''Razzle Dazzle'' was a Canadian

children's television Children's television series (or children's television shows) are Television show, television programs designed specifically for Child, children. They are typically characterised by easy-going content devoid of sensitive or adult themes and are ...

program produced by the

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is the Canadian Public broadcasting, public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a Crown corporation that serves as the national public broadcaster, with its E ...

between October 2, 1961, and July 1, 1966. The series was initially co-hosted by

Alan Hamel Alan Hamel (born June 30, 1936) is a Canadian entertainer, producer, and television host. Early life Hamel was born in Toronto of Jewish descent. He was in the television arts program at Ryerson Institute of Technology in 1954 but did not grad ...

and Michele Finney, later replaced by

Ray Bellew Ray Bellew (March 26, 1939 – October 10, 2006) was a Canadian actor and performer. Early life and education Bellew was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He had two sisters, Claudette and Majorie. Claudette, his younger sister, died on January ...

and

Trudy Young Trudy Young (born 1 January 1950) is a Canadian actress. Born in Ontario, Canada, her career began in 1963 with appearances on CBC's '' Time of Your Life''. She became a regular host of ''Razzle Dazzle'' in 1965 while attending school at Alde ...

. There was also a cast of characters who appeared in every episode, most notably the puppet Howard the Turtle (John Keogh), who was considered the star of the show. Howard would tell jokes which he called Groaners. Other recurring characters on the show included Howard's nemesis, Percy Q. Kidpester (

Ed McNamara Edward Francis McNamara (21 June 1921 – 11 October 1986) was a Canadian film actor."Ed McNamara ...

/ drawn by George Feyer); conman and travelling salesman, Mr. Sharpey (

Paul Kligman Paul Kligman (21 January 1923 – 29 August 1985) was a Canadian actor. Biography Born in Romania, he emigrated to Canada where he spent his youth in Winnipeg and studied at the University of Manitoba. He moved to Toronto in 1950 and esta ...

) who was known for saying "A knuckle full of nickels" and the general store proprietor, Mr. Igotit. Fans of the show could write in to become members of the Razzle Dazzle Fan Club. They were sent, in a large Manila envelope, the following fan club items: the Razzle Dazzle Membership Letter of Welcome; the Razzle Dazzle Fan Club Newspaper; the Razzle Dazzle Fan Club Button, featuring Howard the Turtle's glowing face, and the Razzle Dazzle Secret Decoder Wheel, which fans would assemble out of paper. A highlight of the show was the Secret Decoder Wheel message. At the end of each show, a secret message was shown on the TV screen. Home users of a Decoder Wheel could then decipher the message. It was a code similar in nature to Superman's Secret Code, used by the

Supermen of America The Supermen of America is the name of two fictional superhero teams published by DC Comics. The original group first appeared in a special written by Stuart Immonen published in 1999, and a later mini-series written by Fabian Nicieza, which was ...

/Superman Fan Club, sponsored by DC Comics and appearing in issues of the Superman Family of comics published at that time, featuring Superman's Secret Message. A further connection to DC Comics appeared in the fact that both Howard the Turtle appeared on the show as a character called Super Turtle and an illustrated character backup feature in DC Comics appeared at this same period in time also called

Super-Turtle Super-Turtle (or Super Turtle) is a fictional character from DC Comics, created by Henry Boltinoff; he is depicted as a bipedal anthropomorphic turtle wearing a cape like Superman's. His emblem, which is on his cape, is a letter T in a shield. Pu ...

, drawn by

Henry Boltinoff Henry Boltinoff (February 19, 1914 – April 26, 2001) was an American cartoonist who worked for both comic strips and comic books. He was a prolific cartoonist and drew many of the humor and filler strips that appeared in National Periodical c ...

. "Spots and Stripes" was often a feature on the show, where groups of kids competed against each other in two teams, the "Spots" and the "Stripes". Another regular feature was the serialization of a children's adventure series in the final five minutes (thus spreading each episode over a week's worth of shows). Initially shown was '' The Magic Boomerang'', an Australian adventure series, followed by '' The Adventures of the Terrible Ten''. This was replaced by the Canadian-made '' The Forest Rangers'' which was spun off to become a series of its own. The writer of most of the scripts was Jerry Rochwerg (Jerry Ross). He went on to have a long career in Hollywood winning an Emmy for ''

The Bill Cosby Show ''The Bill Cosby Show'' is an American sitcom television series that aired for two seasons on NBC's Sunday night schedule from 1969 until 1971 under the sponsorship of Procter & Gamble. There were 52 episodes made in the series. It marked Bill C ...

''.

References

External links

* CBC Television original programming 1960s Canadian children's television series 1961 Canadian television series debuts 1966 Canadian television series endings Canadian television shows featuring puppetry Television series about turtles {{Canada-kids-tv-prog-stub