Lexington Herald-Leader from Lexington, Kentucky • 27

Lexington Herald-Leader Advice D2 Television D3 Classified D5 Section Tuesday January 12 1988 Local programs gone but not forgotten player Carl Thomale recently played at a church Christmas dinner in Somerset the one special request was that he play the old theme song By standards the programs were simple stuff A host and a painted-up set Cartoons and serials and Bluto" and of the Jungle" Kids waving hi to the folks watching at home But for their time the shows were magic was something new almost like Christmas every recalled Lexington's Frank Faulconer who broke into television in those days Now a weatherman on WKQQ-FM Faulconer did weather and news on Channel 27 in the 1950s and later appeared on Channel 36 But times changed Local children's shows faded away in the late 60s and 70s Today the late afternoon time slot once occupied by children's programs has been taken over by soap operas and syndicated talk showsj David Lander promotions director at Channel 27 said the baby boom kids gradually outgrew the shows taking away much of their audience Sponsors went with them i By Jim Warren Herald-Leader staff writer John Baldridge 21 an intern at WTVQ recently strolled into the control room at Channel 36 He overheard announcer Tim Eppenstein reminiscing about the show Eppenstein ran on Channel 62 back in the 1970s was Baldridge gasped were Happy?" Eppenstein said I remember watching that show when I was a kid At the end they would always show you dancing off down the that was the last local kids' show on Lexington television left the air almost 10 years ago In fact live locally produced programs for children have all but disappeared from television They were pushed aside by changing economics shifting demographics and the advent of slick new syndicated cartoons But the old shows live on in the memories of the kids some now slipping into middle age who loved them If you close your eyes tight you can almost see them now: You jumped off the school bus and raced into the house so you miss a single minute Dumped your schoolbooks maybe Statkms found it was more profitable to buy nationally produced animated programs such as Joe" and Lander said Network specials too costly for Bluegrass stations Page D3 Wayne Bell and Shorty Stout presided over Lexington shows Page D4 grabbed some milk and cookies Plopped down on the couch Switched on the black-and-white set If you were growing up here in the late 50s or early '61)5 you might have tuned in Wonderful" the talking horse on WKYT (Qiannel 27) Opposite him WLEX (Channel 18) had singing cowboy Shorty Stout strumming the guitar and showing slapstick comedies If your parents had one of those bedspring-size antennas on the roof you could pick up Ijtmisville stations Flickers" was on WAVE: WHAS had the Ranch" with singer Randy Atcher and Tom Brooks brother of comedian Foster Brooks When reception was really graxl you could get or out of Cincinnati There were other shows too "Cousin Wayne and the Bunkhouse" on Channel 18 Goody Goody and on Channel 27 Later WBLG (Channel 62 which is now WTVQ (Channel 36) would come along with Room" and all gone now In most cases no films or tapes exist to bring them back to life But they're not forgotten Whqi Atcher's former piano and accordion VUvJlU-V' fs --Vlg tff- rWnO i I if A tj Ratings for some of the syndicated cartoons plunged last year And industry officials say some stations are experimenting with shows using local hosts in hopes of luring more young viewers But no sign yet of a real return to shows of the past Mary Ann Kuykendall Windy was to kids By Jim Warren Herald-Leader Mali writer Windy Wonderful went on the air before he ever really existed had ordered this horse's head puppet but it hadn't arrived yet" recalled Henry Allin who was the voice of Windy we faked the first shows by having Donna Reed who was then the hostess talk to Windy on the telephone By the time we got the puppet we had hundreds of letters from children who wrote in even though never seen That was about 1959 And the Wonderful" show on WKYT (Channel 27) soon became one of the most popular in Central Kentucky In 19(30 Reed (not the movie star of the same name) was replaced by Mary Ann Williams then still a senior at Bourbon County High School Known to the kids simply as Mary Ann she became Windy's permanent partner remaining with the show until it left the air Along the way she met and married Jerry Kuykendall who was a prop man on the show don't remember a thing about the first show 1 was Mrs Kuykendall said recently probably was scared out of my ever lovin' Fortunately Henry made it easy for Allin a Lexington native had worked extensively in radio and (Tim to WINDY D4) Tim Eppenstein was the last of its kind By Jim Warren Herald-Leader staff writer Tim Eppenstein became Happy the Gown by default Another man was picked for the role but backed out three days before was to go on the air in 1976 on WBLG (Channel 62) which later became WTVQ (Channel 36) Clark Davis who was the general manager at the station asked me to do it" Eppenstein recalled really think I had the training for it But Davis kept after me all weekend So what happened was we went out on Monday and just did it With no plan or anything" Somehow it worked Happy was a hit Eppenstein who had arrived from Huntington WVa only a few months before to be an announcer for Channel 62 found himself a star At the height of the show's popularity there were Happy T-shirts and bumper stickers The show's theme song was even available on record Happy showed cartoons and serials and exchanged gibes with his sidekick a toad named Froggy A man named Mike McMellon provided Froggy's voice Unlike some other shows children didn't appear on But several celebrities did including one-time serial star Buster Crabbc and actresses Lana Wood and Morgan Brittany (Turn to D4) this particular auditorium and just because I am white it was automatically assumed that I was there to see the movie and not the black gospel program As noted earlier we are all guilty in varying degrees of prejudging our follow creatures and making blanket indictments of groups of people solely on the basis of race religion or national origin I suppose that if there's a message in all of this me to invoke an old coaching bromide concerning schedules and apply it to our personal relationships: People like games should be taken one at a time Then John Harris and I will be able to attend track meets and gospel sings with no questions asked V- Sfr Wayne Bell: now technical manager at KET Wayne Bell: Wayne" to kids HH Stout: same hat 30 years later Shorty Stout: host of western show pigeonholes frequently tight uncomfortable fits v- t- was approached by a good friend who also happened to be a UK athletic department official After exchanging the customary salutations I introduced my friend to John you a recruit son?" asked the man pleasantly Before a somewhat flustered Hams amid respond I quickly intajected that he was a fellow- reporter enjoying sort of a busman's holiday The school official merely mxlded at this piece of intelligence and blithely amtinued his conversation with me After the man left Harris and I had to smile We both realized that because Harris was young and black my frienc automati cally had assumed that he was an athlete According to Harris who now writes for the St Petersburg Times this experience was not unique among his coterie of black friends Now let's proceed to the other side of the preconceptual coin A few years ago I entered the student center on the University of Kentucky campus to attend a program of black gospel music I was nearing the ticket booth adjacent to rate of the entrances when a black student began shaking his head he advised politely are no movies scheduled tonight" It was the custom to show highly regarded feature films at budget prices in We all have them Those personal pigeonholes to which we mentally assign people and places based on the acceptance of our culture's current or past perceptions of them In most cases this storage by stereotype is convenient and comfortable rather than malignant or malicious although an-thropofogists would probably assign the more sinister motives for this practice I have been involved in two instances of such preconceptions in Lexington and learned that the door of subtle stereotyping swings both ways The first case concerned John Harris a black sportswriter and a former colleague of mine In addition to sports reprating John and I shared an affinity for track and A- A Rjrsonally Speaking field and during his tenure at this paper we amid often be found in the stands for the annual University of Kentucky Relays We had slipped into the stands one particular meet and were savoring the festive atmosplxre that uniquely permeates track-and-field competition when I A- mm.