Kids in Baltimore woke up one day in 1953 to find a brand new television show just for them. It featured a host named Miss Nancy (Nancy Claster), and was conducted as a school session, beginning with the pledge of allegiance, and ending with something you never saw in school: a magic mirror.
The kids were four and five years old. They rotated in their appearances, so that fresh faces were always on. And the concept was a hit.
In fact, Claster and her husband marketed the Romper Room idea to television affiliates all over the US.
Syndication was in its infancy. Perhaps that's why the package that the Clasters offered was strange by today's standards.
You see, you could either purchase the show intact, straight from Baltimore, or you could produce your own local version, which would strictly follow the same format.
In my area, we got the Baltimore (or possibly Chicago, where the actual show relocated) package, although by the mid 60's, Miss Nancy had stepped to the side and allowed her daughter, Miss Sally (Rogers) to take over on the show. I remember her well.
By the time Romper Room showed up on my local TV station, I was past the age of its intended audience. But I still got a kick out of watching it on those summer days when I was home in the morning on a weekday.
Miss Sally was a shameless hawker of Romper Room goodies. The Romper Stompers, in particular, were a hit among the neighborhood gang's younger brothers and sisters. Truth be told, we would sneak a little play time with the "kiddie" toys ourselves.
In case you grew up in a cave, here's a definition of Romper Stompers. They were like small plastic buckets that had a strong string through the narrow end. They were designed to stand on, open end down, while you firmly grasped the strings and walked around on them.
Simple, cheap to manufacture, and a hit with kids. Combine that with daily TV coverage advising you to tell your parents to buy you a set at the local TG&Y, and you have marketing brilliance.
A bit too brilliant, perhaps. In 1968, a group called Action For Children's Television threatened the show's producers with legal action if they didn't cool the sales action during the show. Romper Room relented.
Of course, perhaps Romper Room's greatest contribution to American culture is the Do-Bee/Don't Bee concept.
Similar in concept to Children's Highlights' Goofus and Gallant, Mr. Do-Bee did things the right way, but of course, Mr. Don't Bee was a perennial screw-up.
Nowadays, he'd probably be diagnosed as suffering from Asberger's.
Anyhow, there was a song that said "I'm a Romper Room Do-Bee, a Do-Bee all day long!" I'm sure I haven't heard it since LBJ was in the White House, yet I can still recall many of the lyrics. Such is the effect of TV on a kid's mind.
In 1981, the name of the program was changed to Romper Room and Friends. Normally a renaming is a death-knell for a show, but in this case it survived another thirteen years before sailing off into the sunset, a victim of the easy availability of kid's programming on cable networks.
Many video clips survive from Romper room. Try YouTube. Also, check out this article at TV Party for a true-life encounter a Romper room kid had with a creepy clown on the air, complete with video footage. And a big thanks to my buddy Mike Ransom over at Tulsa TV Memories for a graphic. Enjoy his own Romper Room recollections.
Comments (3)
I'd almost forgotten, but your post brought back memories of the Magic Mirror chant: "Romper, bomper, stomper boo. Tell me, tell me, tell me, do. Magic mirror, tell me today. Have all my friends had fun at play?"
I admit that I could only remember as far as "tell me, do"... I had to google the rest.
I watched the Chicago broadcast as a young child in the early 60s. The teacher in that production at that time was Miss Beverly.
Thanks to WGN, we kids who grew up in the Chicago area in the early 60s were very spoiled when it came to great kids TV. Its weekday lineup included not only Romper Room, but Ray Rayner, Garfield Goose & Bozo's Circus. Of these, I outgrew Romper Room first. I think this was mainly because (I seem to recall) it aired in the morning after school started, so I stopped watching it once I went to kindergarten. Certainly preschool was its target audience. Unlike children today, most preschoolers were home back in those days, so Romper Room was the extent of our preschool experience.
The other shows aired at times when elementary school kids were generally home (including lunch), so we enjoyed those shows for years longer.
Maybe I'm just becoming a silly old lady, but I don't think that the plethora of today's kids TV can shake a stick at those old shows.
Posted by Kenosha Mom | July 11, 2008 1:46 PM
Posted on July 11, 2008 13:46
I'm from Baltimore and was supposed to be one of those fresh faces on an early show. But I got sick the day my pre-school class went on and I've never forgotten it!
In Baltimore, we called those toys "bobaloops" and I managed to find one on ebay. The originals have wooden barrels tied to the strings.
Thanks for the memories!
Posted by Sunny | July 13, 2008 11:44 PM
Posted on July 13, 2008 23:44
i remember miss jane, and miss barbara. i pressured my mother to buy me one of those horse head sticks to ride on.lol.even though we were low income, she did. love ya ma.(RIP). romper room was a fantasy to me. i loved this show. i used to want her to say my name in the magic mirror. but i guess VERA wasnt common. lol.
Posted by vera | January 30, 2010 6:12 PM
Posted on January 30, 2010 18:12