Hi There, Boys and Girls! America’s Local Children’s TV Programs

Whatever happened to Bozo the Clown, to Aunt Norma, to Solomon C. Whiskers, those television celebrities who hammed it up between cartoons and contests during local kids' shows?

In Hi There, Boys and Girls! America's Local Children's TV Programs, Tim Hollis tracks down the story of every known local children's TV show from markets across the United States.

There have been many books about children's television on the networks, and such shows as Captain Kangaroo, Howdy Doody, and Sesame Street are legends in broadcasting.

However, the local branch of children's programming has received much less attention. For every performer on the scale of a Captain Kangaroo or a Buffalo Bob, there were five or six local personalities who were just as beloved by their viewers--and sometimes even more so--since these local stars could be counted on for appearances at stores, children's hospitals, and shopping centers, where kids could meet them face-to-face.

Anyone over the age of thirty who grew up with a TV set will remember at least one or two of these productions. Whether it was hosted by a cowboy character, a clown such as the one on the many-franchised Bozo shows, a policeman, a sea captain who showed Popeye cartoons, or one of the gentle and lovely ladies who presided over Romper Room, these hometown stars were some of the Baby Boomers' first friends. Although children loved them, these hard-working performers garnered less respect from the rest of the TV industry.

Hi There, Boys and Girls! includes a capsule history of this programming from the earliest days of radio to the early 1970s, when a combination of social changes and broadcast regulations sent most of the hosts into retirement.

Walt Disney once observed that while there is very little adult in a child, there is a lot of child in every adult. This book will bring back a flood of long-submerged memories for anyone who was a child during this golden era.

Tim Hollis lives in Birmingham, Alabama. His previous books include Dixie Before Disney: 100 Years of Roadside Fun (University Press of Mississippi) and Cousin Cliff: 40 Magical Years in Television.

Customer Reviews:

Kids Show Host Rates HI THERE BOYS & GIRLS

By "cfolds" - January 9, 2002

Long overdue, Tim Hollis has recaptured those golden moments of our childhood, when television was our babysitter (and much more productive than today's fare)and local kids show hosts were king!Without question Amazon is the way to order the book. If, like me, you went to your local major chain bookstores, they had to order it and it ends up costing more than the discount you get online.Hollis has done his homework, gathering gold mines of information from the children's show cobwebs of antiquity. How many times have we said, "I wonder what ever happened to..."Hollis' book helps us relive a time long passed over by network executives who don't have a clue what people really want to watch and children's shows long catapulted into the great beyond (with many former hosts).As Toby the Robot on the Miami Herald Sunday Funnies for more than 20 years, I can say that thousands of kids lives were enriched or at least entertained by the antics of my robot and co-host... read more

Don't Touch that Dial

By Gord Wilson "alivingdog.com" - January 22, 2007

I cannot understand the sort of reviewers who rush to point out tiny omissions in otherwise exhaustive studies, particularly in the area of popular culture. Some of them apparently are actually paid to do so, and in my view they have watched too much Watergate and Sixty Minutes. For example, Ira Gallen dug up all the old commercials he showed on his retro New York TV show; contrary to the general view, advertisers didn't keep the reels after the commercials ran, and in compiling his collections, Gallen was plowing new territory. Relative to, say, dinosaurs, radio and TV have only been with us for a short while and it's all been about making it up as you go along.

That TV broadcasting began as local programming, and then mostly in New York, is extremely significant but often overlooked by those looking backwards with modern lenses. Shows were owned by ad agencies and developed for sponsors, not networks. Jay Ward's Crusader Rabbit and cliff-hangers like Col. Bleep and Clutch... read more

great book-excellent information-very fun to read!!

By jek "jek3919" - June 9, 2003

This book was so much fun to read! I can't believe all the info Hollis was able to uncover. His passion for the subject of kids shows is obvious, as is his excellent and humorous writing style. The book is a must for every 'kid' over the age of 35 who grew up watching TV. All of us can find a pleasant memory or two here. It's fascinating to read about the origins of these shows, and sadly, their demise. There is something here for either the nostalgia or history buff.