One of the highlights of my youth was watching cartoons on Channel 4, WTTV, then an independent television station operating out of Bloomington and Indianapolis. After all, the cartoon channels didn't exist yet, and were just a dream in few people's eyes.
Not only that, but what home video that did exist involved very expensive video recorders and hard to find video tapes - if you were fortunate enough to find them.
Usually, if you wanted to see non-educational cartoons, you had to wait until Saturday morning, from seven a.m. until noon. Channel 4 filled the void on the weekdays.
Three times a day, Channel 4 had programming just for kids. There was Janie Hodge, who hosted the morning show. In the afternoons, there were different hosts, but I do remember the woman named Peggy Nicholson.
The best of the shows, however, was Chuckwagon Theatre, which later became Cowboy Bob's Corral, which featured Robert Wesley Glaze as Cowboy Bob.
Glaze, who died in mid-September, always had nice things to say, which is something I really miss on both radio and television. Whenever I hear the hate spew, I switch stations and think back to Cowboy Bob.
His first dog was Tumbleweed. Cowboy Bob taught him to "Stop, Drop, and Roll" in the show's fire safety spots. Tumbleweed was also taught how to crawl beneath smoke to escape from a burning building. A lot of people from my generation got our initial fire safety training from his show. Some even used that training in real house fires.
Cowboy Bob also had words of wisdom for his viewers:
"If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."
"Keep smiling!"
"Don't forget to take your nap!"
We need more men like Cowboy Bob nowadays.
Rest in peace, Cowboy Bob.
Peace be unto you.
No comments:
Post a Comment