lew@ihuxr.UUCP (08/22/83)
My mom bought me a Winky Dink screen even though she considered it a form of blackmail. (and she worried about the radiation- anybody remember when they had xray machines in shoe stores? Those things really zapped you!) I only used it a couple of times. Incidentally, it stuck to the screen by itself - static electricty I guess. As I recall, you were supposed to trace in part of a secret message or something each show, and then send in the answer for a prize drawing. For those who don't know, Winky Dink was a little cartoon creature with a five-pointed star for a head. He had to contend with a Snidely Whiplash type villain. Anybody remember HIS name? Also from this era was Ramar of the Jungle, and in the western vein, Range Rider. Range Rider had long hair, which he was always smoothing back after somebody hit him on the head. My sister had a crush on him. Their was also an old superman cartoon series, which featured him helping out in the War Effort. I guess this dated it so that it wasn't shown much in later years. After we moved to New Jersey, I developed a standard Saturday morning program of viewing. It commenced with "The Big Picture" at 6:30 - this was a WWII newsreel. At 7:00 came Modern Farmer. I remember wondering why they kept showing these giant nails while they were talking about "grinding valves". One Modern Farmer which deeply affected me showed how to efficiently operate a family lumber mill. The father got hurt by being knocked into a saw by a runaway log. By the time he got back from the hospital, the son had everything in ship-shape with the help of some government agent who showed him how. This show turned me into a liberal. At 7:30, the serious stuff started with Crusader Rabbit (and Ragland T. Tiger). These were originally serials but they were showing entire episodes in one hour installments at this time. There weren't very many different ones, so we became well familiar with our favorites. The next one I remember was Ruff n' Reddy, a dog and a cat who had a mush mouthed professor for a friend. Around ten came Leonardo Lion. This one featured Senator Foghorn in the form of a dog. My dad would watch this one and tell us about old time radio. And so the cycle continues. Lew Mammel, Jr. ihuxr!lew
dje@5941ux.UUCP (08/22/83)
I think the Winky Dink villain was Poison Sumac.