Rootie Kazootie facts for kids

Quick facts for kids The Rootie Kazootie Club
Todd Russell, Rootie Kazootie, Gala Poochie Pup
Starring	Todd Russell
Country of origin	United States
Production
Running time	15 minutes (weekdays) 30 minutes (Saturdays)
Release
Original network	WNBT (1950-1951) NBC (1951-1952) ABC (1952-1954)
Picture format	Black & White, Color
Original release	October 14, 1950 (1950-10-14) – May 7, 1954 (1954-05-07)

Rootie Kazootie was the principal character on the 1950-1954 children's television show The Rootie Kazootie Club. The show was the creation of Steve Carlin and featured human actors along with hand puppets.

Characters

Rootie Kazootie was a boy "keen on sports" who played his "magic kazootie" and wore his signature baseball cap with the oversized bill turned up. Puppeteer Paul Ashley controlled his movements, along with those of the "great Mexican catador", called El Squeako Mouse—a takeoff on the idea of a mouse dueling with a cat rather than a bull. Naomi Lewis supplied their voices. Lewis also provided the voice of Rootie's girlfriend Polka Dottie. Frank Milano provided both the actions and voices for their spotted canine companion Gala Poochie Pup and for arch-villain Poison Zoomack, who constantly tried to steal Polka Dottie's polka dots and Rootie's magic kazootie.

Life-sized human characters included host and "chief rooter" Todd ("Big Todd") Russell and the nonspeaking policeman Mr. Deetle Dootle, initially played in 1950 by John Schoeopperle and thereafter by John Vee.

The show was performed live in front of a studio audience of schoolchildren who also were active participants. They joined in singing the theme song, proclaiming at the beginning of each show, "Who is the boy who is full of zip and joy? He's Rootie Kazootie!" A regular feature was the "Quiz-a-Rootie", in which audience members received prizes for themselves and home viewers for answering simple questions.

Influence in popular culture

At the height of the show's popularity, its audience was estimated at between 2 million and 3 million people, and in 1953 fan letters were pouring in at a reported average rate of 32,000 each week. Words such as "yesirootie" and "gosharootie" from the Rootie Kazootie lexicon were adopted by schoolchildren of the time.

The show spawned several children's books as well as a Dell comic book series. Numerous items of related merchandise, including toys, games, and hand puppets, were produced, many of which are available today as sought-after collectibles. Author Lawrence Naumoff appropriated the name "Rootie Kazootie" for the title of a 1990 novel, though it has no explicit connection to the character.

Episode status

While the series likely was wiped per electronic practices of the era, the Paley Center for Media holds approximately 50 episodes. While some do not have a date listed, the ones that do are mostly from 1953, with a few from 1952 and 1954.

A half-hour ABC episode from May 29 or 30, 1953, involving the character Poison Zoomack using a "very powerful magnet" has been released in several public-domain compilations and can be viewed at the Internet Archive.