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He walks among creatures of frightening features, that's where you'll find... |
If I had a dollar for every time these two shows were requested by viewers, I could pay my taxes. Here is a typical request for Diver Dan:
Do
you recall a kids show from the early 60's called Diver Dan? I seem to
remember a talking fish in a fish tank that I think had a cigarette in
its mouth.
Do you have any information about this show - when it ran, who hosted
it, etc.?
Thank you,
Diver
Dan must have made quite an impression on the young people who grew
up watching it. From what I can gather, Diver Dan hung out in the ocean
in a clunky old-school diver's rig, talking to the fishes floating by.
To give the illusion of being underwater, the show was merely shot through
an aquarium! Diver Dan and company were on the other side of the aquarium
acting out their scenes, and I'm sure no one was really fooled.
Also seen
on these NBC produced syndicated seven minute segments from 1961: Minerva
the Mermaid (pictured), and the evil Baron Barracuda with his cigarette
smoking sidekick Trigger Fish, beatnick fish Gill-Espi, Scout Fish,
and Hermit the Crab (all of the fish characters were puppets).
These short
segments would run on local kid shows, and as an entire half-hour show.
"We here
in Chicago watched Diver Dan on WGN-TV throughout the '60s, usually
with Ray Rayner as host of various morning shows.
Dan's friends
included a fish named Finley and Diver's love interest, a mermaid named
Minerva.
What I
can add is the first verse of the Diver Dan theme song:
Love
your site! I was wondering if you knew anything about the 50's T.V.
show Whirlybirds, starring Kenneth Tobey and Craig Hill. Next to M*A*S*H,
also with some dandy helicopters in it, Whirlybirds is one of my favorites.
Whirlybirds
ran from 1957 into the Sixties, it was a syndicated show with a big
juvenile audience. 111 episodes were filmed between 1956 - 1959. The
show centered around Chuck Martin (Tobey) and Pete (P.T.) Moore (Hill),
owners of 'Whirlybirds, Inc', and their faithful secretary Janet Culver
(Sandra Spence). Actually, Janet left after the first season and was
replaced by Helen Carter (Nancy Hale) so I guess she wasn't so faithful
after all. (See what I mean about padding.)
Often
the boys would be called in to help the police locate an escaped prisoner,
or save some stranded fool out in the middle of nowhere. This would
inevitably lead to one of the guys dangling at the end of a rope at
some point in the episode. When they didn't just outright jump out of
the helicopter. Don't try this at home!
"The
National Helicopter Service provided all the helicopters and expertise
in all but the first 4 episodes of the show. You can visit our website
at www.nationalhelicopter.com for a few photos. We will soon have many
more photos from the show on-line." |
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