No Saturday morning cartoons for us. But
plenty of Saturday morning cowboys. Who didn't contemplate
becoming a
cowboy or cowgirl with the likes of Annie Oakley, Roy Rogers,
Gene Autry, Wild Bill Hickok, Range Rider, the Lone Ranger, and
horses Fury and Flicka to fantasize over?
The Mickey Mouse Club provided more Western heroes with the
romantic
Zorro, and the adorable
Spin and Marty.
Weren't
we destined to be a moral generation, growing up with the Cowboy
Code, and having moral advice sung to us by Jimmy on the Mickey
Mouse Club? (can't you still sing "The race is run by running,
there is no other way..." Other
favorite Saturday morning shows,
as well as after school shows, include Sky King, Circus Boy (Corky grew up to be a Monkee), Rin Tin Tin, and
Jeff's Collie (laterto be called
Timmy and Lassie.
While we were very young there was more help with our morals,
and our favorite hosts, Miss Francis on Ding Dong School and
Captain Kangaroo could give the next generation's Mr. Rogers a
run for his money.
If you lived in Chicago you
watched puppets. Kukla, Fran and Ollie, Here's Geraldine,
and everyone's favorite, Garfield Goose and Friends.
There
was another local show, The Blue Fairy, which made a
big impression on me but is now just a blur. Right along with
Winky Dink, whom I vaguely remember as a star with legs
but nothing else? The only reason Winky Dink is a memory at all
is that he sold a kit with a magic screen. You put the screen
over your TV screen and then could color on it as instructed
during the show. We weren't the only kids who drew all over the
TV screen without benefit of the protective plastic.