''The Magic Window'' (also known as ''The House with the Magic Window'') was an American children's television program broadcast on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

affiliate

WOI-TV WOI-DT (channel 5) is a television station licensed to Ames, Iowa, United States, serving the Des Moines area as an affiliate of ABC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside CW affiliate KCWI-TV (channel 23), also licensed to Ames. Both stations sh ...

Ames, Iowa Ames () is a city in Story County, Iowa, United States, located approximately north of Des Moines in central Iowa. It is best known as the home of Iowa State University (ISU), with leading agriculture, design, engineering, and veterinary medici ...

from 1951 to 1994. With a run of 43 years, it was the longest running children's television program in American history. (''

Bozo's Circus ''The Bozo Show'' was a locally produced children's television program that aired on WGN-TV in Chicago and nationally on what is now NewsNation. It was based on a children's record-book series, ''Bozo the Clown'' by Capitol Records. The serie ...

'' technically had a longer run; however, it was made in many different local markets by different producers.) Producer Dick Hartzell and WOI TV artis
Joy (Ringham) Munn
developed the show as an educational children's program, which featured handicraft activities, news items, and birthday recognition for the children viewing the show. Joy co-hosted the show with Craighton Knau for the first season (1951-1952), which was 30 minutes long and aired 3 times per week. During the second season, she became the sole host of the program. For that season the show was 15 minutes long and aired 5 days per week. Joy left the show in 1953. For all but the first three years of the show, it was hosted by

Betty Lou Varnum Betty Lou Varnum (née McVay; May 3, 1931 – August 2021) was an American television personality, best known as host of the long-running children's show, '' The Magic Window''. Early years Varnum was born in Chicago. Her parents, Glen and Loui ...

, another pioneer in central-Iowa broadcasting. Betty Lou Varnum, who is best known for ''The Magic Window'', but was versatile enough to host such other shows as a teen dance party, election coverage, and a call in 'issues' show, hosted the show, along with a cast of

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 ...

s such as ''Gregory Lion'', ''Dusty the Unicorn'', and ''Catrina Crocodile''. The heart of the show was Betty Lou teaching kids a new craft each episode (using kid-safe items such as construction paper, safety scissors, and cellophane tape).Zaslow, Jeffrey
''The Girls from Ames: A Story of Women and a Forty-Year Friendship,''
Gotham, 2010. The puppets would help out by opening the curtain to the screen on which various featurettes were shown. These included episodes from

Tales of the Riverbank ''Tales of the Riverbank'', sometimes called ''Hammy Hamster'' and ''Once Upon a Hamster'' for the Canadian version, is a British children's television series developed from a Canadian pilot. The original series was later broadcast on Canadian ...

Felix the Cat Felix the Cat is a cartoon character created in 1919 by Pat Sullivan and Otto Messmer during the silent film era. An anthropomorphic black cat with white eyes, a black body, and a giant grin, he was one of the most recognized cartoon charac ...

, and a series called "Let's Be Friends" which introduced viewers to a child from another city or country, sharing their culture and lifestyle.

References

American television shows featuring puppetry Local children's television programming in the United States 1951 American television series debuts 1994 American television series endings 1950s American children's television series 1960s American children's television series 1970s American children's television series 1980s American children's television series 1990s American children's television series {{US-child-tv-prog-stub

See also

References