Children's Theater

In 1950, children's shows tended to be loud and raucous. Clarabelle the Clown squirted people with his seltzer bottle; Pinky Lee blithered non-stop; Beat the Clock forced the contestants to perform embarrassing stunts. Pies in the face were the height of sophistication. Then, on Saturday mornings, before the cartoon ghetto arrived, a gentle theme song introduced a calm announcer, Ray Forrest, who played, among other things, the now much ridiculed BBC nature films. I don't remember if he actually played "Stuffing the Wild Titmouse" , but that was the sort of thing we saw. He showed cartoons that actually were so modern they had soundtracks. Bubble & Squeak, a Cockney cabbie and his cab. Crusader Rabbit, an early version of Rocky and Bullwinkle. I wish I could remember more, but 70 years is an awful long time.