This 16mm kinescope is an early episode of Junior Hi-Jinx, a children's television show that aired on WCAU in Philadelphia and starred Willie The Worm. Willie was very popular with kids from the start, and soon the show title would be dropped and it became the Willie The Worm show. This 16mm Kinescope reel was shot directly off of a synchronized CRT monitor and stands as a very interesting look into the early days of live television in Philadelphia. Enjoy!
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#WCAU #philly #weird
- Intro Music by Fran Blanche -
Fran on Twitter - https://twitter.com/contourcorsets
Fran's Science Blog - http://www.frantone.com/designwritings/design_writings.html
FranArt Website - http://www.contourcorsets.com
It feels human compared to virtually everything that came later in a way that is critically important
Here come the copyright trolls!
It's wonderful that you were able to post this without a copyright violation for "Pop Goes the Weasel".
Hi Fran. This was a bit before my time, but boy what a treat. It reminds me of calm, relaxing, lunchtime radio programming I heard in grade school. So laid back! Excellent. Thank you for sharing these gems.
Very cute and somewhat still relevant for a 72 year-old show. The changing hat routine was my favorite 😆
Great sound and very disturbing.
I guess it was a different time back then…
but why?…. why would they even make this?…. they seam to have forgotten to include a point.
That was so cool!
This is before my time, but I have sentimental memories of watching local TV here in Philadelphia as a kid and appreciate this recovery a lot. My favorites were Candy Apple News Company (1979) and Starstuff (1980), both of which were rerun on WCAU throughout the 80s in the early morning on weekends. Some material has been recovered over the years. There's 28 minutes of a Candy Apple News Company episode and four whole episodes of Starstuff (one of which I recovered myself!) now hosted on the Internet Archive. I even hosted a Starstuff fan site many years ago. My fingers are crossed that the rest of the episodes turn up someday, maybe even from Marion Stokes' library.
Here comes the willie nightmares
kids TV, you have found my level, i could not click play fast enough.
The CIA used this B4 they used LSD, the effects were about the same, sorry couldn't resist. I got the Mr Rogers similarity but Orion said it first.
For whatever reason, watching this reminded me of watching Ernie Kovacs' morning show before going to school when I was a kid. Hot Cakes & Sausage, indeed…
Thanks, Fran!
Thanks Fran for bringing back old memories. I remember Willie the Worm. He always had a very calm pleasant voice. I wonder who did the voice for Will and who the puppeteers were. I think most tv stations around the country had some kind of local kids show in those days.
Wille reminds me a bit if Bob Ross – there's even a happy little city
A for effort but overall it shows little imagination or real talent.