Hi Donita and Warren,

Finally someone has broached a topic so near and dear to my heart! I have the websites for Wunda Wunda, Brakeman Bill, Stan Boreson, Capt Puget, and JP Patches on my favorites list. I even have Brakeman Bill's framed picture hanging on my wall. It is obvious to me that both of you appreciate the more subtle and refined humor of this pantheon of Northwest broadcasting legends! I realize these folks weren't really classmates, but they made my journey through grade school and junior high in particular much more tolerable. Thanks for including their pictures, Warren.

Although not a card-carrying member, I was always a Patches Pal at heart. It was JP and Brakeman Bill who taught me that there was often much more to a joke than might be obvious to a ten-year-old boy. Although most junior high boys woud never admit it, we all loved JP. It wasn't until that age that the real humor of these comedic icons became apparent. "Ohhh, that's what he meant!!!" Switch on the proverbial light bulb!

Captain Puget was a bit iffy. He spun some great sea-going yarns and sang some chanties, but the show seemed to be a half-hour-long ad for Ivar's Acres of Clams restaurant. Capt Puget was too serious for my liking and when he eventually gravitated to "Exploration Northwest" I thought he had found his true calling.

Wunda Wunda (Ruth Prinze) scared me. I didn't like her black-tipped nose and that pointy hat she wore. She was too spooky for my tastes. Another classic who hasn't been metioned yet is Sheriff Tex. Remember the hootenanny? I think the sheriff might have tipped a few too many down at Miss Kitty's saloon. He suddenly dropped off the face of the earth in the mid-50s. Rumors surfaced that our western crime fighter had done a few guest appearances with something a bit stronger than hot chocolate under his belt. Who am I to judge? If I had to carry on like that everyday I might have imbibed a bit myself.

Stan Boreson, the King of Norwegian Humor, used to grace us with his accordian wizardry (oxymoron) and a steady stream of what would now be called Norwegian epithets and slurs. His bassett hound "Nomo" (No Motion in reference to the famous hydroplanes circling Lake Washington in those days-- Slomo IV and V) would probably have landed Stan in jail for animal abuse. The dog wore 2 pairs of tennis shoes! Uncle Torvald would have been proud.

That brings us to Brakeman Bill and the Crazy Donkey! Another show where humor was aimed at the older siblings and even parents who had some idea of what was going on. The hook on this show was Lionel electric trains. It is hard to believe that 50 years ago electric train sets for boys (and a few girls) appeared under almost every Christmas tree in America. They still appear under my tree once in a while! Some of us never grow up! I don't want to ever grow up. So I will listen to the Kinks, Stones, Beach Boys, Don and the Goodtimes, Sonics, Raiders, and even Guns and Roses while I watch my trains circle the tree. Where are my Lincoln Logs?

Thanks again Warren and Larry, and Donita too. Ray

Ray, hope this doesn't burst any bubbles for you,but when I was around 7 or 8,our 'Blue Bird' troop, went to the Brakeman Bill show,and he was a real jerk,pushed us around,was rude, yelled at everyone, but boy when that camera light came on, he was as sweet as sugar,,, now Crazy Donkey,he was cool all the time, don't know why he was so different as the Donkey, but it must have brought out the best in him,,,,JP Patches was always nice,he and Gertrude were at Washington H.S.,when Ben Erickson was teaching there,and Marqua and I had our first daughters,so we brought them to the assembly that they were at,and my daughter got chosen to go up on the stage,and he let her say the Pledge of Allegiance,all by herself,she was so proud,and very excited to be there with them,,,,,JP was cool,,,,,and I know what you mean about the adult connatations to a lot of the jokes,JP used to even crack up himself,,,,and I agree,that Wunda Wunda was a little scary,,,,I didn't like the pointy hat either,,,,now Romper Room was a hoot,cause there was always some really rotten little kid,and it would be hilarious to see how she tried to make them behave,but still be nice on camera,,,I loved Stan and NoMo though,I hated to see them go,,,,,oh well, enough for the nostalgia,,thanks for the memories,,,,,

Jody, you've broken my heart by tarnishing the image of one of my childhood heroes. So Brakeman Bill was, shall we say, less than cordial on accasion. Maybe he should have joined Sheriff Tex at the local pub to smooth out those rough spots.

Bonny, being from the Yakima Valley, had little knowledge of my childhood television luminaries. She was a fan of Yakima's KIMA where Uncle Jimmy held sway over about 10 boisterous kids who were each given a Darigold Dixie Cup, a loaf of Snyder's bread, a can of Orange Crush, a package of Hostess Twinkies, and some other priceless treasures (most loaded to the gunwales with sugar.)

According to my son, Mark, Uncle Jimmy was an absolute jerk during commercials and before the show. Like Brakeman Bill, he became almost angelic when the camera's red light shone. However, I take what Mark says with a grain of salt, as over the years I've had to forcibly remove him from several public eateries when my little angel became a smidgeon rambunctious.

Fess up Jody. Were you being a prim and proper Blue Bird like your mom told you before you left the house? Ray

Ray & Jody - Reading your posts, the memories started to just flood back. OK, maybe flood is a little strong, but I remembered a couple of things! I remember Sheriff Tex very well. We were regular watchers until he up and disappeared. Turkey doodle di-dump. Isn't that something he sang? And before Brakeman Bill there was Engineer Ed. Does anyone else remember him? The story at the time was that he disappeared because he said something he shouldn't have thinking the show was over. Don't know if that's true or not, but one day he was there and the next day Brakeman Bill was there. Pretty sure I didn't dream that.

Let's not forget Captain Kangaroo and Mr. Green Jeans!

Hi Donita

While we're at it we might as well mention Ding Dong School with Miss Frances. The only reason I left those out is that they were national shows and didn't have the local connection. It is interesting that all those shows have been upstaged by Sesame Street type productions and some purple dinosaur named Barney. I'm sure there are others I don't even know. Those shows, as entertaining as they were, never to my knowledge had live studio audiences or groups of kids sitting there eating Twinkies.

Take care,
Ray

Hello Larry,

The unique part of the Brakeman Bill show was that it was live from the Tacoma KTNT studios. It was our own show. Our parents could drive us to it without heading out into the dreaded Boeing traffic along Marginal Way and Seattle's First Avenue. Of course my mom either had no driver's license or wouldn't have been able to find the studio on 11th Street anyway.

I don't remember an Engineer Ed, but there was an Engineer Walt who had the Brakeman Bill show for a few weeks before Bill McLean took over the reigns (or throttle in this case). I read on the Brakeman Bill site that Engineer Walt could not do the show because he was stricken with that recurring form of polio and did not have the strength. I heard or saw no references to an Engineer Ed or a live mike mishap. Maybe that was Sheriff Tex's downfall. I did hear on the radio just the other day that the most dangerous tool in an announcer's arsenal is the microphone!

I'm glad you poked your head in here, Larry. I doubt this topic will be the lightning rod that the other one was, but it is fun! Have a great day.

Ray

Hi Ray - you're right! No more live audiences to my knowledge. How can we forget the kids on Howdy Doody? And personally, I don't like lightening that hits those rods, but being the kid I am, I love kids shows; well except Teletubbies. I had to watch that every day with my granddaughter. They are a little wierd.

Ray - You're probably right. Engineer Walt. My brain probably wanted to make it a double 'E' like the double ' in Brakeman Bill. I could have sworn it was more than a couple of weeks though. Seems like he was part of our routine when alluva sudden there was Brakeman Bill. And it might have been Sheriff Tex that was the subject of the rumor of having said something inappropriate. Sometimes my memories are like trying to separate the ingredients in a stew. You know they're in there, but it's hard to separate them out.
And I mentioned this before quite a while ago, but a group of us twinkletoes from Mrs. Keller's class were on local tv one time and did our dances live from the B&I. Whose show was that? Was it hosted by anyone in particular?

Ray,,,,of course I was the proper lady,but it wasn't my mom that threatened me, it was my dad,he knew me much better,and the fact that I loved the trains,and also to touch everything,and oh my god,do not touch Brakeman Bills' trains,,,,,,,,,he literally freaked out,,,,not me, but some little boy from another visiting Boy Scout Troop that was there the same day. There were also two boys that lived behind us,on Wheeler st.,Tom and Jim Brewer,and they had this wonderful train set-up in a room that their dad built in their attic,in fact it may have actually been their dads' train,but it was so cool,I would go over there all the time,,my dad also had a friend who had a whole village made up of trains in their basement,and he would take me there,probably once a month,and I would just be hypnotized by the trains,it was probably the only time that I actually sit still,and was quiet at the same time. I also loved Mickey Mouse club,and oooohhhh especially Spin and Marty,but I honestly liked the horses better than the boys,,,,,,I think that I was a late bloomer,,,,,,,Larry, I know the show that you are talking about,they used to show groups from the B&I all the time, but I can't remember what the name of it was,they had kids that danced from Arthur Murrey school too, and I even remember like a stairway to the stars thing with kids singing and dancing,,,or maybe I'm just dreaming,someone help me out here,,,,,,

Jody and Larry,

Never having been one to trip the light fantastic, I don't remember the dance show you are talking about. I wonder if it might have been hosted by Channel 13 which was also in Tacoma and used the call letters KMO early on. I never watched 13 very much as it was very fuzzy on our TV. Later I think it changed its call letters to KTVW and had a stronger signal. Still don't know much about it except that in 1969 when Bonny and I moved to West Seattle I was watching the Bob Corcoran Show, something akin to today's talk radio programs. It was late night and he had on Michael Lerner, one of the pot-smoking profs from the U-Dub, and was yelling at him while Lerner just sat there with this serene look on his face. He never raised his voice when he responded. It was hilarious.

Ray

Just surfing the web and decided to check out the forum. Somehow I missed Ray's narrative of our childhood when he first wrote it back in 2005. It is sad that our grandchildren won't have these kind of memories when they are 63 yrs old. We were lucky.. we grew up in the best time and the best place. Wouldn't trade it for anything.

Ray, we need to hear from you. You have such a good memory and the stories are priceless. And to the others who posted, I wish my brain was still as clear.