Razzle Dazzle (Canadian '60s Show)
kaan
daily on CBC -- maybe 4:00 to 4:30? It was hosted by a series of young
performers -- none of whose names I remember, except for (maybe) Patrick
Rose who had another variety show with Brent Carver in the '70s --
before Kiss of the Spider Woman and Parade on Broadway.
David Migicovsky
news:37D027AB...@pipeline.com...
The host of Razzle Dazzle was Alan Hamel, aka Mr. Suzanne Somers.
More Info, from the directory of CBC Television Series, 1952-1982,
http://www.film.queensu.ca/CBC/
A high-powered, fast-moving half-hour, Razzle Dazzle is still fondly
remembered as required after school viewing for children of the baby boom.
Its title sequence was a rapid montage of images cut to a raucous version of
"Tiger Rag," and the action took place in Razzle Dazzle Alley, which was
populated each day by a gallery of children bused in daily from Toronto area
elementary schools.
The most esteemed inhabitant of the alley was Howard the Turtle, who sat (if
that's what turtles do) on a pedestal. Sometimes wide-eyed and childlike,
sometimes clownish, sometimes irreverent, often Buddha-like in his serenity,
Howard the Turtle was an icon of Canadian television in the first half of
the l960s. It wasn't that he moved slowly; his shell and his feet, in fact,
did not move at all. However, his neck, his head, his mouth, and his mind
were all very animated. He had a penchant for the worst jokes and puns,
called "groaners" on the show. A performer of remarkable versatility, he
changed characters as easily as changing what he wore on his head or around
his neck (which is basically how he did change character). He was Howard
Mellotone, with the Pick of the Pops from radio station COW, he was Jimmy
Fiddle Faddle with the latest gossip from Hollywood, he reported news of
real importance for the Razzle Dazzle Daily, he was poet Howard I.
Threadneedle, he hosted Howard Handsome's Dance Party with the Razzle Dazzle
Dancers, and he was the impresario of Turtleshell Theatre.
Howard's human companions, the hosts for the first few years of the show's
run, were Al Hamel and Michele Finney. Al, the kiddies' pal, had a healthy
wardrobe of sweaters and slacks, closely cropped hair, and a lot of teeth. A
CBC staff announcer, Hamel was a charter cast member of the leering, late
night comedy show Nightcap, where he was billed as "our smiling Razzle
Dazzle reject." He appeared on both shows in l963 and l964, when he finally
vacated Razzle Dazzle Alley. Michele, eleven years old when the show
started, just about dared you to call her perky. Dark haired, always
earnest, bright, cheerful, and (yes) sexy, her resourcefulness seemed to
suggest her ambition and independence. After all, she already had a career
on television, and appeared to live among friends, not in constant reference
to her parents. (She even interviewed the Beatles for the Toronto Daily Star
[8 September l964], p. l8.) She seemed not to defer to the authority of
adults. Although Al was her elder and, perhaps just because he was male
appeared to control the show's agenda, Michele remained very much his equal.
Although still very young and a model with whom to identify, she was herself
a figure of authority in relation to the children on the set, as well as the
kids in the viewing audience. Al was the older brother whose personality had
set, and whose wide Razzle Dazzle smile seemed to conceal his Nightcap
libido. Michele, however, was growing to become a modern woman. Where Al
resembled Eddie Haskell, the adolescent toady of Leave It to Beaver, then
Michele would have grown up to be Mary Richards, the career woman played by
Mary Tyler Moore in the l970s.
The same relationship held for their successors. In l964, Ray Bellew, a
younger, oilier man with wavy, dark hair replaced Al, and Trudy Young, a
blonde suburban high school student, as bright and charming as Michele, took
over as co-host. (Trudy later shared the small and big screens with other
anthropomorphized animals, including Arbuckle the Alligator in Alphabet Soup
(q.v.), Art Hindle in Face Off, and Burton Cummings in Melanie.) Sandy
Pollock also worked periodically as a host.
There was also a supporting cast of characters--friendly and not so
friendly--who showed up frequently in the Alley. The most notorious was
Percy Q. Kidpester, played by Ed McNamara. A black-cloaked misanthrope who
stepped out of a Victorian melodrama, his appearances guaranteed boos and
hisses from the kids in the gallery. Only slightly less welcome was Mr.
Sharpy, a con man played by Paul Kligman. In an eternal quest for the riches
of "a knuckleful of nickles," his foolproof scams backfired every time. Joe
Murphy played Mr. Igotit, the local shopkeeper, Don "Ace" Baker appeared
regularly to demonstrate exercises and physical activities for kids (who
presumably were watching Razzle Dazzle instead of playing outside), and
dancer Joey Hollingsworth appeared frequently. The most prolific supporting
player, though, was Michael Roth, who appeared as eight characters in the
show, among them the oriental mystic Mandarin Tee Hee, Bimbo the clown, the
English gentleman Lord Faversham, and the magician Sheik Ali Ben Roth. Other
supporting characters included Mendel Meek, Boomer Foghorn, Hiram
Corntassel, the "uncountrified farmer" from Cucumber Corners, the German
inventor Herr Doktor Professor Vee Gates, and Sherlock House, "the defective
detective," and the mailman Johann Sebastian Bagstrap.
Another important contributor to the show was the cartoonist George Feyer.
His drawings comprised the comic strip adventures of Percy Kidpester,
Terwilleger Topsoil, Daniel the Spaniel, and J. Tipton Teabag.
Viewers participated by mail and telephone in a number of the features on
Razzle Dazzle. They contributed a daily news item or capsule commentary to
be reported on the air. In l963, the show instituted the Razzle Dazzle
Genius Department, for which kids were encouraged to contribute original
plays to be performed on the show. Fridays meant the Telequiz, a long
distance telephone contest. Most important, however, was the Razzle Dazzle
Club, which paid off with a button and a decoder with which initiates were
able to read secret messages.
A regular feature of the show was the serial, a filmed story told in
segments about five minutes long. One was The Terrific Adventures of the
Terrible Ten, an Australian production about a group of children who started
and ran their own self-sufficient community in a log fort. The Magic
Boomerang, another Australian serial, traced the adventures of Tom, a boy
who lived on a sheep ranch in the outback and who discovered an old
boomerang with mystical properties. Razzle Dazzle also ran the stories of
The Forest Rangers (q.v.), about boys and girls in northern Ontario, in
serialized form, prior to the show's run in half-hour episodes as a series.
One year, when the l962 World Series threatened to pre-empt the opening
shows of the season, Howard, Al, and Michele introduced a number of silent
comedies by Mack Sennett, with such stars as Ben Turpin and Harry Langdon in
a series called Razzle Dazzle Presents Movie Matinee. Similarly, at the
start of the l964 season, in a series called Howard Presents The Olympics,
Howard and Ray introduced videotaped highlights from the l964 Summer
Olympics in Tokyo, with reports from CBC commentators Bob McDevitt, Steve
Douglas, Ted Reynolds, Dave Cruikshank, and Lloyd Robertson, and sports
coverage produced by Don MacPherson.
Sometimes the CBC is guilty of patronizing and condescending to its child
viewers. Among popular CBC programs for children, such shows as The Friendly
Giant and Mr. Dressup, which are amiable and reassuring, have a nurturing
quality. Razzle Dazzle, made for an older, school-age audience, stressed
imagination, inventiveness, and above all fun. It had a level of irony and
self-awareness that made the show watchable by adults. Howard the
Turtle--like his contemporary, Jim Henson's Muppet Kermit the Frog--knew
what was what.
The executive producer of Razzle Dazzle was William Davidson. The show's
producers were Neil Andrews (l96l-64), Madrienne McKeown (l96l-63), Sandy
Stewart (l963-64), Brian O'Leary (l963- 64), Ed Mercel (l963-66), and Bill
Glenn (l965-66), and the writers included Ron Krantz, Cliff Braggins, and
Don Baker. The puppets were operated by Linda and John Keogh, who played
Howard.
Willie
>More Info, from the directory of CBC Television Series, 1952-1982,
>http://www.film.queensu.ca/CBC/
Whew! Thanks for the info, David, and especially for the link! I
remember Razzle Dazzle, but what caught my eye was Al Hamel and
"Nightcap". God, that show was funny! I wish they'd show a few
episodes if they're still gathering dust in the vaults. I get the
impression that the CBC saves everything.
-LarryLloyd
David Migicovsky
<37d4ad78...@news.rdc1.bc.wave.home.com>...
> >The host of Razzle Dazzle was Alan Hamel, aka Mr. Suzanne Somers.
>
> >More Info, from the directory of CBC Television Series, 1952-1982,
> >http://www.film.queensu.ca/CBC/
>
>
>
Yes, that link is a godsend for anyone doing research on Canadian TV! What
an incredible effort that site was. Most of the more recent drama shows are
in the IMDb, especially any that were shown in the U.S.
I
> remember Razzle Dazzle, but what caught my eye was Al Hamel and
> "Nightcap". God, that show was funny! I wish they'd show a few
> episodes if they're still gathering dust in the vaults. I get the
> impression that the CBC saves everything.
>
They definitely didn't! Almost all episodes of The Plouffe Family and This
Hour Has Seven Days were deliberately destroyed.
ydNO...@cactuscom.com
>> daily on CBC -- maybe 4:00 to 4:30? It was hosted by a series of young
>
also shot in Toronto in 74-75?
I had all forgotten about the crazed emu puppet until I checked IMDB
moments ago.
Speaking of Alan Hamel this reminds me of the talk show he had in
Vancouver in the late 70s (later hosted by Alan Thicke) and how one
day a totally spaced out Peter Fonda paid a visit, sitting next to the
previous guest, Mr.Show business himself, Dick Van Patten, and a
shocked Van Patten playing to perfection the part of middle-America
exclaiming "You're high!" and Fonda just smiled at him.
YD.
David Migicovsky
news:37d89e6b...@news.cactuscom.com...
> >> Does anyone remember this kids show from the sixties? It used to be on
> >> daily on CBC -- maybe 4:00 to 4:30? It was hosted by a series of young
> >
> also shot in Toronto in 74-75?
None.
> I had all forgotten about the crazed emu puppet until I checked IMDB
> moments ago.
>
> Speaking of Alan Hamel this reminds me of the talk show he had in
> Vancouver in the late 70s (later hosted by Alan Thicke) and how one
> day a totally spaced out Peter Fonda paid a visit, sitting next to the
> previous guest, Mr.Show business himself, Dick Van Patten, and a
> shocked Van Patten playing to perfection the part of middle-America
> exclaiming "You're high!" and Fonda just smiled at him.
>
Amazing anything that real happened. They didn't tape it daily, like most
talk shows. They'd just fly everyone up from LA and they'd tape several
shows, with several appearances. It was originally designed for American
syndication, so it carefully came from nowhere. When they realized that
wasn't going to happen, they let it be Canadian.
maryanne kehoe
>saves everything.
Not really the case....as CBC for the past 10 years or so has had
terrible financial problems (especially Radio Canada International) and
for example, many of the "classic" RCI shows were taped over (to save
money instead of buying new tape).
Maryanne