DING DONG SCHOOL Volume 1
(approx 60 min)
One of the first educational shows for younger children, DING DONG SCHOOL was devised, produced, and hosted by Dr. Frances Horwich, chairman of the Education Department at Chicago's Roosevelt College.
Known as Miss Frances, she gave lessons in basic forms of play for viewers ages 3 thru 7 and their parents. In Volume One, Miss Frances reads a Little Golden Book entitled "I Decided" to show children the importance of choosing wisely, tries on unusual hats, paints pictures of plants, shows how to use a strainer, a funnel, and different sizes of cups, and shows how to make a peanut butter, banana, and lettuce (???) sandwich.
She also plugs her sponsor, Wheaties (this was before Wheaties had sports figures on its boxes or its commercials).
DING DONG SCHOOL Volume 2
(approx 60 min)
Miss Frances presents a group of five musicians, who demonstrate a trumpet, two drums, a clarinet, and a trombone, and play a series of marches.
She takes us on a tour of a rock garden; shows us a beautiful miniature Borden's Milk truck and a less impressive Shell Oil truck toy; looks at toy bells; then how to play with a wagon-load of blocks; and introduces singer Jody Carey of the show CHILDREN'S CORNER, who does a song.
DING DONG SCHOOL Volume 3
(approx 60 min)
Miss Frances introduces a puppet of a puppy dog and asks viewers to choose a name and mail it in, as a way of showing how to mail a letter; talks about how seeds grow; shows how to make things out of pipe-cleaners.
She demonstrates a Playskool Take-Apart-Truck; shows how to paint; tells us how to identify different fruits and how to use building blocks; and talks about the importance of sharing and of respect for other people's property.
THE EDGAR BERGEN SHOW
(approx. 60 min)
Two 30 minute episodes of the early '50 series starring ventriloquist Edgar Bergen, his dummy Charlie McCarthy, and fellow performers of the wood-and-sawdust persuasion including Mortimer Snerd.
In addition to songs and dances, and the usual interplay between Bergen and McCarthy, the highlight of the second show is a western/dream sketch in which Charlie McCarthy plays a bartender in a saloon where Jesse James and other bandits are arriving to shoot the place up.
Bergen was one of the better straight men in history, a pretty good trick inasmuch as he also provided the voice of his comic foil McCarthy.
THE GUMBY SHOW with PINKIE LEE
(approx. 30 min.)
This edition is of fair quality and has a few glitches in the print. But we're offering it anyway because it's of significant importance and, when good prints can be found, we'll improve the quality.
"Yoo-hoo, it's me. My name is Pinkie Lee!" These opening words were heard by an estimated 4.5 million kids in 1954, introducing a lisping, ex-burlesque comic with a funny hat to NBC's weekday afternoons on January 4, 1954.
This episode features Lee with the GUMBY SHOW in 1957 (after he'd lost his show in the summer of 1956).
Sponsored by the Tootsie Roll Lollipop Company, it's Pinkie's last show on TV and therein lies the importance in bringing it to you despite less than optimal film quality.
JUVENILE JURY/DING DONG SCHOOL
(approx 60 min)
When they weren't producing quiz shows, Jack Barry and Dan Enright were making programs like JUVENILE JURY, a sort of serious version of Art Linkletter's KIDS SAY THE DARNDEST THINGS, in which children from ages six thru 10 sit on a panel and discuss questions submitted by other children and their parents.
In this installment, questions come up concerning children who won't wear costumes in a school play because they're too embarrassed, and children who are being forced to choose between intended professions at too young an age.
Barry is only slightly condescending and the kids are intellegent and entertaining. Scotch Cellophane Tape is the sponsor, and is plugged throughout the show by Jack Barry and the "Scotch Girl," complete with tartan.
DING DONG SCHOOL features Miss Frances, the host, talking about the dentist, showing how to blow bubbles from a pipe, reading stories about the moon and shadows, showing how to set a table, and demonstrating how to play with a ball.
She also plugs Kix cereal, her sponsor.
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DING DONG SCHOOL Volume 3
(approx 60 min)
THE EDGAR BERGEN SHOW
(approx. 60 min)
Two 30 minute episodes of the early '50 series starring ventriloquist Edgar Bergen, his dummy Charlie McCarthy, and fellow performers of the wood-and-sawdust persuasion including Mortimer Snerd.
THE GUMBY SHOW with PINKIE LEE
(approx. 30 min.)
This edition is of fair quality and has a few glitches in the print. But we're offering it anyway because it's of significant importance and, when good prints can be found, we'll improve the quality.
JUVENILE JURY/DING DONG SCHOOL
(approx 60 min)
When they weren't producing quiz shows, Jack Barry and Dan Enright were making programs like JUVENILE JURY, a sort of serious version of Art Linkletter's KIDS SAY THE DARNDEST THINGS, in which children from ages six thru 10 sit on a panel and discuss questions submitted by other children and their parents.