Hi There, Boys and Girls! America's Local Children's TV Shows

Whatever happened to Bozo the Clown, to Aunt Norma, to Solomon C. Whiskers, those television celebrities who hammed it up between cartoons and contests during local kidsʼ shows? In Hi There, Boys and Girls! Americaʼs Local Childrenʼs TV Programs, Tim Holllis tracks down the story of every known local childrenʼs TV show from markets across the United States There have been many books about childrenʼs television on the networks, and such shows as Captain Kangaroo, Howdy Doody and Sesame Street are legends in broadcasting. For every performer on the scale of a Captain Kangaroo or a Buffalo Bob, there were five or six local personalities who were just as beloved by their viewers - and sometimes even more so - since these local stars could be counted on for appearances at stores, childrenʼs hospitals, and shopping centers, where kids could meet them face-to-face. Hi, There, Boys and Girls! Includes a capsule history of this programming from the earliest days of radio to the early 1970s, when a combination of social changes and broadcast regulations sent most of the hosts into retirement. Walt Disney observed that while there is very little adult in a child, there is a lot of child in every adult. This book will bring back a flood of long-submerged memories for anyone who was a child during this golden era. Includes Uncle Walt (Sickles), Miss Nancy (Stillwell), Flippo the Clown, etc.