‘Time For Beany’
‘Time For Beany’
Below, Cecil (Stan Freburg) and Beany (Daws Butler) entertain an audience of all ages in 1950, while just on the other side of the wall, two KTLA TK10s capture the fun. Even Albert Einstein admitted that he watched the show. The original puppet show version aired from Feb 49 till late in 54. It returned in ’59 in cartoon form.
Originally created as a children’s show, the genius of the creators and writers soon became evident and the show began attracting more adults than children. When it was Time For Beany, the entire family was crowded around the set. The crux of Beany’s success was the intermingling of current political issues and fiascos that appeared as thinly veiled plots easily recognizable as lampoons of current political issues or personalities. The Shakespearian asides given by Beany, Cecil and the rest of the cast were magnificent and often alluded to embarrassing public fiascos or personages, on which the adult audience immediately picked up. That those gems of wisdom are lost forever is a great literary tragedy…there were just a few Keniscopes of the show saved.
Stan Freeberg was one of the truly great comedy album creators. The best was “The United States of America”.
There are definitely some kinescopes that exist….I have a DVD set that came out about 10 or so years ago.
There are just a few episodes of the original show on DVD; they are priceless! Even the cartoon version was better than most of the current programs on Cartoon Network. “Beanie Land” still my favorite episode.