Does anyone care about Rocket Robin Hood?

[MIB41]

WDRB-TV / Channel 41* Louisville, Kentucky

Yep! That be my home! I loved Rocket Robin Hood. Back then Channel 41 (later to become Fox 41) was just a local station that only had air time between 12 and 12. They had children's programming that started around 4:00 hosted by a character named Presto the Clown and his two puppet buddies J. Fred Frog and Honey Bunny. Is it any wonder I grew up warped? But those were fun times. Spiderman-67, Rocket Robinhood, and a host of other cartoon shorts were part of the show. When the cartoons went to commercial breaks Presto would do magic tricks and spin his wheel cage with kids names in it to give away blow up clowns of himself, and celebrate birthdays. Those were great memories. You can even find him on Youtube.

[MysteryWho]

I only saw it now and then growing up in Hamilton. It was the Spiderman cartoon I watched incessantly on CHCH.
It's hard to imagine now, but I always had trouble picking up City TV at home. We had a TV antenna, but it didn't
rotate so it was always in the same position. I have to say I've come to love it, RRH I mean, as an adult.

[ubermanx]

I only saw it now and then growing up in Hamilton. It was the Spiderman cartoon I watched incessantly on CHCH.
It's hard to imagine now, but I always had trouble picking up City TV at home. We had a TV antenna, but it didn't
rotate so it was always in the same position. I have to say I've come to love it, RRH I mean, as an adult.

You still in Hamilton? I was born there but my folks moved us up to Peterborough when I was young. Every Saturday after morning cartoons my Mom and I would walk to the Kresgies at Center Mall and she would treat me to a Little Golden Book and a Hot Wheels or I could skip the Hot Wheels save up for something bigger like a Mego once a month ...

[palitoy]

When the cartoons went to commercial breaks Presto would do magic tricks and spin his wheel cage with kids names in it to give away blow up clowns of himself, and celebrate birthdays. Those were great memories. You can even find him on Youtube.

Thanks for that, Presto will be the new star of my nightmares.

[MIB41]

Thanks for that, Presto will be the new star of my nightmares.

You should see his retirement party footage in the 80's. He was intoxicated. Oh that's rich.

[palitoy]

You should see his retirement party footage in the 80's. He was intoxicated. Oh that's rich.

I have similiar stories of one of Toronto's best loved children show hosts, except everyday was a party....

[MysteryWho]

You still in Hamilton? I was born there but my folks moved us up to Peterborough when I was young. Every Saturday after morning cartoons my Mom and I would walk to the Kresgies at Center Mall and she would treat me to a Little Golden Book and a Hot Wheels or I could skip the Hot Wheels save up for something bigger like a Mego once a month ...

I am in Hamilton now, but I grew up in Waterdown, which is just a little North. It's part of the City of Hamilton these days.

I don't mean to cast aspersions, I'm sure the man who was Presto is a nice, if tipsy, fellow. However, that video made me
think of John Wayne Gacy. The only thing more disturbing is the background music. And that Frog! Surely, as a kid, you
must have watched that birthday cake business and felt insulted, thinking "that frog is a puppet, there's no way he can
blow out those candles, how stupid do they think we kids are!" Meanwhile, congratulations, MIB41, on remembering Presto
as a positive experience and not one that required years of therapy to resolve. You are a better man than I.

[MIB41]

I am in Hamilton now, but I grew up in Waterdown, which is just a little North. It's part of the City of Hamilton these days.

I don't mean to cast aspersions, I'm sure the man who was Presto is a nice, if tipsy, fellow. However, that video made me
think of John Wayne Gacy. The only thing more disturbing is the background music. And that Frog! Surely, as a kid, you
must have watched that birthday cake business and felt insulted, thinking "that frog is a puppet, there's no way he can
blow out those candles, how stupid do they think we kids are!" Meanwhile, congratulations, MIB41, on remembering Presto
as a positive experience and not one that required years of therapy to resolve. You are a better man than I.

I think I'm going to have to start a thread just on Presto. You think he inspired Stephen King to write "It"? In all seriousness, his name was Bill Dopp and he was a fairly well known actor in Louisville. His performance was certainly catered to a very young crowd from 1971 to 1980. But he was a beloved actor who pretty much talked to kids like their grandfather would. Times were quite a bit simpler back then...Just like the programs we watched.

[cjefferys]

It's hard to imagine now, but I always had trouble picking up City TV at home.

Yeah, City must have had a really weak signal, we could never get it. Our TV Guide always teased me with a bunch of great programming that I could never watch.

[palitoy]

Yeah, City must have had a really weak signal, we could never get it. Our TV Guide always teased me with a bunch of great programming that I could never watch.

I'm crying for you and your easily accessed Channels 29 and 31.

I'd trade those for the lunchtime Moreland/Latchford films and an hour of M*A*S*H every day I got.

[MysteryWho]

I'm crying for you and your easily accessed Channels 29 and 31.

I'd trade those for the lunchtime Moreland/Latchford films and an hour of M*A*S*H every day I got.

I never had a problem getting 29, but what was the other name or call letters for 31?
Here is another lunchtime torture Canadian kids from a certain era will remember.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdsQgy3m0ZQ

[palitoy]

I never had a problem getting 29, but what was the other name or call letters for 31?
Here is another lunchtime torture Canadian kids from a certain era will remember.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdsQgy3m0ZQ

Mike Meyers admitted somewhere he stole the Austion Powers theme tune (Soul Bossa Nova) because of Definition.

I loved watching people win typewriter ribbons and car mats.

[cjefferys]

I'm crying for you and your easily accessed Channels 29 and 31.

Ok, you got me on channel 29, it was pretty awesome. I didn't recall a channel 31 and had to look it up. Seems like that one was/is in Rochester, so it was out of my range as much as out of yours. Channel 29 was kickbutt though, nyah nyah!

[palitoy]

Ok, you got me on channel 29, it was pretty awesome. I didn't recall a channel 31 and had to look it up. Seems like that one was/is in Rochester, so it was out of my range as much as out of yours. Channel 29 was kickbutt though, nyah nyah!

My grandparents got 31 clear as a bell on their upstairs BW TV, I have no idea why, they were further north than i was. I remember turning on the TV just as their Saturday horror movie intro started, I didn't move for two hours.

The listings for the channel appeared in our tv guide, they got everything i wanted to watch. It was sick.

[samurainoir]

Here is another lunchtime torture Canadian kids from a certain era will remember.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdsQgy3m0ZQ

Without that, we would never have gotten this...