| Tom Hatten | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 14, 1927 Jamestown, North Dakota, United States |
| Occupation | Actor |
Tom Hatten (born November 14, 1927 in Jamestown, North Dakota) is a veteran radio, film and television personality best known as the long-time host of The Popeye Show (originally "The Pier Point 5 Club") and Family Film Festival on KTLA Channel 5 in Los Angeles in the 1960s, '70s and '80s. He has also appeared in dozens of musicals, movies and television shows, often portraying characters in the military.
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Hatten served in the Navy during World War II and later used his GI Bill scholarship to study acting at the Pasadena School of Theater, where he graduated magna cum laude in 1950.
In 1952, he started working at the KTLA studios in Hollywood, filling several broadcasting jobs before landing the part of the good-natured Sailor in the station's nautically-themed afternoon children's program, the "The Pier Point 5 Club". This was in contrast to "Skipper Frank" Herman who appeared in the earlier afternoon with KTLA's "Cartoon Carousel".
Clad in Navy whites, Hatten presented a sizeable library of the animated works of Max and Dave Fleischer (relatively easy to obtain at a Paramount affiliate) starring as the spinach eating salt of Elzie Segar's "Thimble Theater"; Popeye. A skilled artist and cartoonist, his show had how to segments which taught the viewer how to draw the characters seen in the cartoons. He also had two guests on each program. Another oft-remembered sequence in the show involved his guests in a unique competition. Each guest was given a large upright easel and sketch-pad along with chalks and pencils. Carefully placed at the center of each pad, Tom would draw an abstract shape which he called a "Squiggle". The object of the competition was to create a full drawing incorporating the squiggle into anything recognizable without crossing any of the squiggle's initial lines. Hatten later hosted two incarnations of the Popeye show and always had anecdotes about the history of the Fleischers, the cartoons or the business in general.
"The Pier Point 5 Club" was given a more elaborate studio set, and ultimately re-christened "The Popeye Show". This time, Tom was more formally costumed as a Harbor Master and placed in a nautical structure resembling the marina headquarters of a sporting regatta. Tom still had two guests, the squiggle contest and was expanded to a full hour. The audience could now join the club compete with pin and certificate for those who wrote in. While Hatten had his show, King Features was inspired to create a new series of Popeye cartoons to go with it. These cartoons were stiffly animated and strayed far from Segar's original vision. Jack Mercer, who had originally replaced William Costello (aka "Red Pepper" Sam) as the voice of the 'squinky-eyed' sailor for Fleischer, paid Hatten a visit in recognition of his being the largest West Coast showcase of the Max and Dave Fleischer studio.
As late as 1985 Hatten's show was aired on Saturday and Sunday. The guests and games were gone but still featured Tom's knowledge of cartooning and the industry. Tom eventually went on to host KTLA's "Family Film Festival" where more of his cinema expertise was utilized
The "Family Film Festival" was a weekend afternoon feature on KTLA 5 between 1978 and 1988, with Hatten screening a classic movie, often from the 40's, 50's or 60's. During breaks in the show, he would offer anecdotes about the film's history or its actors, or even conduct brief interviews with a cast or crew member (a practice that originally predated the cable networks American Movie Classics and Turner Classic Movies; see those articles for details). Many "Gen X"-aged men and women, born throughout the 1970s and raised in Los Angeles, were introduced to the films of Jerry Lewis, as well as such animated films as "Gay Purr-ee", through Hatten's Family Film Festival.
Hatten's acting credits include portraying a corrupt military officer in the movie Spies Like Us, with Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase. He appeared as Captain Murdock in several episodes of the television show Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., and had a minor role as an officer in three episodes of Hogan's Heroes. Hatten provided the voice of the character Farmer Fitzgibbons in the animated movie The Secret of NIMH. Hatten appeared in a touring production of the musical, "Annie" as President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
For nearly 20 years, Hatten worked as an award-winning entertainment reporter for KNX 1070 Newsradio in Los Angeles, filing regular reports on the movie industry, new films, and celebrity news.[1] He left the station in 2007.