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ay pu inumas Associated Press Writer HOLLYWOOD (AP) — To those interested in presenting better television entertainment for children, this has been the season of “Open Sesame.” Nothing has hit the field of children’s programming — with the impact of “Sesame Street,” the highly original show for preschoolers that has been edu cational television's biggest hit. It combines animation and live -action to teach the alphabet and other basics. ducers now have says Norman Prescott, head of the Filmation production company. “Before ‘Sesame Street,” There wasn't a chance of inter esting the networks in anything beside pure entertainment. I ‘sow, because I tried.” Filmation is a new giant in the animation field. Founded in 1965 by Prescott, Lou Scheimer and Hal Sutherland, the compa ny grew so fast ‘that it was wooed for a merger by several acquisiive corporations. Filma tion chose to align with Tele because of the prom ise it held in future cable televi sion. The quick rise of Filmation was due to the fast expansion and rapid change of television programming for Saturday morning. turday morning program ming was a hit-and-miss affair until about four years ago,” Prescott said. “It had been the garbage pail of the networks: nothing swept off the network nighttime might be dropped in Saturday morning. “Then about 1965, CBS be came conscious of the fact that from 92 to 10 per cent of its to tal revenue from television pro graming was coming from Sat urday ‘morning— about $45 mill ion.” ‘That's when CBS became more aggressive in shows for kids, and the other networks fol lowed suit. Alas, in the battle for ratings the ‘shows became more and more violent, Filmar tion entered the feld with a new cartoon version of “Supermen,” mechseheimer described as “the least maligned of the ac tion shows.” With the killings of Martin Lue ther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy and the nation’s revul tion against violence, the net works scrambled to tone down the violence. “Fortunately, we were sitting with a property in the new mold Archie said Prescott. It became the most successful show on Saturday morning. And I’m sure we never would have sold it if there hadn’t been an antiviolence wave.” Nor did Filmation hit the Jacke pot with the “Archie” show. It also spawned a music enter prise for the company, including a record, “‘Sugar, Sugar,” which reportedly sold six mill on copies worldwide. Next season Filmation will have two other shows on the networks: ‘the Jerry Lewis Show,” an animated version of the comic; and “Sabrina and ‘the Groovie Coolies,” starring a covey of monsters. While the shows are nonvio lent, they're not exactly educat ional, tried to interest the ‘One would have taken the great figures of Amer ican history and shown what they faced as youngsters. So far we haven't had any luck.” ‘The Filmation people hope that the “Sesame Street” such will help convince the net bosses that children’s shows can be informative as well as fun. Appreciation Dinner for T I Washington High School's Vo cational and Industrial Club spon sored an employer-employe ap preciation dinner held recently ‘at the Caravan Country Kitchen. ‘Students from the high school's trade and industry program and their employers attended the din ner. ‘Musical entertainment was provided by Men of Note and the featured speaker was Dennis Johnson. VICA club officers this year are Frank Gates, president; Steve Mansfield, vice-president and Rod Dierking, secretary-treasur er. Chuck Clark is faculty advise r for the group.
Newspaper Details
Cherokee Daily Times
Cherokee, Iowa, US
Mon, Apr 27, 1970
Page 8
Full Page
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USA 02 Nov 2025
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