Andy's Gang

Andy's Gang was wild, something like a Saturday-morning Tonight Show for kids, with a rowdy audience howling with laughter or excitement -- although the kids weren't really there. The audience seen at the beginning was stock footage that was constantly reused.

I remember the audience singing a Buster Brown theme song to start the show.

I think it ended, "There's only one kind of gang for me, good old Andy's Gang!"

Andy Devine hollered "Hey kids!" and the crowd roared back. Froggy the Gremlin, a rubber toy, always said, "Hiya, kids, hiya hiya hiya!" He also brought on the film or cartoon when everyone yelled, "Plunk your magic twanger, Froggy!" There was usually a film episode of adventure with Gunga Ram, the mahout (Indian elephant wrangler) or the same actor as a Native American.

There was a black cat named Midnight who purred "Niiiiice" (voiced by June Foray) and a mouse named Squeaky who was played by a hamster. There were also comedy or variety sketches. Vito Scotti often appeared as some kind of "expert" who would do a demonstration for the audience. As Scotti narrated what he was doing Froggy would suggest wildly wrong things, which Scotti would repeat and do and then get upset about.

It was very low-budget, but hey, I was five or so and I loved it.

Just one of those early morning wonderful kid's TV program from the fifties. A mish-mash of old movies series with Andy providing the 'anchor'. Still remember the show clearly...

Two of my favorite characters on the show were a frog and a cat! Someone off camera would say the words, "Pluck you magic twanger, Froggie," and Froggie the Gremlin would appear in a cloud of smoke. He wasn't a real frog, but a rubber frog about 10" high! The other character was a black cat named "Midnight." Andy would say something to the cat and its only response was "Nice"! I've never run into anyone who remembers the magic words, "Pluck you magic twanger, Froggie!" If there's anyone out there who knows what I'm talking about, please say something!

There was also Grandee the Talking Piano! This show's pedigree goes back to 1902 when the Brown Shoe Company purchased the rights to Buster Brown comic strip in The New York Herald. It progressed through to radio and then TV.

Ed McConnell was the front man who transferred from radio to TV. He worked a live kid's audience, but as his health faded, he found it easier to work in a dead studio with taped audience. When McConnell died and Andy Devine took over (he was a famed sidekick in some matinée movie westerns), he carried on with the taped audience. Trouble is, it was the same footage, the same audience week after week. Devine had more gimmicks and less natural laughs, but it was still fun and a little anarchic, especially with the Froggy the Gremlin, a cross between Bart Simpson and the Crazy Frog.

More information at Bygonetv.com

The song went (I think)

I got a gang, You got a gang Everybody's got to have a gang. But there's only one real true old gang it's Good Old Andy's gang.

Pluck your magic twanger Froggy (a cloud of smoke) Hiya Kids Hiya Hiya Hiya

Does your shoe have a boy inside? what a funny place for a boy to hide. Does your shoe have a dog there too? A boy and a dog and foot in a shoe. Well the boy is Buster Brown and the dog is Tige his friend and its really just a picture but it's fun to play pretend. So look look look in your telephone book for the store that sells the shoe with the picture of the boy and the dog there too so you can put your foot into, a Buster Brown shoe.

Saurday morning line up

1.Crusader Rabbit and Rags the Tiger 2.Andy's Gang, 3.Howdy Doody,4.Roy Rogers, 5.Fury, 6.Sky King, and 7.My Friend Flicka

The golden age of television