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Uncle Johnny Coons' showings of Crusader Rabbit came a bit later in the show's running, probably around '54 or '55. When the show's format changed from Noontime Comics (silent comedy shorts) to Noontime Adventures, the show remained at a 30-minute time slot featuring "true life adventure" wildlife short subjects and a portion of a half-hour Jungle Jim show starring Johnny Tarzan Weissmuller. These 30-minute shows (continuing a comic strip character Johnny originated in Sam Katzman's low-budget feature films) were eventually run elsewhere in their entirety once Uncle Johnny Coons' show reverted back to more or less its original format.
"Uncle" Johnny Coons was also the voice and, presumably, the puppeteer of Marshall Fields Department Stores' Uncle Mistletoe and its off-season successor, King Calico. He made at least one children's recording as Uncle Mistletoe and at least one more such recording under his own name.
I'm told--so take it for what it's worth--that he was overheard complaining about "the little bastards" driving him crazy at a Jewel Food Stores (his sponsor for several years, if not for his entire run) personal appearance. I've no way of verifying this incident, however.
I met him at a couple of Jewel appearances and found him quite genial--I guess us "little bastards" weren't driving him crazy on those occasions! In thinking he was off the air when his infamous comment hit the TV audience he followed in the footsteps of a famous children's radio personality (it seems a radio buff told me he went by "Uncle Dan") who did the same thing, employing the same "b" word! Hope this is of some use--I do tend to be a bit wordy at times!
An afterthought--in addition to "Joe Giant," one of Uncle Johnny's regular companions was "George the Dummy," a manikin which had seen better days, to put it mildly. "George" occasionally back-talked Uncle Johnny in what was obviously a hopelessly unintelligible high speed recording, which Uncle Johnny sometimes translated for his viewers.
"Uncle" Johnny Coons was also the voice and, presumably, the puppeteer of Marshall Fields Department Stores' Uncle Mistletoe and its off-season successor, King Calico. He made at least one children's recording as Uncle Mistletoe and at least one more such recording under his own name.
I'm told--so take it for what it's worth--that he was overheard complaining about "the little bastards" driving him crazy at a Jewel Food Stores (his sponsor for several years, if not for his entire run) personal appearance. I've no way of verifying this incident, however.
I met him at a couple of Jewel appearances and found him quite genial--I guess us "little bastards" weren't driving him crazy on those occasions! In thinking he was off the air when his infamous comment hit the TV audience he followed in the footsteps of a famous children's radio personality (it seems a radio buff told me he went by "Uncle Dan") who did the same thing, employing the same "b" word! Hope this is of some use--I do tend to be a bit wordy at times!
An afterthought--in addition to "Joe Giant," one of Uncle Johnny's regular companions was "George the Dummy," a manikin which had seen better days, to put it mildly. "George" occasionally back-talked Uncle Johnny in what was obviously a hopelessly unintelligible high speed recording, which Uncle Johnny sometimes translated for his viewers.
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- allenkracalik
- Jun 9, 2013
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- Runtime30 minutes
- Color
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- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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