Larry Smith (June 23, 1938 – February 19, 2018) was an American

puppeteer A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object, called a puppet, to create the illusion that the puppet is alive. The puppet is often shaped like a human, animal, or legendary creature. The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from ...

and producer of children's programming in the

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

area since 1957. His most notable work was a popular afternoon puppet/cartoon show airing on

WXIX WXIX-TV (channel 19) is a television station licensed to Newport, Kentucky, United States, serving the Cincinnati Cincinnati metropolitan area, metro as the market's Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox affiliate. It is owned by Gray Television along ...

Television. Smith was raised in

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Day ...

. At the age of five he began a lifelong fascination with puppets, learning to make them at home using items around the house as store-bought materials were expensive. He made his television debut in 1952, and he began his professional career two years later at WHIO television. After high school Smith attended

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

and the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music. In 1955 Smith met

Burr Tillstrom Franklin Burr Tillstrom (October 13, 1917 – December 6, 1985) was a puppeteer and the creator of ''Kukla, Fran and Ollie''. Early life Tillstrom was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Bert and Alice Burr Tillstrom. He attended Senn High School in ...

, creator of the

Kukla, Fran and Ollie ''Kukla, Fran and Ollie'' is an early American television show using puppets. It was created for children, but soon watched by more adults than children. It did not have a script and was entirely ad-libbed. It was broadcast from Chicago between O ...

show. In 1957 Smith auditioned for, and won a part on '' The Uncle Al Show''; officially he served on

WCPO WCPO-TV (channel 9) is a television station in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is the flagship television property of locally based E. W. Scripps Company, which has owned the station since its inception. WCPO-TV's ...

's art department, but he performed puppets. Smith was with ''The Uncle Al Show'' for six years. Smith achieved his greatest fame by the late 1960s, when he went to then-new TV station

in Cincinnati to host an afternoon puppet/cartoon show which came to be called ''Larry Smith's Cartoon Club'', which he hosted throughout the 70s. Smith and his puppets were the first stars of WXIX when they performed on the station's sign-on ceremony in August 1968. Some of the puppets/characters he created include: :Hattie the Witch ''(also called "Battie Hattie From Cincinnati")'' :Snarfie the Dog ''(a.k.a. Snarfie R. Dog)'' :Big Red the Red Rock-Eater ''(who lived in "The Dirty Dingy Dungeon")'' :Teaser the Mouse :Rudy the Rooster Smith ostensibly retired in 2000, but made occasional appearances with his puppets until his death on February 19, 2018.Puppeteer behind ‘Hattie the Witch’, ‘Uncle Al show’ dies
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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Larry 1938 births 2018 deaths American puppeteers Television personalities from Cincinnati Ohio State University alumni People from Dayton, Ohio