Puppet Shows and Puppets on TV Through the Years Quiz

Answer: The Jimmy Dean Show

Rowlf appeared in 85 of the 86 episodes of "The Jimmy Dean Show". Rowlf was Henson's first Muppet to be featured as a regular on a network television show. In October, 1967, Jimmy and Rowlf were reunited on an episode of "The Ed Sullivan Show" singing "Friendship".
James Henson was born in Greenville, Mississippi, and began working with puppets in high school. While in college he created "Sam and Friends", a precursor to "Sesame street", which aired on a local network. He began working with Jimmy Dean in 1963 and his Muppets began working with "Sesame Street" in 1969. Ten years later they would star in their own feature length film titled "The Muppet Movie".
"The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show" aired from 1956-1961. "The Johnny Cash Show" was broadcast from The Grand Ole Opry from 1969-1971. "The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour" began in 1968 as a summer replacement for "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour".

Answer: Shari Lewis

Phyllis Naomi Hurwitz was born in The Bronx, New York, and received a well rounded education in ventriloquism, acrobatics, ice skating, juggling and baton twirling in addition to violin and piano. She retained her husband's name after a brief marriage to Stan Lewis.
In 1952 she won first prize on "Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts" for her puppetry and made her television hosting debut the following year on a local show called "Facts N' Fun". After hosting other local shows she debuted "The Shari Lewis Show" in 1960 that featured her sock puppets. After a three-year run she appeared on other television shows while accumulating 12 Emmy awards and a Peabody Award during her career.
Shari also conducted symphonies and penned several books.
"Honey West" featured Anne Francis as a private detective for one season in 1965. "The Patty Duke Show" ran from 1963 until 1966. Nell Fenwick was Dudley Do-Right's girlfriend on "The Dudley Do-Right Show" cartoon show beginning in 1969.

Answer: Buffalo Bob

Radio announcer Robert Emil Schmidt used the name Bob Smith when hosting "Howdy Doody" and adopted the named "Buffalo Bob" from his hometown of Buffalo, New York. The name also inspired a Western theme for the show. Howdy Doody was originally a radio character and the reception was so positive that it became a television show. Puppeteer Frank Paris created the marionettes that became the cast of the show. Howdy had 48 freckles, one for each state in the union at the time.
The show featured a spectator's gallery of 40 children called the Peanut Gallery and opened each episode with Buffalo Bob asking "Say kids, what time is it?" answered by "It's Howdy Doody Time!".
The show also included human characters including Clarabell the Clown, originally played by Bob Keeshan who went on to star as Captain Kangaroo. Chief Thunderthud was played by Bill Le Cornec.
Capt. Windy Scuttlebut and J. Cornelius Cobb were puppet characters.

Answer: Duck

A duck puppet dropped from the ceiling if a contestant said the secret word holding money that was divided between the contestants. A duck was also on the title card of the show. Groucho was initially reluctant to host a game show after a radio show he hosted in 1943 called "Blue Ribbon Town" was not successful.

When he learned that the show would be a venue to ad-lib with contestants he agreed and the show ran in various formats until 1961. The contestants were generally a male and female selected from the audience who would answer questions until the quizzes. The show featured many interesting guests including Phyllis Diller, Colonel Sanders, General Omar Bradley, Harpo Marx, Edgar and Candice Bergen and many more.

Answer: Captain Kangaroo

After playing Clarabelle the Clown on "The Howdy Doody Show" Bob Keeshan created Captain Kangaroo, a show about life in what was called The Treasure House. The show was initially done live twice a day then broadcast on the West Coast, remaining in black-and-white until the mid-sixties. The name Captain Kangaroo was derived from the big pockets in the captain's jacket that resembled pouches. He interacted with a variety of live, puppet and animated characters including Mr. Green Jeans, Grandfather Clock, The Banana Man, Mr. Bunny Rabbit and Mr. Moose. Cartoons included "Tom Terrific", "The Toothbrush Family" and "Lariat Sam". Bill Cosby and Dr. Joyce brothers were also regulars on the show during different seasons.
In 1982 the show was reduced to a half-hour format and Keeshan elected to end production when his contract expired two years later. The show earned three Emmy Awards during its run.
"Captain Pugwash" was a British show that aired in 1957. "Captain Noah and His Magical Ark" was a Philadelphia based show that ran from 1967 to 1994. "Captain Abercromby" (2002-2003) was a puppet show on BBC Two.

Answer: False

Fran Allison was the singer and comedienne who interacted with puppets named Kukla and Ollie on the weekly television show. In 1937 Fran became a regular on a Chicago based radio show called "The Breakfast Club". She developed a long running character called "Aunt Fanny" who also appeared on "Ozark Jubilee" in the fifties. When a Chicago television station conceived the idea of a puppet show the producer, Burr Tillstrom, remembered Fran from a WWII War Bond drive and asked her to be the human character on the show. When "Kukla, Fran and Ollie" ended she hosted "The Fran Allison Show" on WGN-TV.
"Ollie" was actually Oliver J. Dragon and Kukla was the leader of the puppet crew that included an opera singer named Madame Oglepuss, Beulah Witch, a mailman name Fletcher Rabbit and several other assorted characters. In 1949 the show earned a Peabody Award.
After the show ended in 1957 it was briefly revived as "Burr Tillstrom's Kukla and Ollie" in the early sixties. Kukla and Ollie appeared on a 1977 Carpenters ABC TV special. In 2009 the United States Postal Service issued a commemorative "Kukla, Fran and Ollie" stamp.

Answer: Fraggle Rock

Fraggles were also characters that appeared on Jim Henson's "Fraggle Rock". Fraggles lived a carefree life in caves and interacted with the other assorted characters, occasionally stealing radishes from The Gorgs' gardens. The Doozers were hard working characters.
The show was filmed in Toronto, Canada, conceived simply as a silly musical production of many characters. The show also featured original musical numbers in every episode.
Beginning in 1987 it was broadcast in an animated form.
"The Fuzzpaws" was a show consisting of seven puppets which aired in the nineties. "The Fox Cubhouse" aired mornings on Fox Kids network from 1994 to 1996. "Fun Factory" ran from 1985 to 1991.

Answer: Castle

"Eureeka's Castle" was about assorted puppet characters living in a giant's wind-up music box designed like a castle. Eureeka was in training and often didn't get her spells right. She was supported by several puppets such as a dragon with an uncontrollable tail, a bat that needed glasses, a pair of twins who swim in the moat and a trio of fish that sing. John Orberg, James Kroupa, Matt Stoddart and Kip Rathke created the puppets.

The show also featured animated segments and in 1990 "Eureeka's Castle" won an Ace Award.

Answer: Pee-wee's Playhouse

"Pee-wee's Playhouse" starred Paul Reubens as Pee-wee Herman who was supported by a variety of human and puppet characters. The show was developed as an artistic children's show but began attracting an adult audience. The show was based in a playhouse in Puppetland.

The puppets included Conky The Robot, Jambi the Genie and Pterri the baby Pteranodon along with the Jazz trio. The program also included toys, gadgets and a variety of visiting human characters. Among the musicians that contributed to the score of the show were Danny Elfman, Todd Rundgren, Van Dyke Parks, Dweezil Zappa and George S. Clinton. "Larry Smith Puppets" ran from from 1969 to 1974 based in Cincinnati, Ohio. "Jack's Big Music Show" was nominated in 2008 for an Emmy for Outstanding Pre-school Television Series. "KaBlam!" ran on Nickelodeon between 1996 and 2000.

Answer: Italian

Topo Gigio appeared on a popular Italian television show in the early sixties. The foam puppet was created in 1958 by Maria Perego and voiced by Giuseppe Mazzullo and Davide Garbolino. Because of his popularity the character expanded into magazines, movies, record albums and merchandising.

In 1965 a film titled "The Magic World of Topo Gigio" was released internationally. It took four puppeteers to animate Topo Gigio, three to move him and one to voice him allowing him to even walk up Ed Sullivan's arm on one of the more than 50 episodes he appeared on.

He greeted Sullivan with "Hello, Eddie!" and appeared on Sullivan's final show in 1971 saying "Eddie, kiss me goodnight!".