updated Feb 15, 2025
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 not “Don’t-Bees.” The host had a “magic mirror” and would look through it and call out to children watching at home. The theme for the show was “Pop Goes the Weasel” and often featured a Romper Room jack-in-the-box.
In Minneapolis, Romper Room was first broadcast on WTCN in the mid-fifties, and later on KMSP in the sixties. We are still tracking down information on Romper Room in the Twin Cities, so if you have any memories, please share them!
The earliest reference I have is from December 12, 1955, with the show airing on WTCN, Channel 11, and hosted by Miss Kaye. June Greiner, followed Miss Kaye in 1956 or 1957. Miss Phyllis Keller took over in June 1957. Miss Betty Douglass was hosting the show in 1960.
In 1962, Romper Room jumped from channel 11 to channel 9 and Betty Douglass continued hosting at least through November 1968. Surviving clips of Miss Betty visiting a fire station were included on the Hey Kids DVD released by the Pavek Museum and available on the Lunch With Casey website. Miss Betty was the longest running host of Romper Room in the Twin Cities, and most likely the one everyone remembers!
The show had several hosts, including Miss Karen in 1969, Miss Nancy in 1972, and was last aired in the Twin Cities in 1974.
Read more about Romper Room on this site
We still don’t have a lot of information about Romper Room in Minnesota. If you have any knowledge, photos, or news, please contact us!
Sources:
- Romper Room on Wikipedia
- Romper Room on TVParty
- Hi Kid’s retrospective
- Jack Kennelly research