By Steve Cichon
steve@buffalostories.com
@stevebuffalo
This week we’re looking at local children’s TV shows through the decades…
Of course Buffalo Bob Smith was a local guy, and his national Howdy Doody Show was one of the most popular shows on TV anywhere in the late 40 and early 50s.
But Buffalo’s first TV station, WBEN-TV Channel 4, brought Buffalo’s first kids shows.
MORE: Remembering WBEN-TV’s Visit With Santa (And Forgetful the Elf)
Mike Mearian
Starting in 1954, one of the most popular shows on Channel 4 was Mike Mearian’s “Children’s Theater,” which featured the host as either Uncle Mike or Captain Mike when they played Popeye cartoons.
Mike’s faithful puppet sidekick Buttons, was a marionette operated by Ellen Knetchel and voiced by Mearian.
The 1956 Sylvania TV Award nominations described Uncle Mike this way:
“Mr. Mearian’s genius as a humorist plus the best available children’s cartoons add up to youthful entertainment fun that is always in the best of taste.”
Virgil Booth
There was also Mr Bumble’s Curiosity Shop. WBEN Announcer Virgil Booth was Mr. Bumbles. Booth also hosted regular kids shows as himself from the with Clayton Freiheit at Buffalo Zoo and Ellsworth Jaeger at the Buffalo Museum of Science. he also hosted cartoons through the years as Channel 4’s baggagemaster.
The soft – spoken announcer on WBEN’s Luncheon Club recently retired as Ch. 4’s baggagemaster and opened Mr. Bumble’s Old Curiosity Shop– filled with items bound to attract young viewers.
Mr. Bumbles takes about 30 minutes putting on makeup and costume each Saturday afternoon. He becomes a man in his 70s who uses the language of children to heighten their inquisitiveness during the 5 to 6 PM Saturday program.
Jerry Brick
Uncle Jerry Brick– who was the floor manager of the Meet the Millers Show during the week, hosted a Sunday morning kids talent show through the 50s and 60s that introduced more than 2,000 talented youngsters on Channel 4.
The show was described in the paper this way: TV cameras capture priceless expressions of visiting tots as Jerry asks questions during the outing.
Bob & Ellen Knechtel
They created and operated the puppets and marionettes seen on Channel 4 from the 1940s through the 1970s.
