Romper Room

Romper Room was a franchised television show for young children that began in 1953 in Baltimore, MD. It ran until 1993, and like Sesame Street, it featured games, songs, stories and moral lessons for children. The lessons were taught by a giant bee who would say, “Be a good do-bee”, or “Do- bee good boys and girls.” Cities around the USA bought into the program concept and before long each had their own specially trained teacher/hostesses to be Romper Room teachers who would be a local host for the program, this would then be aired locally as a show. Romper Room was so popular it was even produced in the UK, Australia and Canada.

Every show in every city ended with the hostess, (always a woman) of the program holding a “magic” mirror (that resembled a badminton racket) which she held before her face, looked into the camera, and pretended to see the children viewers. She would mention names of kids with the idea that she was seeing the children and talking to them. “I see Janet, and Albert, and Bobby, and Alysha, and I see you too,” she would say.

Of course the teacher on Romper Room couldn’t really see the children, but because they were children, with vivid imaginations, they thought that maybe, just maybe she could, especially if she happened to say their name!