This Month in Children's Media: September 2016

I will try to have this feature on the first of each month. It has been said that people cannot resist celebrating any anniversary divisible by the number 25. This December is especially going to be fun with the 50th anniversary of "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" (TV Special), and the 100th anniversary of "Snow White" (1916) (the first film Disney saw as a boy), and many more.

This is my first post with this theme so please forgive the lack of video,s links or images to go with the facts. By all means there are too many anniversaries to acknowledge, so don't be upset if there is a great book, program or film missing.

Also I hope to have a follow up article on these events throughout the month.

25 Years Ago 

September 20, 1991 - Step by Step was added to the TGIF line up.

September 30, 1991 - The popular PBS Game Show "Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego" premiered.

50 Years Ago

1966 is sometimes regarded as the single coolest year in television history. It was the year that all programming transitioned to color, and several iconic programs premiered or were on the air at the same time (Batman, Star Trek, Gillian's Island, Get Smart, I Spy, Addams Family, a long long, long, long ongoing list).

It was also the ultimate year that children's Saturday morning programming was almost completely animation (no more reruns of B&W series like Lassie, or Sky King, and Captain Kangaroo left Saturdays), and controversy would grow over the new action adventure series, especially in 1967 (Spider-Man, Dino Boy, ...), plus the advertising and the quality of children's television.

Yonkers NY Herald Statesman, September 2nd, 1966

September 9, 1966 - Radio, comic book and Saturday Matinee vigilante The Green Hornet transitioned to television for one (memorable) season.

September 12, 1966 - Family Affair premieres on CBS

Saturday Morning premieres

September 10, 1966 - Yes, all of these shows debuted on the same day!
(ABC)
 King Kong Show

(CBS)
New Adventures of Superman - Bud Collyer was back as the Man of Steel. (See 75 years ago below).
Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles
The Lone Ranger (Halas & Batchelor) - It is interesting that radio's most famous hero and icon for boys and girls was played in animated form by radio veterans.  Micheal Rye in this version and in the 1980s version it would be radio's Marshall Dillon, William Conrad. Speaking of radio, the last original Lone Ranger radio drama aired 60 years ago in 1956.

(NBC)
Space Kiddettes
Super-Six
Cool McCool - Bob Kane's spy spoof.

Exact date unknown -
Animal Secrets (NBC, 1966 - 1968) Educational series hosted by Dr. Loren Eisely, professor of anthropology and history at the University of Pennsylvanina.

The Smithsonian (NBC, 1966 - ?)

75 Years Ago

September 5, 1941 - Reg'lar Fellers, the live action film based on the comic strip by Gene Brynes starring Billy Lee as Pinhead Duffy and Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer as Bump Hudson. Also an Ub Iwerks animated short Happy Days premiered 80 years ago on September 30, 1936.

Showman's Trade Review - September 28, 1940. Ad for the series a full year earlier.

September 26, 1941 - Max Fleischer's first Superman cartoon hits theaters, the first animated comic book superhero film ever made, just 6 months after the live-action "Captain Marvel" serial. The cast of the Superman radio program do the honors: Clayton "Bud" Collyer (Superman/Clark Kent), Joan Alexander (Lois Lane), Julian Noa (Perry White). Moving from comics, to comic strips, then on radio, in merchandise, the 1939 World's Fair, and then theatrical cartoons further showed the mass market appeal and success of the "superhero" concept.

16 more Technicolor adventures with the Man of Steel would follow. DC (National) Comics failed to renew the copyright for the series in the 1960s and they have been in the public domain ever since. From local kiddie TV hosts to bargain VHS & DVDs, children have been reintroduced to this series over and over again. Just how many superhero cartoons have there been over the last 75 years?