Member-only story
It Hoppened On Wonderama
Going behind the scenes at a TV show is like the final scene of The Wizard of Oz, where Toto pulls back the curtain and exposes the great and mighty Oz is a sham. We give an inordinate amount of deference to the people we welcome into our living rooms through the big, magic box. When it happened to me at age 7, it was so fast that it took me decades to process exactly what I experienced.
As a tow-headed, glasses-wearing elementary school student in 1971, I never envisioned myself on television. Let alone sitting in close-up for an interview by Bob McAllister on the popular children’s television show Wonderama. The show was originally conceived as an hour-long live telecast that included fitness, guests, and conversations with kids in the studio audience with host Sonny Fox.
Fox departed in 1967 and Wonderama hosting duties transferred to a popular kids’ entertainer/magician named Bob McAllister, who kept the three-hour weekly show moving until its cancellation in 1977. Interspersed with cartoons, McAllister interviewed children who were brought in for the tapings, played games, and generally amused kids on their level.
Wonderama was a juggernaut and an obsession to children in my neighborhood. If you went to Hebrew or church school or were traveling on Sunday morning and missed a telecast, you’d get a full recap on the way to school on Monday. There…
