R.I.P. Mr Wizard!

[motemeal]

I remember a lot of bored summer days in the mid 80's watching Mr. Wizard on Nickelodeon. What I didn't know was that Mr. Wizard had been on tv off and on since the 50's. Generations of science fans learned how to make a rocket ship out of a soda bottle from that guy

Comments

[rexisadog]

Yes Mote , Mr. Wizard was around when I was a kid..back in them olden days of yore. I had a steady diet of Mr. Wizard. I especially liked when he blew things up. One demonstration he did was in the making of styrofoam. It was amazing the volume of it he made.
Mr. Wizard, Captain Kangaroo and the Three Stooges were staples of my youth.
When you are a kid you take these icons where ever you go and imatate them. So my brothers and I did a lot of naughty things like blowing stuff up and trying to be the Three Stooges. Sigh...there were three of us back then....I miss my brother Tom.

[motemeal]

Captain Kangaroo was still around in my early pre-school days. Nobody could pull off a bad haircut like Cpt. Kangaroo. Of course, there was also Mr. Rodgers, but he lasted a good while on air past my early days. Sorry to hear about your brother Tom. I didnt have any brothers, but I do have two older sisters, though I guess the dynamic is not the same. I had to suffer endless viewings of Purple Rain and Flashdance as opposed to the occasional getting the shit kicked out of me. Physical damage or Mental though, it would suck to lose one of them.

[zbg97]

Yeah, I remember watching him... My dad came in, one day, and exclaimed something like, "He's still on the air?", since my dad recognized him from his own youth.

[motemeal]

I didnt find out how long he had been around until I read the article. Off and on for over 30 years is a long TV career.

[ramseschaos]

I barely remember him. Sort of like Captain Kangaroo...faded but still all ghosty.

[motemeal]

I remember Mr. Wizard a lot more than Cpt. Kangaroo. Cpt. Kangaroo was on during my preschool years, but Mr. Wizard I watched when I was around 10 or so and the memories are a lot more solid. I can even remember some of the cutscenes they had like "supermarket science' with the shopping cart.

[coraljune]

Oh! Mr Wizard! I used to watch his show all the time, as a kid. I remember how the seedlings on the spinning turntable all looked sickly, twisting their way toward the center, and something about putting your hand in a cup of warm (not hot) water and then switching to cold, alternating back and forth. He really was rather curmudgeonly, though, despite being so outwardly likeable. I wonder how he managed that.

[motemeal]

I don't remember too many of the actual experiments, but I do remember he was a bit gruff from time to time :D

Ah, the memories.

[dreamofthesong]

You should listen to Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me!, the NPR news quiz this Saturday when it Airs. They had a trivia question involving Mr. Wizard. I know this because, though he was way before my time, I WAS at the taping of this radio show yesterday. One of the panelists happened to mention how he remembers making hydrogen with lye and water and a balloon and has the chemical scars to prove it - just like Mr. Wizard!

Re: Ah, the memories.

[motemeal]

Oooh! Lucky you! :) Didn't invite me or nuthin! :P