Every tv market in the 50's and 60's had at least one kiddie show, in the morning or afternoon, with some man (or woman) dressed up, showing cartoons, and reminding the little boys and girls to clean their plates, and be nice to everyone.
There were several in the Cleveland market, but the two foremost were Barnaby and Captain Penny.
My personal favorite was Captain Penny, the guy with the kerchief around his neck...he had two daily shows on WEWS, "The Noon Show", and "The Captain's Comedy Clubhouse", which came on at five pm. The Captain ran really cool cartoons, like "Astronut", "Sydney", and "Roger Ramjet", and it was the first place we saw "Astro Boy". He also had Jungle Larry, who'd bring wild animals on his shows, and Pooch Parade, where a lady from the Animal Protective League would bring on puppies and kittens that needed adoption.
Barnaby came on WKYC, at 4:30, and his show ended just as "Comedy Clubhouse" was coming on, which was nifty. He sang, told stories, and had cartoons like "Space Angel", "Casper", and "The Mighty Hercules". He also had an invisible parrot, named Long John.
They've been gone for years, the shows, and the players; thank God for YouTube.
I know that I speak for a LOT of people in the viewing area around Cleveland, as far south as Mansfield in saying that we wish that the stations WEWS,KYW(now WKYC)and WJW would release the kiddie shows that we loved so much,Captain Penny, Barnaby, Woodrow the Woodsman, Franz the Toymaker, on DVD. Many of us live in the past. It's the only way to escape the brutal reality we face each day in today's world full of anger, hate, aggressiveness and violence. A world totally foreign to those of us who watched these people who taught us to be kind and nice to others. That's something completely foreign to kids in today's world, sadly. I wish there was some way we could get these staions to consider this. It would be a dream come true for a lot of us.
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