Wee Willie Weber's cartoon show has come on.....And hurry on home we did, every day after school ended at Hambright, straight to our parents old black and white TV sets in the basement so we could catch the very end of Kimba the White Lion before settling in for a full round of cartoons that are today, legendary:
To name just a few. And Wee Willie Weber, all 6' 5" of him, was always there to show them to us.
Weber passed away yesterday at the age of 80. To say that he was a household name and friend to our generation would be a huge understatement. Our older brothers and sisters may have had the Mickey Mouse Club and Howdie Doodie, but we had Wee Willie Weber and great early anime and other cartoons from 3:00 - 6:30 PM every Monday - Friday.
Weber hosted the Wee Willie Webber Colorful Cartoon Club on Channel 17 out of Philadelphia from 1965-1975. And from 1976-1979 he was on Channel 48 with his "Kids Block" from 4 to 7 p.m.
It's hard to imagine today when there is so much entertainment on TV aimed at and made for kids. But back in the 60's-70's, all we had were shows like Sally Star or Wee Willie Weber, and the wonderful Saturday morning TV line up of cartoons. If you got up early before school you could catch The Mighty Hercules and of course there was Captain Kangaroo and Channel 8's Percy Platypus show. Sunday mornings before church you could watch Hector Heathcoat and the Hashimoto-san. And once a year you got to see How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Charlie Brown's Christmas, and Rudolph.
But that was pretty much it. There was not much choice, but what little there was, we found it, watched it, and ate it up.
I watched a great deal of after school cartoons on Wee Willie Webers show while holding a small brown paper bag filled with ten cents of penny candy from Wagners.
Goodbye Wee Willie and thanks for all the fun and the memories.
I loved Sally Star!! And every once in a while, out of the blue, the Speed Racer Theme song goes through my head. I think it is when I'm driving on Route 30!
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