I swear, I went to the library just to get an ISBN number. Cross my heart.

I came out with three books, even though I still have a bunch to read of my own.

One was quick reading, Say Goodnight Gracie!, which, despite the secondary title, "The Story of Burns and Allen," is primarily about the television series rather than their vaudeville or radio careers. I found out something that has been puzzling me about my DVD set, which has 11 series episodes: for years I've read about George's "magic" television, in which he could watch what was going on "downstairs." But I'd never seen the "magic" TV in any of my DVD broadcasts.

Well, that's because the series ran eight seasons and I have early episodes. The "magic" television was only in the final two seasons.

I'm presently reading the book about Amos'n'Andy.

The third book I've just skimmed, reading the pertinent parts or interesting bits. It's called Hi, There, Boys and Girls!, about local television children's hosts. Of course I immediately turned to Rhode Island and there before me was the bastion of local television, Walter Brine of WPRO. Don't recognize the name and you're from RI? You know him better as "Salty" Brine, a nickname he's had since the 1940s and the name given to one of the state beaches to honor this state institution. Salty had a longtime children's show called Salty's Shack, but children also remember him as the voice of "snow days," as his sonorous voice read off the list of school closings on WPRO radio. Unfortunately he usually only announced that there was no school in Foster and Glocester. These two towns are out in the RI hinterlands and while us city kids were tramping to school in the snow, the kids in "Fostaglosta" were usually out playing in it. We all wanted to live in the magic land of "Fostaglosta" during the winter.

Of course they had the entire horde of hosts from Boston, too: WSBK's Willie Whistle, whose shrill voice drove me crazy; Boston's local Bozo the Clown, played by Frank Averuch, who later hosted movies ala Robert Osborne on TCM; WNAC's "astronaut" Major Mudd, played by Ed O'Donnell; and of course the most famous Boston children's personality of all, Rex Trailer of Boomtown. Rex and his horse Gold Rush and his saddle pals were famous all over Eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island--they owned Saturday mornings on WBZ-TV for years. Every year, those of Rex's fans who could afford it went to California with him for a week to visit Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm, and the rest of us could only think in envy of the great time they were having.

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 9:03:00 PM

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