Chapter 1: The Rootie Kazootie HistoryIn 1947, Howdy Doody was the first live kids program to become a household name, the moment it hit the airwaves. Not only kids and their parents were hooked on the show, but the country’s leaders were as well. A mail room count at NBC headquarters in New York on Nov 4, 1952, while most of the country was worrying who would be president, Dwight D. Eisenhower or Adlai Stevenson, showed that Howdy Doody received 1,294,003 ballots more than former Vice President Henry Wallace had, running as a major third party candidate, in 1948.
That same year, a group of psychologists in Boston tested the speech habits of infants 2-years-old and under. They were at a loss to know how to interpret the fact out of 100 diaper debutantes investigated, 86 pronounced the words Rootie Kazootie before they could say “Mommy or “Daddy” The Rootie Tootie LuncheonIf you never heard of the Carnival Room at the Capital Hotel in 1950, that’s all right, because it would later be called the Radio City Music Hall. So during a conversation when Gerald O. Kaye, vice president in charge of sales for a large corporation, learned that the Carnival Room which holds 750 is never used on Saturdays, and comes up with a promotional idea to fill it with kids and parents. He calls in some friends including Steve Carlin, by then the head of the RCA children’s record division. They come up with the idea of putting on a regular Weekend Puppet Show Luncheon, in a cross promotion with RCA’s children’s record division, getting the label’s children’s recording artists to make a promotional appearances, every Saturday afternoon between 11:30 and 12 noon.
It was also agreed that the first series of puppet shows would be based on Carlin’s new Rootie Tootie character, and that he would write the series with the same successful wit and freshness that he’d brought to Happy the Humbug.
It was while they were in the planning stages of putting on the first show that the idea of bringing a local TV station on came into conversation, and Gerald O’Kaye made a call to TV executive Ted Cott, of the local NBC affiliate WNBT, and asked if they’d like to telecast the event live. (Note: Ted Cott loved live broadcast events, and was later responsible for bringing Jazz Party and Open End, two celebrated live studio shows, to television) The first show ran September 30, 1950, the month and year I was born, and was called THE ROOTIE TOOTIE LUNCHEON, and played to almost a full house, but wasn’t telecast. In Steve’s original script of the first show , it says the entire luncheon was planned to run between 12-2pm, with a live telecast between 12-12:30pm. There were also two rehearsals planned, the first on Wed.,Sept.27 and would run between 7-10pm, then that Saturday Sept 30 at 9am, just before the first show.
A lot was riding on this , especially the start of what could be a carrer in Television for Steve Carlin, but with all the hard work and planning, the first LiveTV broadcast wouldn’t take place until Oct 14th. The second Oct 7th show was covered by “The Billboard “ magazine to favorable reviews, “once the flaws were worked out,” which included dropping any attempt at serving meals--it wasn’t worth the aggravation. The reviewer Paul Simon did say, “the ingredients are here for a great children’s show and disk hypo,” and suggested that “local disk (record) vendors will do well to latch on”
The show itself was introduced by “genial” Steve Carlin, who also produced and wrote the production. The emcee for the first show was Jack Berch, an RCA Victor kids artist, who sang tunes with the youngsters, who sang along from printed words in the show’s program. Breaking in and out of the show with Berch was Rootie Tootie, the all American Boy who Billboard called a “magnificent puppet,” and his dog NIPPER, which resembled the RCA dog mascot--later to be called Gala Poochie Pup.
There was a character Mr Copperoo, played by Zavello, and the show was minus a Poka Dottie, Posion Zoomack or El Squiclo the Mouse. The pianist was Bob Sadoff. Steve Carlin was listed on the script as producer. “Expert operators” were Michael King (Rootie) and Frank Milano (Nipper), and Naomi Lewis (was Rootie’s voice.)
It was one thing to convince Myron Waldum Carlin’s partner on The Happy Humbug series, to draw pictures, now he wanted him to, become part of the stock company of weekend puppet players. With Marvin being introduced to the kids as SKRIBBLE KABIBBLE, then “fractured ‘em, by inviting tots to scribble, and turning their scratches into clever recognizable caricatures.” It was a fully packed show, with RCA’S Western singer, Texas Jim Robertson dressed in full Western regalia singing his latest hits with the kids. As Billboard said, he “proved a thoroughly winning performer with his big deep piping and friendly manner.”
There was also the Little Nipper Quiz, and a drawing contest. Most record prizes had ribbons attached with a major prize on the other end. Lucky participants drew such prizes as bicycles and a live puppy. Even with the trouble getting the clowns to be more effective with the kids and shortening the routines, every one in question knew they had a hit. At the first test show they charged $1.85 for kids and $2.85 for adults. This included lunch, show, tips, tax and gifts, and lots of RCA records, but later it became free when it aired on television. By Oct 14, of the following week Carlin had worked out the problems and was ready to bring the show to local TV and the next title change was The Rootie Tootie Club.
When it started locally, NBC needed programming, so they grabbed the show to at least fill some empty air space, but the show become a over night or I should say afternoon hit, with the kids, and they never had to worry about how to fill a large room with kid. RCA was ready to spend some TV money, and stay with the show until the end of the year, along with Bendix appliancces , RCA’s local NY distribure the Buno company and the Webster tape recorder company. |
