Johnny Jupiter

NOW here's a title that harks to a far different world and time than we now know. The series was a part of the kiddie schedule on both ABC,as well as the old, historically important and long defunct DuMont Television Network. Our memory of the series, as rusty and hazy though it may be, is from those days a mainstay on ABC's Sunday afternoon, pre-primetime family time slot. If the old memory serves us right, it was probably on at 2 or 3 P.M.; as it seems that there was always bright daylight out side during episode's showings, no matter what the season.

TO begin with, we must confess to be operating on mainly whatever this 60+ year old memory can conjure up. We have seen very little in print about the JOHNNY JUPITER TV Series; although there was a fine article published in FILMFAX Magazine several years ago that covered it some, as well as the careers of cast members.

WE do recall that the main character, Ernest P. Duckweather (Wright King) was a sort of bumbling store clerk in what would be called a General Store in Small Town and Rural America; but in the Urban Centers (such as our native Chicago) were referred to as Ma & Pa Stores. In addition to his seemingly endless duties and constant presence at the place of business, Mr. Duckweather managed to accidentally invent an interactive, 2 way, interplanetarilly capable TV Set/Communicator. He did so by accidentally leaving out a tube* required for this particular set's operation.

COME to think of it, Duckweather did bunk in the area at the rear of the store, as it was there that he first communicated with the title character while attempting to "fix" the TV Set.

TYPICALLY, Mr. Duckweather would have some sort of impending crisis or a crisis involving his blustery, blow-hard of a Boss in Mr. Horatio Frisby (Cliff Hall). Otherwise, we could count on some involvement or intervention by the Love of his Life, Katherine Frisby (Pat Peardon), who was ironically enough, his Boss' Daughter.

MR. Hall's characterization came after a long career in Vaudeville, Film, Radio and finally this new medium of Television. Mr. Hall had long played Straight Man to Jack Pearl's 'Baron Munchausen' and more recently been a semi-regular on the JACKIE GLEASON Show's 'The Honeymooners' segments; appearing as the High Ruler of Kramden & Norton's local Raccoon Lodge.

USUALLY the problem of the day would wind up with discussion via Duckweather's customized Inter-space 2 way TV in which he would ask or just voluntary receive aid from Johnny Jupiter, himself. Although JJ would stay on his home Planet (Jupiter, we guess!), he would send a Robot Deputy to render aid, assistance and comical complications to young Mr. D's situation.

DISPATCHING his Robot aid to Earth, Johnny Jupiter would issue his order; after which we would be treated to observing the many light years flight to Our World along with accompanying music; although it would be cut down to no more than two minutes. The Robot that we remember the best (there may have been more than one) had the name of 'Reject', 'Reject, the Robot', that is. Much like IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE's Angel, Clarence Oddbody (Henry Travers), Reject seemed to have been a sort of a slow learner at learning the ropes of his chosen Robotic Field.

THE notion of having a 2 Way Interplanetary TV Communications System seemed to be both a neat and plausible concept. I mean, after all, on CAPTAIN VIDEO (DuMont TV Network, 1949-55) they communicated in that manner. Emperor Ming the Merciless had such a system in the perpetually playing FLASH GORDON Serial (Universal, 1936). We even had an interactive Television system operational for a half-hour on WINKY-DINK AND YOU (Barry-Enright Productions/CBS TV, 1953-57).

IN the final analysis, we must conclude JOHNNY JUPITER to be a clean, decent and sort of soft-sell for decent behaviour of our up 'n' coming humans; or what we call our Children (aka 'Kids'). And we knew that it was not to be taken too seriously as it was obviously designed as a comedy-fantasy-kiddie romp.

AND that was obvious; even to a 7 year old member of the "Boomer" Generation.

NOTE: * Ah, how nostalgic were those days when Radios and Television Sets had all those different tubes in their chassis in order to make 'em work properly. Remember, Schultz, when every Walgreen's Drug Stores had the old free to use Tube Testing Machines? Now a days we have transistors and miniaturization; all the by-products of our Space Program. Now, who says that we didn't get anything out of that for us commoners? THANX to President John F. Kennedy for initiating the Race to the Moon and all the ex-Nazi Scientists at NASA.

POODLE SCHNITZ!!

I saw Johnny Jupiter on my grandmother's TV also, however it was on the DuMont TV network and the year was 1953. Ironically, my grandparents had a DuMont brand TV cabinet set that included radio and record player. Dallas had ABC (chan.8), NBC (chan.5) and CBS (chan.4) stations and I was significantly older before independent KFJZ (channel 11--now KTVT) started up. Therefore Slam Bang Theater with Micky&Amanda and Icky Twerp or Nightmare with Gorgon are very clear memories from 4-5 years later.

I never saw Johnny Jupiter again after 1953 so my memories of the show are quite fuzzy. I certainly don't remember the Robot being as crude as the pictures I found on the internet earlier today. I always thought that it was unlikely copies of the show could be found since only Kinescopes were possible in 1953. However, other things like Your Show of Shows have turned up, primarily in the Sid Caesar DVDs. Although I've been looking for evidence of Johnny Jupiter being available somewhere, it was only today that I found some guy who lists availability of that 1953 season. I hope to buy it after pay day at end of the month.

Unfortunately, I tend to mix characters from Johnny Jupiter with those from Howdy Doody, but I do know that Johnny's robot "Reject" was generally helpful to Duckweather, while "Deject" came across as his evil twin.

To review this as an adult I think is somewhat unfair. This worked for me and others my age when we were young. It was fun and we laughed. Ernest P. Duckweather discovers builds a tv set and discovers he can contact Jupiter and they will help him when he needs it and he needs it a lot He was an incredible klutz. It was a simpler age and we were far more easily entertained, something we loose as we get older. The plots were beyond simple, the robots so stupid and clumsy and the sets so corny and cardboard and we had no CGI back then. This was aimed for innocent 5 and 6 year olds and on that level it works.

Believe me - This early-1950s TV show for kids was utter garbage.

Yep. I really did try to cut this show some serious slack due to its super-low production values and the time-frame of when it was first broadcast.

But - Nope - "Johnny Jupiter" repeatedly scraped the absolute bottom of the barrel on all counts.

From its idiotic stabs at humor, to the annoying, hammy performances of its actors, to its dimwitted puppets, and to everything else beyond - "Johnny Jupiter" (with its irksome, in-your-face product plugs) was the ultimate nadir of lousy vintage SyFy TV shows, bar none.

I've seen the episodes 'Duckweather's TV Shop' and 'The Professor' from the second ABC series. Although the stories are simple and don't hold much interest for adults, it's interesting to see an early fantasy sitcom that has many of the elements that later shows like 'I Dream of Jeannie' and 'Bewitched' would later follow. The plots are thin, the acting poor, and there's little sense of consistent logic. I've read about this show from other sources and some reviewers seem to think that 'Johnny Jupiter' contains some manner of educational content for young viewers. The only things I learned are that if you're a bumbling Jerry Lewis wannabee then you shouldn't open a TV repair shop, the planet Jupiter has it's own television stations and inane cardboard robots, and oh yeah- M&M's are a tasty treat that can't be beat!