The death of the host Sonny Fox, at 95 of course brought it all back, like so many obituaries do these days. You have to be my age to even remember Sonny Fox, but he was famous for hosting what was a weekly children's information. quasi science program from 1959-1967 that appeared on Sundays for an hour on a local station, WNEW-TV, Channel 5 in NYC. Not only did I watch the show, but I was on the show when my school's choir was invited to sing on the program.
Why we were invited is beyond me now. At the time I was going to a small private Greek-American school in the Beechhurst, a section of Whitestone in Queens that boasted some large mansions. I was in St. Andrew's for the 6th through 9th grades. The school was in one of those old mansions, in this case, the former home of Pola Negri, a famous silent film star. When nearby Astoria was a film center at the turn of the 19th century and early 20th century, many of the era's film stars the owned mansions there. It was the Beverly Hills of the silent film era.
Our appearance was in December, but I have no memory of what we sang. Our school was so small that nearly anyone who had a voice was made to be in the choir. I don't remember the year, but it had to be before my voice changed. No one was a soloist.
I was placed in the front row and I can still see the camera coming close to me. I have no idea if my lips were loving since I never got to see the taped show. By the time it aired near Christmas I was on a train with my mother to Chicago to see the Illinois relatives for the holidays. Our upstairs tenants remember watching th show and telling me about it.
Given the era, there is no VCR recording of the show. I have no idea what I looked like. Our oldest daughter Nancy was on Romper Room in the '80s, another children's show, when her class was invited. We have a VHS recording of that. I think she pushed a boy who got in her way. Gently, of course.
I don't particularly remember Sonny Fox when we were there, or that he was tall, but I do remember when I saw later photos of him I thought he looked like Les Crane, a '60s talk show host with great hair.
The obituary filled in what someone did in the business after their show ended in 1967. Mr. Fox was a producer and was always connected with broadcasting until he retired. I had no idea until I read the obituary that the show was so popular that kids waited years to attend a taping.
The East 67th Street address of the studio sounds about right. I remember we were in what perhaps was a large lower floor of a brownstone. I remember we were on a side street.
Every now and then I think about what if someone had video of scenes of yourself growing up. Our upstairs tenant had a son George, who was a few years older than me and who I played with. At one point he got very interested in taking home movies, and shot random scenes of anything that moved, much like people started to do when VCR cameras were so popular.
He even edited his film with a splicing machine. He had a light bar that glowed with four powerful lamps to shoot indoor scenes. He didn't go into any kind of film occupation. He never got the chance, having died of meningitis at Fort Dix when he was in Fordham's ROTC program.
When that happened, the family had already moved away. I'll never know if anyone saved his film, or converted it to DVDs. Probably not, since he passed away so young.
We of course have family photos. But none that prove I was on Wonderama.
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