Fresno Growing Up

Page 49

Fast Food and Funtime

to the off-target Tell. Such inconsistencies were not only forgiven but expected of Radka, whose slapstick style owed something to the shorts featuring Larry, Curly and Moe that he presented. Kids, needless to say, loved it. For Radka, it was always about the kids. For many years, he helped organize Fresno’s annual Hot Stove Dinner, which brought baseball stars to Fresno during the offseason and raised money for youth baseball programs in Fresno. Radka wooed the likes of Johnny Bench, Bobby Bonds (Barry’s father, for those too young to remember) and cowboy legend Gene Autry to the event. In 1974, he brought in Hall of Fame pitcher Warren Spahn and Fresno native Tom Seaver, a future Hall-of-Famer himself. A couple of years later, the main attraction was home run king Hank Aaron, who signed 600

baseballs that were given to all the youngsters in attendance. Radka died in 2005, and a park was dedicated in his honor the following year on the north side of Belmont, out near Fowler Avenue in Southeast Fresno. At the park’s dedication, City Council member Mike Dages quoted former Mayor Dan Whitehurst in tribute to Radka. “Al Radka loved Fresno and made it fun to be here,” Dages said. “He was part of our lives, like Captain Kangaroo and Davy Crockett. Al was something Fresno had in common. He was a constant, like the summer heat and the winter fog.”

Around the (UHF) Dial

Radka wasn’t the only TV fixture during the formative years of Fresno television, and some of the most familiar faces appeared on programs aimed at the younger set. During the mid-’60s, Flippo Jr. came on right before Al Radka and the Three Stooges in the 4–5 p.m. KFRE time block. Flippo started out as the alter ego of marketing director Harry White, who dressed up as a clown to help promote the station. In the early ’60s, the station decided Flippo was ready for prime time … which, for kids, meant the after school timeslot. KFRE hired Kingsburg High graduate Marv Harrison to play the role for the cameras, and he stepped into a costume crafted by the Fresno State theater department. Eventually, he had three of them, inAl Radka, left, joins Webster Webfoot and Webster’s pal Jimmy Weldon on camera. cluding one influenced by the Fab Four. Photo courtesy of Gary Cocola.

He got hold of a Beatles wig, dyed it a vivid shade of red, and stuck it on his head. The result, like the Beatles themselves, was a hit. When Hanoian’s Market at Cedar and Butler threw its grand opening celebration, parents were invited to “bring the kiddies” so they could meet Flippo, who appeared along with a “mechanical robot” (is there any other kind?) from popular radio station KYNO. On television, Harrison had a run of about a decade, presenting Popeye cartoons along with “games, puzzles contests … and just plain foolishness and fun.” He came into Fresno living rooms from a homey set populated by an assortment of guest characters. Captain Kangaroo had Mr. Moose and Mr. Green Jeans, but Flippo had Lucy Goose and Effie Mae Prunedediddle. The good captain had a talking grandfather clock? Well, Flippo had a talking rocking chair named (what else?) Granddad. Later in the decade, Flippo’s show moved to mornings, where it could be seen right before Captain Kangaroo and opposite Webster Webfoot. Who was Webster Webfoot? If you lived in Fresno during the 1960s, you wouldn’t have to ask. Jimmy Weldon, a voice actor and ventriloquist, created Webster and joined him in front of the cameras, starting in the 1950s and continuing throughout much of the following decade. Although he was a Fresno fixture, the talking duck with the blue baseball cap and matching scarf got his start as a radio voice Weldon used while working as a disc jockey for radio station KWCO in Oklahoma right after World War II. The character was born almost by chance, when Weldon walked into the office one day doing an off-the77


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Fresno Growing Up by Kent Sorsky - Issuu