Romper Room -- (original) 1953 -- Magic Mirror

February 1953 was the beginning of Romper Room's forty year run. "Miss Nancy" was the much adored teacher. Her stage name was "Nancy Rogers" but she was actually Nancy Claster, married to the show's producer, Bert Claster.

In December of '53, at the age of four, I was one of the children on the show, for the standard two week stint. But Miss Nancy asked my mom to have me extend for an additional two weeks, and we did.

Nancy Rogers (Claster), America's predecessor to Fred Rogers of "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood", was a GODDESS to me and probably millions of other children! She radiated goodness, beauty and light. And when, as you see at the end of the film, she asks me if I would like to give her a hug, well, I took maximum advantage of the opportunity!

For my Romper Room show-and-tell I brought in a scale model of a house that was built by the construction firm my dad worked for. As a result, the TV station, Baltimore's WBAL, was swamped with inquiries about the house. It sold within a week (but no commission for me, darn it).

47 years after this film was shot, I made a video of my own sort of "Romper Room" on the streets of India. To view it go to http://CB108.blogspot.com. It is called "Harmony For The Homeless, (The Real Slumdog Kids...Ragas For Ragamuffins) ".

No one is doing more to help children unfold their full creative potential than film director, David Lynch: www.DavidLynchFoundation.org.

My mom filmed this. Music: 'Happy Dance' by Colin O'Brien.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Romper Room
• Children's televison
• Miss Nancy
• Mr. Rogers
• classic
• TV
• Captain
• Kangaroo
• Baltimore
• WBAL
• Claster
• magic
• mirror
• vintage
• kindergarten

[McLanahan3]

She was very nice and kind, but a hard-driving business person too. I was part of many production meetings with her and Bert and of course spent many days in the studios (WJZ and WMAR) for the live shows. I also worked with their daughter Sally when Nancy felt it was time to put the magic mirror away for the last time.

[cb108]

@McLanahan3 Thanks. I am happy to know she was what I imagined. The fact that the show was a success throughout the USA and even abroad indicates some real business savvy.

[McLanahan3]

I worked for Bert and Nancy Claster at Romper Room headquarters in Baltimore through the 1960s at their offices on North Charles Street, then in Towson. Nancy was a true TV pioneer with a vision that shaped much of the children's programming to come.

[cb108]

@McLanahan3 What was Nancy Claster like? How were the Clasters as employers? When I was a little boy she was like a goddess to me.

[JTrost1234]

You took off the original music. It was much better. The song was "When You Wish Upon a Star". Please bring back the original music. I was fortunate enough to have downloaded it with the original music.

[cb108]

@JTrost1234 Yes, I love "When You Wish Upon A Star", too; but it belongs to Disney. I replaced it with free music offered by Youtube. Sorry.

[keytardan]

I remember watching this as a child in the 60s and waiting for Miss Nancy to see me. Some of you dream of a return to the 50s. The times do change but I believe there is still sweetness in our children. It's just as adults, we see the ugliness in the world, and unfortunately, the children are forced to grow up too quickly.

[cb108]

@hockeycoachbill

Miss Nancy taught us how to spell correctly :D

[DJJamminC]

@irobot2009able Sadly she passed away in 2011 at age 82.

[websuspect]

@websuspect And of course magical in other ways. The magic mirror was just a mirror. The magic TV was magically sometimes not hooked up to the network and feed transfered in on a switchboard and we had to imagine lots of things that were not there at all lol.

[websuspect]

@cb108 Miss sally and Mr Nancy were real in ways you possibley couldnt imagine. The show was magical.

[websuspect]

@McLanahan3 I was on the show as a regular around 95. Sally and the mother was realy nice and the mother would sometimes dress up as Doobee and help out with the show. Was very magical as a child and they made the show fun. And would have special guests for the syndicated franchise like the mayor and benji. We ought to like meetup sometime and by a used tape reader and tansfer some of the tapes to COmputer and put them on you tube and make a pilot reboot.

[dmjordan]

How nice to have such a great memory recorded on film, thanks for sharing