Rootie Kazootie was the principal character on the 1950-1954 children's television show ''The Rootie Kazootie Club''. The show was the creation of Steve Carlin and featured human actors along with hand

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 ...

Characters

Rootie Kazootie was a boy "keen on sports" who played his "magic kazootie" and wore his signature baseball cap with the oversized bill turned up. Puppeteer Paul Ashley controlled his movements, along with those of the "great Mexican catador", called El Squeako Mouse—a takeoff on the idea of a mouse dueling with a cat rather than a bull. Naomi Lewis supplied their voices. Lewis also provided the voice of Rootie's girlfriend Polka Dottie. Frank Milano provided both the actions and voices for their spotted canine companion Gala Poochie Pup and for arch-villain Poison Zoomack, who constantly tried to steal Polka Dottie's polka dots and Rootie's magic kazootie. Life-sized human characters included host and "chief rooter" Todd ("Big Todd") Russell and the nonspeaking policeman Mr. Deetle Dootle, initially played in 1950 by John Schoeopperle and thereafter by John Vee. The show was performed live in front of a studio audience of schoolchildren who also were active participants. They joined in singing the theme song, proclaiming at the beginning of each show, "Who is the boy who is full of zip and joy? He's Rootie Kazootie!" A regular feature was the "Quiz-a-Rootie", in which audience members received prizes for themselves and home viewers for answering simple questions.

History

The show first aired locally as ''The Rootie Tootie Club'' on the

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NBC affiliate WNBT on October 14, 1950. Since the title character regularly used a magical kazoo, which he called his "Magic Kazootie," the kids began calling him "Rootie Kazootie." Following the kids' lead, the names of the show and the character quickly were changed with the December 26 show.Billboard, December 26, 1950 NBC began broadcasting the show nationally on July 2, 1951. The

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 ...

originally was named "Little Nipper" and resembled the

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of the show's sponsor,

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, which used a dog referred to as Nipper, but it was rechristened when RCA Victor dropped its sponsorship. Other major sponsors included

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and the Walter H. Johnson Candy Company, makers of Powerhouse

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. The show aired on NBC until November 1952 and was seen on

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beginning in December. The last telecast was seen on May 7, 1954. In January 1995, Ira Gallen resurrected the puppet characters for ''The New Rootie Kazootie TV Show'', a series broadcast on

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cable outlet.

Production

About 50 people were required to create each 15- or 30-minute show. Credits in addition to those mentioned above include: * Puppeteers: Paul Ashley, Cosmo Allegretti, Michael King * Music Director: Gene Perazzo * Education Director: Dr. Herman Mantell * Production Manager: Joseph L. Stuhl * Supervisor: Arnold Cohan * Director: Dwight A. Hemion, Dave Davidow * Producer: Steve Carlin

Influence in popular culture

At the height of the show's popularity, its

audience An audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature (in which they are called "readers"), theatre, music (in which they are called "listeners"), video games (in which they are called "players"), or ...

was estimated at between 2 million and 3 million people, and in 1953 fan letters were pouring in at a reported average rate of 32,000 each week. Words such as "yesirootie" and "gosharootie" from the ''Rootie Kazootie''

lexicon A lexicon is the vocabulary of a language or branch of knowledge (such as nautical or medical). In linguistics, a lexicon is a language's inventory of lexemes. The word ''lexicon'' derives from Koine Greek language, Greek word (), neuter of () ...

were adopted by

schoolchildren A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution. In the United Kingdom and most commonwealth countries, a "student" attends a secondary school or higher (e.g., college or university); those in primary or elementar ...

of the time. The show spawned several

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as well as a

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series. Numerous items of related

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, including toys,

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s, and hand puppets, were produced, many of which are available today as sought-after

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. Author Lawrence Naumoff appropriated the name "Rootie Kazootie" for the title of a 1990

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

, though it has no explicit connection to the character.

Episode status

The

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holds approximately 50 episodes. While some do not have a date listed, the ones that do are mostly from 1953, with a few from 1952 and 1954. A half-hour ABC episode from May 29 or 30, 1953, involving the character Poison Zoomack using a "very powerful magnet" has been released in several public-domain compilations and can be viewed at the

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Notes

References

'Rootie' Needs Backstage Army
''N.Y. Journal American Sun'', March 9, 1952

Rootie Kazootie @ Toonarific Cartoons
* Woolery, G.W., ''Children's Television, the First Thirty-five Years, 1946-1981 pt. 2 Live, film, and tape series.'', 1983 Scarecrow Press.

External links

May 1953 half-hour episode
at the Internet Archive * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rootie Kazootie Club, The 1950s American children's television series American television shows featuring puppetry 1950 American television series debuts 1954 American television series endings NBC original programming American Broadcasting Company original programming