Regional Midwestern Kids Shows Quiz

Answer: Count Zappula

Between stints as "Deputy Don", Don enjoyed success as a bit part player on "Bonanza", and "Gunsmoke" as well as other TV Westerns. His dog also co-hosted both the horror show and the kiddy show with him.

Answer: D.B. Doorbell

Each week a local 6th grade class would visit and be the audience. Four students were then chosen to be the contestants. The questions involved history, mathematics, current events, and music.

Answer: Dirty Dragon

"The BJ and the Dirty Dragon Show" featured other characters besides the dragon. There were characters with names like Old Professor, Mother Plumtree, and Wally Goodscout. They played cartoons from the "Popeye", "George of the Jungle" and "Underdog" franchises. His show ran until 1973, when the interests of WFLD-TV in Chicago changed hands, and they ended the show.

Answer: Weatherman

Dave Dedrick donned a blue pilot uniform for the show and had kids introduce themselves on the air. The show primarily ran cartoons. "Captain 11" featured a unique "Freezeberg" game to end the show. All the kids would wave wildly to say goodbye to the audience, then Dave would yell "Freeze", and the kids would remain frozen during the credits.

Answer: Soupy Sales

"Lunch with Soupy Sales" ran until 1966 in Detroit, Los Angeles, and New York City. It was mostly improvised and done live, which lent to some outrageous incidents in the show's history, from Soupy requesting kids to send money from their parents' pocketbooks, to an off-stage stripper behind the now-famous door.

His trademark was the pie in the face, a stunt he estimates occurred 20,000 times in his lifetime.

Answer: Floppy

The Floppy Show was a staple for children coming home from school for four different decades. Filmed live with kids in the studio, the highlight for the children was to tell Floppy a riddle and beep Floppy's nose. He also made daily appearances at the Iowa State Fair for years. With Duane Ellett having passed away unexpectedly in 1987, Floppy is now enshrined in the Iowa Historical building.

Answer: Window

"The Magic Window", or for a short time, "The House With the Magic Window", featured Betty Lou making a craft out of cardboard and safety scissors, setting a good example for safety early on, all the while being "supervised" by puppets Catrina Crocodile and Gregory Lion.

They stood in front of the "magic" window, which was zoomed in on during the time for the featurettes to be shown, such as "Tales from the Riverbank" and "Felix the Cat". Betty Lou carried herself as the perfect Kindergarten teacher, or everyone's favorite grandma; always positive, and always smiling.

Answer: Uncle Bill Reads the Funnies

Bill Boyle would sit at a kitchen table with a ventriloquist dummy that he would voice, and there was a second person running a puppet over his left shoulder. This puppet would duck under the table to bring up relevant props for the next comic Bill was about to read. Bill would add a moral segment at times after getting done with a comic, but essentially, it was just "Uncle Bill" on camera every Sunday morning reading the funnies. KAKE-TV had a kitchen stage for other segments, and the show was likely done there.

Answer: Speedy the Sloth

"Larry Smith Puppets" was geared toward the grade school crowd and was very popular during it six-year run. Larry Smith retired in 2000, but still pops up once in a while to breathe life into a character or two in the Cincinnati area. Puppet characters from the show are often brought to local events as well.

Answer: Bob Homme

Bob Homme played Friendly the Giant from 1953 through 1985. Jerome the Giraffe and Rusty the Rooster were the other main characters on the show. They had chats with Friendly. Each 15 minute show was mostly ad libbed from a one page plot summary. The Jazz Cats, puppets Angie & Fiddle, would provide musical performances. Over 3,000 episodes were produced. CBC-TV has 850 episodes in its archives.