Romper Room

i was a Romper Room kid, we filmed in the Channel 20 studios, just over the Maryland line, and Miss Ann was our teacher. i was in a group of 5 or 6 kids that also included Brad Oscar, who has gone on to a Broadway career. as i recall our sponsors were Kinny Shoes and Baskin Robbins ice cream. we had to eat the flavor of the month on camera. one time the October flavor of the month was pumpkin ice cream -- a horrible dark orange. the kids wouldn't eat it so tech crew had to go get some grocery store vanilla and food coloring so we could fake it. would love to find out if anything from the show survived. it would be great if somebody had some old pictures in their basement.

I was the last Romper Room teacher in Wichita, KS, hosting from 1977-1986. I too was a real teacher. In fact, I was a university teacher educator, helping would-be teachers become elementary educators, during the years I was Miss Marti. Under Ronald Reagan, all federal agencies were deregulated, including the FCC. Previously, the FCC required commercial TV stations (I was on an ABC affiliate, KAKE) to produce a certain number of weekly hours of educational children's programming. That requirement disappeared under federal deregulation, and so did children's shows like Romper Room and Captain Kangaroo (on CBS affiliates; his show was picked up by PBS, the only channel on which children's programming could still be found). The irony is that my ratings in my M-F morning time-slot were beating Phil Donohue, then very popular and programmed against me, but Romper Room was in the wrong demographic zone, children vs. adults who would spend money, even though it was always parents and grandparents who pointed me out to children when I was in public, i.e., adults were watching my program.

I wrote a paper on leadership in my Ph.D. program called "The Axing of Romper Room," for which I received an A+. I guess my passion showed/still shows through.

Yes, back in 1985, I was selected by Miss Molly herself to be on Romper Room which filmed in Secaucus, New Jersey. I was only 4 years old, and I remember watching the show all the time. Miss Molly was a genuine sweetheart, and displayed incredible patience with some of the brattier kids on the show. I still have my one and only appearance recorded on VHS. Such a pity that most of the episodes are long gone. Will we never see Romper Room on DVD?

Romper Room and Friends represents the truly clean-cut children's programming that I remember from my toddler days. It also made little kids stars in their preschools and kindergarten classes everywhere. Far better than the blabbering nonsense we see on The Wiggles and Blues Clues of today.

When Romper Room debuted on a Baltimore TV station in 1953, it came at a time when there were very few shows aimed at preschool children. Nancy Claster, the wife of the show's creator Bert Claster stepped in when the original teacher Jean Moseley backed out and it became a daytime hit with parents and preschoolers.

The Clasters got an offer from CBS to go national but they rejected it in favor of franchising the show, which meant that stations who paid for the format could used their own teacher and children. Nancy would train all the prospective teachers and they had to adhere to the format.

Many stations that aired the show fulfilled a need since it taught and educated the preschool audience it was targeted to. Good behavior was stressed on Romper Room, thanks to the show's Do Bee mascot. The teachers were always referred to as "Miss", regardless of marital status. The best known feature was the Magic Mirror, where the teacher would open with "Romper bomper stomper boo..." and then she would read the names of children who sent in postcards to the show.

By the 1960s, Romper Room romped in a local station's ratings, though Nancy Claster turned her teaching duties over to her daughter Sally in Baltimore. Local station's waiting lists for children to be on the show were pretty long in many markets. But later in the decade, the show was under fire from Action for Children's Television for its constant promotion of the toys used on the show and a new show would debut in 1969 that would cut into Romper room's dominance, Sesame Street.

The 1970s would also continue a decline for Romper Room when many local productions shut down to a rise in public school kindergarten and a ban on children's TV hosts delivering on camera commercials. But there were still some locally produced Romper Rooms as well as the national version hosted by Miss Sally that was also seen mornings in Minneapolis.

As many local Romper Rooms declined, the show was overhauled in 1981 and retitled Romper Room and Friends. New characters were added but the show continued to declined and by 1994, Romper Room ceased production.

For many preschoolers in the 50s, 60s and 70s, Romper Room was the video destination that educated and taught them to be good Do Bees.

I miss this era I grew up with and many others. Today's shows are good,but would love to see this show come back. We talk about past times,and shows of today are so different, but I love watching kid programming today.we would love to see this as a memory if our childhood. Great show,especially in the 70s.then went to school, learned alot.respect,love.and today's cartoons are great too.respect,love all.the show taught me how to care for others and help others.i was a great kid to help all.when I was teased,I learned from this show,how to handle it,and I loved all.race was no issue,not today.ty.