Thunderbolt the Wondercolt - TV's First Super Animal Series

Thunderbolt The Wondercolt

Broadcast: June 03, 1953 - July 1955 ** KTTV Los Angeles, CA. Weekdays at 6:00pm Pacific Time.

Sponsors; Challenger Dairy Products.

Producer: Bob Clampett.

The Hook: If considered a superhero-themed show, Thunderbolt would be the second or third superhero program in TV history after "Adventures of Superman" with George Reeves.

Thunderbolt the Wondercolt was a children's puppet TV series about the adventures of a horse with a super-powered secret identity. It aired weekday afternoons on station KTTV from Los Angeles, California from 1953** - 1955.

Thunderbolt is extra unique as a spinoff from animation legend Bob Clampett's Emmy-winning "Time For Beany series. That meant satire to pull in an adult audience just as "Beany" had pulled in Albert Einstein. From review articles in Los Angeles newspapers the series was popular during its short run, and it is unfortunate the so few of the Clampett puppet shows are available to the public today.

An overlooked aspect of "Thunderbolt" is that it debuted on Wednesday, June 3, 1953, less than a year after "Adventures of Superman" with George Reeves. This makes it a contender for TV's second superhero series (3rd if "The Lone Ranger" with Clayton Moore counts.

If this claim is over the top, since it is a satirical puppet series, Thunderbolt could at least be considered the TV's first super animal.

Sources:

**Broadcast dates are based on newspaper TV listings of station KTTV from The Los Angeles Times. While the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) lists the show as starting in 1952, the following articles list Thunderbolt as a "new creation" from Clampett.

Ames, Walter. "Star Studded Palsy Show on KECA Tonight; Thunderbolt The Colt Is New Puppet Hit". June 5, 1953.

T. V. Tops. "To Be Seen and Heard". June 8, 1953. San Bernadino County Sun. https://www.newspapers.com/image/49399034

Searching For 1950s Saturday Morning TV Promos

When a classic kid's TV show from the Golden Age of Television is lost or missing, it is hoped that footage or any visual of a program may exist in promos within other broadcasts.

I really hope to find promos for ABC-TV's "Acrobat Ranch" and "Animal Clinic", TV's first Saturday Morning shows for kids. Those programs debuted in 1951 70 years ago this summer. One complete episode of the former is archived and has surfaced online, while "Animal Clinic" is not listed in a searchable library/archive. So far I have found a promo from a few years later. 

(Above) 1953 ABC Saturday Morning Promos - Space Patrol, Sky King, and More"

This slide promo for ABC-TV Saturday Morning programs aired Friday, February 13, 1953 in the opening of the "Tales of Tomorrow" episode "Another Chance" with Leslie Nielsen. The announcer implies that the parents tell their sleeping children not to miss the ABC programs to air the next morning, Valentine's Day 1953. Did the network air a version of this promo earlier in the day that was before a child's bedtime? 

This promo includes visual slides for the following programs. 

1) "Scouting In Action" - I have not found a lot about this series except that it may have originated in Chicago in Summer of 1951 and aired nationally a year later. It is a forgotten series in the history of children's television. Any info on this program is appreciated.

2) "Rootie Kazootie Show" is a well-documented puppet program with one episode on the Children's Media Archive YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/fPjEC5cqk8A 

 

3) "Space Patrol" was a classic early space opera with Ed Kemmer as Commander Buzz Corey. Of all the 1950s kid's space shows, it is considered the best all-around. Also heard on ABC radio with the same cast. 

4) "Sky King" is a fondly remembered aviation/western adventure series with Kirby Grant, Gloria Saunders, and Ron Hagerthy. It was based on an ABC radio series that debuted in 1946.

5) "Hail The Champ" was a 1950s Chicago game show hosted by Howie Roberts and Angel Casey where kids competed in fun athletic games for prizes. Decades before "Double Dare" this was Nickelodeon before Nickelodeon. One episode exists in the UCLA Film/Television Archives.

The search for rare kids' shows, and promos will continue. If you know of a promo for a rare kids TV show from 1941 - 1960, please leave a comment or write to archivebuilder@gmail.com with "TV promo" as the subject heading. 

From The Archives: More Jon Gnagy Inspired Artwork

Another great thrift store find is this 1950 edition of "Learn to Draw" by Jon Gnagy America's first television art instructor. What makes this worn copy so special is that it includes artwork based on Gnagy's instructions. The name "Emma" is written on the top left cover in pencil and we can assume these were her sketches. Other drawings in this book included a portrait of a dog and a colored picture of a bird.

2021 is the 75th anniversary year of Gnagy's first appearances on television (May 13, 1946). According to some television histories, Gnagy's program could be considered the first children's program on regular broadcast television. This may be true for the post-war period when television finally began to captivate the masses. Gnagy's program "You Are An Artist" (1946-1950) predated NBC's "Campus Hoopla" (1946-1947), a teen dancing program, by seven months.

Whoever "Emma" was, she showed promosing talent. She was most likely a young girl born between 1930 and 1945. This copy with Emma's art was found in the Piedmont Triad region of North Carolina.

Lost Classic TV: Gigi and Jock - 1950s French Puppet Adventure Series

Gigi and Jock (Adventures of Gigi and Jock)*

Syndicated 1950 - c. 1951, - 1/2 hour puppet series. Distributor: TeeVee Company, New York, NY. TV markets: WENR Chicago, KTSL Los Angeles. Producer: Marc Frederic.

Cast: Colleen Collins, Marian Richman, Daws Butler

Lost children's puppet shows are a research speciality of mine and something I will be writing more about in the coming months. One puppet series that has intrigued me for years is "Gigi and Jock". It is one of those puppet series from TV's golden age where information has been so scarce over the years, one wonders if the series ever existed. Here is what I could find about this lost puppet series. 

"Gigi and Jock" was an adventure series about two "unusual puppets" created and filmed in France, with American voices dubbed in for the soundtrack. It is unknown if this series was originally a French TV production. The series was promoted in the Feburary 1950 edition of Billboard. From newspaper listings available in digital collections, the series aired on at least two American TV stations, the first being KTSL - Channel 2 Los Angeles. On station WENR Channel 7 in Chicago, "Gigi and Jock" was sponsored by "Flavor-Kist Cookies and Crackers" a product of the Schulze & Burch Biscuit Company. A few of the episode titles included "Magic Wand" and "Kingdom of the Birds". 

Snippet of a press photo of actress Marian Richman, who some source credit as the voice of "Jock".

Based on available publicity articles, "Gigi and Jock" featured Colleen Collins, a local singer and voice actress as the voice of "Gigi." Marian Richman (1922 - 1956), a cartoon, radio, and TV actress with a voice acting range to do young babies to grandmothers, was the voice of "Jock." While portrayed by Collins and Richman, Gigi and Jock appeared to be stout French men in existing publicity images, possibly outcasts from the Foreign Legion. In one article, animation voice legend Daws Butler (Time For Beany, Yogi Bear) was credited with all additional voices on the program. One article credits Butler as one of the lead characters, so it is hard to determine with certainty who played which characters. 

A 1954 Variety listing claimed that "Gigi and Jock" had 39 1/2 hour episodes. In this research, no TV schedule listing for this series was found after March of 1951 and no reference in a TV syndication directory after 1955. 

Prints of two episodes do exist in the David Susskind Papers and the University of Wisconsin. collection. Hopefully, one print of this show will also surface on DVD, streaming, or YouTube. 

*Some grammatical corrections and one link update were made to this text on September 26, 2021.

From The Archives: A Vintage Jon Gnagy Kit and Drawing

American Painting legend Bob Ross (1942 - 1995) is continuing to have a surge in popularity with 24 hour streaming channels and YouTube. Long before the genial perm sporting PBS artist, there was Jon Gnagy (1907 - 1981). Gnagy pioneered teaching a television audience how to draw begining in 1946 over the historic WNBT station in Washington D.C. His Jon Gnagy "Learn to Draw" Kits have sold millions for decades, and I was delighted to come across a vintage edition in a church mission thrift store.

The biggest surprise was finding that there were still charcoal drawings inside the kit, one of which is posted at the top of this article.

Also included in this kit were original Jon Gnagy drawing pencils, with additional art supplies. 

There is no way of knowing for sure if this drawing or kit belonged to a child, but Gnagy's impact on generations of future illustrators is well documented. One can wonder if Bob Ross watched Gnagy as a kid. 

From The Archives: What TV Show Didn't Have A Coloring Book?

Toys, pendants, games, and other non print memorabilia from vintage media are becoming more scarce each passing year. I may be wrong, but print items seem to be much easier to come by. One unexpected recent find was a "Petticoat Junction" coloring book from Whitman. No one considers Petticoat Junction a children's classic, and that makes this product interesting. 

An image search would show that there were also coloring books for "The Beverly Hillbillies", "The Munsters", "Get Smart", and that is just the 1960s. There were coloring books for celebrities in the Golden Age of Radio like Eve Arden, and movie stars like Esther Williams.

Vintage coloring books are interesting and over looked time capsules of how media for all ages was promoted to kids.

After finding a Petticoat Junction coloring book, I am wondering what radio or TV program didn't have a coloring book.

Pearl White's Children's Party, or The Serial Queen of Tots?

Pearl White "Queen of the Serials" hosting several children at her home. From Photoplay magazine, February 1920. 

While exploring the January to June 1920 volumes of Photoplay magazine, I found a curious page article called "Pearl White's Party". The full-page article tells a story of an orphan boy named Russell at the historic Ottilie Orphan Asylum in Queens, New York who told the reigning Queen of the Serials that he wanted a party. As a result, Russell and nearly 30 children were invited to Ms. White's home in the Bayside community of Queens for a party with "ice cream cones and gingerbread".

Pearl White with little Russel who became the "ringmaster" of the children's party. From Photoplay magazine, February 1920.

How true this account is speculative since this is a movie fandom magazine, but it is interesting to see Pearl White with so many children. The common thought about the serial genre is that serials were not geared towards a younger audience until the mid to late 1920s. In Pearl White's time as a serial queen, the genre was seen as more adult. So this 1920, suggests that Pearl White may have had a good-sized juvenile audience as well. Or, that she or her producers were starting to recognize juveniles as an increasing serial audience. 

These youngsters would have seen Pearl on the screen in "The Black Secret" (1919) which was supposed to be her last serial. She would return to cliffhangers one more time in 1923's Plunder.