Whiz Kid and the Carnival Caper

The first couple of minutes from the 1976 Disney live-action made-for-t.v. movie "Whiz Kid and the Carnival Caper" -- which, if you ever see it, is far more charming and watchable than it has any right to be. I find the moment when Daphne falls down the storm drain to be pitch-perfect funny. And notice the almost complete lack of snarky, blase all-knowing sarcasm so common in kids' movies nowadays. They just don't make them the way they used to!

sorry for the bad tracking. this is a very hard-to-find title, i bought it for blood and tears over e-bay.

Category:

Comedy

Tags:

• whiz
• kid
• disney
• eric
• shay
• kim
• richards
• naturally
• 1970s
• children
• movie
• funny
• cute
• model
• rockets
• slapstick

[jehobden]

This movie was a sequel, w/ the same kids, of "The Whiz Kid and the Mystery at Riverton", which had been on Disney around 1974. I haven't seen this since it was on NBC, but I saw the first movie on The Disney Channel back around 1985, back when it used to show stuff that appealed to more than preteens. I remember seeing the Gallagher shows from the 1960s on Disney Channel sometime in the 90s as well.

[highway234]

i made myself crazy trying to find mystery at riverton. i wonder if a copy of it exists anywhere.

[ninelivecat]

Is that Kim Richards from Witch Mountain ?

[highway234]

yes it is. :)

[thewaitingape]

Wow! I often tell people that Youtube is the closest thing to a time machine.I loved the Alvin Fernald books as a kid and always wathed the films on the Wonderful World of Disney.Thanks for posting this,

[jchahine]

I read all the Alvin Fernald books when I was a kid.  So I was elated when these Wiz Kid movies came out -- many of the scenes are taken out of several of the books. For instance the boxing glove attached to the accordion rack, which punches the kidnapper. And when the kids roll those tires down the hill to stop the kidnappers. Kim RIchards was the perfect choice for Alvin's sister

[gigaman1989]

@highway234 probably not (yet!)

[gigaman1989]

@Frankenberry73 How'd u get them, from another country, or ripped them from older stuff?

[jehobden]

It's obvious here that Eric Shea (Alvin) had passed puberty by this filming and Clay O'Brien (Shoie) hadn't yet. It was interesting seeing Clay O'Brien on an interview for The Apple Dumpling Gang DVD. He goes by Clay Cooper now (His birth name is Clay O'Brien Cooper.), and he works as a rodeo cowboy now.

[rogerwoof]

there is a dummy frankenstein which the wiz kid replaces with his walking robot, thus the robot is dressed up as frankenstein

[bijeto]

Man, it sounds very familiar, but what I remember most clearly is the kids spying on the woman (Jaclyn Smith) from the ferris wheel at the carnival. I remember being excited as well and loving the movie. Unfortunately I only saw it once.

[TitusChickpea]

I remember being so excited to see this multi-part movie on Disney when I was a kid! Does anyone else remember the fishing pole with the eavesdropping device, or the robot that looked like Frankenstein?