My Favorite LA kiddieTV Programs from the 1950's

Beany and Cecil




Beany, voiced by Daws Butler, was a cheery bright-eyed lad dressed in blue coveralls and wearing a cap with a propeller on top, who was forever running into precarious situations. Cecil, voiced by Stan Freberg, was a large, lovable green sea creature, a protective soul who became ill during storms, but was ever vigilant when it came to his buddy Beany. Along with Crowy the Crow, they sailed the seven seas in pursuit of adventure, exploring the universe from the undersea world to outer space.

Albert Einstein, addressing a group of Nobel prize winners in 1950, stopped abruptly at 5 pm, telling his audience he had to leave as it was "Time for Beany".

During its run the series garnered three Emmy awards and a Peabody award. The three Emmy's were won in 1949, 1950, and 1952. Stan Freberg was nominated for a best actor award (as Cecil), but did not win, in 1950. The series was nominated again for an award in 1954.

The puppet show left the air in 1955, but the characters refused to die.




RED LIGHT........ GREEN LIGHT......RED LIGHT...... GREEN LIGHT.... GREEN LIGHT......

"ENGINEER" BILL STULLA has to be our all time favorite engineer. Junior Engineers all over the Los Angeles area learned about drinking their milk via his "Red Light, Green Light" game. That was the game that reminded children they could only drink their milk on the green flashing light but never, ever on the red one, because as every good engineer knows, you never go on a red light.

The lights were all green when Mr. Stulla came up with the idea of playing an engineer for a cartoon show that needed a host. Incorporating his love (and hobby) of trains, "Cartoon Express" was born.





"Sheriff John's Lunch Brigade" and his afternoon show "Sheriff John's Cartoon Time" premiered in 1952 on KTTV and both were highly successful. The afternoon show being extremely popular, that it attracted more viewers than all the other programs during the same time period added together. The same year (1952) he won an Emmy Award for Best Children's Program and five other nominations.



Jimmy Weldon and Webster Webfoot

Webster's adventure in Hollywood started the first week in September of 1952 on KLAC-TV Channel 13. His Producer was George Tibbles who later was the sole writer for fourteen years on "My Three Sons".

Jimmy and Webster were nominated the outstanding children's show for 1952, 1953, and 1954. They also did numerous parades in the Southern California area, such as the 1953 Huntington Park Christmas Parade.

I was on this show in the early fifties!