Cliff Holman (born James Clifton Holman, Jr. June 29, 1929 in Mobile, Alabama; died September 8, 2008 in

Albertville, Alabama Albertville is a city in Marshall County, Alabama, United States, and is included in the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 22,386. It is the largest city in Marshall County. His ...

), best known as "Cousin Cliff," was a well-known

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

personality in the

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

market. As Cousin Cliff, he hosted a variety of children's shows, with the longest-running version shown daily on WABT, later WAPI.

Early life

Holman was born in Mobile, but his family soon moved to Birmingham. He attended Woodlawn High School, and began performing the magic act that would eventually lead him to television. Before entering television (and briefly while he was on TV as well), Holman worked in a

creamery A creamery is a place where milk and cream are processed and where butter and cheese is produced. Cream is separated from whole milk; pasteurization is done to the skimmed milk and cream separately. Whole milk for sale has had some cream re ...

and ran his own grocery.

"Cousin Cliff" and television

Holman began his television career in 1950 as a puppeteer for a short-run show (in a format known today as an infomercial) for the local Loveman's

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic app ...

chain. After a stint in the

United States Armed Forces The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is ...

during the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

, he returned to Birmingham and sought work in the entertainment business. His break came when a local

bakery A bakery is an establishment that produces and sells flour-based food baked in an oven such as bread, cookies, cakes, donuts, pastries, and pies. Some retail bakeries are also categorized as cafés, serving coffee and tea to customers who w ...

began a 15-minute children's show on WABT called ''Tip-Top Clubhouse.'' The show had its debut on March 15, 1954. The bakery withdrew its sponsorship after a couple of years, but the station kept the popular show and expanded it to 30 minutes, five days a week, renaming it ''Cliff's Clubhouse.'' The show eventually evolved into ''The Popeye Show,'' featuring a live studio audience and

Popeye Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar.cartoons. Holman performed magic tricks throughout the show, and his captain's hat and ribbon tie became his trademark. Holman was closely identified with the primary sponsors of his show, Pepsi-Cola and local fast food chain Jack's Hamburgers. The show was so popular that tickets for children to appear in the live studio audience were often booked months in advance. In 1968, WAPI began taping the show instead of broadcasting it live, and moved the schedule to the following morning — largely missing its intended audience of children, who would be in school at that time of day. Holman was unhappy with the move and the resultant plunging viewership, and opted instead to take a position with new station WHMA in nearby

Anniston, Alabama Anniston is the county seat of Calhoun County in Alabama and is one of two urban centers/principal cities of and included in the Anniston-Oxford Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the population of the city was 23,106. Acc ...

in 1969. ''The Cousin Cliff Show'' ran there for three more years, sponsored by

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hambur ...

, Jack's main competitor. ''The Sergeant Jack Show'' starring Neal Miller, an actual Jefferson County deputy sheriff (deputized primarily for the show's purposes) took over Holman's sponsorship, but aired on rival station WBMG. Holman left television, working a number of positions in and out of media, until he revived his show on

cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...

in 1985. The show also had a short stint on independent station

WDBB WDBB (channel 17) is a television station licensed to Bessemer, Alabama, United States, serving Tuscaloosa and west Alabama as a satellite of Birmingham-based CW affiliate WTTO (channel 21, licensed to Homewood). It is owned by Cunningham Broad ...

. In 1990 Holman renamed the program ''Cousin Cliff's Clubhouse'' and moved it to a Saturday timeslot on

WBRC-TV WBRC (channel 6) is a television station in Birmingham, Alabama, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by Gray Television alongside low-power, Class A Telemundo affiliate WTBM-CD (channel 24). The two stations studios ...

. That show ran for two years, after which Holman again produced a cable version for Jack's Hamburgers. After a short run, Holman retired from television altogether. Holman was also seen on various other variety shows in both Birmingham and Anniston over the years, and also worked behind the cameras. Holman was also an early on-air promoter of the

Muscular Dystrophy Association The Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) is an American 501(c)(3) umbrella organization that works to support people with neuromuscular diseases. Founded in 1950 by Paul Cohen, who lived with muscular dystrophy, it works to combat neuromuscular d ...

. In the days before the now-defunct '' Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon'' became a nationwide tradition, "Cousin Cliff' encouraged children to hold backyard carnivals to raise money for MDA, and hosted his own carnival in the WAPI studio parking lot as well.

Cartoon Character Segments

After television

After leaving television, Holman performed his magic and comedy act in numerous venues. He also worked as a manager for the Parliament House hotel, and

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. ...

manager for the local chapter of the

American Lung Association The American Lung Association is a voluntary health organization whose mission is to save lives by improving lung health and preventing lung disease through education, advocacy and research. History The organization was founded in 1904 to figh ...

, and an announcer for WCRT radio. He successfully ran for a seat on the Vestavia Hills

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

in 1980, but declined to stand for re-election after becoming disenchanted with the position and politics. His health took a turn for the worse after a fall following a performance in 2001. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2007 and moved to a hospice in Albertville, where he died in 2008. Holman's battle with Alzheimer's was highlighted in the 2009 HBO documentary The Alzheimer's Project. The funeral was held at Mountain Chapel United Methodist Church in Vestavia Hills. His interment was located in Birmingham's Elmwood Cemetery. Holmam was survived by his wife, Ann; daughter Lynn Holman Brown and son Kyle Holman; and two grandchildren. Another son, James Clifton Holman III, died in December 2006.

References

External links