At
the height of the Rootie
Kazootie craze in this country, the
kids, adults and even comedians of the time found themselves
mimicking the showís fresh, slangy use of the English
language with terms like- yesirootie,
nosirootie, gosharootie and absotootie--each
one making English teachers flinch
Even
today, Rootie-isms are in many ways a permanent
part of our American slang, without us knowing , and
originated with Steve
Carlin, Rootie's creator.
The
showís characters included the all-American boy himself,
who as the opening song says ì is filled with Zip and
Joy, heís ìROOTIE KAZOOTIE,
a cross between Pinocchio and the yet-to-be-born Beaver
Cleaver, who could be anything he wanted to with the
help of his magic kazootie, a kazoo capable of performing
magic feats.
And
what would a little boy be without his faithful dog,
GALA POOCHIE PUP, his cute
girlfriend POLKA DOTTIE,
who always dressed in Polka Dots, the villain POISON
ZOOMACK, whose sole aim in life is to steal Rootieís
magic Kazootie, and EL SQUEAKO
MOUSE, the great Mexican catador, who dressed
like a turn-of-the-century boxer and hated cats.
The
two human hosts were the talented chief rooter Big
Todd Russell, who sang songs and played
games with the kids in the studio gallery, while his
sidekick Mr. Deedle Doodle,
actor John
Vee dressed like a Keystone Cop from
the silent film era, was the policeman-magician and
provided comic relief.
Just
as memorable, and what makes the show the classic, were
the littleptin puppets created by the brilliant Paul
Ashley, and the now legendary voices
of Naomi
Lewis (the voice of Rootie)
and puppeteer John
Milano (voice of Gala
Poochie, Poison Zoomack
and El Squeako the Mouse.)
Whereís
Rootie Been all this time ?
For
over 20 years, the only known copy to exist of this
early live kids show was a 16mm Kinescope film print
that I donated to the Museum of Television and Radio
in New York.
That
first print was found in a garbage can in an empty warehouse,
by accident, when I was scouting for a location to build
sets in for the first Death
Wish film with Charles Bronson, in 1975 in
New York City. (click-collecting 16mm films)
This
website, Iím proud to announce, is almost 25 years in
the making--it took me that long to finally locate the
showís creator, writer and producer, Steve
Carlin, who, fortunately for history, saved
his television work, which included many kinescope copies
of the shows.
In
March of 1995, I was the first person to walk into the
dusty warehouse room that Steve had closed up in the
1950ís.
Now
Iím partners with Steve, and weíll bring back the old
Rootie shows on Home Video
for collectors, aging babyboomers and fans of the era
to see again and now buy, exclusively on this site,
and through my company Video Resources
New York
IN
SEARCH OF ROOTIE KAZOOTIE HISTORY
But
were also in search of all the old cast, crew, staff
members and puppeteers that were part of this classic
award-winning kids show, so we can include them in this
project.
Send
us E-mail
on your thoughts and memories of Rootie and weíll post
it. Somewhere there must be old fans who, as kids, showed
up at a Rootie special appearance promoting the show--did
you take any home movies or take pictures? If you have
a Rootie Toy collection, take a picture of it and send
it to us.
