REMEMBERING the saying that one will "Catch more Flies with Honey than with Vinegar", the creative team behind WINKY DINK AND YOU (Jack Barry & Dan Enright Productions, 1953-56*) used the small, unspectacular video world of make-believe to launch this most quietly educational show on the CBS Television Network. It was brought into this domain as new, made for Television programming as an addition to the kids Saturday morning parade of Cartoon Shows. Cutting into a slice of the turf that was, until that time, the province of theatrical cartoons. CBS had made good use of their recently purchased Terrytoons Animation Studios.
ASSEMBLING their network Saturday Programming from the short subject cartoons by using titles culled from the backlog of the output of producer Paul Terry's long and varied characters such as Dinky Duck, Little Roquefort, Farmer Al Falfa, Heckle & Jeckle, the Terry Bears and Mighty Mouse. The various character series were shown as either the stars or supporting features in three cartoon shows; being THE MIGHTY MOUSE PLAYHOUSE, HECKLE & JECKLE and THE FARMER AL FALFA Show.**
DONE as a combination of animation and live action, the series was in a sense a sort of relative of the earlier theatrical animations that pioneered the use of such mixed format. Both Max & Dave Fleischer's OUT OF THE INKWELL Series, starring Koko the Clown and Walt Disney's ALICE IN THE CARTOONLAND, were two prime examples of this cartoon/live-action hybrid type of film.
THIS is not to say that we are declaring the WINKY DINK Show to be on par with those full-animation theatrical productions; for we are not. The show's animation style is like all other made-for-television cartoons-only more so. That 'limited movement' school of animation is taken to new heights (depths?) of non-movement. The little boy Winky Dink barely changes positions, which puts him into serious contention for the all time 'nonanimation' award with the older, previous Champion, the earliest episodes of CRUSADER RABBIT (Jay Ward Productions/Television Arts, 1950-51 & Creston Studios/TV Spots, 1957).
THE PIPSQUEAK VOICE of little Winky was made by the veteran voice actor from the POPEYE Cartoons. No, Schultz, it was not the voice of Jack Mercer; but rather that of Mae Questel. Miss Questel was creative larynx of not only the Sailor Man's 'main squeeze, Miss Olive Oyl; but also of BETTY BOOP.
ACTING as our M.C. and liaison between the "live" and "cartoon" worlds is the shows co-producer and frequent Game Show Host, Jack Barry. Among his duties were any introductions into the day's adventures as well as doing a 'soft sell' lesson or two. We well remember a talk about common table fruit and what region of the country was known for their cultivation. Among talking icons of Oranges in both California & Florida and Pears, Peaches, etc.; there was an Apple that was placed in the Pacific Northwest, the State of Washington , to be particular.
WHEN Jack would say something like, "I like Oranges from Florida and Oranges from California; and I like Apples, too", to which the talking Apple would ask. "What's Apple Stew?" It was humorous to even, or rather mainly, to small children.
EACH week, prior to the introduction of the Winky Dink Adventure, Jack would announce that the Official Winky Dink magic TV screen was available via direct mail sales from the program. The price was quite low, probably about $2.00; so no one could accuse Jack of practicing unscrupulous merchandising methods. Even further evidence is found in the fact that Mr. Barry also told us that we could easily create our own makeshift Kit by making use of some clear, plastic food wrap and some crayons.
WHETHER 'official' or home-made, a screen was rendered WINKY DINK ready by placing the plastic screen over the glass viewer that covers the picture tube of your television set. One then used their crayons to draw certain simple shapes or even a single line over a certain part of the image. He also suggested that if there were more than one child present, that the crayons should be evenly divided to give everybody a chance to participate. A typical audio queue would say something like this; "Now boys and girls, whoever has the red crayon, draw a straight line across the river, so Winky Dink can use it as a bridge to cross over.
ALTHOUGH in our home we neither bought nor improvised a kit, we still watched WINKY DINK. I mean, after all it was only a half an hour; being followed by the likes of FARMER AL FALFA, HECKLE & JECKLE and MIGHTY MOUSE PLAYHOUSE!
NOTE: * These were the same Jack Barry and Dan Enright who produced the big buck$ Quiz $how, TWENTY-ONE; with Mr. Barry acting as the Master of Ceremonies to folks like Herb Stempel and Charles Van Doren of the great Quiz Show fiasco of the mid 1950's.
NOTE: ** In addition to these venerable theatrical cartoons of Animator-Producer Paul Terry, shortly after becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of the Columbia Broadcasting System, Terrytoons did produce new, made for TV cartoon series such as: TOM TERRIFIC, DEPUTY DOG and LARIAT SAM.
POODLE SCHNITZ!! .
ASSEMBLING their network Saturday Programming from the short subject cartoons by using titles culled from the backlog of the output of producer Paul Terry's long and varied characters such as Dinky Duck, Little Roquefort, Farmer Al Falfa, Heckle & Jeckle, the Terry Bears and Mighty Mouse. The various character series were shown as either the stars or supporting features in three cartoon shows; being THE MIGHTY MOUSE PLAYHOUSE, HECKLE & JECKLE and THE FARMER AL FALFA Show.**
DONE as a combination of animation and live action, the series was in a sense a sort of relative of the earlier theatrical animations that pioneered the use of such mixed format. Both Max & Dave Fleischer's OUT OF THE INKWELL Series, starring Koko the Clown and Walt Disney's ALICE IN THE CARTOONLAND, were two prime examples of this cartoon/live-action hybrid type of film.
THIS is not to say that we are declaring the WINKY DINK Show to be on par with those full-animation theatrical productions; for we are not. The show's animation style is like all other made-for-television cartoons-only more so. That 'limited movement' school of animation is taken to new heights (depths?) of non-movement. The little boy Winky Dink barely changes positions, which puts him into serious contention for the all time 'nonanimation' award with the older, previous Champion, the earliest episodes of CRUSADER RABBIT (Jay Ward Productions/Television Arts, 1950-51 & Creston Studios/TV Spots, 1957).
THE PIPSQUEAK VOICE of little Winky was made by the veteran voice actor from the POPEYE Cartoons. No, Schultz, it was not the voice of Jack Mercer; but rather that of Mae Questel. Miss Questel was creative larynx of not only the Sailor Man's 'main squeeze, Miss Olive Oyl; but also of BETTY BOOP.
ACTING as our M.C. and liaison between the "live" and "cartoon" worlds is the shows co-producer and frequent Game Show Host, Jack Barry. Among his duties were any introductions into the day's adventures as well as doing a 'soft sell' lesson or two. We well remember a talk about common table fruit and what region of the country was known for their cultivation. Among talking icons of Oranges in both California & Florida and Pears, Peaches, etc.; there was an Apple that was placed in the Pacific Northwest, the State of Washington , to be particular.
WHEN Jack would say something like, "I like Oranges from Florida and Oranges from California; and I like Apples, too", to which the talking Apple would ask. "What's Apple Stew?" It was humorous to even, or rather mainly, to small children.
EACH week, prior to the introduction of the Winky Dink Adventure, Jack would announce that the Official Winky Dink magic TV screen was available via direct mail sales from the program. The price was quite low, probably about $2.00; so no one could accuse Jack of practicing unscrupulous merchandising methods. Even further evidence is found in the fact that Mr. Barry also told us that we could easily create our own makeshift Kit by making use of some clear, plastic food wrap and some crayons.
WHETHER 'official' or home-made, a screen was rendered WINKY DINK ready by placing the plastic screen over the glass viewer that covers the picture tube of your television set. One then used their crayons to draw certain simple shapes or even a single line over a certain part of the image. He also suggested that if there were more than one child present, that the crayons should be evenly divided to give everybody a chance to participate. A typical audio queue would say something like this; "Now boys and girls, whoever has the red crayon, draw a straight line across the river, so Winky Dink can use it as a bridge to cross over.
ALTHOUGH in our home we neither bought nor improvised a kit, we still watched WINKY DINK. I mean, after all it was only a half an hour; being followed by the likes of FARMER AL FALFA, HECKLE & JECKLE and MIGHTY MOUSE PLAYHOUSE!
NOTE: * These were the same Jack Barry and Dan Enright who produced the big buck$ Quiz $how, TWENTY-ONE; with Mr. Barry acting as the Master of Ceremonies to folks like Herb Stempel and Charles Van Doren of the great Quiz Show fiasco of the mid 1950's.
NOTE: ** In addition to these venerable theatrical cartoons of Animator-Producer Paul Terry, shortly after becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of the Columbia Broadcasting System, Terrytoons did produce new, made for TV cartoon series such as: TOM TERRIFIC, DEPUTY DOG and LARIAT SAM.
POODLE SCHNITZ!! .
