Thank you for putting up with this.

Let’s take a trip back in time to the early 1950s when yours truly was an impressionable little kid watching some mighty strange — but absolutely unforgettable — children’s programming on local television in Chicago.

My favorite show by far was “Garfield Goose and Friends” hosted by Frazier Thomas. The aforementioned goose was king of the United States, Frazier was his prime minister, and a variety of odd puppet pals rounded out the cast. Shown below from left to right are Beauregard Burnside III, Christmas Goose (Garfield’s nephew), Romberg Rabbit, Garfield and Macintosh Mouse. For the record, none of these critters made any sound whatsoever and Frazier Thomas had to “translate” everything they said.

After a quick search on YouTube I found video clips of the two best holiday cartoons from this show, a couple of really goofy Christmas favorites that my sister and I went nuts for ... “Here Comes Suzy Snowflake” and “Hardrock, Coco and Joe.” For the record, when I watched the “Suzy Snowflake” video last night for the first time in about 55 years I actually remembered every single word. (Sam said it was a little frightening.)





Another favorite and thoroughly weird children’s program was “Susan’s Show” starring a young teen named Susan Heinkel who used to fly to Wonderville on a magic kitchen stool (my mother had one exactly like it) and sing songs with a talking table named Mr. Pegasus. It’s entirely possible that the creators of this series used drugs. Judge for yourself from the video clip below. I adored this show.

All of a sudden I’ve got a huge craving for Twinkies. Thank you for reading this.