Winky Dink and You
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- Опубликовано: 21 окт 2024
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I'm an animator who was raised in the 1950s. I remember drawing directly on my TV as I didn't have the Winky Dink kit. I wonder how many other kids did the same thing.
An episode of the 1950's Television program "Winky Dink and You". Innovative, original, creative and unique. Praised as "the first interactive TV show". That said, without it's original context, it's little more than a historic curiosity, and some viewers may find it very difficult to watch. This video is in the public domain.
My uncle, Edwin Wyckoff, created this show. It aired for a few years & ultimately failed because of the writing on the screen. It goes down in history as the very first multimedia interactive educational product. It was animated by hand. It is on exhibit at the Jewish Museum in New York now.
+Ellen Foust great history.. thanks
AWESOME.....
I loved the show. You weren't supposed to write on the picture, but some kids coudn't control themselves. Thanks to your Uncle Ed.
Didn't we all.
Mom, it's color TV. She gave us a piece of plastic or cellophane to use.
@@246spyder I had one of these; I remember getting it for Christmas. (Don't figure out my age, LOLOLOLOLOL, but Merry Christmas or Happy Chanukah).
I too had the Winky Dink kit and magic screen. I drew on it and saved Winky from danger every episode. We didn't know it then but we were doing something way ahead of it's time: Interactive TV.
Before the kit that my Mom bought for me arrived, I drew directly on the TV screen with my crayons. After my Dad convinced me it was a bad idea by giving me a very sore butt with his belt, I waited for the kit before trying again. LOL
@@wayneyadams Lol, my folks wouldn't get me the kits, so I drew on the screen TOO! lol (I dove out of the way of the swat! lol)
I had it too. All the neighborhood kids would be at my house at 4:00!!!
I had the kit and I still have all the memories. Hello to the fellow "Winky Dink" players. Always nice to be reminded of the simpler days.
Winky's voice is none other than the very versatile and dynamic voice of Mae Questal, voice of Olive Oil and Betty Boop.
Mae didn't voice Olive Oil until the 40s.
She also voiced Little Audrey.
Not true, Tornado! Beginning in 1933, Questel provided the voice for Olive Oyl in the Max Fleischer Popeye cartoons beginning with "I Eats Me Spinach" and became essentially the permanent voice until 1938 until her hiatus to start a family. I have the complete DVD set of the Popeye cartoons and can attest to the above.
At first I was thinking, "Dear God, this show was an insult to kids' intelligence" but then I considered the twisted crap that is aimed at them these days, along with all of the sick stuff that they have access to online and via cable when their parents aren't around. Gimme Romper Room any day.
Decades later, when Jack Barry hosted his Jokers Wild game Show I wrote comedy adlibs for him. Jack was a great guy who loved people. One time I told him how much.I enjoyed Winky Dink. He had fond memories of that show. He had framed in his wall Winky with a Magic Winduw overlaid on top. ...Rowby.
Barry and Enright productions made a lot of shows later on, mostly they were adult game shows.
A Winky Dink kid here.... love your backstory.
This show was on at 3pm our time and every day, even if I was playing outside, Mother said I would rush in the house and turn on the TV to see Winky Dink. I loved this show, and even though I had the kit, I sometimes colored right on the TV screen!
I loved this show too! Never forgot it after all these years!
I remember this show and how bad I felt because I didn't have the kit. I didn't draw on the TV because I knew I'd get in trouble. Don't know why I kept watching it. Probably damaged me for life. :-)
Same here.
Yea me too.
Oh yeah... watched this program and had the Magic Window! As I recall this was the first TV program I watched way back in the early 1950's. Back in those days we watched ANYTHING they put on the screen!!!
My mother told me that she watched this show back in the late 40s or early 50s. I'm a computer programmer, and I'm thinking about how such a thing would work in the 21st Century. There would be a Windows Paint sort of screen that would have icons to select the markers and overlay the drawing with the video image. The app could automatically "erase" everything that's drawn on when it's time to erase, or there could be a button to erase everything. I find it so fascinating that they made this interactive program work before there was computer technology.
You're looking at the fundamentals of what you can do with a screen!
My Mom bought me and my big brother and little sister a Magic Window. I'm 64 and feel like a 4 year old again. Thank you! My mom says that May Questal(Betty Boop) was Winky's voice. What an innocent, happy time . Yay!
That's so cool. I'm about 60 and same here. It was a more innocent time for sure.
Mae also was one of the ladies who voiced Olive Oyl.
@@fgrady1 Correct.
I remember the 70s revival of Winky Dink. We drew directly on the TV screen, which of course made mom none too happy. Love the catchy theme song!
I failed to draw a bridge andc winky dink walked across with no bridge and I said ''hey, wait a minute.......
Yes! I noticed that too.
Had yourself a Chanticleer moment?
Winky Dink is quite literally the first television show I remember. I began watching in, I think, 1954 or 1955 so I must have been three or four years old. Had the kit; drew on the screen by accident a couple of times. My parents were displeased but they considered it an accident too so I don't think I was punished beyond a bit of scolding.
Thanks for the upload! My 25 yo son has heard it mentioned many times; he's been gaming since age three: now into VG design w/ a
C.S. Lewis attitude for reaching the grain fields of open world gamers with a heart for Jesus Christ; an undertaking of faith in these last days. Covet the prayers of all who wish to see revival in our nation and the world. Thanks.
I had the Wink Dink kit too.
I loved this show. I never thought I'd ever see it again! Thank you so very much!
I remember when MY Winky-Dink kit came in the mail. I couldn't wait for the next program to try it out. I cannot even fathom a kid of today doing this. It was fun and I enjoyed it.
I had a Winky Dink kit. I think I saved up 50 cents which was a lot of money in those days. I remember how excited I was when it showed up. You would help Winky get out of trouble by drawing bridges so Winky could cross it. It was mid 50s I was about 8.. first interactive game. So simple so innocent. Good old days. I watched until the end and I was right 50 cents. Shows you how significant that 50 cents was. I'm 77 and still remember how much I paid. It's good, no Alzheimer's .
Loved the show as a kid. I wonder if most of the Winky Dink kits were bought by parents who were tired of trying to stop their kids from drawing directly on the TV screen with crayons! Even though it was six decades ago, I still remember getting scolded for using crayons on our TV screen, but I also remember applying the film sheet to the TV screen, so I suspect the sequence was: watch show, draw on glass with crayons, get scolded, cry and whine, Mom feels bad, Mom orders kit, son eagerly awaits kit arrival, son uses kit, Mom relieved! Good business plan for the producers, but also a great way of getting kids to interact with the program. Thanks for posting this video!
I was like 3 or 4 and remember watching, then wanted to draw on the TV. My parents got the kit for me, which consisted of a piece of clear plastic to put on the TV screen and very soft crayons. Loved that show!
I remember a show on Sat. mornings that used a screen like this. They would put up a display of segments of letters that the kids traced with a crayon, then another display of other segements of letters, and so on, until all the segements the kids were tracing formed complete letters. This was a "secret" message that only the kids with the screen and crayons would have. Anybody remember this?
I recall drawing a ladder down which a mouse could escape from a terrifying cat. I watched from Evansville, IN, apparently as a 2-year old if it went off the air in 1954. It was wonderful!! How great that Edwin Wyckoff and Jack Barry created this show - amazing!!! I've mentioned it to some friends even recently due to a new grandchild having arrived.
I didn't know we could see these on RUclips. I loved this show. I also used to draw on my tv until my mother got sick of cleaning it and bought me the kit LOL!
My older sister remembers this show very well. As many readers have already said she wished for the magic piece of plastic to put over the TV but never got it. Today she is making magic in her studio in Paris, France where she has lived for 50 years and paints beautiful oils. Dreams really DO come true
HI, Thanks for the memories !!! I am 66 and I had a screen and would use when I spent the night with my grandmother!! I have talked about this for years and , now, finally watched an entire show. I LOVED this show. I'll have to look and see if my mom sent me my Winky Dink kit !! And, thanks to Miss Foust for the update and info on the show. Thank you, thank you.............
+Donna Mae Wilson Glad to bring a smile to your face.
We used Saran wrap and a grease pencil - couldn't afford the kit. I watch this now and just marvel at how simple the program was. BTW, Winky's voice is Mae Questel.
+Linda McAteer Yep. Mae (Betty Boop) Questel.
WOW!!!
i knew that voice sounded familiar
Mae Questel was also Mrs. Strakosh in "Funny Girl" as well as Popeye's girlfriend, Olive Oyl.
@@tutukathy Questal took over as Olive Oyl in 1942. Replacing Jeannie Roberts.
It's good to see that others remember this. I too directly wrote on the TV screen when I could not find the "film" to decode the message. Of course, my parents were upset, duh !!! BUT I never read very much about this ground breaking concept. I still think it would work now. It was a terrific idea WAY ahead of its time.
I was born in 1948 and remember my Winky Dink kit but I promise it was in the early-mid 50s, not the 60s. Loved this show, along with Ding Dong School.
It was 1953 or 1954. I was about 3 or 4 years old. I got my magic screen and Mom put it on our tiny TV screen. It was magical. Such a long time ago.
I was in L.A, and this & Engineer Bill were my favorite shows.
Yes ... I was at home in Amarillo TX drawing along on my magic window with Winky Dink!
had the kit, wonderful memories
I use to watch this show when I was a little girl in the 1960s.
OMgoodness, this was my favorite show growing up...no I never drew on the TV because Mom always made sure the "magic window" was in place when the show came on...
My younger sister and I watched the show every week in the 50's. We had the kit. I always tried to hog the crayons. 🙂 Fond memories.
"Winky's" mother must have been Betty Boop.
That is the same voice.
When I was 4, I used to watch this show on Saturday mornings.
I didn't have a "Magic Window" but used a grease pen to participate in the Winky Dink secret message.
It easily wiped off with vinegar.
The MC of the show got into trouble when he moderated the "64 thousand dollar question" quiz show.
The answers were being given to the contestants.
Yep. Same voice. Mae Questel. She also voiced Olive Oyl.
@@MarkMentzer I had forgotten about Olive!
Loved this show getting the plastic screen n canyon's was wonderful I'm 76 now still remember it so well
I have fond memories of watching this show.. So excited when I received my own Winky Dink kit.
A nice Winky Dink reunion could've been good on an SNL sketch of The Joker's Wild with Jack playing himself as host, where, through editing, Betty Boop plays against Olive Oyl. Mae did some comedy in her career, so it could've worked.
My kids look at me like I'm insane when I tell them I drew on the TV (well, usually on a sheet of plastic over the screen) back when I was a kid in the 60s. Of course, they find it hard to imagine that a television set used to be a bulky piece of furniture...
I remember that show very well. When it premiered, I was in the second grade. We thought it was wonderful, and we did have the plastic screen cover.....Things really were more simple then.
I remember a series in a few episodes involving an Egyptian tomb. Each week we added a few lines on the plastic and at the end we could solve the mystery.
Woke up this morning and recalled the Winky Dink song. I don't know what made me think of it.
I sang it out loud, and remembered the Winky Dink show was on TV.
Then I wondered if YT would have a video about it.
Well, this was more than I could have hoped for. I had hoped for a clip of the show, or some history, but you gave us the whole episode and the history.
I plan on replaying this, but first I'll have to see what mom did with the screen and crayons.
Thanks for sharing !
Glad to have made your day!
Totally remember this show in the early 60s too... I was bummed that I couldn't get the "Winky Dink Kit"...
That's interesting because I wasn't born until 1961, but I was able to send away for the kit.
I’m 1962. My parents just thought I was crazy for wanting it...(I think..)
@@angeladose132 now that I think about it - my parents didn’t want to get it for me since we were instructed to sit at least six feet from the tv due to radiation emitting from the tubes. I’m 1962. It’s one of the first shows I remember on tv
I recognize Winky Dink's voice as that of Olive Oyl as well.
@@hebneh Yes. Mae Questel. She also did Betty Boop.
I remember how thrilled I was when my parents finally agreed to buy me the kit and then when I got it I used it every show! I wonder if that kit would have any value today.
Before I got my kit, I put Saran Wrap on the screen and drew on it. Somehow, the show is not as exciting as it was 60 odd years ago...I loved it.
Does this qualify as the first video game marketed to the public? 1953, from what I've been able to tell. It's a game and it's presented in video format. Sure, there's no computer, but is that really necessary for the definition?
I tell people that all the time. We had a video game 67 years ago. LOL
ruclips.net/video/k_WUb-1C010/видео.html
There was this, but I don't think this amusement device was marketed to the public. It was probably only seen by a few hundred people before a Java-based simulation of it suddenly appeared on the internet(the original missile game is lost media though).
I never tried to draw directly onto the TV screen myself. My parents sent for the kit. I was eager to try the "magic window", but was in for a big disappointment. The magic window was sized for a much smaller more old-fashioned TV screen, maybe 13 inch. I'm pretty sure it was much smaller than the one the girl puts on the screen in this video.
My mom wouldn't buy it for me So I got some plastic and made my own got what I wanted and save my parents money lol
You should have just drawn on the TV with no screen! They would have bought you one! Lol
Growing up in the 80s and 90s we had Bill Cosby's Picture Pages (originally on Captain Kangaroo and than on Nickelodeon), which coincided with a workbook that you had to send away for. Kind of the same thing, but nobody got in trouble for drawing on the TV!
I remember the show and had a Winky Dink Kit. That was pretty high tech back then.
(from Bolivia)
children, and me, were able to use/develope their imagination & ability .... the good ole days
Winki Dink.sounds like Betty Boop.
@@johnbockelie3899 It IS. Mae Questal!
I had the whole Winky setup, my kids loved it!!
From time to time I have remembered that I had a plastic sheet that went on my B&W television. Until now I made no connection with Winky Dink. THanks!! Watched it from 446 W 55th St NYC.
I remember reading somewhere that it was a big issue, and one of the reasons the show was eventually canceled. Crayon wax is hard to remove from almost any surface, let alone a TV screen. Some kids (much to their mothers' dismay) discovered that using a sheet of regular cling wrap worked just as well.
I’ve never heard of Winky Dink but I was born in 1978. This is so neat! I want one! ❤️
This was the first interactive TV. I was a teacher and I told my students where all the stuff they do on there computers started with Winky Dink and Pong.
I used to put the cellophane on the 17" Zenith and pretend it was COLOR TV ! Loved Winky Dink !
One of my favorite shows as a kid . Couldn't afford the Kit so borrowed some Saran wrap from a neighbor and used regular crayons :)
Ah, the first interactive video show! I remember the Winky Dink kit you'd buy in the store were too expensive for our family, so I tried using waxed paper. It sorta worked, but everything was blurry. Too bad Saran Wrap didn't come out for several years.
Same here, but I drew directly on the screen. Got my ass paddled for doing that.
My mom wouldn't buy the kit for me when I was a kid so I used a crayon directly to the TV screen and it worked perfectly. She finally broke down and 2 weeks later I got my kit. God; was I creative or what when I was 8.
Had the kit. Green plastic. I loved it! My family just left the screen on. Early color tv...sort of...🤔😆
Winky was Mae Questel, the voice of Betty Boop, Popeye's girlfriend, Olive Oyl and Mrs. Strakosh in "Funny Girl!"
Winky Dink and You was the show with the magic screen you put on tv and drew on. I never saw this but someone asked when posted about Captain Kangaroo, and I had lots of memories of Winky Dink when editor of Reminisce Magazine. :)
I remember this show well. Had the kit. Had to learn to share with my sister. Thanks for sharing this. Also loved Andy's Gang with Froggy the Gremlin.
+mrtinwindup .....Plunk your magic twanger froggy !!!!!
+mrtinwindup "PLUCK YOUR MAGIC CLOCK, FROGGY" ANDY DEVINE'S LINE. THEN MIDNITE THE BLACK CAT, WOULD "MEEOW"
+DENNIS FRANKLIN ...If I remember correctly, the saying was " plunk your magic twanger froggie " . I know that it's not that important after all these years, but I just wanted to throw that in !!!!!
I was an only child, so I had the magic screen and never missed a show.
Winky grew up to be Aunt Bethany in Christmas Vacation!
Putting on the plastic sheet was a matter of generating static electricity and using that to help it adhere. Very hard to get it to stick without bubbles or wrinkles.
Then you would trace one line at a time. They would only show one line at a time, so unless you drew, you didn't know what the image they were drawing was.
Once you went to all that trouble, you were hesitant to take it down and erase the image you had created. Only after you peeled it off when you were finished did you realize that you had been watching TV for hours that had a very dim picture because of the dark tint of the plastic. It was such a bonus getting your bright picture back again!
I can still sing the song.. hahhahhaha Thanks!! I never did get my magic screen..
Did this! It was absolutely magical at 4 years old. We had the Magic Window kit.
Even tho I never got to see this when it was on (I wasn't born yet!) - you have to give Jack Barry & his staff a lot of credit for coming up with this. Imagine having Jack draw things on his "screen". I am also curious what kind of animation or technology was used for animating Winky.
I only wish more eps of the original series were available to watch.
It was my uncle’s show. The animation was all drawn by hand by a staff of artists.
@@ellenfoustphotography I read your earlier (6 yrs ago) post and wondered about you. SO glad to see this post from you just 2 weeks ago! :)
yes - I drew on my magic window as well! See? We really were in training for the digital age.....
I remember watching this show.
I was also raised watching this and drawing on my tube until I was interrupted by my mom... I later received a magic window.
We had a kit, loved it.
I love how they pushed tobacco into the narrative on this kids show.
Jack Barry's pre-Joker's Wild years. Awesome
Mae Kwestel is Winky. The Original Olive Oil from Popeye.
...I had a green winky Dink kit...you put it on the TV screen and draw along...;-),,,
My brother and i sent for a Winky Dink kit and before it came we drew all over the TV. We got a beating and thrown down the cellar stairs. Now we're mass murderers. Thanks allot.
+Alex Tworkowski I thought I'd seen you on the news. LOL
But. . . you can draw!!!
you are not the only one who got a beating for putting your crayons on your folks tv screen. my dad wanted to watch walter cronkite at 6 pm and did not appreciate the crayons..to this day, the sound of a leather belt being flipped through pants belt loops (flip flip flip flip) still makes me tremble .
Wow! Somehow I now feel better knowing that many of my baby boomer brothers were also beaten and thrown down the stairs....but my Mom would usually just do it on a whim....booze makes some folks cranky.
Haha, I hate paper plates. Mom sent me to the store for paper plates, I tossed the coins on the counter. The guy said 'Is that how your mother taught you to act?' I said 'Yeah' He took the plates and wouldn't sell them to me. I go home, like a little kid, I tell mom that the guy wouldn't sell me the plates. Instead of, you know, saying they were out. Mom is pissed, we get in the car and race to the store, she storms in to set this guy straight! She comes out with the plates and a look. No word. When we got home, she broke a wooden spoon on my ass. Good Times... :)
I love that Novachord in the intro!
Is there an iPad app to doodle over a playing video? 8^)
I was only four when the show aired. I wonder how many kids just drew right on the television screen and got into trouble. Whenever I ordered stuff like a Winky Dink kit it always took a month for delivery. Definitely not a big budget show.
Many. In the Days of Corporal Punishment, the Belt came right out every Saturday morning for those who drew on the screen.
OMG, I had Winky Dink as a kid. Yeap, got my ass whooped when I didn't put the overlay on the screen. Funny, I'm a graphic artist these days.
I think that was the biggest issue with the show. It was groundbreaking but aired during an era, where Domestic Violence, Corporal Punishment, RACISM and Bigotry as well as Hate Crimes were a way of everyday life.
I am 62 and not old enough to have remembered the first incarnation of this show. Was it somehow incorporated into the Captain Kangaroo show? I only recall Tim Terrific on that show using very limited animation also. I do recall what must have been a early to mid 1960's comeback for Winky Dink perhaps when I was in 4th grade but it failed to capture my interest at all because the stories seemed boring and I did not like to use crayons. I know it never caught on with the kids I grew up with.
+kdegru I too am 62. I remember it though. As far as I know it was its own show. As an artist I was attracted to it.
My brother and I got the kit and I remember that there was a plastic screen that had green color on the bottom half and blue on the top and at a certain time you put it on the screen and it made the grass on the TV green and the sky blue so it was a color TV LOL. This was about 1954
I had the kit and I think it cost 25 cents which I asked my mother for. I don't remember if labels or box tops were needed. 25 cents in coin or stamps. TV advertisers were quick to learn how "pester power" would increase sales and profits.
I'm still waiting for my magic screen! I was six at the time and it was the first piece of mail I ever sent. I think the mailman took the money.
We didn't even have a TV when Winky-Dink was on! But our friends down the street did, AND they had a Magic Window. I saved Winky-Dink with a flashlight once, I remember. PRESSURE!! :)
Winky's voice sounds like the same voice for Betty Boop! Boo-boo-pe-doop!
Yep. It's Mae Questel.
Mark Mentzer Right! I knew that! I knew that!
I Did too... without the film... got in lots of trouble...lol
"Magic" crayons in rainbow colors for a black and white screen.
We had one of these screens! It was s so much fun.
I had the kit. Loved the show.
We liked this show, but Mom would never spring for the screen. My brother had two floppy goldfish he named Winky Dink and Flying Glove (after the Yellow Submarine character). He also had two other fish named Chet and David, after Huntley and Brinkley.
Wow! Thank u for the memories!
how old are you ti member this
+Joe the bro Way older than you Joe the Bro. I'm 62. :D
I'm crying my eyes out seeing Helen work with her Winky Dink kit. I want to make the Winky Dink mobile app, go back in time to 1955 with my iPhone, and let Helen work with the app to make it easier for her.
Funny. I was watching Billy and Mandy. And saw Roberto Alvarez as the director of the show. Wikid him and saw winky dink, hes the background artist of this show or something like that. Interesting show. Especially since it was the 50s. Im only 25. I think this is pretty cool.
Tobacco, ROF! I had a Winky Dink. Sure wish I had kept it.
Jack Barry's real last name was Barach. He grew up in Lindenhurst, N.Y. where I also grew up. His parents sold my father their Hardware store.
+George Strum Jack Barry owned a radio station in Florida that the FCC made him sell in the aftermath of the quiz scandal. He sold it to the man who would be my boss for many years at a regional broadcast network. Small world.
I had a Winky Dink Screen and the wax marker it came with, but not all kids had one and would draw on the screen with a magic marker and parents around the country were really mad about that...
This is the first time I am watching Winky Dink. This was on before I was born.
+Charlie Moskowitz Enjoy!
Yes I did enjoy. I just wish there was a way to draw on the laptop screen and wipe it off. The closest thing would be saran wrap but I think it wouldn't wipe clean. The next thing would be draw directly on the laptop screen but that would ruin the screen.
+Charlie Moskowitz Mylar page protector
I remember getting up on Saturday mornings to watch. Afterwards was Howdy Doody. We couldn't wait to receive the kit so, yeah, we did write on the screen. Got into big trouble over that. So now, how do I get crayon off this LCD monitor?
Im 64 and I remember watching this show. I would put Seran Wrap on the screen and use Crayola crayons. It never worked well. Lol