DVD Review - "Primeval Puppets TV Shows" from Festival Films

Primeval TV Puppet Shows -- Trailer from Movie Memories on Vimeo.

"Primeval TV Puppet Shows"

This is my first DVD Review and it is for a set that I hope to see a second edition of in the future. 

Primeval TV Puppets Shows is the latest DVD from Festival Films in their Lost and Rare series. Lost and rare is definitely true description for a number of shows in this collection. I was happy to supply information of a couple of the titles.

The one series on this set that I never thought I would ever see is "Unk and Andy, Stargazing With Professor Twink" (1951). It was a sequel or continuation of "Unk and Andy" a 1950s series, and one of the first to teach the alphabet. Produced by host "Unk" Jack Kenaston, this series probably has not been available for over 55 years. I found the puppet Andy Auk to be funny and wonder if Jim Henson could have seen this series.

"Topsy Turvy Theater" is a funny puppet series with the talents of Walter Edminson from around 1961. It is like a spin of the "Fractured Fairy Tales" format with puppet characters doing their take on story, in this case Sherlock Holmes.

Johnny and B-12 from "Johnny Jupiter". 

Another favorite surprise is the episode of "Johnny Jupiter" (1953) with the late Wright King. Johnny Jupiter was a puppet/live action sitcom about janitor Ernest P. Duckweather (King) who invents a TV set allows him to communicate with characters on the planet Jupiter trying to explain the ways of the planet Earth. This was ALF before ALF. In recent decades there were only 2 episodes of "Johnny" circulating. This DVD brings that number of surviving episodes up to 3.

Scene from "Fearless Fosdick" 

The collection is rounded out nicely with an episode of the very rare "Fearless Fosdick" based on Al Capp's "Dick Tracy" parody strip within the "Li'l Abner" comic strip, the "Rootie Kazootie Club" a puppet show very similar to Howdy Doody, that I find more entertaining, "The Magic Clown" a short Saturday morning series, the long time favorite "Howdy Doody's Christmas" and clips from "Kukla, Fran and Ollie" and "Andy's Gang" with Froggy the Gremlin.

This DVD is a must have for collectors and enthusiasts of Golden age television, early children's media and of course, puppets.

For more information or to purchase a copy:

Lost and Rare: Film and TV Treasures - https://www.lostandrare.com/

Amazon.com -
https://www.amazon.com/Primeval-TV-Puppet-Shows-1950s/dp/B08231GHCV

Lost (?) Children's Show : Unk and Andy

Unk and Andy (Unk and Andy ABC Art Adventures)
syndicated. 1950
Host, cartoonist and puppet voices:  Jack Kenaston

Image capture from the 2015 Ebay sale of composite prints for "Unk and Andy"

UPDATE: One episode of this series is now available on DVD! Please see this blog article "DVD Review - Primeval Puppets From Festive Films".

The Hook (or what makes this show interesting today): This may have been the first educational television series for children based on the alphabet, and one of the first to teach about animals.

Twenty-six letters, twenty-six 15 minute episodes, and twenty-six characters to teach about animal wildlife using each letter of the alphabet. The characters of this series ranged from Andy Auk to Zachary Zebra, each drawn by “Uncle Jack” Kenaston. The puppet Andy Auk, voiced by Kenaston, was Uncle Jack's co-host for each episode. The series was distributed by Calvacade Pictures, and produced by Jack Kenaston Productions which may have been based out of the artist’s home in California. It would be nice to know the names of the animals from B to Y. Also it is interesting to learn about a series from the pioneering age of television that used both a puppet and live drawing to engage young children.

According to the 1950 copyright record, this series was based on another work by Kenaston called "Uncle Jack's ABC Art Adventures". It is not stated whether this was a book, radio series or possibly and earlier television series.

Further examination of the 1951 copyright records reveal that Kenaston may have produced another series in 1951 called "Unk and Andy, Star Gazing With Professor Twink". It is described as a proposed series, 25 minutes each "to be used for sales purposes which features the adventures of Unk, the sketching skipper of the good ship Copy Cat, of Andy Auk, puppet First Mate, and of Professor Twink, puppet North Star." Based on that description this was probably a show designed to teach about astronomy or the solar system.

Jack Kenaston (1913 - 2002) was a University of Wisconsin graduate and WWII veteran who began a long career in West Coast television beginning in 1946.

Survival Status: Unknown. Some composite prints of the series were sold by an Ebay dealer in June 2015. If you were the purchaser of those prints or know of where more can be obtained please respond to this post in the comment sections.

For more information about Jack Kenaston and "Unk and Andy":

Obituary for Jack Kenaston - Los Angeles Times

Terrace, Vincent. 2011. Encyclopedia of television shows, 1925 through 2010. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co. http://public.eblib.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=800716.

Woolery, George W. 1983. Children's television, the first thirty-five years, 1946-1981. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press.