Theatre Faculty Publications and Presentations

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Spring 2017

Abstract

In the interest of adding to the general awareness and understanding of early educational television for children, this article explores a specific television program from the 1960s, Romper Room, chiefly via an interview with one of the show’s local hosts. This host – my mother Joyce Kramer – certainly had a magical job with new educational television, and it made her a celebrity in the town of Ottumwa, Iowa, in that time and for years afterward. I recall strangers calling to her from their passing vehicles if they spied her on a sidewalk, “Hi, Miss Joyce!” Impressive to my young mind as her celebrity was, it was only much later when I considered the impact the show had on young viewers both in our small town and, from other television areas, on the nation, as well as the impact on my mother’s later teaching. At this article’s basic function, eliciting her memories of the show helped to clarify how the show worked and why it was effective. Juxtaposed with her interview remarks are thoughts on the show in comparison with other educational television of the 1960s, the milieu of the times, and the legacy of the Romper Room on educational television for children in America.

Comments

© Warren

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

First Page

19

Last Page

36

Publication Title

Red Feather Journal

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