Johnny Jupiter was the show that tore affections from the much earlier (and more juvenile) The Rootie Kazootie Club, although I still hold warm feelings for Rootie's gal, Polka Dottie, in my heart. But in my seven-year-old mind, Johnny Jupiter stood tall in my personal pantheon of heroes (which included only one other person -- Hopalong Cassidy).
There were two versions of Johnny Jupiter, both featuring a combination of live action and hand puppets. The first aired on the Dumont Network from March to June 1953; it was followed by 39 episodes on ABC, from September 5, 1953 to May 29, 1954. In the Dumont version, created by Martin Stone, elderly janitor Ernest P. Duckweather worked the midnight shift at a television station. One day, he was fooling around with a television and made contact with the planet Jupiter, more specifically, with Johnny Jupiter and Johnny's pal, B-12. "The often sharp humor of the series was based on Duckweather trying to explain and justify earth customs to the inhabitants of Jupiter, who could view them on their own TV sets." Duckweather was played by Vaughan Taylor; Johnny and B-12 were voiced by Jerome Coopersmith (one of the show's writers) and Carl Harris. Coopersmith's co-writer was Hotton Foote (To Kill a Mockingbird, Tender Mercies, The Trip to Bountiful).
In the ABC version, Duckweather (played by Wright King) was now the young employee of a television repair shop. Contact with Jupiter was made through a magic TV set only when Duckweather needed help or advice. This time his contacts are with Johnny Jupiter, Major Domo (a cube-headed robot), and Reject the Robot (who could appear and disappear at will); all three puppets were voiced by Gil Mack. Often the bumbling Reject the robot had to beamed to Earth to help solve Duckweather's problems; when the happened, he was played by Gene (or Philip)as Hampshire London wearing a large robot suit. For the ABC season, which geared more to science fiction than to children's programming, Coopersmith was producer and script editor only.
Join us for the first episode of the ABC series, in which aliens have made contact with Earth to help Duckweather repair a television set. Cliff Hall plays Duckweather's boss, Horatio Frisby; Patricia Peardon is the boss's daughter, Katherine; also featuring Jerome Collamore as Hampshire.
Enjoy -- as I did back in the long-ago days.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnuxUcJ1Rc8
Thanks! Haven't looked yet, but it sounds charming. Coopersmith went on to write no little TV aimed at adults.
ReplyDeleteMy most croggling reminder today (I assume I'd learned this at some point over the last half-century or so I've been aware of the disappearance of Judge Crater, and had forgotten) was that his vanishing occurred 34 years to the day before my birth. Something karmic or somesuch. Coincidences are for suckers just ask John W. Campbell, Jr.!
Coi9ncidence, Todd? I think not. If you assign a numerical value to each letter in the word CRATER, you get 3+15+1+17+1+15, you get 50. Subtract the number of years from Crater's disappearance and your birth and you are left with sixteen, now add the numerical value of each letter in MAGA (13+1+7+1) and the result is 22; now 34 minus 22 is 8, which is 2 cubed; and 2 time 3 is 6; six spelled out is s-i-x, and the middle letter (i) is just four off from E; now 6 minus 4 is 2 and 6 plus 4 is 10; now 10 plus 2 is 12, which is a prime age for pedophiles. So the fact that you were born 34 years after Judge Crater disappeared is the universe's way of telling you to release the Epstein files. Now I know you don't have the files, but can Drumph be sure? I think you are in a perfect position to scare the pants of El Cheeto! I mean, how can Drumph argue with the universe?
DeleteThe above analogy works great if you don't take into account actual math.
DeleteAnd it all leads to pool.
DeleteI suspect some Drumpf minion-volunteer is already working on a dossier about either or both of us, and the Crater disappearance might give them their closest approach to an idea...