The JP Patches and Stan Boreson Holiday Special

Growing up in Seattle, we had some of the very best in kids programs on local TV. KIRO-TV Ch. 7's J.P. Patches, KING-TV Ch. 5's Stan Boreson, KOMO-TV Ch. 4's Captain Puget and KTNT-TV (now KSTW) Ch.11's Brakeman Bill. In the '60s, all four programs competed against each other, but it was always a friendly rivalry.

While all groups of kids had their favourites, the perennial and longest running was J.P. Patches. After J.P. Patches' show ended in 1981, JP would host specials and pledge drives for public station KCTS-TV Ch. 9, featuring rare archived clips of his show. But he ALWAYS paid tribute to his competitors in every one - VERY classy.

This is a special which ran on The Seattle Channel (the local Seattle public access cable channel, made sometime in 2009/2010 I guess.) bringing together J.P. Patches and Stan Boreson and playing episodes of their classic Christmas shows.

Watch here:

http://www.seattlechannel.org/videos/video.asp?ID=4040606&file=1

In "How Santa Got His Elves (More Or Less)" the King of The North was played by legendary KIRO-TV sportscaster Wayne Cody....

Enjoy!

The Disco Duck

In the end.....nobody was spared.

"Disco Duck" Rick Dees & His Cast of Idiots (1976)

"Disco Duck" Paul Vincent (1976, French Version)

"Silly Love Songs" Irwin The Disco Duck & The Wibble-Wabble Singers And Orchestra (1977)

"Macho Duck" Donald Duck (1979)

Aqua Dots

 

It seemed like a good idea.....

A kids art toy that made art out of little beads (aka "dots") and it was 2007 Toy of The Year, what could go wrong?

Well, everything.

The beads were manufactured in China and when combined with water, the chemicals did more than make art. When little kids swallowed the colourful dots that looked like candy (as little kids tend to do), and when mixed with water (or saliva) they combined to make what is known as GBH, infamously known as a "date rape" drug. Several kids were hospitalized after ingesting them. Fortunately no fatalities.

They were immediately recalled and parents rightfully began to question toys made in China and to no one's surprise, the vast majority of American toys are manufactured in China. Which is out of the jurisdiction of American regulators and where American toy corporations manufacture most of their toys because of the extremely cheap labour in manufacturing.

The product was reintroduced as Bindeez, Beados and Pixos using a non-toxic formula that was coated with a bitter tasting substance to discourage ingestion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bindeez

World War II Mickey Mouse Gas Masks

On December 7th, 1941, Japanese pilots dropped a bomb on the Pearl Harbor military base, which is one of the main reasons that drove the United States into World War II. After this incident, many Americans feared that the Axis would attack their soil.

To protect its population, the government distributed gas masks to the state of Hawaii. Unfortunately, there were only adult-sized masks. Children had trouble wearing the large gas masks and many were terrified of the safety device’s look.

As a solution, gas masks were created and issued shaped as Mickey Mouse. The masks were designed in mind so that children would wear them at all times and carry them as a game.

That was the intention anyway. Personally these things look scarier than the regular gas masks.

Fortunately, the 1000 Mickey masks that were made never had to be used.

Your First Phonograph/Stereo - Part 2

Click here for Part One

Cricket Records

Someone once asked me about Cricket Records (as they always seem to turn up in any random box of musty old 45s and this label design is iconic, if the actual music garbage with modern kids)

Yes, they were a children's record label for 45 and 78 RPM records and they were an early product of Pickwick Records, a $1.98 budget record label of the '50s and '60s. In fact, Cricket was certainly the very last record label in America to regularly press 78 RPM records, well into the '60s (and by some reports, until 1968!)

Easter Records

Easter music isn't anywhere NEAR as prolific as Christmas or Halloween music. A lot of people don't even know it exists.  

Here's a sample...... 

"Easter Parade" Rosemary Clooney (1955)

"Eggbert The Easter Egg" Rosemary Clooney (1952)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAYM2EBiVbw

"Little Johnny Chickadee" Rosemary Clooney (1952)

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2g5M8qCtG0

"Bunny On The Rainbow" Rosemary Clooney (1952)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_n3YNDE1Zs

"Peter Cottontail" Rosemary Clooney (1955)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjrL9mPLOZA

"My Choc'late Rabbit" Rosemery Clooney (1955)

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7GOFm3lFUk

While Rosemary Clooney has some sort of record in Easter song recordings. she wasn't the only one.

 "Easter Mornin'" Gene Autry

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6m8WzBOSCI

"The Horse With The Easter Bonnet" Gene Autry

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSnMZdjvcq4

Bad Saturday Morning Cartoons Of The '70s

The Brady Kids Meet Wonder Woman

I can just imagine this. Several ABC-TV programming honchos are sitting at a large table in a conference room, snorting a mountain of cocaine while trying to come up with new Saturday morning cartoon ideas.

Suddenly one of them jumps up and says "I'VE GOT IT! Why not make a cartoon with the kids from The Brady Bunch....and Wonder Woman!"

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

The Osmonds

The Osmonds were at their commercial peak in 1972. So Rankin-Bass, following the EXACT same formula of their successful Jackson 5ive cartoon, decided to recycle that into this show. And I do mean RECYCLE......

"The Unicorn" The Irish Rovers (1967)

Happy St. Patrick's Day......Of which would NEVER be complete without a mandatory playing of this classic. Which was written by the late Shel Silverstein (who also wrote "A Boy Named Sue" for Johnny Cash and "Cover Of The Rolling Stone" and "Sylvia's Mother" for Dr. Hook. As well as the classic children's books The Giving Tree and A Light In The Attic. I should write a post on Shel Silverstein. He's far more prolific than you might have ever known....)

Glen Campbell also played guitar on this song.

The Irish Rovers were an Irish folk band by way of Canada. They had several Canadian variety TV shows and specials. But very few other American radio hits. Their last appearance on the US charts was in 1980 with "Wasn't That A Party", by this time the band credited themselves as simply The Rovers.

Sea Monkeys

Sea Monkeys were an adorable, but BLATANT rip off. But to a 7 year old kid, they looked awesome.

The comic book ads looked tempting enough. I mean, just look at them. They looked so suburban. And intelligent. "THEY CAN EVEN BE 'TRAINED'" read the ad copy.

So after skipping sodas for a week, I collected $1.25

First, I had to get a fish bowl. Luckily, we still had one set aside after our goldfish swam to fishy heaven.

There were 4 packets. Water purifier, "Instant Life", "Living Plasma" and "Super Food", a feeding spoon and instructions.

The water had to be pure. Chlorine, metals, fluoride and minerals are bad for sea creatures. So. Water purifier packet and distilled water. Wait 24 hours.....

The package guaranteed they would magically appear before your very eyes. They forgot to mention you had to have superhuman vision. My mom's magnifying glass was of little use. There WERE super tiny particles in the water that appeared to have a sense of independent motion. But not enough to impress.

And where's the suburban looking Sea Monkey families? OK, they were just hatched. So when did they reach maturity? Get jobs and build houses and that sort of thing?

Granted, our Sea Monkeys didn't last a week before we threw it all out out of boredom....

Crayola Crayons

Who didn't own themselves a box of THESE?

Remember these now retired colours?

Green Blue
Orange Red
Orange Yellow
Violet Blue         
Maize
Lemon Yellow   
Blue Gray
Raw Umber (WTF?)

Halloween Hits: "The Headless Horseman" Bing Crosby (1949)

Halloween Hits: Georgie - Scholastic Records 1968

                                       

And the B-Side:  Mother Ghost Nursery Rhymes and Other Tricks and Treats

I think everyone who ever went to a suburban public elementary school in the '70s still remembers the Scholastic Book Club flyers and the books, magazines and records they offered within

Dynamite magazine anyone?

Scholastic Records was a sort of like Disneyland Records, if Disneyland were heavier into story books for their literary value than the commercial exploitation of them.

The Georgie record were based on a series of books written by Robert Bright, an author of children's books and it's pretty safe to say Georgie (written in 1944) was inspired by Casper The Friendly Ghost (first featured in 1939.) You could not hear this record and not make some immediate connection with Casper. Both are friendly ghosts, both are lonesome. Both have human relation problems.

The series continued with Georgie and The Robbers and Georgie and The Noisy Ghost.
 
Georgie was narrated by voice actor Bob McFadden, best known for his commercial work - he was the voice of Frankenberry in the Count Chocula cereal commercials.

Bob McFadden also had a Halloween hit in 1958, "The Mummy" for Brunswick Records.

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