Starstuff

Starstuff
Title card
Genre	Science fiction Children
Written by	Dorothy Louise Don Matticks
Directed by	Don Matticks
Starring	Todd Porter Johanna Hickey
Voices of	Mark Ritts
Theme music composer	Gustav Holst
Opening theme	The Planets
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	18
Production
Executive producer(s)	Inez Gottlieb
Editor(s)	Frances Harty
Running time	60 minutes
Production company(s)	CBS-TV
Broadcast
Original channel	WCAU-TV
First shown in	1980

Starstuff is an hour-long children's television program taped at WCAU-TV Studios on City Line Avenue in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. It was shown in the Philadelphia television market only. There was only one season of Starstuff with a total of 18 episodes airing on Saturday mornings. While it was first shown in 1980, it was rerun repeatedly throughout the next several years. The opening and closing music consisted of a melange of music from Gustav Holst's The Planets suite, movements four and six, Jupiter and Uranus.^[1]^[2]

Format

Starstuff centered around a boy named Chris (Todd Porter) and a girl named Ingrid (Johanna Hickey). Chris lived in the present while Ingrid lived in the future on a space colony. Chris's television set was able to pick up video transmission from Ingrid's spaceship and they were able to communicate, often showing each other clips from Laurel and Hardy's Laughtunes as well as snippets of the educational children's news show, Kidsworld.

There was a sub-show within Starstuff titled The Edge Of Space, and was generally the second-to-last segment in the show. Lasting approximately 10 minutes, it was a space-based puppet segment starring Krikles, Zornad, and their robot assistant, Giz, as they explored the universe in their spaceship searching for life.

From puppeteer Mark Ritts: I taped the puppet bits separately, perhaps a half dozen at a time, on a day when the main cast was off learning their lines. So I don't remember even meeting them ... Krikles's voice was a simple, light character voice that I have used years, variously adapted, for a string of characters, including Storytime's "Kino" (PBS). Zornad's voice was a bit of a steal from a favorite comic of mine who used to be a regular on the old Steve Allen Show—Dayton Allen, whose signature line was "Whyyyyy not??!"

In addition, within the hour long show was a half hour CBS network children's program inserted. Starstuff would run about 10 to 20 minutes followed by the 30 minute CBS show and then the conclusion of Starstuff. Captain Noah on competing WPVI did something similar with some ABC Saturday morning children's shows.

Starstuff Cast

Chris: Todd Porter
Ingrid: Johanna Hickey
Aunt Val: Margaret Hunt
Uncle Pete: Johnnie Hobbs
Chris' Mom: Elowyn Castle
Ingrid's Dad: Gary Silow

Starstuff Staff

Writer: Dorothy Louise
Director: Don Matticks
Executive Producer: Inez Gottlieb
Associate Producer: Suzanne Hansberry
Production Assistant: Nan Gilbert
Set Design: John Ferlaine
Set Construction: Chuck Wells
Lighting Director: Al Vanaman
Videotape: Pat Lynch
Field Camera: Phil Carroll
Technical Director: Charles Cleveland
Camera: Art Pitcairn, Pete Cain, Jim Manning, Irv Gubin, Joe Sidlo
Audio: David Bowa
Video: Bill Wagner, Ted Vawter, Al Strelau, Dan Falzani
Floor Managers: Jess L. Schooley, Raymond Fiedler, William Cawley
Field Audio: George Schumaker
Editing: Frances Harty

The Edge Of Space Staff

Writer: Don Matticks
Puppeteer: Mark Ritts
Puppet Design: Eli Bauer
Puppets Built By: Kathy Rogers

References