"I was doing 'Grandpa's Place' at the time WTTG purchased the Popeye cartoon package.  They held auditions, looking for a  personality to act as host for a program featuring these cartoons.  I was encouraged by friends at the station to create a suitable character, preferably a sailor. It had to be radically different in appearance from the Grandpa makeup. Tugg and all the characters, plus the sets, were all my creation."

"The show ended when I joined a geology professor and a crew of students from American University on a 'round-the-world' cruise to explore volcanos. This left the void which was filled by new programs. Money was not a factor. Nothing could have been cheaper than the budget for my shows. (Incidentally, the expedition failed when our 72-foot ketch was damaged in a storm in the Red Sea in 1966.)"

"Unfortunately, I don't think children's programming as it existed in those days will ever come back.  ... Whenever people ask 'what happened to Capt. Tugg?' my answer depends upon my mood.  Sometimes I say 'He drowned in the Red Sea' and when I'm in a more pleasant mood, I simply say 'He retired from sea duty.' (But he still sails with me on our little sloop, Courageous Too.  At present, Mr. Flannagan is having trouble with our inboard engine. Ha!)"

"I worked in TV, mostly behind the scenes and off-camera, for almost 25 years after my return from Africa.  From this experience, I do not feel that I could cope with the attitudes of the people running TV in this day and age.  And they certainly could not cope with my particular way of doing things.  Almost all of my shows in the old days were ad-libbed.  This method would not be tolerated today. Yes, I still have Fantail, but he is not in good shape these day, due to being stored in a plastic bag."

"Remember Axel Grackle? (one of two spys). Tugg would eavesdrop on their devious plans over the radio. There'd be lots of skits with them, too.  Fantail the Parrot's favorite snack was only one thing; seaweed crackers.  The Captain snacked on whatever he was pitching that day - one was Planter's Peanut Butter."

Ernest Moncada comments: "Fantail was scheduled to be launched into space. Seaweed crackers produced no crumbs.  Can't have crumbs floating inside the capsule in outer space.  On the subject of villains, don't forget the 'Seahag'."

John Bevilacqua adds: "I also remember when the Captain would try to sing the theme song to 'The Mighty Hercules'."

Fantail was a hand puppet given to me by a puppeteer who went by the name of Miss Verlain.  She did shows at Normandy Farms, and the puppet was in lieu of payment for some recordings I did for her show. Fantail's persona was only real in my mind, but he also had a mind of his own. I never felt responsible for what he would say next.  One day he said 'It's going to snow!' and it did!  I have no idea why I put those words in his beak.

Unfortunately, I did not hide my smoking habit from your view.  (I hope this traumatic revelation did not get you hooked on the habit!)  As for the make-up, I always felt vulnerable whenever I went out on a personal appearance.  A feisty little red-headed kid once threatened to pull my nose off, and he only relented when I threatened to pull HIS nose off.

If you remember Capt. Lee, there was an episode in which he went down in a 'hard hat' diving rig.  I insisted on going to the Navy Diving School in Anacostia and taking basic training, and later actually diving on a wreck in the Potomac.  (This was great fun!) ...

I guess what I intended to say was that I am disappointed that you were disa- ppointed! Do you remember the line from 'The Wizard of Oz'?  When Dorothy discovered the wizard behind the curtain, he said, 'I'm not a bad man, I'm just a bad Wizard!' That's a bit how I felt whenever kids came to the studio.  As long as you could only see Tugg on the TV set, I hope he didn't appear to be such a bad Captain.

Anyway, it's good to be remembered from the old days.

LeeR  (Tugg)" 

"In the middle of his program, the Cap'n would head to the back of the Channel Queen to announce he'd try to pick-up Santa leaving the North Pole (it was still about 5PM EST).  Sure enough, a blinking light would suddenly appear on the radar screen that was Santa. If I remember correctly, Tugg told his young audience that Santa was heading west from the North Pole because it was already nighttime in other countries. However, he told the boys and girls that by the time they got to sleep, Santa would be approaching the East coast. This was one additional thing that ALWAYS got me to bed early."

They were always hawked as 'safe and sane' (... as opposed to dangerous and crazy), were 'Avail- able at all local area Dart Drug, Drug Fair, and High's stores!', and had names like 'Spirit of '76', 'Miss Liberty', 'Project Mercury', and 'Liberty Bell'. The Cadillac of all the assortments (that all we kids dreamed of), came in a big red tube with a black cone on top, and looked like a rocket.

...After finally pestering our parents into getting them for us, all us kids in the neighborhood would take our fireworks out of the boxes, and then spend hours organizing, admiring, and playing with them, and showing them off to our friends, always for at least a week before the big night came.

My personal favorite item was always the 'House on Fire', a little red cardboard house with a (very lame) fountain (which always burned out too quickly) sticking out of the top like a chimney. When the fountain failed to catch the little house on fire, which was almost always (not that it was supposed to), my friends and I would dutifully light it ourselves, and ensure it 'burned to the ground', all the time dancing around, laughing and screaming 'Fire! Fire!'. ..."