Thomas Stewart "Stu" Kerr (March 9, 1928 - July 17, 1994), was a

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

television personality who developed and hosted a number of programs on Baltimore television from 1952 through the 1980s. Kerr was born in

Yonkers, New York Yonkers () is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. Developed along the Hudson River, it is the third most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City and Buffalo. The population of Yonkers was 211,569 as enu ...

and as a teenager worked as an

NBC page The NBC Page Program is a 12-month paid fellowship at the NBCUniversal's studios in New York City and Universal City, California. Over the course of one year, pages gain exposure to various areas of the NBCUniversal portfolio. Pages contribute to ...

at the network's

Rockefeller Center Rockefeller Center is a large complex consisting of 19 commerce, commercial buildings covering between 48th Street (Manhattan), 48th Street and 51st Street (Manhattan), 51st Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The 14 original Art Deco ...

headquarters. He later recalled "sitting in Lowell Thomas' icseat right after he left, while it was still warm", practicing script readingScott Shane, "Television host Stu Kerr, beloved by children, dies", Baltimore ''Sun'', July 18, 1994. His first full-time broadcasting job was on the radio at the age of 19. He was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1950 and saw combat action 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 ...

. Kerr's television career began in 1952 at

WMAR-TV WMAR-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. The station's studios and offices are located on York Road (Maryland Route 45) in Towson (though with ...

in Baltimore, where he created ''The Janitor'', a late-night show displaying his talent for improvisation. He then played in various children's shows at WMAR-TV, beginning with ''The Early Riser'' and ''

Bozo the Clown Bozo the Clown, sometimes billed as "Bozo, The World's Most Famous Clown", is a clown character created for children's entertainment, widely popular in the second half of the 20th century. He was introduced in the United States in 1946, and to te ...

'' in the 1960s and, later, inventing the character Professor Kool on his popular ''Professor Kool's Fun Skool'' program, which aired Saturday mornings from 1967 to 1977. He was also the weatherman on the early and late evening news programs throughout most of the 1970s. The station's weather set was notable for having hand-movable dials that looked like a digital thermometer and barometer. Kerr also hosted '' Dialing for Dollars'' on

until that show ended its 38-year run on Baltimore radio and television in 1977. While playing a "conductor" on the show ''Caboose'' in 1978, he discovered

Kevin Clash Kevin Jeffrey Clash (born September 17, 1960) is an American puppeteer, director and producer known for puppeteering Elmo on ''Sesame Street'' from 1984 to 2012. He also performed puppets for ''Labyrinth'', '' Dinosaurs'', '' Oobi'', and various ...

and Todd Stockman. After leaving WMAR-TV in 1981, he was a weatherman on

WJLA-TV WJLA-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Washington, D.C., affiliated with ABC. It is one of two flagship stations of Sinclair Broadcast Group (alongside dual Fox/MyNetworkTV affiliate WBFF hannel 45in Baltimore), and is also sister to ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, and also performed in ''54 Space Corps'', a

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 ...

show televised on

WNUV-TV WNUV (channel 54) is a television station in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, affiliated with The CW. It is owned by Cunningham Broadcasting, which maintains a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Sinclair Broadcast Group, owner of Fox/MyNe ...

in Baltimore. For a number of years, he hosted a call-in gardening program, airing Saturday mornings on WCBM radio. Kerr had a bit part in the 1982 film ''

Diner A diner is a small, inexpensive restaurant found across the United States, as well as in Canada and parts of Western Europe. Diners offer a wide range of foods, mostly American cuisine, a casual atmosphere, and, characteristically, a com ...

'' and small roles in ''"The Adventure of the Action Hunters"'' and ''

Morgan Stewart's Coming Home ''Morgan Stewart's Coming Home'' is a 1987 American comedy film starring Jon Cryer, Viveka Davis, Paul Gleason, Nicholas Pryor and Lynn Redgrave. The screenplay was written by Ken Hixon and David N. Titcher. The film was also released as ''Home ...

'', both filmed in 1987. He created the recurring character role of "Scoop Toot" on the long-running national network children's program ''

Captain Kangaroo ''Captain Kangaroo'' is an American children's television series that aired weekday mornings on the American television network CBS for 29 years, from 1955 to 1984, making it the longest-running nationally broadcast children's television program ...

''. Kerr died of

multiple myeloma Multiple myeloma (MM), also known as plasma cell myeloma and simply myeloma, is a cancer of plasma cells, a type of white blood cell that normally produces antibodies. Often, no symptoms are noticed initially. As it progresses, bone pain, an ...

on July 17, 1994.

References

External links

*
Baltimore Sun obituary - July 18, 1994
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kerr, Stu American children's television presenters People from Yonkers, New York Television anchors from Baltimore 1928 births 1994 deaths People from Baltimore Deaths from bone cancer Deaths from cancer in Maryland Deaths from multiple myeloma