Kids grew up watching Casey Jones, Axel, Clancy and Willie, and Grandpa Ken on Minnesota television. Eventually kids become teenagers and their interests change a bit. For me, there were monster movies. The showcase for classic (and not so classic) horror movies was Horror Incorporated, on KSTP, channel 5. The program was […]
Horror Incorporated was the monster movie franchise in the Twin Cities, bringing us all the great Universal monsters like Frankenstein with Boris Karloff and Dracula with Bela Lugosi. For most of the shows run, there was a generic open of a featuring a hand crawling out of a coffin. But for a short while, in […]
It was hard to grow up in Minnesota and not know Carmen the Nurse. As Carmen, Mary Davies was costar to Clellan Card’s Axel from 1954 until Card passed away in 1966. After that, Mary Davies hosted her own program, Carmen’s Cottage which was paired up with Clancy and Willie on weekday mornings until 1977. […]
I’ve heard this story repeated many times, but now I’ve been able to track down a little more information. The story goes that Commodore Cappy was talking to Vivian Vulture about Valentines Day. Vivian told the Commodore that she wasn’t going to get any Valentines and that she had never received one. Of course this […]
This is a bit of a holiday tradition for kids that grew up in Minnesota. Clellan Card’s annual performance of A Night Before Christmas!
Here’s an old kinescope from our friends at the Pavek Museum of Broadcasting. Mary Davies sings Sleigh Ride from the 1954 program Country Holiday. Mary would go on to play Carmen the Nurse on WCCO with Axel and Clancy and Willie MARY DAVIES “SLEIGH RIDE” 1954 from Pavek Museum on Vimeo.
Here’s a popular WCCO holiday special from 1974 featuring Dave Moore and many other WCCO personalities. Thanks to WillG for posting this on YouTube
The Pavek Museum of Broadcasting has shared this feature on Miss Betty Douglass from TV’s Romper Room. MARY “MISS BETTY” DOUGLASS & ROMPER ROOM from Pavek Museum on Vimeo.
Here is a very rare home movie from 1964 of the Minneapolis Aquatennial Parade. At about the 6:30 mark there are a few seconds featuring WCCO’s Axel.
Back in 2000, Tony Ducklow hosted his own kid’s show in Minneapolis called Captain McCool and Friends. The show was broadcast on several community access channels in the Twin Cities. Tony grew up watching Casey Jones and Clancy and Willie, and the Captain McCool show was an homage to those earlier programs. In 2001, Allan […]