
10:00
to 11:00AM
|
|
(Early
1969- September 1971):
12:00
to 1:00PM
|
|
Teacher's
Name Not Shown in
TV Listings
From 10/71 to 3/86
(October
1971-10/12/1973):
Various
Times
|
(3/31/1975-3/28/86):
Various
Times
|
|
|
Broadcast
live from local studios with in-studio "student" participation
and
various educational films, games, and early-learning features.
|
Licensed
from the original Romper Room which was first developed
in 1953
at WBAL-TV 11, Baltimore, by
Bert and Nancy Claster.
(Bert
Claster had gained his experience in TV production while working
at Washington's
WTOP-TV 9 before moving to Charm
City.)
This
incorrectly
captioned
photo
from
1/31/1965
in the
Sunday
Star
TV
Magazine
shows
"Miss
Sally" Rogers,
(not
her mother
Nancy
Claster),
training
a teacher
for
the Romper Room
franchise
in Manila,
The
Phillipines
(not
WTTG-5).
Donated
By Jack Maier-
|
|
By
1964, daughter Sally Claster Gelbard replaced Nancy as on-air
teacher
in Baltimore. "Miss Nancy" died in 1997 of cancer at age 82.
|
|
Sam
"Mac" McLanahan writes: "My
very first job was with Romper Room HQ in Baltimore from 1961-'70.
Among my responsibilities were those of 'Production Manager,' meaning that
I worked closely with many of the teachers across the country in providing
them the scripts and materials they needed on a daily basis to present
their live programs (and that went out weekly to more 100 different markets.)
I worked closely with Bert and Nancy Claster, as well as their daughter
Sally when she became teacher for the local Baltimore program."
|
|
|
Regina
Litman reports; "...
(Around 1957), I met a celebrity for the first time. My parents took me
to see Romper Room's Miss Barbara who was appearing
at the
Four Corners Peoples Drug Store in Silver Spring."
|
Viewers
were encouraged to show proper behavior by remembering:
"Do
Be a 'Do Bee'. Don't Be a 'Don't -Bee'."
.
"I
always do everything right.
I never
do anything wrong.
I'm
a Romper Room Do Bee;
A Do
Bee all day long!"
|
|
.
"Start
buzzin' buzzin'. Here's your chance.
Everybody's
doing the Do Bee dance.
Just
let your wings fly, your arms fly too.
Then
buzz around round and round... Do-body-doo!"
|
 "Mac"
McLanahan continues: "In the early 60's, the
'Animal Friends' segment needed to be upgraded. Bert Claster purchased
a Bolex 16mm, 3-lens movie camera (rather state-of-the-art at the time)
and my job was to create a number of filmed pieces featuring different
animals. On many occasions, I would drive to the National Zoo in
DC and start filming. I would drop off the exposed film at a lab
in Baltimore, on the way home, for processing. Then I would pick
up the developed rolls of film and take them back to the Claster office
and edit the segments together using the good old technique of cutting
the film with a razor, scraping the emulsion off one piece, then gluing
the two pieces together, praying that the splice would hold. I then
went back to the lab and had 100+ film copies made of each segment. These
aired all over the country as 'Animal Friends.'"
|
|
The
teacher held a
"Magic
Mirror" in which she could "see" some
young
members of the
home
TV audience.
She
would call-out the names of those lucky kids;
"I see
Jim and Kevin
and
Barbie and Suzie!"
|
 |
|
"Romper,
bomper,
stomper,
boo.
Tell
me, tell me,
tell
me do.
Magic
mirror,
tell
me today.
Did
all my friends
have
fun at play?"
|
|
"Mac"
McLanahan adds: "Another thing I did had to
do with the infamous Magic Mirror. I went to a film producer in Baltimore
(I believe his name was Max Brecker) and looked at a number of film effects
he had. I picked one that looked kind of hallucinogenic with a changing
swirl of colors eminating from the center. Once again, we duplicated
this piece of 16mm film and sent it to all the stations. This is
what millions of kids saw as they held their collective breath, hoping
to hear their names spoken.
Those
mirrors, incidentally, were purchased from a Baltimore barber supply company.
Our two shipping clerks in the basement periodically covered a bunch of
mirrors in Elmer's glue, sprinkled sparkles all over them, then let them
dry. Voila! 'Magic Mirrors.'"
|
|
|
|
.
|
Sources:
Sam "Mac" McLanahan, Bill Todd, Jack Maier, Sean Hall, Regina Litman,
Park Temple,
Tom
Mechling, Jim "Lazymoon" Gscheidle, Debra Nickens, Linda Bolick and Mark
Rockman.
WDCA
facts and photo provided by Dick Dyszel. Romper Room Logo Donated By Jack
Maier.
Some
facts & airtimes provided from listings in the Evening Star and Washington
Post.
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
All
Shows Originated From Metropolitan Washington, D.C. Studios
|
..
.
|
Outstanding Sites
you'll also want to visit...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Kaptain
Kidshow
Saluting
Vintage TV Kid Shows
Produced
In Washington, DC
|
Page
Revised: 8/26/04
.
.
Complete
List of Shows
.
Complete
List of Hosts
.
Sounds
From The Shows
.
Your
Own Recollections
.
Send
Email To Kappy
|
