Very little programing form the early days of children’s television has survived. Most shows were broadcast live in the 1950’s and 60’s. Occasionally, programs were preserved on kinescope, with the intention they would be rebroadcast later. A “kinescope” was usually a 16mm film that was photographed off a high resolution TV monitor. The results were acceptable for television broadcast at that time, but by today’s standards the image was low resolution. A good example of preserved kinescopes that you may be familiar with would be the Honeymooner’s Lost Episodes.
Kinescopes preserved a scant few minutes of Lunch with Casey from the early 60s on WTCN, and one or two episodes of T.N.Tatters and Captain Daryl from KSTP. Around 2007, a kinescope was discovered that preserved an episode of Captain Ken’s Showboat from WOC-TV in Quad Cities, Iowa from the late 1950’s. I don’t have a copy of this film, but it represents how the program looked when it aired on WOC, and later on KMSP. We don’t have the exact date of this program.
These images were posted to the defunct website Captain Ernie’s Showboat in 2007. The website is gone but I was able to retrieve these images from the Internet Archive.
Captain Ken’s Showboat featured Ken Wagner as Captain Ken, along with his puppet friends, hosting cartoons and promoting local businesses. Please contact us if you have any further information about this program or the kinescope! Please!
The film begins after the start of the show. The first image on the film is a toucan bird in the Dixie Belle’s pilot house. Apparently, this bird is laughing at a previous cartoon and introducing the next cartoon.
Ha, Ha, Ha, I don’t know what i am laughing for but I’m great!
I love a good cartoon, don’t you love a cartoon?
Well, we’ve got another one right now about playing cards. It stars Bimbo, the dog.
What’s the title of it? “Ace of Spades”!
An incomplete version of this cartoon is available on YouTube. The Bimbo cartoons were produced by the Fleicher Studios from 1930 to 1933.
The program continued with an advertisement for Keds Shoes.
This is followed by Captain Ken promoting a local giveaway for a “Gem Dandy surrey with a fringe on top. This dandy is easy to steer and a breeze to put together!” Ken’s daughter Linda is driving the surrey.
This was followed but a commercial for Oscar Meyer.
Captain Ken, with the help of Tommy the Cabin Boy, opened a treasure chest to draw the name of a prize winner for the day. . The lucky child will win one of the terrific prizes that were given away daily on the show. The winners on this show were Mike Dempsey from Moline, Illinois receiving a Voit Volleyball and Rodney Ninche from Coralville, Iowa gwtting a Ray-O-Vac flashlight. Following this, Ken has to fill some time telling Toomy that Coralville has an earthen dam and there is a big lake there. He comments that the Dixie Belle can’t go there because it is not connected to the Mississippi River.
This is followed by another cartoon from Fleischer Studios called All’s Well, featuring Gabby. Of course, this would be seen in black and white.
The program ends with Tommy the Cabin Boy talking to Calliope the Turtle, telling viewers to tune in tomorrow. The end credits were created by Ken Wagner himself. The music at the end of the program was “Here Comes the Showboat, performed by Marjorie Meinert. It comes from her “Crazy Calliope” album.
Sources: Captain Ernie’s Showboat website, captured in 2007, on the Internet Archive