Winky Dink

[RJS3566]

Jack Barry when he wasn't fixing quiz shows.

[giordhe1]

I reimember some of this. Were ever so young! I was five at this time, yet I still remember some parts of it.

[shortliner68]

I still remember this show! My older sisters had a Winky Dink set which was passed down to me when they outgrew using it. I wasn't quite seven years old when the show went off the air in 1957. I guess the set was trashed after that. We lived in a small apartment, so any old playthings not being used anymore were discarded.

[TalogaGirl]

I don't think they had Saran Wrap then. We had a Winky Dink kit but it really didn't work all that well as I recall. We also had a plastic screen you put over the black and white TV that added color, like blue at the top, green at the bottom or something. I don't think I just imagined that.

[TheFrontrowkid]

I have a friend, three years younger than I, who gets a kick out of telling how he drew crayon marks on the TV screen without the Magic Screen. He thought he was the only one who ever did that and got in trouble. I read him some of the comments off this site of people who did the same thing. I think that you could have used Saran Wrap and gotten the same effect.

[robertpintozzi]

ok so how many of my childhood friends remember this? I had the set too....

[smokingolejerry]

One of my favorites back then. Would mark the lines on a piece of notebook paper to figure out the clues. Finally got the couple of dollars and bought the plastic sheet at a local 5&10. Good ole days with clean innocent Saturday mornings.

[CRANROW]

WINKY dINK AND ME, wINKY dINK AND YOU ...MY FAVORITE!!!

[TralfazConstruction]

I distinctly recall my Mother saying that Winky Dink should learn to "shift for himself".

[Tommyr]

I LOVE IT! Winky Dink RULED!

[1mothra]

Mothra sez:

slinky460: Thank you for writing from the cancer/cholesterol/blindness wing of the hospital!

pgh450rpms: Mothra always appreciates the straight story. Maybe CarlDuke remembered it a bit incorrectly.

olddude521: On behalf of your parents Mothra should deliver a well-deserved spankin', but it sounds like you're sorry.

So, Mothra flies!

[olddude521]

My parents wouldn't let us have a magic screen , so we took crayons and drew right on the tv screen,Hooooo-boy!

[kakabukkake0]

@olddude521 hahahaha my dad told me about this show when I was younger and I never forgot it because it seemed so goofy, he said that they never got the magic screen and just mindlessly watched the guy anyways, although I think he said that he and his sisters tried to use saran wrap on the screen

[rwboa22]

Man the closet thing we had was the Picture Pages when Bill Cosby would draw the lines with that pen with the sound effects.

[utoobepee]

I have the "Winky Dink & You!" kit! It comes with Season 2 VCR tape, Magic Screen (Magic Window), Magic crayons, and erasing cloth (magic cloth).

[CarlDuke]

Thanks so much for posting this. I had a Winky screen as a kid, quite a gimmick. This was where Jack Barry was banished to as a punishment for his part in the quiz show scandals.

[pgh45rpms]

Jack did this show for four seasons, 1953-1957. His quiz program, 21, came the following season. They blew the whistle on that rigged show in Oct. 1958.

[pappazeuss]

dont call me winky

[slinky460]

Oh Yeah, I had one of those kits, but my mother said "no way" because it was bad for your eyes to be too close to the TV. I think you could get the kit with 5 KIX boxtops and 25 cents. It was a thin sheet of plastic and a grease pencil, plus a personal letter from Winky Dink. WoW!

But, then It was X rays from the TV if you were too close. So the kit hit the trash can. If I had it today, it would be worth some money.

May be I can draw on my computer monitor.

Need more Winky Dink!

[maliwyoming]

Yea, I had one of those kits, circa 1952 or 1953. Jack Barry went on to be one of the top quiz show emcees and one of the main culprits in the scandals of the late 50's. He was off TV for many years but made a ocmeback later with another quiz show.

[bigg3469]

I remember a animated version of Winky Dink in which the viewers used a Winky Dink playkit to play along with Winky Dink. Can anyone Download these shows? Thanks!