Bill | PDX RETRO

Dec

THIS IS THE BILL OF RIGHTS DAY

On December 15, 1791 Virginia became the final state to ratify the first
ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution. These were incorporated into
the Constitution and became the Bill of Rights. In 1941 President
Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed December 15th as a day to honor
America’s freedoms.

posted by Bob Karm in ANNIVERSARY,HISTORY,POLITICAL and have No Comments

Nov

HEY GANG, IT’S TIME FOR MR. MOON!

It was on this date back in 1953 that one of Portland’s most
popular local children’s show’s…Mr. Moon hit the air on a
Monday afternoon at 4:30PM on KOIN-TV Channel 6.
The man behind the successful series was Ed Leahy,
a popular radio personality for many years. He started
the show and created the cast of characters that
included Harry the Heron, Rocket, Kitty, Mrs. Cow
and many more puppet friends designed by radio
legend, Bill Howlett of KVAN/KISN 910.

Another well-known Portland broadcaster, Art Morey
joined the crew as the voice of two animal character’s
along with Ed’s wife, Toni. Good habits like keeping
a kid’s room neat and clean to proper nail care and
a weekly honor roll day were some of the features
of the show that had a huge following of thousands.
Note: KOIN-TV had only been on the air for a month
when Mr. Moon joined the lineup.

mr moon 2
Mr. Moon with some of his puppet friends.

Tags: Art Morey, Bill, Bill Howlett, Cow, ed leahy, kids-tv-mr-moon, KISN, KISN 910, KOIN, KOIN-TV, koin-tv ch.6, KVAN, local childrens tv, Moon, mr-moon-childrens-show, mr-moon-ed-leahy, mr. moon, Portland, Toni, TV, youtube

posted by Bob Karm in ANNIVERSARY,CHILDREN,HISTORY,TV and have Comments (3)

Nov

PORTLAND’S “COWBOY BOB”!

Cowboy movie star Bob Steel was born Robert Adrian Bradbury
in Portland, Oregon, January 23, 1907 into a vaudeville family.
The Bradbury’s settled in Hollywood in the late 1910’s after
years of touring. Bob’s father found work in movies as
an actor and later as a director. In the 1920 he hired Bob
and his twin brother Bill as young leads for a series of
adventure moves entitled “The Adventures of Bob and
Bill”. As a result of this movie exposure he was hired by a
booking office to star in a series of Westerns in
1927. Steel soon made a name for himself and
in the late 1920’s to the 1940’s he starred in ‘B’
Westerns for many minor film studios, including
Republic. Bob did have a role in a major film, a 1939
adaptation of the Steinbeck novel “OF MICE AND MEN”.

By the 1940’s Steel’s career began to decline, but he kept
himself working by accepting supporting roles in many
movie’s and lots of television work, culminating with
his regular supporting role in the comedy TV series
“F Troop”(1965 – 1967). He played the character of Trooper
Duffy. Bob died at 81 on December 21, 1988 from emphysema.

1932 1944

Bob Steel in the 1960’s

posted by Bob Karm in MOVIES,PORTLAND'S PAST,TV and have No Comments

Nov

THE ‘HULK’ IS 59 YEAR’S OLD TODAY

Lou ferrigno played the Hulk in the CBS network TV series based on the
marvel comic book character. It starred Bill Bixby as Dr. David Banner.
The show aired from March, 1978 to June, 1982. Lou was the only actor
that appeared in every episode during it’s run.