Ramblin' Rod, Bumpity, the Kite Man...vintage Portland

I don't know about other city's locally produced children's television programming during the 1970s, but in my heart, I feel Portland's, as most things are here in P-town, a little schlocky, a little weird, yet still unique and highly memorable-- was the best. As a youngster in here in the 1970s, my formative years included:

Ramblin' Rod:
A local morning cartoon show, hosted by you guessed it- Ramblin' Rod. Ramblin' Rod would enter the studio in his fake wood front tugboat to live audience of cheering children. He would introduce cartoons and interact with the audience. He wore a Mr. Rodger's-like sweater weighted down with buttons.

Back in the day, 1976 to be exact, yours truly was a audience member at the Ramblin' Rod show. I went with my Brownie troop. and we all wore our Brownie uniforms. There was a segment of the show called "Smile Contest" and the camera man focused on each child and you were expected to give your biggest and brightest smile. Guess what? I won! Was it my bright smile, or my absurdly large horse teeth? who knows- who cares! I was the envy of my entire Brownie troop- at age 8, this was the first thing I ever won. My prize? A case of "Pop Shoppe Pop" from a now defunct Portland soda maker. The Pop was kept in our garage, and I happily doled it out to my neighbors and re-counted my Smile contest win to my rapt audience. To be honest, Pop Shoppe Pop was really gross- too much syrup to carbonation ratio- in grape, orange and cherry.

Bumpity

What spurred my trip down memory lane? An e-mail from my husband asking "What is Bumpity?"

Basically, Bumpity was a locally produced children's show featuring a lump of green carpet with googly eyes. Probably the most cheap-ass children's television production of all time. I imagine it was the duty of two stoned college interns to produce the Bumpity show on a barren television sound stage. Occasionally Bumpity was joined by a blue sock with eyes or a local librarian would read a story. Bumpity would tell stories, sing songs and give simplistic advice about "stranger danger."

Shockingly, the Bumpity program had a very long run here in the Portland area- 1971-1985. I had no idea Bumpity extended his reign into the '80s. Apparently the show was jazzed up a bit when Bumpity was placed in a sandbox and a few fabric flowers were added to the soundstage.

The Kite man and other vintage PDX memories...
The Kite man was the excited spokesperson in a series of Portland General Electric's public service announcements warning kids not to touch power lines. He had a little group of kids and he spastically asked them "Hey kids! what do you do when you kite wiiiiinnnndsss around a power line!!!!?!!!" and the kids shout back "call the Kite man!!!" and then he asks, "What about frogs?" and one little girl in the group says, "I like frogs."

And then the commercial ends. What the hell? What is the deal with the frogs? One of the weirdest PSAs- ever.

I kind of miss those days- Portland felt smaller than it does now. It's hard to believe but back then the Portland Trailblazers were the world champs, and they were a beloved franchise. Everyone talked about the Blazers, Jack Ramsey's crazy plaid jackets and I remember listening to the games on the radio with Bill Schonley (sp?) who is now the Standard TV and Appliance pitchman.

Portland General Electric has a new PSA out now with a baffled looking kid on a bike looking at a sparking downed powerline. Everytime I see it all I can think is:

"What about frogs?"