"Well
this was a fun site to find. You won't believe why I did a search to
find you! I was just cleaning up in the kitchen and putting something
down the garbage disposal. It brought back distant memories of Captain
Noah's "Mumwa the monster".
"After
the captain finished a project with construction paper, he would feed
the scraps to Mumwa. Mumwa (Mumwah?) was a puppet "monster" that lived
under one of the captain's tables. Mumwa would pop up to gratefully
accept the left over paper scraps. Sort of a home-town Oscar the Grouch.
"During
my senior year at Penn State from 1986-87, and in my first apartment
-- my roommate and I named our garbage disposal "Mumwa". Our friends
thought this was odd. One friend eventually told us that somebody else
they knew also had named their garbage disposal "Mumwa". So we weren't
so weird after all.
"I
also remember the Captain coming down a spiral slide on the set. I think
he stopped this as he got older. I remember Sally Star coming down that
slide too, either a guest or a guest host.
I'm
trying to remember if Mrs. Noah was a regular on the show, or if she
was introduced while the captain was on some sort of long term health
leave. I think she started the song "Send your pictures, to dear old
Captain Noah, send away, send today..." something like that. The captain
eventually recovered and returned and continued to sing that song. The
camera would pan across all the pictures that kids had sent in - I don't
know if I was jaded or feeling uncreative, but don't think I ever sent
anything in.
"Another
song that sort of sticks in my mind "Red and yellow and pink and green,
orange and purple and blue. You can sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow,
sing a rainbow too." I can't remember if this started or ended the show.
And I'm sure I got the colors in the wrong order. OK, it's a distant
memory...
"At
Radnor High, we had a field trip to WFIL to watch them broadcast the
morning show (was it "Good morning Philadelphia"?) and the noon news.
We saw Captain Noah in the hall, and I think most of us were actually
kind of excited to see him, even at our age then.
"I
also remember somebody in our group screwing around with the magnet
numbers on Jim O'Bryan's weather map. I think he fixed them before they
went on the air. That made his death in a parachute accident just a
little more personal for me.
"Now
older and more jaded, I feel sort of silly telling these stories. But
Captain Noah was a daily fixture in my childhood. And I'm glad to see
him remembered on your site."
-
a viewer
Captain
Noah and His Magical Ark, produced
by the Philadelphia Council of Churches, starred
W. Carter Merbreier and his wife "Mrs. Noah," airing
from 1970 until 1994. The theme song was, I Can Sing a Rainbow. Captain
Noah was syndicated on 22 stations around the USA.
Captain
Noah - when Barry The Barometer came on that meant it was time
to leave for school. Captain Noah lived with us. He had breakfast with
us which was of course some sugar laden cereal with a ton of extra sugar
heaped on, and a ton of milk. We got dressed by Captain Noah, watching
when he'd have animals from the zoo on. Then you held your breath waiting
for the handmade picture you sent in to appear in the sky. Well, now
we know half the time my mom lied when said she sent them in. When she
did, though, only my one brother's drawings always got on. His name
was about four inches high so you couldn't miss it, so a fight would
break out. My brother swears my mom broke his foot on more than one
occasion. He was younger and hadn't started school. They had to walk
me, and my mom would shove his feet in the shoes and slap them on the
bottom as he painfully watched his last few minutes of the Captain.
Then we'd see everybody coming out of their houses and on the way over
to school we would talk about what was on that day, and how my brother
was an artist.
Man, that
show was the bomb. Plus the pretend sailor daughter lived in our lower
Mayfair neighborhood, and we were star struck. Couldn't have lived in
a better place or had better TV anywhere anytime.
W. Carter Merbreier: "I have recently published a book about my experiences as a Children's Television Show Host for over 30 years. Would you consider posting a link to the book on the page dedicated to Captain Noah and, if not a link, just the information that it is available on Amazon as a Kindle book? Thanks so much!"
One of our readers (I lost the email!) points out that "Mrs. Noah of the Captain Noah show has passed on. Obviously the bigger news was Peter Falk but this lady was loved." Captain Noah, a religious kiddie program, was seen locally in Philadelphia but was also syndicated.
The Please Touch Museum in Philly taped
a 35th-anniversary celebration of Captain Noah on September 23, 2005
as a fundraiser for their new quarters. The tribute aired on WPVI,
formerly WFIL, on October 1, 2005 at 7:30 PM.
Carter & Pat Merbreier (Captain & Mrs. Noah) are both alive
and doing just fine!
- Bill Stephens
"My
friends here in the South claimed I was making up all the songs and
crazy little quips of advice that Dear old Captain Noah imparted.
"Remember
what Capt. Noah says... Never roam alone." That is just one of many.
I remember drawing tons of pictures thinking they would end up "posted
high in the TV sky" Boy... what silly memories.
"Also,
what about the Saturday morning song and dance talent show - Al
Alberts Showcase and all those teeny boppers, as he called
them?"
- Emily M
Please consider a donation
so we can continue this work!