On The Silly Side by Jimmy Del Ponte

(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries of The Somerville News belong solely to the authors of those commentaries and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville News, its staff or publishers.)

The groundhog saw his shadow, so it’s six more weeks of winter. For many years we had our own Groundhog Day tradition down at Barnaby’s, before it became Redbones – I’d stick my head out the front door – and if I didn’t see my girlfriend’s angry face heading toward the bar, it meant that I had time for six more ounces of draft beer.

Chilly Februarys always remind me of the time my sister Christine and I bundled up, got into the ’53 Chevy and drove to our big television debut. We appeared on a local television program called ‚ÄúBig Brother, Bob Emery.‚Äù It was filmed in the Brighton area I think – and the theme song was ‚ÄúThe Grass is Always Greener in the Other Fellow’s Yard.‚Äù Big Brother sang it and played the ukulele. I don’t know how my parents did it, but there we were on the show – I remember drinking chocolate milk and saying the pledge of allegiance. If I’m not mistaken (and I’m sure someone will correct me), Bosco chocolate syrup was a sponsor. Then, as ‚ÄúHail to the Chief‚Äù played, the camera zoomed in on a portrait of President Eisenhower – that was one of my coolest memories.

We had lots of these locally produced kids show in the New England area – another favorite was ‚ÄúBoomtown‚Äù with Rex Trailer. I never made it on that show, but my friend Dennis O’Neal got to be the featured weekly outlaw – they took a picture of him with a bandana over his face and then the posse would hunt him out of the crowd. Over the years, Rex had two sidekicks – first there was Pablo and then came Cactus Pete, then Sgt Billy – the poor man’s Sgt Agarn (from F-Troop). The best part of Boomtown was when Rex rode his horse to the tune of ‚ÄúHoof Beats.‚Äù It was supposed to look like he was riding through the open prairie, but if you looked closely, I think you could see a sign for Dave Dinger Ford in the background!

Then of course there was Frank Averuch as the always-cheery ‚ÄúBozo.‚Äù For each show they would pick a ‚ÄúButch For A Day‚Äù – that lucky kid got to wear a ringmasters jacket and hat. One time Bozo couldn’t make it, so his cousin ‚ÄúNozo‚Äù filled in and then there was another clown cousin – and I believe his name was ‚ÄúProzo‚Äù – he rarely appeared because he was always in a bad mood.

Romper Room with Miss Jean had a good local run – remember when she would look through the mirror with no glass in it and chant: ‚ÄúRomper, stomper, bomper boo, tell me, tell me, tell me true, magic mirror tell me today, did all my friends have fun at play?‚Äù I can’t remember my pin number to my ATM card, but I remember that silly ditty after 50 years. Then she would say, ‚ÄúWell, I see little 8 year old Bobby from Medford pulling his sister’s hair‚Ķstop that Bobby‚Äù, etc.

And what about ‚Äú Feep‚Äù?  Does anyone remember him? I think the show was called Fantasmic Features – I also remember a certain high raking Somerville High School teacher that we used to call ‚ÄúFeep.‚Äù Am I alone on this one??

We watched Community Auditions and we sat through the annoying Willie Whistle, but the cream of the locally produced crop was, by far, Major Mudd. I got to visit the Major Mudd set when I was in acting school – I’m pretty sure there was also a robot named Clank on that show. Ed T.McDonell was the actor who played Major Mudd and he actually appeared in The Three Stooges’ last feature film "The Outlaws Is Coming" playing the part of Bat Masterson. I was proud to have been an honorary member of Major Mudd’s ‚ÄúLost Battalion.‚Äù

Today’s locally produced shows aren’t as entertaining as they used to be – The Phantom Gourmet can’t hold a candle to Major Mudd and Rex Trailer. So as Rex’s horse Gold Rush beds down for the night in that big Boomtown in the sky – I say to all my friends out there: ‚ÄúIBBY – I’ll Be Blasting You!‚Äù

You can email Jimmy with comments directly at jimmydel@rcn.com