On
Monday evening, September 12, 1960, WABC Channel 7 aired it's very
last kids TV series: The Tommy Seven Show.
Set against
the backdrop of a inner city neighborhood, Tommy Seven was a tramp
clown played by entertainer Ed Bakey. Bakey had previously been seen
in his own daily kid shows in Baltimore, Md. from 1957 to 1960, known
as as "Pop Pop, The Clown" on WJZ 13.
Tommy
Seven engaged his viewers in songs, stories, games, comedy skits,
informational segments and interviews with guest performers and personalities
sandwitched between MGM Harmon Issling/ Tex Avery Movie cartoons,
Courageous Cat/ Minute Mouse and Q. T. Hush TV cartoons.
Mr.
Bakey also hosted both a weekday morning and a Sunday afternoon version
of The Tommy Seven Show.
On the
weekday morning and Sunday afternoon versions of the series, Mr. Bakey's
Tommy Seven engaged the studio audience full of kids playing games,
singing songs, telling stories, as well as craftmaking, hobby hints,
comedy skits, informational segments and interviews with celebrities
- all of this between the familiar cartoons.
Ed Bakey
continued in the role until WABC cancelled the show, the Sunday version
ending on Sunday, July 25, 1961. The weekday show lasted another couple
of years, until Friday, May 24, 1963.