Here's  two examples of creepy kiddie shows  from the 50's: "Super Circus"  (discovered it while looking at old commercials) and  "Howdy Doody" http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/09/scared.gif

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUywX81U36E



Though Mary Hartline was cute, the show was oversaturated with nightmarish images of  creepy clowns...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJ-IPXpvRaU

It's a bit strange for the conservative 50's to have referance to fecies on a title for a kiddie show...  ::)

The creep factor jumps a notch since the show featured a wooden puppet.

I'd like to add this one. Gave me Kinder-trauma when I was little. Lol ! Still gives me goose-bumps.

"The Paul Winchell/Jerry Mahoney Show"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeJdMuOAZkw

No wonder in ten and twenty years the kids of the '50s were dropping acid at Woodstock or smoking pot--it relieved the memories of their crazy, creepy '50s childhood.

No wonder in ten and twenty years the kids of the '50s were dropping acid at Woodstock or smoking pot--it relieved the memories of their crazy, creepy '50s childhood.


Makes sense.

Hey guy's!, you all are prejudging these absolutely marvelous TV shows that was for us kids in the 50's. You're forgetting, back then, TV was new, and they did everything blindly with presentation using old formats for shows that where in existence back then like circuses and slapstick vaudeville skits, that's all they had as a reference to format entertainment on this new TV invention. In the late 40's and early 50's these creepy shows, as you guys put it, but not to us kids of the 50's, were the pioneers of TV show formats and the networks copied each others work and actually taught each other by the seat of their pants how to entertain the viewers and every year they got better at it with every TV show in the future.

Although they look creepy, because of they're shown in black and white on a 9 inch TV screen, this was the biggest deal offered back then and we couldn't wait until they were shown daily and weekly. The Jerry Mahoney show was on Sundays and even parents looked forward to seeing him and Knucklehead, ask them, and Howdy Doody was as popular to us kids then, well, maybe as the Beatles were to us as we got older, since 99% of us 1964 Beatle fans were brought up on these shows. So please give it those pioneers the respect they deserve, they earned it! HW  

I remember It's Winchell Mahoney time.

Hey, Hotwax? Maybe we should say something like "No comment from the Peanut Gallery" but these kids wouldn't know what the Peanut Gallery is.  ;)




Cat

Hey, Hotwax? Maybe we should say something like "No comment from the Peanut Gallery" but these kids wouldn't know what the Peanut Gallery is.  ;)

Cat


;D

I remember It's Winchell Mahoney time.

Hey, Hotwax? Maybe we should say something like "No comment from the Peanut Gallery" but these kids wouldn't know what the Peanut Gallery is.  ;)




Cat





HA! HA! HA! yes, the famous peanut gallery, you know that saying was always used by my teachers throughout my school years, I still hear people use that saying today and I think they younger ones don't know where it originated from.

I used to get a real kick out Jerry Mahoney when Paul Winchell had Jerry do a tap dance. It was the coolest thing to see dancing around on his little stage, my grand daughters would have said he had "loco legs".

HA! HA! HA! yes, the famous peanut gallery, you know that saying was always used by my teachers throughout my school years, I still hear people use that saying today and I think they younger ones don't know where it originated from.

I used to get a real kick out Jerry Mahoney when Paul Winchell had Jerry do a tap dance. It was the coolest thing to see dancing around on his little stage, my grand daughters would have said he had "loco legs".

Paul Winchell was an incredible talent, and his voice was very recognizable in late 60s, early 70s cartoons that I grew up with.
I remember a Lucy Show episode from maybe 1966 or 1967 where Paul Winchell was a guest and had Lucy sit on his lap pretending to be a dummy. She did a fab job.

Paul Winchell was an incredible talent, and his voice was very recognizable in late 60s, early 70s cartoons that I grew up with.
I remember a Lucy Show episode from maybe 1966 or 1967 where Paul Winchell was a guest and had Lucy sit on his lap pretending to be a dummy. She did a fab job.


and didn't he invent the artificial heart pump too?

Some of the younger crowd may know Paul Winchell as the voice of Gargamel from the Smurfs and Tigger from Winnie The Pooh.




Cat

Some of the younger crowd may know Paul Winchell as the voice of Gargamel from the Smurfs and Tigger from Winnie The Pooh.




Cat


I didn't know that, now when I sit with my grand daughters and watch The Pooh cartoons I'll listen for him, Tigger is my little two year old's favorite, she likes when he bounces on his tail.

I didn't know that, now when I sit with my grand daughters and watch The Pooh cartoons I'll listen for him, Tigger is my little two year old's favorite, she likes when he bounces on his tail.



I like Tigger because he is a cat.  ;)



Cat

It is apparent my comment regarding the Paul Winchell/Jerry Mahoney show was misconstrued and taken out of context. I suppose that is my fault since I did not clarify the meaning of my post.  One board member stated I was "prejudging" a marvelous old show. That is not the case since it was not my intention to remove the quality or smear the content of the show in any way. I was mearley trying to point out the fact I found the appearance of the puppets on that show to be disturbing and unsettling. I too watched the show as a child (in reruns on syndication in the mid 1960's) and remember it to be entertaining and educational as well. As a matter of fact my favorite characters were Tessie and Snitchy the Snail. However, there was one character on that show, a chin-puppet named Osbourne Goody-Goody that was deliberately intended to be frightening. Fans of the show will recall Osbourne would introduce himself to the TV audience after running into a black room then be struck by the sound of a woman screaming off-screen. With this said I hope i have made my point.