Sandy Becker
Irene J. Sorokolit
show host of the 50's-60's died last week at the age of 74.
RIP Sandy, and thanks for all the wonderful tv moments of my childhood.
Irene
i...@crl.com
JimMelloan
Sandy Becker characters. There's Norton Nork, the Big Professor,
Hambone... Who else?
And my question is, was Sandy Becker really funny? My best recollection
is that he was, that he actually helped me form some aesthetic
sensibilities. When I was like six or seven. I'd be interested in
hearing other people's memories of specific characters & bits on the Sandy
Becker show
edge...@tuna.net
(JimMelloan) wrote:
Don't forget, if you grew up in the New York area, he hosted Wonderama for
years. The show was so popular parents were literally signing up their
children for the show's waiting list before they were born.
- Andrew
Kathy O'Connell
obits, but the Wonderama host I remember is Sonny Fox (Bob
McAllister came on after I grew out of watching it).
Does anyone know the dates Becker hosted it? In his obit in the NY Daily
News, they said from 1960-1970, but that had to be Sonny Fox.
edge...@tuna.net
wrote: : In article <4liuv9$f...@newsbf02.news.aol.com>, jimme...@aol.com
David E Romm
edge...@tuna.net wrote:
> Don't forget, if you grew up in the New York area, he hosted Wonderama for
> years. The show was so popular parents were literally signing up their
> children for the show's waiting list before they were born.
He also hosted another NYC children's show. I think it was called "The
Sandy Becker Show" and had this interminable undersea serial called "Diver
Dan".
I didn't watch it all that much, and I'm afraid my memories of Sandy
Becker are intertwined with those of Soupy Sales.
--
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FAQ, Distribution Tapes, Top 11 Lists, scripts, sound files, more
Tom Snyder
ocon...@pobox.upenn.edu (Kathy O'Connell) wrote:
>When did Sandy Becker host "Wonderama?" I've heard this in all his
>obits, but the Wonderama host I remember is Sonny Fox (Bob
>McAllister came on after I grew out of watching it).
>
>Does anyone know the dates Becker hosted it? In his obit in the NY Daily
>News, they said from 1960-1970, but that had to be Sonny Fox.
My 40 year old brain doesn't remember things like it used to but wasn't
Wonderama broadcast on both Saturday and Sunday. I think Sonny Fox
hosted the Saturday show and Sandy Becker hosted the Sunday show. Or
maybe it was vica versa.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Tom Snyder
(No, not the television talkshow host)
tsn...@eclipse.net to...@superlink.net
-- Every thought's a possibility --
-----------------------------------------------------------
Lajim
Okay, I'm using a 44 year old brain - maybe, it is totally gone - I don't
recall Sandy Becker hosting Wonderama. I only remember Sonny Fox - tall,
dark hair, and lanky. Sandy was kinda chunky. I remember being 3 or 4
and watching him in the mornings. Perhaps, Wonderama in the later years
was on both Saturdays and Sundays, but, as I recall, it was like a six
hour job on Sundays.
What ever happened to Soupy Sales? Met him once outside The Time Life
Building in NYC. Really nice guy. Anyone from New York remember
Zacherly? Local guy that hosted the horror show?
Laraine
John Saponaro
Lajim wrote:
>
> What ever happened to Soupy Sales? Met him once outside The Time Life
> Building in NYC. Really nice guy. Anyone from New York remember
> Zacherly? Local guy that hosted the horror show?
The last I "saw" of Soupy, he served as jock for WNBC before it turned to an
all-sports format. He replaced Howard Stern. Soupy was dumped by the
station months later.
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"Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man,
and writing an exact man." -- Francis Bacon
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Ira_L._...@ccmail.bms.com
In article <4lv1bp$h...@newsbf02.news.aol.com>, la...@aol.com (Lajim) wrote:
>Okay, I'm using a 44 year old brain - maybe, it is totally gone - I don't
>recall Sandy Becker hosting Wonderama. I only remember Sonny Fox - tall,
>dark hair, and lanky. Sandy was kinda chunky. I remember being 3 or 4
>and watching him in the mornings. Perhaps, Wonderama in the later years
>was on both Saturdays and Sundays, but, as I recall, it was like a six
>hour job on Sundays.
There was a different show on Staurday mornings with either Sandy Becker or
Sonny Fox as host. I think it was called Just For Fun. All I can remember is
that the kids in the studio were divided into 2 teams and they competed
against each other for prizes.
>Anyone from New York remember
>Zacherly? Local guy that hosted the horror show?
Zacherly was one of the original WNEW 102.7 FM (In New York) DJs. Most
recently he hosted a Saturday morning 60s show here in New York on 92.3 KRock
until they changed their format. Don't know where he is now.
>
Ira Idelson
Steve Baetzner
When did Sandy Becker die? How old was he? He was one of my favorite
hosts as a kid. I know he hosted Wonderama, I think from it inception in
the mid 50s to whenever Herb kSheldon took over. After Sheldon maybe
came Sonny Fox. I know there was a long string of hosts. Sonny Fox
hosted on Satsurdays "Just for Fun" on WNEW. This was concurrent with
his hosting Wonderama on Sundays.
--
STEVE BAETZNER
MEDIACREAT
Sandy died a few weeks ago, from a heart attack. He was 74.
I attended a tribute to him this past Thursday at CBS in NYC. On hand
were Fred Scott and Chuck Mcann (from NYC's Channel 5), among others,
including Sandy's puppets, who gave speeches. At the time of his death,
Sandy was working on putting together a cartoon animation company. It is
my belief that this effort will continue, as both good business sense and
as a tribute to Sandy Becker.
Tragic, I was told that all of the kinescopes of Sandy's shows, from the
50's, and b&w and color masters videos from the 60's and 70's, are gone.
Channel 5 (NYC), having been Dumont, then Metromedia, and then News Corp.,
threw out all of the kines, and re-used the video tape for other
programming. It appears that stupidity, i.e., "let's save a few $bucks on
storage space and new video tape," was (is?) the rule in the TV business.
Most interesting of all... his shows were ad-libbed, no scripts! What a
talent!!
JimMelloan
That really is too bad about all the shows being lost. Doesn't surprise
me, though. Guess that means we'll just have to reconstruct our memories
of the show here. I've been doing that with a friend--I'll summarize what
we recall.
I'm 40, and got to the New York area in '61 at age six. I think Sonny Fox
was doing Wonderama & Just for Fun at that point--I don't remember Becker
doing it. But I do remember his weekday afternoon shows. Other weekday
afternoon shows from that era include Chuck McCann, Officer Joe Bolton (on
WPIX) and who was that guy who used to get seven lines on a piece of paper
in his fan mail and he'd turn them into pictures?
Anyway, the Becker characters I remember best are The Big Professor--he'd
come on in a cap & gown to Pomp & Circumstance--my first encounter with
that tune--and read stupid stuff out of a big book.
Norton Nork, of course--I still remember the theme song. As I recall it
was all pantomime to the tune. But my friend Gary says it had a narrator,
and always ended with the narrator saying "Norton Nork, you've done it
again." Was it him who used to cook, with the bottle that kept saying
"Vaneela, Vaneela!"?
Gary remembers a guy:
in a lab, with a wise-cracking parrot or maybe just
} a little budgie. He would invent dopey things like a sweat-band for the
} birdie's beak. It's all flooding back. They used to mime to songs
together
} like "The Bird is the Word".
And he remembers K. Lastima:
The Spanish guy who used to dance around doing God knows what. I don't
remember if he talked or if it was a voice-over like NN. I just
remember the name, and the white suit (like El Exigente I think). The
name, especially, because I was so delighted when it turned out to be
Spanish for "What a Pity".
But the one that really haunts me is Hambone. What was the deal with
Hambone? He had a big pith helmet with a plume coming out as I recall,
and some kind of pre-Sgt. Pepper uniform. Was he supposed to be a pop
star, or what?
Help me out here people.
David E Romm
In article <4n7o83$4...@newsbf02.news.aol.com>, jimme...@aol.com
(JimMelloan) wrote:
> That really is too bad about all the shows being lost. Doesn't surprise
> me, though. Guess that means we'll just have to reconstruct our memories
> of the show here. I've been doing that with a friend--I'll summarize what
> we recall.
Good heavens! I remember all this!
> I'm 40, and got to the New York area in '61 at age six. I think Sonny Fox
> was doing Wonderama & Just for Fun at that point--I don't remember Becker
> doing it. But I do remember his weekday afternoon shows. Other weekday
> afternoon shows from that era include Chuck McCann, Officer Joe Bolton (on
> WPIX) and who was that guy who used to get seven lines on a piece of paper
> in his fan mail and he'd turn them into pictures?
Don't recall the guy with the picture, but I loved Chuck McCann. He used
to read the comic strip Dick Tracy, and did all the voices, including the
moon maid. He the title character in a great movie, "The Projectionist",
but never really made it big. Alas.
> Anyway, the Becker characters I remember best are The Big Professor--he'd
> come on in a cap & gown to Pomp & Circumstance--my first encounter with
> that tune--and read stupid stuff out of a big book.
Oh yeah. That's why I hate that song... Not as clever as Sid Caeser's
Professor, but still okay.
> Norton Nork, of course--I still remember the theme song. As I recall it
> was all pantomime to the tune. But my friend Gary says it had a narrator,
> and always ended with the narrator saying "Norton Nork, you've done it
> again." Was it him who used to cook, with the bottle that kept saying
> "Vaneela, Vaneela!"?
Ah yes, 'the little bottle that says "Vanilla"'. For years, travelling
around and going to college, I could always tell who was from New York by
throwing in "Vanilla! Vanilla!" somewhere in the dialog.
If I recall (and I may not), Nork was pantomime but the skits weren't
silent, very much like Ernie Kovacs. Becker didn't have the comic genius
of Kovacs or Red Skeleton, but he tried real hard and amused the kids.
Those things have to be around _somewhere_.
> And he remembers K. Lastima:
> The
> name, especially, because I was so delighted when it turned out to be
> Spanish for "What a Pity".
I didn't get the joke at first, but now I write characters with names that
are foreign expressions all the time. I try to use expressions from many
cultures.
> But the one that really haunts me is Hambone. What was the deal with
> Hambone? He had a big pith helmet with a plume coming out as I recall,
> and some kind of pre-Sgt. Pepper uniform. Was he supposed to be a pop
> star, or what?
I don't remember much about Hambone. I gathered that it was an attempt to
parody hammy rock stars, in retrospect probably Little Richard.
--
Shockwave radio: Science Fiction/Science Fact
http://www.winternet.com/~romm
"Remind me never to crash in the Andes with you."
"Oh sweetie. You know I'd eat you last."
-- The Nanny
Tom Guilbert
The guy with the seven lines (I remember 5) was Fred Hall. I don't remember
the name of his show, but I do remember features such as "Diver Dan" and
"Scott McCloud - Space Angel" appearing on his show. Does anyone remember
Space Angel? I have always felt that there were elements of that cartoon that
were very similar to Star Trek. I'm fairly sure that Space Angel pre-dated
Star Trek.
Tom Guilbert
==========JimMelloan, 5/13/96==========
That really is too bad about all the shows being lost. Doesn't surprise
me, though. Guess that means we'll just have to reconstruct our memories
of the show here. I've been doing that with a friend--I'll summarize what
we recall.
was doing Wonderama & Just for Fun at that point--I don't remember Becker
doing it. But I do remember his weekday afternoon shows. Other weekday
afternoon shows from that era include Chuck McCann, Officer Joe Bolton (on
WPIX) and who was that guy who used to get seven lines on a piece of paper
in his fan mail and he'd turn them into pictures?
come on in a cap & gown to Pomp & Circumstance--my first encounter with
that tune--and read stupid stuff out of a big book.
was all pantomime to the tune. But my friend Gary says it had a narrator,
and always ended with the narrator saying "Norton Nork, you've done it
again." Was it him who used to cook, with the bottle that kept saying
"Vaneela, Vaneela!"?
in a lab, with a wise-cracking parrot or maybe just
} a little budgie. He would invent dopey things like a sweat-band for the
} birdie's beak. It's all flooding back. They used to mime to songs
together
} like "The Bird is the Word".
remember if he talked or if it was a voice-over like NN. I just
name, especially, because I was so delighted when it turned out to be
Spanish for "What a Pity".
But the one that really haunts me is Hambone. What was the deal with
Hambone? He had a big pith helmet with a plume coming out as I recall,
and some kind of pre-Sgt. Pepper uniform. Was he supposed to be a pop
star, or what?
David E Romm
In article <DrGIE...@mustang.daytonoh.attgis.com>,
tom.gu...@daytonoh.ncr.com (guilbt) wrote:
> The guy with the seven lines (I remember 5) was Fred Hall. I don't remember
> the name of his show, but I do remember features such as "Diver Dan" and
> "Scott McCloud - Space Angel" appearing on his show. Does anyone remember
> Space Angel? I have always felt that there were elements of that cartoon that
> were very similar to Star Trek. I'm fairly sure that Space Angel pre-dated
> Star Trek.
"He protects and he saves his friends under the sea.
That's why he's called Diver Dan."
I remember that one. Not particularly favorably. It was this
interminable soap opera with a bad barracuda and cheap special effects.
The theme song was good, though.
Space Angel was in the same style as Clutch Cargo. EXTREMELY Limited
Animation. Basically still pictures where the lips moved. Really awful.
At least it was science fiction. I remember some Space Angel's fondly, if
not well. (It had nothing to do with ST, and predates that show by several
years.)
--
Shockwave radio: Science Fiction/Science Fact
http://www.winternet.com/~romm
"Would Pat Buchanan have picked a female running mate, or is Marge Schott too controversial?" -- Mark Russell 5/15/96