TFTP Kids: "Time for Beany" from Paramount TV Network (c. 1954)

Posted to YouTube by user 'dentelTV1' (all three)
Length (total) - 29:39

"Time for Beany" was a pioneering kids TV program that aired in the early-1950s on the ad-hoc Paramount Network of stations. (Movie studio Paramount Pictures created this small network, that existed from 1948 until 1955, consisting mostly of a few stations it owned.) Animator Bob Clampett, who had worked on Looney Tunes cartoons for many years, created the Beany and Cecil puppet characters that are the stars of "Time for Beany".

Although the production values are not very sophisticated (a characteristic that "Time for Beany" shares with other early childrens' TV shows), the characters Beany, a young boy clad in a propeller beanie, and Cecil, a friendly dragon (that was basically a sock puppet), proved to be distinctive and popular. In this episode, they venture into the jungle to try and find a mysterious and elusive white gorilla. Along the way, they encounter some jungle natives that are pretty offensive stereotypes to us now (let's just say that the threat of being boiled alive in a large kettle is involved). Finally, they find the white gorilla (an actor in a white gorilla suit, of course), who roughs up Cecil a bit but nothing worse.

"Time for Beany" garnered considerable accolades in its time--it won one of the first Emmys for children's programming. Some of the voice actors for the show are notable, too, including Stan Freberg, later to become a cutting-edge comedian, and Daws Butler, later to become a legendary cartoon voice actor. Clampett went on to create a successor program, "Beany and Cecil", which featured the same characters using traditional cel animation. That program aired from 1959 to 1962 (partially under the "Matty's Funday Funnies" umbrella title), with repeat episodes airing right up until 1969, giving Beany and Cecil a solid two-decade run of entertaining children.