Skipper Chuck
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Skipper Chuck was the leader of a popular children's television series called Popeye's Playhouse, which aired weekday mornings on the American television station WTVJ in South Florida from 1957 until 1979. The show was produced and the title character played by Chuck Zink.
It had a very loose structure, built around life in the Playhouse, where the Skipper would tell stories, meet guests and indulge in silly stunts with regular characters, both humans and puppets. By being a local show, they were able to have an audience of local children and even announce birthdays of local children. His show was radically impacted by the 1960s, and helped introduce integration when the children in the audience sat together. When a child asked him what the two fingers up meant (the peace sign), he came up with a new symbol with three fingers up, to represent "Peace, Love, and Happiness". The symbol led to a song that would close the show. The show was cancelled in 1979 in order to make room for the network morning news program the Today Show
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[edit] Cast
Other characters in the show included:
[edit] Richard 'Scrubby' Andrews
Richard Andrews played the Captain's main sidekick Scrubby. A character very similar to Gilligan of Giligan's Island. He even wore the same white sailor's cap. Scrubby would be the straight man for the Skipper's jokes, and the victim of slapstick comedy from both the Skipper and the children in the audience. One highlight of the show would be to find out which child in the audience was picked to throw a pie into Scrubby's face. Scrubby would also do the voice of Limbo the Lion
[edit] Annette
Skipper's first sidekick.
[edit] Ed Odell
Now a news reporter for WTVJ, Ed started out as a visitor on Popeye's Playhouse.
[edit] Cartoons
The show was originally created to allow for introductions to the Popeye cartoons and to give a local flavor to a syndicated show.
[edit] Special guests
Among the special guests who made periodic appearances were Miami Dolphins football coach Don Shula and Jackie Gleason.
[edit] Regular features
Regular features included the "Word of the Day" that was later parodied in "Pee-Wee's Playhouse", and the selection of one lucky child to throw a pie into Scrubby's face.
[edit] Schedule history
The show had a 22-year run, making it one of the longest running local South Florida original program series.
