But, I never made it to a taping.
I did, however, once attend a drunk-fest where a family member of Mr. Cartoon's alias, Jule Huffman, came dressed as the shows costumed mascot, Beeper. The sick bastard--whose identity shall remain anonymous for his own well-being--drank as Beeper, danced as Beeper and puked as Beeper. And he did all those things a lot.
Jule Huffman is being inducted into the West Virginia Broadcasting Hall of Fame on September 16, 2006. I'm older than I thought; in addition to the work he did at WSAZ as an announcer, weatherman and all-around-on-air-celeb, he hosted the Mr. Cartoon children's show for nearly a quarter of a century. Most of those years the show was on for an hour, from 4pm until 5pm. Until the Queen of All That Is Unholy took over that time slot in the late 80s. Huffman and Beeper then took their song and dance to Saturday mornings.
Here's an article from Wednesday's Charleston Gazette about Huffman and his career.
Mrs. Film Geek, who grew up in the region, says she once attended the Mr. Cartoon Show, along with children from a church or synagogue of her choice. (That made sense if you ever saw the show even once.) Anyway, to hear her tell it, back in the late 70s, kids in the live studio audience couldn't even see the cartoons shown between cut-ins. They were entertained with games and music until the live portion was cued up.
I say she's a-lyin'. Mr. Cartoon don't play 'dat game.
...Did he?
16 comments:
Oh my gosh. I love Mr. Cartoon. I was on there with my Campfire Girls. And you DIDN'T see the cartoons.
I miss him.
Damon used to irritate the crap out of me when we first started dating. If I asked him to do something for me he would make me recite all the Mr. Cartoon crap. Good post!
Hey Kelly: Did he dump the contents of the Yucket Bucket on ya?
And Barbie: My wife will be happy for the vindication. And I miss him too...kinda like I miss meing 11 some days.
OMG, that made me laugh out loud...too funny!
I never made it either. Of course, I never made it to Camden Park either.
I was 18 or 19 before I made it to Camden Park. I remember realizing that day that my dream was a lie. LOL
I ran into huffmans son once in the calamity cafe wearing the 'mr cartoon' jacket while trying to score chicks. Sad.
Hey Bigfoot, welcome back.
There were straight chicks at Calamity?
The real question I have is: Did the jacket work?
Of course it did! Hardly anyone could resist the foggy childhood memories of happiness that jacket promised. Just watching that jackass strut around the bar I kept hearing the Tom and Jerry cartoon music play in my head. Very disturbing..
I must confess that I appeared on Mr. Cartoon not once, but three times that I can recall and there is an old betamax tape laying somewhere around my parents house that has me singing a song on Mr. Cartoon when I was visiting with my sister's Brownie Troop. I shudder to think of what might happen should that tape fall into the wrong hands!
Oh, and I must concur with the other women that we could not see the cartoons other than on a little monitor way off to the side that didn't have the sound turned on. It was still a fun experience though! I hadn't thought about that show for years. Thanks for the topic Film Geek! :-)
Ohhh noooooooo!
I was on the show. Nope, no cartoons.
Marvin or Jeremy?
I was on the show in 1979 with my kindergarten class from Cheylan Elem. You're right you could only see a little monitor and no sound. Its really sad kids these days don't have that. For some kids I knew Mr. Cartoon was the only kind voice they heard once school let out. We could lobby the local stations here in WV to bring it back. The more kids know there are adults who love them and will listen to them as people instead of "this is my kid she matches my couch" maybe fewer will get in trouble.
I went to Camden Park twice as a kid. Once when I was 6 and then when I was 15 our scout troop went.
BRING BACK BEEPER
What was the cartoon about a family of bears and the father bear was always doimg something stupid? Not the Hillbilly or Berenstein Bears.
Were the bears in a zoo? If so, mnight have been the Hair Bear Bunch
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