''Razzle Dazzle'' is a Canadian children's television program produced by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation between October 2, 1961, and July 1, 1966. The series was initially co-hosted by

Alan Hamel Alan Hamel (born June 30, 1936) is a Canadian entertainer, producer and television host. Early life Hamel was born in Toronto of Jewish descent. He was in the television arts program at Ryerson Institute of Technology in 1954 but did not gradu ...

and Michele Finney, later replaced by Ray Bellew and Trudy Young. There was also a cast of characters who appeared in every episode, most notably the puppet Howard the Turtle (John Keogh), who was considered the star of the show. Howard would tell jokes which he called Groaners. Other recurring characters on the show included Howard's nemesis, Percy Q. Kidpester ( Ed McNamara / drawn by

George Feyer George Feyer (1921 – March 1967) was a Canadian cartoonist who shot to fame through appearances on CBC Television in the 1950s. As a cartoonist for Maclean's magazine he helped to define the look of Canadian popular culture through the ...

); conman and travelling salesman, Mr. Sharpey (

Paul Kligman Paul Kligman (21 January 1923 – 29 August 1985) was a Canadian actor. Biography Born in Romania, he emigrated to Canada where he spent his youth in Winnipeg and studied at the University of Manitoba. He moved to Toronto in 1950 and estab ...

) who was known for saying "A knuckle full of nickels" and the general store proprietor, Mr. Igotit. Fans of the show could write in to become members of the Razzle Dazzle Fan Club. They were sent, in a large Manila envelope, the following fan club items: the Razzle Dazzle Membership Letter of Welcome; the Razzle Dazzle Fan Club Newspaper; the Razzle Dazzle Fan Club Button, featuring Howard the Turtle's glowing face, and the Razzle Dazzle Secret Decoder Wheel, which fans would assemble out of paper. A highlight of the show was the Secret Decoder Wheel message. At the end of each show, a secret message was shown on the TV screen. Home users of a Decoder Wheel could then decipher the message. It was a code similar in nature to Superman's Secret Code, used by the

Supermen of America The Supermen of America is the name of two fictional superhero teams published by DC Comics. The original group first appeared in a special written by Stuart Immonen published in 1999, and a later mini-series written by Fabian Nicieza, which was ...

/Superman Fan Club, sponsored by DC Comics and appearing in issues of the Superman Family of comics published at that time, featuring Superman's Secret Message. A further connection to DC Comics appeared in the fact that both Howard the Turtle appeared on the show as a character called Super Turtle and an illustrated character backup feature in DC Comics appeared at this same period in time also called

Super-Turtle Super-Turtle (or Super Turtle) is a fictional character from DC Comics, created by Henry Boltinoff; he is depicted as a bipedal anthropomorphic turtle wearing a cape like Superman's. His emblem, which is on his cape, is a letter T in a shield. Pu ...

, drawn by

Henry Boltinoff Henry Boltinoff (February 19, 1914 – April 26, 2001) was an American cartoonist who worked for both comic strips and comic books. He was a prolific cartoonist and drew many of the humor and filler strips that appeared in National Periodical c ...

. "Spots and Stripes" was often a feature on the show, where groups of kids competed against each other in two teams, the "Spots" and the "Stripes". Another regular feature was the serialization of a children's adventure series in the final five minutes (thus spreading each episode over a week's worth of shows). Initially shown was '' The Magic Boomerang'', an Australian adventure series, followed by '' The Adventures of the Terrible Ten''. This was replaced by the Canadian-made ''

The Forest Rangers The Forest Rangers may refer to: * ''The Forest Rangers'' (TV series), Canadian TV series *The Forest Rangers (band), band formed to create the soundtrack for TV series Sons of Anarchy * ''The Forest Rangers'' (film), 1942 film starring Fred MacMur ...

'' which was spun off to become a series of its own. The writer of most of the scripts was Jerry Rochwerg (Jerry Ross). He went on to have a long career in Hollywood winning an Emmy for '' The Bill Cosby Show''.

References

External links

* CBC Television original programming 1960s Canadian children's television series 1961 Canadian television series debuts 1966 Canadian television series endings Canadian television shows featuring puppetry Television series about turtles {{Canada-kids-tv-prog-stub