In 1955, Jim Lange was Captain 11 on Channel 11 in the Twin Cities. This is a very rare premium from that show. Apparently it was a “Rocket Ranger Kit” that you could send away for. This small envelop was packed full of all sorts of cool things You got an official photo of Captain [more]
Dave Lee was a storyteller, often making up amusing stories for the children watching, illustrating them live on his television program. His niece, Deb Rohrbach, fondly recalled these tales fr0m her childhood. She has vivid memories of visiting Dave Lee and his family in Minneapolis, as well as going to the television studio. According to [more]
This advirtisement from Sponsor magazine, April 16, 1956, promoted Terrytoons on the T.N. Tatters and Kaptain Kartoon shows on channel 5.
From Billboard July 7, 1956 This fascinating article offers a vivid description of Daryl Laub’s programs on KSTP, channel 5, shortly after the programs moved from WTCN, channel 11. The T.N. Tatters show is familiar and carried over from the J.P. Patches show on WTCN. However this is the first reference I have seen regarding [more]
Romper Room was developed by Bert and Nancy Claster in Baltimore in 1953 and distributed nationally as a franchise. Each broadcast market around the country had it’s own locally produced version of the show. The program endured into the mid-90′s. Each local TV show shared several common elements. Children were encouraged to be “Do-Bee’s” and [more]
Sev Widman (Severance J. Widman, Jr. 1922-1981) was a popular radio broadcaster in Minneapolis in the 40′s and 50′s. He hosted one of the earliest children’s shows on WTCN, channel 11, called Sheriff Sev. The show started in late 1953 along with Skipper Darl. Prior to hosting the Sheriff Sev program, Widman was a popular DJ in [more]
Dave Lee and his puppet creations were popular features on Twin Cities television in the late 1950′s though the late 1960′s, hosting programs on KMSP and WTCN. His most popular creations included Pete the Penguin and Omar the Alligator. David Gamble Lee began his broadcast career in 1944, as a summer announcer at WRJN [more]
The Dave Lee show featured an in studio audience of children, and each child would be given a “grab bag” featuring the various products from the shows sponsors such as Bonimo’s Turkish Taffy or TV Digest magazine. Each day, one lucky child would be the featured “announcer” and that person would pull the products out [more]
Chris Wedes played J.P. Patches on WTCN in the late 1950′s before taking the character to Seattle where he was on the air for over 20 years. In 2006, J.P Patches and Stan Boreson, another Seattle kids show host presented this 90 minute holiday retrospective featuring episodes of their shows. The first part is a [more]
Given that we will be voting for President in a few days, I thought it would be fund to revisit this picture. I’m pretty sure it dates to 1956, which had Dwight Eisenhower running for a second term against Adlai Stevenson. The folks at channel 11 felt that Joe the Cook would make a good [more]
