''Happy's Party'' was a children's TV program originating at

WDTV WDTV (channel 5) is a television station licensed to Weston, West Virginia, United States, serving as the CBS affiliate for North-Central West Virginia. It is owned by Gray Television alongside Clarksburg-licensed dual Fox/ CW+ affiliate WVFX ...

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

and broadcast for one season on the

DuMont Television Network The DuMont Television Network (also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont Television, simply DuMont/Du Mont, or (incorrectly) Dumont ) was one of America's pioneer commercial television networks, rivaling NBC and CBS for the distinction of being ...

. The show debuted locally on March 1, 1951, and appears to have had its last telecast on August 13, 1955 (by which time WDTV had been purchased by Westinghouse and become KDKA-TV). It was carried by the DuMont network from September 6, 1952, until May 16, 1953, with 30 minutes on the network and an additional 30 minutes broadcast to the local Pittsburgh market. It also appears to have aired on WQED in Pittsburgh in 1959. Happy was a

dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative. Do ...

puppet A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or Legendary creature, mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. The puppeteer uses movements of their hands, arms, or control devices such as rods ...

which interacted with host Ida Mae Maher (died July 3, 1969). Ida Mae Maher also made public-service appearances at elementary school classrooms in the Pittsburgh area. She used a puppet named, "Happy Tooth", to encourage young children to practice good dental hygiene.

Episode status

No episodes were believed to have survived. In 2015, however,

Clarke Ingram Clarke Ingram is a United States radio personality and programming executive. Ingram is best known in his home market (and hometown) of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Career Ingram was formerly the program director of two Pittsburgh stations, top 40 ...

, creator of the DuMont historical website, announced he had located a partial show.https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10152800159139327&id=245324499326 This fragment, which aired on February 5, 1955 (just six days after WDTV changed to KDKA-TV), is the only known existing footage of the program. In 2019, this footage was digitized and uploaded to YouTube

The original film now resides at the UCLA Film and Television Archive. *

List of programs broadcast by the DuMont Television Network This is a list of programs broadcast by the DuMont Television Network, which operated in the United States from 1942 to 1956. All regularly scheduled programs which were aired on the DuMont network are listed below, regardless of whether they orig ...

List of surviving DuMont Television Network broadcasts The DuMont Television Network was launched in 1946 and ceased broadcasting in 1956. Allen DuMont, who created the network, preserved most of what it produced in kinescope format. By 1958, however, much of the library had been destroyed to recover ...

List of local children's television series The following is a list of local children's television shows in the United States. These were locally produced commercial television programs intended for the child audience with unique hosts and themes. This type of programming began in the late ...

*'' All About Baby'' (1953–55), originating from

WGN-TV WGN-TV (channel 9) is an Independent station (North America), independent television station in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, it is sister station, sister to the company's sole radio property, talk ra ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

*''

Kids and Company ''Kids and Company'' is an American children's TV show that aired on the now-defunct DuMont Television Network on Saturday mornings from September 1, 1951 to May 2, 1953 and was hosted by Johnny Olson (billed as "Johnny Olsen" in the credits) and ...

'' (1951–52) *'' The Most Important People'' (1950–51), sponsored by Gerber's Baby Food

References

Bibliography

*David Weinstein, ''The Forgotten Network: DuMont and the Birth of American Television'' (Philadelphia:

Temple University Press Temple University Press is a university press founded in 1969 that is part of Temple University (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). It is one of thirteen publishers to participate in the Knowledge Unlatched pilot, a global library consortium approach t ...

, 2004) *Alex McNeil, ''Total Television'', Fourth edition (New York:

Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Ballantine Books Ballantine Books is a major book publisher located in the United States, founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine with his wife, Betty Ballantine. It was acquired by Random House in 1973, which in turn was acquired by Bertelsmann in 1998 and remains ...

, 1964)

External links

''Happy's Party'' at IMDBDuMont historical website
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220215180817/https://www.dumonthistory.com/ , date=2022-02-15 DuMont Television Network original programming 1952 American television series debuts 1953 American television series endings 1950s American children's television series American television shows featuring puppetry Black-and-white American television shows